Privacy Policy
Effective [EFFECTIVE DATE]. Last updated [DATE].
The short version. We collect only what the game needs: your name, username, email, password (stored scrambled) and your picks. We don't run ads and we don't sell or share your personal information. We use Google Analytics to count visits, with your consent where the law requires it, and you can switch it off anytime. You can ask us to delete your account at any time.
1. Who we are
Hollywood by Night (hollywoodbynight.com, "we", "us") is a free fan prediction game operated by [LEGAL NAME OR COMPANY], [POSTAL ADDRESS], Los Angeles, California, USA. We are responsible for the personal information described in this policy. You can reach us at [email protected].
2. What we collect
Information you give us
- Account details: your name (as shown on leaderboards), username, email address and password. We never store your password itself, only a one-way bcrypt hash of it.
- Your ballot: the titles you pick in each category, the stars you give them, and whether and when you submitted.
- Leagues: leagues you create or join, their names, and your membership.
- Email preferences: whether you want email updates (reminders and results).
- Messages you send us, for example a support or privacy request.
Information collected automatically
- Session cookie: a random sign-in token that keeps you logged in (see Cookies).
- Technical data: your IP address and basic request information are processed by our servers and hosting provider to deliver the site, prevent abuse (for example limiting repeated login attempts) and keep it secure. We don't use it to build a profile of you.
- Email records: which game emails we have sent you, so we don't send the same one twice.
We don't collect payment information, precise location, contacts, or any sensitive categories of data, and we don't buy data about you from anyone.
3. How we use it
- To create and run your account, including verifying your email and resetting your password.
- To save your ballot, score it against the official nominations and winners, and show league leaderboards.
- To show your name and score to the other members of leagues you join. Your individual picks stay private until ballots lock.
- To send service emails (activation, password reset) and, if you leave "Email updates" on, game emails: deadline reminders (up to five, only while your ballot is not submitted), one reminder if you signed up but never started your ballot, and your results when the nominations and the winners are announced. Every one of these has a one-click link to turn them off.
- To keep the service secure, prevent fraud and abuse, and fix problems.
- To understand, in aggregate, how the site is used (which pages are visited, where visitors come from) so we can improve it.
- To comply with the law and enforce our Terms.
We don't use your information for advertising, and we don't make automated decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects.
6. How long we keep it
- Account, ballot and league data: while your account is active. If you delete your account, we erase it within 30 days, except for backups, which roll over within [BACKUP PERIOD, e.g. 35 days].
- Accounts that are never activated: removed after [e.g. 30 days].
- Sign-in sessions: 12 hours. Email verification and reset links: 24 hours or less.
- Past seasons' scores may be kept in your account so you can look back, until you delete it.
7. Security
The site runs over HTTPS. Passwords are hashed with bcrypt, sign-in tokens are stored only as hashes, and access to our systems is limited. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we can't promise absolute security, but if a breach affects you we will tell you as the law requires.
8. Your rights and choices
Wherever you live, you can:
- turn email updates on or off from your account menu or from any of those emails;
- ask for a copy of your data, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete your account and data;
- ask us any question about how we handle your information.
Email [email protected] from the address on your account. We may need to confirm it's you before acting, and we reply within 30 days (45 for California requests). We won't treat you differently for using your rights.
California residents
Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended, you have the right to know what personal information we collect, use and disclose; to access it in a portable form; to correct it; to delete it; and to opt out of its sale or sharing. We don't sell or share it (Google Analytics works as our service provider, with Google Signals and ad personalisation turned off), and we don't use sensitive personal information. In the last 12 months we collected the categories described in section 2 (identifiers such as name, username and email; account login details; internet activity limited to your use of the game; and your picks) for the purposes in section 3, and disclosed them only to the service providers in section 4. You may use an authorized agent to make a request. Under California's "Shine the Light" law, we don't disclose personal information to third parties for their own direct marketing.
Visitors from the EEA, the UK and Switzerland
We process your data to perform our contract with you (running your account and the game), on the basis of our legitimate interests (security and abuse prevention), and with your consent where we ask for it (analytics cookies and game emails, both of which you can turn off at any time). You also have the rights to restrict or object to processing, and to complain to your local data protection authority. Your data is stored in the United States; where required, we rely on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses or an equivalent safeguard for this transfer.
9. Children
Hollywood by Night is not directed to children under 13 and you must be at least 13 to sign up (or the higher minimum age where you live, such as 16 in parts of the EU, unless a parent consents). We don't knowingly collect information from children under 13. If you believe a child has given us information, contact us and we will delete it.
10. Changes to this policy
If we change this policy we will update the date at the top. If the change is significant we will tell you by email or on the site before it takes effect.
11. Contact
[LEGAL NAME OR COMPANY]
[POSTAL ADDRESS], Los Angeles, CA, USA
[email protected]