Privacy Policy

What we collect

• Email address — collected when you create an account (via our sign-in provider, Amazon Cognito). Used to let you log in and, only if you opt in, to send you updates about the story.
• Username — the display name you choose during account setup. Shown publicly next to your contributions and on the leaderboard.
• Contributions and votes — the text you propose and the votes you cast, tied to your account, so the story and its voting cycles work.
• Cookies — a session cookie that keeps you logged in, and cookies set by Google Analytics (see below).
• IP address — we don't log or store your IP address ourselves. It's necessarily processed by our hosting infrastructure (Amazon Web Services) and by our security layer (rate-limiting and bot protection) as a normal part of serving any web request, and by Google Analytics as part of its own data collection.
• Usage data — pages visited, general location (derived from IP address), and device/browser information, collected through Google Analytics.

How we use it

Your email authenticates you and, if you've opted in, lets us send you story updates. Your username identifies your contributions and votes publicly. Your contributions and votes are what the site is — they're stored so the collaborative story and its voting cycles function. The session cookie keeps you logged in between requests. Usage data from Google Analytics helps us understand how the site is used so we can improve it. IP addresses are used transiently by our infrastructure for security purposes such as rate-limiting abusive traffic.

Third parties

We do not sell your data. We share data with the following third parties, each acting as a service provider:

• Amazon Web Services (AWS) — hosts the website, database, and authentication system. AWS processes data on our behalf as our infrastructure provider.
• Google Analytics — receives usage data (pages visited, approximate location, device/browser information) to help us understand site traffic. This data is subject to Google's own privacy policy.
• Google AdSense — displays advertising on the site and uses cookies and similar technologies to select and measure ads, including based on your prior visits to this and other websites. This data is subject to Google's own privacy policy and its use of information from sites that use Google's services.

We do not share your email address, your account activity, or your contributions with any third party beyond what's listed above.

Cookies and advertising

Our session cookie is essential — the site can't keep you logged in without it, and it's always set.

Google Analytics is not essential, and does not run until you accept it in the cookie banner shown on your first visit. If you reject or ignore it, Analytics never loads and no Analytics cookies are set. You can change your choice at any time via "Cookie preferences" in the footer. We also store your choice itself (in your browser's local storage, not a cookie) so we don't have to ask again on every visit — that storage holds only your accept/reject preference, nothing that identifies you.

This site displays advertising served by Google AdSense. Google and its advertising partners may use cookies and similar technologies to select and measure ads, including based on your prior visits to this and other websites. As with Google Analytics, advertising cookies are only set with your consent: if you are located in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, we ask for that consent through a certified consent management platform before any advertising cookie is set, consistent with Google's EU user consent policy. You can opt out of personalized advertising at any time via Google's Ads Settings and the Digital Advertising Alliance's opt-out page.

You can block or delete any cookie in your browser's settings, though doing so will log you out and may affect how the site works.

Your rights

If you are located in the EU/UK or another jurisdiction with similar data protection laws, you have the right to access the personal data we hold about you, correct inaccurate data, object to or restrict certain processing, receive a copy of your data in a portable format, and request deletion of your personal account data (see "Account deletion" below). To exercise any of these rights, contact us at contact@theeverchangingstory.com.

Account deletion

You may request that we delete your account and associated personal data (such as your email address) by contacting us at contact@theeverchangingstory.com. We'll delete your personal account data, but your public contributions — the text you proposed, and any of it accepted into the story — will remain on the site under the license you granted when submitting it (see the Terms and Conditions), since removing an accepted contribution would break the story's continuity for every other reader and contributor. Where reasonably possible, we'll disassociate your remaining public contributions from your account and username.

Children's privacy

This site is not directed at children. You must be at least 13 years old — or 16, if you are located in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom — to create an account. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone younger than this. If you believe a child has created an account in violation of this policy, contact us and we will delete it.

Your contributions are public

Anything you contribute to the story — proposed text, accepted paragraphs and chapters — is publicly visible to anyone who reads the site, and is not private data.

Changes to this policy

If we make a material change to what we collect or how we use it, we'll update this page and ask you to accept the new version the next time you log in.

Contact

Questions about this policy, or to exercise any of the rights above: contact@theeverchangingstory.com.