Privacy Policy
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 Cloudflare Web Analytics to count page views and to measure how quickly pages load. A small script is loaded from static.cloudflareinsights.com and reports to cloudflareinsights.com, which transmits your IP address to Cloudflare. Cloudflare gives us aggregate figures only: the page visited, the referring site, country, browser, and page load times. We do not see individual visitors. Cloudflare states that Web Analytics does not use any client-side state, such as cookies or localStorage, to collect usage metrics, and that it does not fingerprint individuals via their IP address, User Agent string, or any other data for the purpose of displaying analytics.
Donation counts:
To see whether the donation banner works, the site keeps three anonymous totals a day: how often the banner is shown, how often the donate box is opened, and how often a PayPal link is clicked. Each event adds one to a daily counter in our Supabase database. Nothing about you is stored with it: no IP address, identifier, cookie or page. As with any web request, Supabase receives your IP address when the count is sent.
Emoji Rendering:
We use Twemoji to render consistent emoji across all devices. The Twemoji code is served from our own site, but the emoji images are loaded from cdn.jsdelivr.net. Loading these images 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.
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 personal data (location contributions are kept but anonymised)
- • 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 a small number of cookies to ensure our website functions properly, to keep you signed in, to remember your preferences, and to protect against spam and abuse. We do not use advertising or third-party tracking cookies.
Types of Cookies:
- • Essential: Required for website operation and security
- • Authentication: Keep you logged in securely
- • Preferences: Remember your map settings and preferences
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.