📋 Introduction
This Privacy Policy explains how migrantsnearme.com ("we", "our", or "us") collects, uses, and protects your information when you use our website and services. We are committed to protecting your privacy while providing transparency about government spending on asylum accommodation.
🔍 Information We Collect
Automatically Collected Information:
- • Browser type and version
- • Device information (mobile/desktop, screen resolution)
- • IP address (anonymized for analytics)
- • Pages visited and time spent
- • Referral sources
- • Device fingerprint (a hashed identifier derived from browser characteristics, used solely for vote abuse prevention — no personal data is extracted)
Information You Provide:
- • Email address (for account registration)
- • Location data (when voluntarily adding accommodation locations)
- • Comments and contributions to the community map
- • Contact form submissions
⚙️ How We Use Your Information
- • To provide and maintain our mapping service
- • To verify and moderate user-contributed location data
- • To prevent spam, abuse, and fraudulent activity
- • To improve our website's functionality and user experience
- • To communicate important updates about the service
- • To generate anonymous analytics and insights
🔒 Data Protection & Security
We implement appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect your personal information:
- • SSL encryption for all data transmission
- • Secure database storage with access controls
- • Regular security audits and updates
- • Limited access to personal data by authorized personnel only
- • Anonymous data processing wherever possible
🔗 Third-Party Services
Authentication:
We use Supabase for secure user authentication. Your login credentials are encrypted and stored securely in compliance with industry standards.
Maps & Geocoding:
We use OpenStreetMap and Nominatim for mapping services, and ipapi.co for approximate geolocation as a fallback when browser location is unavailable. These services may receive your IP address. Location queries are processed without linking them to your personal identity.
Analytics:
We use Vercel Analytics for anonymized page view and performance data. Vercel collects basic visitor information (page views, referral source, browser type) without using cookies or collecting personally identifiable information.
Emoji Rendering:
We use Twemoji (via cdn.jsdelivr.net) to render consistent emoji across all devices. Loading this resource may transmit your IP address to the CDN provider.
Fonts:
We use Google Fonts to display consistent typography. Loading fonts may transmit your IP address and browser information to Google's servers.
Advertising (Google AdSense):
We use Google AdSense to display advertisements on content pages. Google may collect information such as your IP address, browser type, device identifiers, and browsing patterns to serve personalised ads. See the Cookies & Tracking section below for full details and opt-out options.
Payment Processing:
We use PayPal for secure donation processing. Your payment information is handled directly by PayPal and is not stored on our servers. Please refer to PayPal's privacy policy for details on how they handle your data.
⚖️ Your Rights
Under UK data protection laws, you have the right to:
- • Access your personal data
- • Correct inaccurate information
- • Delete your account and associated data
- • Restrict processing of your data
- • Data portability (receive your data in a readable format)
- • Object to processing for legitimate interests
- • Withdraw consent at any time
🍪 Cookies & Tracking
We use cookies and similar technologies to ensure our website functions properly, to protect against spam and abuse, and to support advertising that helps fund the platform.
Types of Cookies:
- • Essential: Required for website operation and security
- • Authentication: Keep you logged in securely
- • Preferences: Remember your map settings and preferences
- • Advertising: Used by Google AdSense to serve relevant ads (see below)
Google AdSense & Advertising
This website uses Google AdSense to display advertisements on content pages. Google AdSense uses cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website and other websites. Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads based on your browsing patterns.
What data Google collects: Google may collect information such as your IP address, browser type, device identifiers, pages visited, and interactions with advertisements. This data is used to personalise ads and measure ad performance.
Your choices: You can opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings. You can also visit aboutads.info to opt out of third-party advertising cookies.
For more information, see How Google Uses Cookies in Advertising and Google's Privacy Policy.
📅 Data Retention
- • Account data: Retained until account deletion is requested
- • Location contributions: Retained for historical accuracy and public benefit
- • Analytics data: Anonymized and retained for up to 2 years
- • Security logs: Retained for 90 days for abuse prevention
- • Email communications: Deleted after 1 year unless legally required
⚖️ Legal Basis for Processing
We process your personal data based on:
- • Consent: When you register and agree to our terms
- • Legitimate Interest: To provide public information about government spending
- • Legal Obligation: To comply with applicable laws and regulations
- • Public Interest: Promoting transparency in government expenditure
🌍 International Data Transfers
Your data is primarily processed within the UK and EU. Where third-party services require data transfer outside these regions, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, including adequacy decisions and standard contractual clauses.
📧 Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your rights, please contact us:
Email:contact@migrantsnearme.com
Response Time: We aim to respond to all privacy-related inquiries within 30 days
🔄 Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for legal, operational, or regulatory reasons. We will notify users of any material changes by updating the "Last updated" date at the top of this policy and, where appropriate, providing additional notice on our website.