Privacy

1. Website operator and data controller

The website operator and controller responsible for NetzMate is:

Legal name

Alberto Ursino (individual), operating NetzMate

Place of residence

Villach, Austria

Contact and privacy email

netzmate.support@gmail.com

2. What information does NetzMate use?

• Account information: your email address and login-verification records support sign-in and account protection. Your first and last name identify your account for administration and support; they are not identity verification.
• Player matching: your birth date calculates your current age and supports accurate age filters. Gender and nationality support profile information and matching filters. Your city, its coordinates, and ITN ranking support location, distance, and playing-level searches. The coordinates describe your selected city, not continuous GPS tracking.
• Optional profile information: a profile picture and OTV profile link, if you add them.
• Messages and preferences: conversations, message content, timestamps, read status, chat requests and their introductory messages, acceptance or decline decisions, chat-request preferences, archived chats, favorites, blocked players, and email-notification settings.
• Technical and support information: information you send to support, and technical information processed when the website or its providers handle requests, such as IP addresses and browser information.

Registration requires email, first and last name, birth date, gender, nationality, city, and ITN ranking. A picture and OTV profile link are optional.

3. Why do we use your data?

We use information to provide account access, player discovery, messaging, and your chosen account features. Processing necessary to provide the requested service relies on Article 6(1)(b) GDPR.

Login-request limits and blocking help protect accounts and prevent unwanted contact. Our legitimate interests in operating a safe, reliable service are relevant under Article 6(1)(f) GDPR, subject to necessity and the rights of the people affected.

Login emails let you access your account. Optional new-message and chat-request alerts help you respond to players and can be disabled in account settings. They are service notifications, not permission to send marketing. Reading this notice is not consent to unrelated processing.

4. Who can see your information?

Other signed-in players with access to your profile can see your first name, surname initial, age and birth year, gender, nationality, city, ITN ranking, picture, and OTV profile link. NetzMate does not display your account's full surname, exact birth date, or email address to other players, including in image descriptions or message notifications. You can view your own private account details.

Messages, photos, and external profiles may reveal information you choose to share yourself. New-message emails show the sender's first name and surname initial and a conversation link, not message contents or private account details.

You can require permission requests for new conversations in account settings. New requests include an introductory message that both participants can view before acceptance. It becomes the first chat message if accepted; no further messages can be sent before acceptance. Existing active chats stay open. Request emails identify the sender by first name and surname initial and link to the request without including its message text. Request introductions, like chat messages, are not end-to-end encrypted and may be accessed by authorized administrators for support and moderation.

Chat messages are available to the conversation participants and are stored by NetzMate to provide messaging. Messages are not end-to-end encrypted. Authorized administrators may access their contents for support and moderation.

Blocking hides players from each other in search, favorites, and chats and prevents messaging. It does not delete existing records or copies already received.

5. External services

• Google reCAPTCHA: loads on registration to help prevent automated abuse. Google may process IP addresses, device/browser information, interactions, and cookies. NetzMate sends the CAPTCHA response token to Google for verification. See Google's privacy policy.
• OpenStreetMap Nominatim: receives city-search text from our server to provide city suggestions and coordinates. See the OpenStreetMap Foundation privacy policy.
• jsDelivr, unpkg, and Tailwind CDN: provide scripts and styles. Your browser contacts them directly, sharing technical information such as your IP address.
• Hosting and email: service providers process information needed to run the website and deliver emails. Hosting providers and processing locations have not yet been finalized. The support mailbox uses Gmail.
• External links: OTV profile links and PayPal donation links lead to other services with their own privacy notices.

Depending on the provider, processing may take place outside the European Economic Area. The provider arrangements, locations, and applicable transfer safeguards still need to be finalized.

6. How long is data kept?

You can delete your account in account settings. This removes your account and associated chats, messages, and chat requests from the application's database, including those conversations for the other participant. It does not automatically remove previously delivered emails, support correspondence, recipient copies, or backups.

Separate retention periods for login records, technical logs, support correspondence, and backups have not yet been finalized.

7. Cookies and similar technologies

NetzMate uses session and CSRF cookies for sign-in and protection against forged requests. Google reCAPTCHA also uses cookies and may process information about your device and interactions. This notice does not replace consent where consent is legally required.

8. Your rights

Subject to the GDPR, you may request access, correction, deletion, restriction, and portability of your personal data, and object to processing based on legitimate interests. Where processing relies on consent, you may withdraw it without affecting earlier lawful processing.

Contact the email in section 1 to exercise your rights. We may need to verify your identity and normally respond within one month; we will explain any lawful extension within that month.

9. Updates

We will update this notice when the service or its data handling changes and revise the date above.