Privacy Policy

Launchrace is run by launch race, an individual based in India, who is responsible for the personal data described here (the “data controller” or “data fiduciary”). Contact: support@launchrace.io. We collect only what we need to run the service, and we do not sell personal data.

What we collect

• Account: email address, display name and a one-way hash of your password (never the password itself). If you turn on two-factor sign-in, its secret (stored encrypted) and one-time recovery codes (stored as hashes).
• Sessions and security: your browser’s user-agent and a shortened IP address for each signed-in session, and records of sign-in attempts, to protect accounts from abuse.
• Content you submit: listings, launches and images, which are public once approved, and comments, which are public (shown with your account name, or your public profile name if you have one) once they pass our checks (comments from new accounts, or with links, are reviewed by a moderator first). You can delete your own comments.
• What you do on the site: your votes, saved products, follows and any reports you send. Vote counts are public; who voted is not.
• Ownership checks: when you claim a product we check a DNS record or a tag on its website, and keep the result.
• Public maker profile (optional): if you create one, the handle, name, bio and website you enter are public, together with your live products. Without one, your name is not shown on products. You can remove it at any time.
• Purchases: what you bought, when, the amount and any promotion credit. Arena bids are shown publicly as amounts for a product, never with your name.
• Email: we send account emails (verification, password reset, security notices). Optional emails, such as a reminder when a product you follow launches or an alert about a comment on your product, can be turned off in Settings or with the unsubscribe link in each message.
• Newsletter (optional): if you subscribe to the weekly digest, your email address and when you confirmed it. You must confirm by email first, and every issue has a one-click unsubscribe link.
• Products we list ourselves: for a product listed by us from its public website, we keep the product’s public details and, if we write to its maker, the business contact address we used (one published on the product’s own website) and the date.

Analytics

We do not use advertising trackers or analytics cookies. To count visits and show how many people are online, we record page views with a one-way hash of the visitor’s IP address and browser combined with a secret that changes every day and is deleted after two days, so a person cannot be recognised from one day to the next. We store no cookie for this and no raw IP address with these records.

Why we use it

To provide your account and the directory (performance of our agreement with you), to keep the service secure and fair, for example by stopping fake votes (legitimate interest), to send the newsletter you asked for (your consent, which you can withdraw at any time), and to meet legal obligations such as keeping payment records.

Who can see it

Our small team of moderators and admins can see account details to run the service and handle requests. Every staff action is recorded in an audit log with its reason.

Who processes it for us

• Vultr: hosting for our servers and database.
• Our email delivery provider: sends the emails described above.
• Dodo Payments: when you buy a promotion, it receives your name, email address, billing country and payment details to take the payment, calculate tax and send your invoice. It acts as merchant of record and handles that data under its own privacy policy. We receive only the order status, the amount and the tax charged.

These providers may store or process data outside your country. They process it only on our instructions or, for Dodo Payments, under its own terms as a payment provider.

How long we keep it

• Account data: while your account exists. Deleted accounts are erased after a 30-day grace period (during which you can ask us to cancel the deletion).
• Session and sign-in records: up to 90 days.
• Anonymous visit records: up to 13 months.
• Newsletter: until you unsubscribe.
• Payment records, and the audit and moderation logs that explain staff decisions: as long as the law requires and as needed to handle disputes.

Children

Launchrace is not for anyone under 16. We ask every new member to confirm their age and do not knowingly collect data from younger people. If you think a child has given us their details, email support@launchrace.io and we will delete them.

Your rights

You can ask to access, correct, export or delete your data, withdraw consent, or object to processing, by emailing support@launchrace.io. You can delete your account yourself in Settings. To raise a complaint (a “grievance”), write to the same address; we reply within 30 days. You may also complain to your data protection authority.