Privacy Policy

Introduction

Welcome to RateMyCat ("we," "our," or "us"). We are committed to protecting your privacy and being transparent about the data we collect. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your information when you use our website.

Information We Collect

IP Address Collection

When you rate a cat photo on our website, we collect and store your IP address. This information is collected automatically through our server logs.

Purpose: We collect IP addresses solely to prevent spam and ensure fair voting. This helps us prevent users from rating the same photo multiple times.

Uploaded Photos

When you upload a cat photo, we store the image file on our servers. These photos are publicly visible after approval by our moderators.

How We Use Your Information

We use the collected information for:

• Spam Prevention: IP addresses are used to prevent duplicate votes and detect abusive behavior
• Service Operation: To maintain and improve our voting system
• Content Moderation: To review and approve uploaded photos
• Analytics: To understand how users interact with our website

Data Storage

Your IP address is stored in our database in its original form. We retain this information indefinitely to maintain the integrity of our voting system.

Uploaded photos are stored on our servers and remain publicly accessible once approved.

Third-Party Services

Google AdSense

We use Google AdSense to display advertisements on our website. Google may use cookies and web beacons to collect information about your visits to this and other websites to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you.

For more information about how Google collects and processes data, please visit: Google's Privacy & Terms

Hosting Services

Our website is hosted on third-party servers. These hosting providers may have access to server logs that contain IP addresses and other technical information.

Cookies

We use local storage in your browser to track which photos you've already rated. This helps provide a better user experience by not showing you the same photos repeatedly. This data is stored locally on your device and can be cleared by clearing your browser's local storage.

Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Request information about the data we have collected
• Request deletion of your uploaded photos
• Opt out of data collection by not using our rating system

Please note that we cannot delete individual voting records as this would compromise the integrity of our rating system.

Children's Privacy

Our website is not intended for children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated "Last updated" date.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us through GitHub or by creating an issue on our repository.