The Short Version
We collect as little as possible. We don't sell data. We don't use advertising trackers. We don't require accounts that tie activity to real identities.
What We Collect
Heat Map Reports: When you submit a threat report, we receive your approximate location (rounded to the nearest mile before storage), the activity category you selected, and the intensity level. We do not store your IP address, exact GPS coordinates, or any identifying information with this data. The stored record is: grid cell ID + category + intensity. Nothing more.
Forum Posts: When you post in the forum, we store the username you provide, the content of your post, and the timestamp. No email address is required or stored. No real name is required. Your IP address is used only for rate limiting and spam prevention, and is not stored with your posts or retained after the session ends.
Server Logs: Like any web server, Cloudflare processes request logs that may include IP addresses. These are subject to Cloudflare's privacy policy. We do not access or analyze these logs for any user tracking purpose. Standard log retention periods apply per Cloudflare's infrastructure defaults.
What We Don't Collect
- We do not use advertising trackers or analytics pixels
- We do not use Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, or similar services
- We do not set tracking cookies
- We do not require or store email addresses for forum participation
- We do not sell or share data with third parties for commercial purposes
- We do not retain precise location data from the heat map — only rounded grid cells
Cookies
We use session cookies only for functionality (e.g., maintaining your forum session). These are not used for tracking and expire when you close your browser. We do not use persistent tracking cookies.
Third-Party Services
The site is hosted on Cloudflare Pages. Map tiles are served from Carto (using OpenStreetMap data). Fonts are loaded from Google Fonts. These third parties may process your IP address as part of serving their content. We have selected these providers for their reasonable privacy practices, but their own policies apply to their services.
Data Deletion
Forum posts can be deleted by contacting us through the forum with appropriate context. Heat map grid data is aggregate-only and cannot be tied to individuals, but we periodically reset the dataset.
Law Enforcement
If we receive a legally valid request for user data, we will comply with applicable law. However, because we collect so little data, there is very little we could provide. We do not voluntarily cooperate with surveillance requests beyond legal requirements, and we will notify users of requests to the extent legally permitted.
Changes to This Policy
If we change this policy in ways that affect user privacy, we will post a notice on the site. The current version of this policy is always available at this URL.
Last updated: 2025. CommunityWatch.com