Privacy policy

This policy describes the personal data HerPrey collects about readers, subscribers, and contributors; what we do with it; and the rights you have over it. It does not describe how we collect or publish information about the offenders documented in our case files — that is covered in our Editorial standards.

What we collect

When you create a free account or subscribe, we store:

• Email address. Used to send sign-in links, subscription receipts, and (if you opt in) digests and alerts.
• Display name and avatar, if you sign in with Google.
• Billing identifiers issued by Stripe, PayPal, or Coinbase Commerce. We never see your card or wallet — only an opaque customer ID those processors give us.
• Engagement signals. Pages you view, items you bookmark, ratings you submit, votes you cast, and comments you post. These power the personalized recommendations described in our about page.
• Standard server logs (IP, user-agent, request paths) for security and abuse prevention, retained at most 30 days unless flagged for investigation.

What we do with it

• Authenticate your account and serve the site.
• Process subscription payments via our third-party processors.
• Build a personalized "For you" feed from your engagement signals. This personalization is local to your account; we do not share your taste profile with any third party.
• Send transactional email (sign-in links, receipts) and — only when you've opted in — periodic digests of new content.
• Defend the site against abuse, spam, and unauthorized access.

What we don't do

• We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data to advertisers or data brokers.
• We do not run advertising trackers on the public site. Our analytics is privacy-respecting and cookie-light.
• We do not store your payment card or crypto wallet credentials.

Cookies and similar technologies

We use a small number of strictly necessary cookies for sign-in sessions (set by NextAuth) and CSRF protection. We use localStorage for client-side preferences such as the recommendation nudge counter. We do not set third-party advertising cookies.

Data retention

Account data is retained while your account is active. If you delete your account, we delete all personally-identifying records within 30 days, retaining only aggregated, anonymized engagement counts for product analytics. Server logs roll off after 30 days unless flagged for security review.

Your rights

Subject to applicable law (including the EU GDPR and California CCPA where they apply), you have the right to access, correct, export, and delete the personal data we hold about you. Request any of these from our contact page and we will respond within 30 days.

Children

HerPrey is not directed to anyone under 18. The content of this site is unsuitable for minors. If we learn we have collected personal data from a minor, we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

We post material updates here and notify active subscribers by email. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision.