Privacy

What we count.

When a page loads, our server notes the time, which page it was, the town and viewing spot, the language of the page, and the call it showed. It also notes whether you came to the site directly, from a link on another site (we keep only that site's name, such as google.com) or from another of our pages. It notes the country and the province or state your connection comes from, as our network provider Cloudflare reports them, never your city or exact location. And it notes whether your device is an iPhone or iPad, an Android device or a computer, and the language your browser asks for first. On a full forecast page, choosing the other viewing spot sends one note saying so.

Nothing we count is linked to you, to your device or to your other visits: in these counts we keep no IP address, no device identifier and no record of your browser. We use them to see how the service is used and to show partners and sponsors how many people it reaches, never to profile anyone. Partners and sponsors see totals, never the records.

On your device.

Velvet Hours puts no cookies on your device. If you choose the night colours, your device remembers that choice; it is never sent to us. The only cookie on the site is the sign-in for its administration pages, which visitors never reach.

What our server sees to deliver a page.

Like any website, our network provider Cloudflare and our server handle your connection's address to send you the page. While it answers, our server reads your browser's description of itself, to tell people from automated visitors and an iPhone from a computer, and keeps only that result. When you switch viewing spots, it holds a scrambled form of your connection's address for one minute, to stop the note being sent over and over, and never writes it down. Our server's logs keep the time, the page asked for, the address of the page that linked to it and your browser's description of itself (its name and version, and your operating system's) for 15 days. When you visit velvethours.space, the address they record is that of Cloudflare's network, not yours.

Who handles it, and where.

Cloudflare, an American company, carries every visit to the site. DigitalOcean, an American company, runs our server in Toronto. Bunny, a Slovenian company, stores our backups in Germany, with a copy in the United States; they are encrypted before they leave our server, so Bunny cannot read them. Google, an American company, hosts my email. So information may be processed outside Québec and outside Canada, and may be accessible to the courts and authorities of those countries.

How long we keep it.

Each count: 25 months, then only daily totals. Server logs: 15 days. Our backups hold copies of both for up to four weeks more. Your emails: for as long as we are in touch, and I delete them when you ask. Your choice of night colours: on your device, until you clear it.

If you report as an observer.

Everything above is about visiting the site. Observers are people who agree to go out at set times and tell us what they saw, so we can check our calls against the sky. A report holds your observer code, the window you went out in and the moment you looked, whether you saw aurora then and over the whole window or could not tell, whether you could follow the steps, the direction and height of what you saw, how bright it looked, and any notes you add, up to 2,000 characters. It holds no address, no description of your browser and no cookie, and your code, your key and your notes never go into our server's logs.

We publish only whether aurora was seen, for each night and each viewing spot, beside the call we made. Never your notes, the exact times, the directions or who reported. Being named for your reports is a separate choice, and it is off unless you make it: by your full name, by your first name and town, or not at all. I record what you chose, the date and the words you were shown, and you can change it whenever you like.

To reach you, and to credit you if you choose, I keep your name and email address with your code and a private key, in one file on our server that only I can read. It is never in our code or anywhere public, and it goes into our encrypted backups like everything else. The key is a long random code that comes with your invitation. The form needs it with your code, so nobody else can see where you will be or report in your name. Keep it to yourself; if it gets out, I will give you a new one.

Your assignments are on your link each day from 8 a.m. Pacific. The only emails you get from me are your invitation and, if your key ever leaks, a new one, both from my own mail.

Reports are kept for as long as the service runs, because they are how we check our calls. The link to you is not. Within 30 days of your stopping, or of your asking, I delete your name, your email address and your key, and your notes too if you ask. What remains is your code, the spot, the times and what you saw, with nobody on file behind them. Our backups let go of what was deleted within four weeks after that.

Who looks after it.

Velvet Hours is a product of TWST Studio Inc. The person in charge of the protection of personal information there is me, Mikayla Ericsson, and I am the only person who can see the counts, the logs and the backups. Nothing is added to what we count without a written decision, and this page changes with it. Location stops at the province or state: the finer detail Cloudflare can send is removed before it reaches the site. Every change to the site is tested to make sure no record holds an address, an identifier or your browser's description. If something ever puts information at risk, I will record it and tell the people affected, and the privacy authority when the law requires it.

Questions and complaints.

Write to me at mikayla@twst.studio. You can ask what we hold about you, and have it corrected or deleted. Because nothing we count is linked to you, there is usually nothing to find, but I will look, and answer within 30 days. If my answer does not settle it, you can complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, in Québec to the Commission d'accès à l'information, or to the privacy authority where you live.