Privacy

This page lists what NoirFriendly collects, why, who else handles it, and what you can do about it.

What we collect when you create an account

• Your email address, to sign you in and to write to you about your recommendations.
• Your display name, shown on your published recommendations.
• Your password, stored only as an Argon2id hash. We cannot read it. If you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email, and the address of your profile picture from Google, and store no password at all. We never display the picture.

What we collect when you share a recommendation

• What you write, the tags you choose, what you recommend, and your answers to the three quick questions.
• Photos, if you add them. Every photo is re-encoded on our server and all embedded metadata is removed before it is stored, including the camera's record of where it was taken.
• An identity tag, only if you choose one for that recommendation. If you save a default identity tag in your settings, it is encrypted at rest and is never shown unless you choose it again for a specific recommendation.

Your location

Only if you tap Find where I am, and only after we explain why and your browser asks you. Your position is sent once to our server, used to list businesses near you and to check whether you are at the one you choose, and then discarded. It is never stored in our database, never written to our logs, never put in a web address, and never sent to analytics. What we keep is a yes or no flag, “visit confirmed”, on that recommendation.

Signals we use to keep recommendations honest

• A one-way keyed hash of your IP address, never the address itself. We use it to limit how fast any one connection can sign in or submit, and to notice many accounts recommending the same business from one network.
• A random identifier stored on your device. We keep a one-way hash of it with each recommendation, to notice many accounts on one device.

Cookies and storage on your device

• A session cookie that keeps you signed in, for up to 30 days.
• A cookie that remembers the color theme you picked.
• A draft of a recommendation you have started, kept in your browser until you submit it or clear it, so nothing is lost if you close the page or sign in halfway through.

We do not use advertising cookies or third party analytics.

Concerns you send privately

A concern is encrypted at rest and read only by our team. It is never published and never shared with the business in a form that identifies you. We contact the business about it only if you said we may.

Who else handles your data

• Anthropic, which reads the text of a recommendation to help our team spot problems. It sees the text, not your name, email, or photos. It never rewrites what you wrote, and a person makes every decision.
• Cloudflare Turnstile, which checks that a form was sent by a person rather than a program.
• Resend, which delivers our email.
• Google, only if you choose to sign in with Google.

We do not sell your data and do not share it with businesses.

Your choices

• Change your display name, email preferences, or default identity tag in your settings.
• Delete your account from your settings. Your profile and pending recommendations are removed. Published recommendations stay up under the name “Former member” unless you ask us to remove them too. See the Terms of use.
• Write to hello at noirfriendly.com with any question about your data. A person reads every message.

How long we keep it

Retention periods are part of counsel's review of this page and will be stated here when it is done. Members are told when they are.