Privacy policy

Who we are

DownSonar (downsonar.com) is run by Pixelsolutions B.V., the Netherlands. We decide what happens with the data described here. Questions or requests: info [at] downsonar.com.

When you visit the site

The site is delivered through Cloudflare, which protects it against attacks and makes it fast. Cloudflare sees your IP address and the pages you request, and tells us the country you are in. Our server is in Germany.

Like every web server, ours writes a log line for each request: your IP address, the time, the page, your browser and the page you came from. We use these logs to keep the site secure and to fix faults. They are currently kept without a fixed end date, and they are never shared or sold.

Visitor statistics without cookies

To see which pages are used, the site sends a small message to our own statistics service (px.aigenta.app, on our own servers) when you open a page. It stores nothing on your device: no cookies and no other identifiers.

The service records the page, the page you came from, your country, the type of browser, system and device, your screen size and language. To count visitors it uses a code made from your IP address and browser that changes every day, so we cannot recognise you on another day. Your IP address itself is not stored there.

Problem reports

When you tell us a website or app is not working for you, we store:

• which site and what kind of problem you picked;
• the time;
• your country, as Cloudflare tells it to us;
• a code made from your IP address that changes every day, so we can count each person once and stop someone from reporting the same site over and over.

Your IP address itself is not stored with the report. Because the code changes every day, a report cannot be linked to you after that day. Other visitors only see totals: how many people reported a problem, what kind of problems, and from which countries.

Accounts and comments

You only need an account to write comments. Reading comments, liking them, reporting a comment and reporting a problem with a site never need one.

For an account we store:

• the name you choose, shown next to your comments;
• your e-mail address, never shown to anyone, and whether you confirmed it;
• your password, only as a one-way hash, if you sign in with an e-mail address;
• which ways you sign in: for Google or Facebook the account number they give us;
• the country flag you pick, and when you created the account and last signed in.

When you sign in with Google or Facebook, they tell us your name, your e-mail address and an account number. We do not get your password or your contacts, and we never post anything for you.

With a comment we store its text, the time, the site, the country Cloudflare tells us (for the flag, unless you pick another country or none) and the same daily code as problem reports, to stop abuse. Comments are public: your name, flag, text and the time are shown to everyone.

When you like or dislike a comment without being signed in, we store a code made from your IP address (not the address itself), so each person counts once. When you report a comment, we store the reason, your note and the daily code.

We only send e-mails you ask for: the link to confirm your address and the link to choose a new password.

When you use the contact form, your message, the e-mail address you enter, your name if you give it, and your country are sent to our mailbox so we can answer you. We also keep them on our server for 90 days, with your IP address, so we can answer you and block spam. Addresses we have blocked stay on a block list until we remove them. To stop spam the form looks at the type of network and browser you use, and may ask you to wait a moment or answer a simple question. For this we keep a daily-changing code (not your address), the network number and a fingerprint of the message for 8 days.

Our moderators can hide or delete comments that break the rules and can block accounts. Everything is kept as long as you have the account. You can delete it yourself at any time on your account page: your account, name, e-mail address and all your comments are deleted right away. Removing DownSonar in your Facebook settings does the same for an account you made with Facebook.

Embeds

Other websites can show a status card from DownSonar. When you save a card of "this moment", we store that site's status at that time and the same daily code, only to limit how many cards one person can save. A card shown on another website loads from our server, so it is covered by "When you visit the site" above.

Website checks

Our servers regularly open public websites to see whether they work. That is about the websites, not about you: it involves no personal data of our visitors.

Cookies and your browser

Visitors who do not sign in get no cookies at all. We use no advertising or tracking services, so you do not see a cookie banner.

Only when you sign in we set the cookies that keep you signed in: ds_u (a random code, 60 days, renewed while you use the site; signing out removes it) and, while you sign in with Google or Facebook, ds_oa (10 minutes, protects the sign-in against forgery). Both are needed for the account to work.

A few small things are kept in your own browser (local storage) and are never sent to us:

• ds-theme: the theme you picked (Auto, Light or Dark);
• ds-lang, ds-lang-ask and ds-dict: the language you picked, that we already asked, and a copy of that language's texts. To suggest a language we look at the country of your connection when the page loads; it is not stored for this;
• ds-rep:<site>: when you last reported a problem with a site, so the button can tell you that you already did;
• ds-pv and ds-install-x: how many pages you opened here and when you closed the "Get the app" banner, so it only shows on a second visit and not again for 30 days.

To work offline and as an app, the site also keeps a copy of its own design files and its offline page in your browser (a service worker). That copy holds no data about you.

You can remove them at any time by clearing this site's data in your browser.

Why we may do this

Running and protecting the site, statistics without cookies, server logs and problem reports: our legitimate interest in a working, secure site and in showing people whether a service is down.

Accounts and comments: the agreement you make with us when you create an account; keeping comments civil and stopping abuse: our legitimate interest.

Who else gets data

Cloudflare (delivery and protection of the site) and the company that hosts our server in Germany process data for us, and our e-mail provider sends the account e-mails. Google and Facebook only take part when you choose to sign in with them. We do not sell data and do not share it with advertisers.

Your rights

You can ask us for a copy of your data, to correct or delete it, to limit its use or to object to it, and to receive it in a common format. Write to info [at] downsonar.com; we answer within a month.

You can also complain to the Dutch data protection authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens) or to the authority in your own country.

Changes

When we change what the site does with data, we update this page and the date below.