Privacy notice

Draft, to be reviewed by a lawyer before launch.

Version 2026-11-03-draft. [the operator’s legal name and address, to be filled in before launch] (“we”) runs Tidebell and decides how the data below is used. This notice says what we keep, why, and for how long.

1. What we keep and why

• Your email address: to sign you in, to confirm the address, to reset your password, and for messages about your account. Other players never see it.
• Your password: only as a one-way argon2id hash. We never store or see the password itself.
• Your display name: shown to other players on boards and in matches.
• Your date of birth: to check that you are 18 or older, and to show that we checked.
• Which versions of the terms and this notice you accepted, and when.
• Sessions: a random session token in a cookie named tidebell.session_token, which is strictly necessary to keep you signed in. For each session we keep the token, when it started and ends, the IP address and the browser’s user agent, to keep accounts safe and stop abuse.
• Your game: your profile (progress, unlocks, logbook, bests), your journeys and the moves you make in them, to run the game, resume where you left off, settle disputes and check for cheating.
• Emails we send you (confirmation and reset links), to deliver them and to show what was sent.
• Purchases (once the store opens): what you bought, when, and the price. The payment provider keeps your payment details; we receive only a reference and the result.

We use no advertising, no tracking across other sites and no third-party analytics. If that ever changes, we will ask for your consent first.

2. Legal bases

• To provide the game and your account: the contract between us (these Terms).
• To keep the game secure and fair: our legitimate interest in stopping cheating and abuse.
• To check your age and keep purchase records: our legal obligations.

3. Who processes it for us

[To be completed before launch: the database host, the email provider, the payment provider and the hosting provider, with the countries where each keeps data and the safeguards for transfers outside the EU and UK.]

4. How long we keep it

• Account and game data: while your account exists.
• Sessions: until you sign out, and at most 30 days.
• Confirmation links: 48 hours. Password reset links: one hour.
• Records that a move was already applied: one day. Prepared journeys that were never started: 30 minutes.
• Purchase records: as long as tax and consumer law require.
• After you ask us to delete your account we erase it within 30 days, except what the law makes us keep. [Backups: retention to be set before launch.]

5. Your rights

You may ask to see, download, correct or delete your data, to object to how we use it, or to restrict it. Write to [a contact email address, to be filled in before launch]. You may also complain to your data protection authority. [Download and deletion inside the game are planned before launch.]

6. Under 18s

Tidebell is not for anyone under 18. If we learn that an account belongs to someone under 18, we close it and delete its data.

7. Security

Passwords are hashed, sessions live in httpOnly cookies, and production traffic uses HTTPS. If a breach puts your data at risk we will tell you and the authorities as the law requires.

8. Changes and contact

We will say in the game when this notice changes. Questions: [a contact email address, to be filled in before launch].