Privacy Policy

Crackwatch (“we”, “us”) is a news and community platform that tracks the protection status of video games. The site operator is the data controller for the personal data described below. You can reach us through the official channels listed in the site footer.

• Account data — username, e-mail address and your password. The password is stored only as a cryptographic hash (bcrypt); we cannot read it.
• Steam sign-in — if you log in with Steam we receive your public SteamID, display name and avatar from Valve. We never see your Steam password. Steam accounts get an internal placeholder e-mail generated by us.
• Content you create — comments, game requests, watchlist entries, notification preferences and profile settings.
• Technical data — standard server logs (IP address, browser user-agent, requested URL) kept for security and debugging, and basic usage statistics collected through cookies by Google Analytics.

• To run the service — accounts, sessions, comments, notifications (performance of a contract).
• To keep it safe — abuse prevention, moderation, security logs (legitimate interest).
• To understand usage — aggregated analytics that show us which pages matter (Google Analytics).
• To e-mail you — transactional messages only: password resets and notifications you explicitly enabled. No marketing e-mail, ever.

We use two kinds of cookies:

• Essential — the session cookie that keeps you logged in. The site cannot work without it.
• Analytics — Google Analytics cookies (_ga and friends) used for anonymous usage statistics. You can block them in your browser settings or with the Google Analytics opt-out add-on without losing any functionality.

We do not sell or rent personal data. It is shared only with the providers required to run the site:

• our hosting provider (servers and database),
• Google LLC (Google Analytics),
• our e-mail delivery provider (SMTP, transactional mail only),
• Valve Corporation (only when you choose to sign in with Steam).

Store links on game pages lead to external shops (Steam, GOG and others) that have their own privacy policies.

• Account data — until you delete your account.
• Server logs — rotated automatically after a short period.
• Analytics data — according to the retention configured in Google Analytics.

Under the GDPR you can ask us at any time to:

• access a copy of your data,
• correct or delete it,
• restrict or object to its processing,
• hand it over in a portable format.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority (in Poland: PUODO). To exercise any of these rights, contact us through the official channels in the footer.

Request deletion through our official channels and we will remove your account data. Public contributions (such as comments) may be anonymized instead of removed so that discussions stay readable.

Crackwatch is not directed at children and is intended for users aged 16 or older.

When this policy changes we will update this page and the date at the top. Significant changes will be announced on the site.