Privacy Policy

Effective: April 24, 2025

This Privacy Policy explains how Shmoogle ("we", "us", "our") collects, uses, and protects information about you when you use www.shmoogle.com. By using the site, you agree to the practices described here.

1. Information We Collect

Account information — When you create an account, we collect your email address and password (stored as a secure hash).

IP address and approximate location — We record your IP address, country, and city at the time of signup and on each login. This is used for security, fraud prevention, and to understand where our community is located. We store city and country only — not precise GPS coordinates.

User-submitted content — Listings, reviews, and any other content you submit to the directory.

Usage data — Pages visited, search queries, and general browsing behavior, collected via Google Analytics (see Section 4).

Agreement timestamp — The date and time you agreed to these Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

2. How We Use Your Information

  • To create and manage your account
  • To detect and prevent fraud, spam, and abuse
  • To understand where our user community is located (aggregate statistics)
  • To improve the directory and user experience
  • To contact you about your account if necessary

We do not sell, rent, or share your personal data with third parties for their marketing purposes.

3. Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA), we process your personal data under the following legal bases:

  • Contract — Processing necessary to provide the service you signed up for (account creation, listing management)
  • Legitimate interests — IP/location capture for fraud prevention and security
  • Consent — Google Analytics (you can opt out via browser settings or the Google Analytics opt-out add-on)

4. Third-Party Services

Supabase — Our database and authentication provider. Your data is stored on Supabase-managed infrastructure (AWS us-east-1). See Supabase Privacy Policy.

Google Analytics — We use Google Analytics to track aggregate traffic. Google may set cookies on your browser. You can opt out at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

ipapi.co — Used to convert IP addresses to approximate city/country. Your IP is sent to ipapi.co at signup and login. See ipapi.co Privacy Policy.

5. Data Retention

We retain your account information for as long as your account is active. If you request deletion, we will remove your personal data within 30 days, except where we are required to retain it by law. Submitted listings and reviews may remain in the directory after account deletion in anonymized form.

6. Your Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:

  • Access — Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
  • Correction — Request that we correct inaccurate data
  • Deletion — Request that we delete your account and personal data
  • Portability — Request your data in a machine-readable format
  • Opt-out of analytics — Use the Google Analytics opt-out tool linked above

California residents have additional rights under CCPA, including the right to know what categories of personal information we collect and the right to opt out of the sale of personal information (we do not sell personal information).

To exercise any of these rights, email us at legal@shmoogle.com.

7. Cookies

We use cookies for authentication (to keep you logged in) and for Google Analytics. Authentication cookies are strictly necessary for the site to function. Analytics cookies can be blocked via your browser settings or the Google Analytics opt-out link above.

8. Children's Privacy

Shmoogle is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 13. If you believe we have collected data from a child under 13, please contact us at legal@shmoogle.com and we will delete it promptly.

9. Security

We use industry-standard security measures including encrypted connections (HTTPS), hashed passwords, and access controls. No system is completely secure; we cannot guarantee absolute security of your data.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will post the revised version with a new effective date. Continued use of the site after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

11. Contact Us

Questions or requests regarding your privacy? Contact us at legal@shmoogle.com.