Privacy Policy

Last updated: 21 October 2026

This Privacy Policy explains what personal data Where is my Room (“we”, “us”) collects, why we collect it, who sees it, and the rights you have. We are based in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, India, and handle your data in line with applicable Indian law, including the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.

1. What we collect

Account data. Your email address, full name, a username you choose, your birth year, and an optional profile photo. If you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address and profile picture from Google. We never receive or store your Google password. You may also add an optional phone number on your account page.

Location. If you choose to set a home location, we store its coordinates and city. We use it to show you nearby suggestions to vote on. It is collected only when you tap the button to share it, and we hide voting until it is refreshed after a short period.

Contributions. Anything you submit: listing details, corrections, photos, comments, votes, and moderator applications and their reasons.

Activity and trust data. Notifications sent to you, your Renown and badges, and an internal trust score used to prevent abuse. The trust score is not shown to you or to other members.

Security data. Your IP address, browser/device user-agent, and a log of account events (registration, logins, sign-in method, failed attempts, abuse-prevention actions) with timestamps.

2. Why we collect it

• Email: to send one-time login codes and essential account notifications. We do not send marketing email without separate consent.
• Name, username, birth year: to create and identify your account and to confirm the minimum age.
• Profile photo and phone: optional, to personalise your account.
• Home location: to match you with nearby suggestions so that verification comes from people who actually know the area.
• Contributions: to run the directory and show it to other people.
• Trust score, Renown, badges: to run the community fairly and reward helpful contributors.
• Security data: to detect and prevent abuse such as spam and brute-force login attempts, and to keep accounts secure.

3. What is public

Listings, photos, corrections and comments you contribute are shown to anyone who visits the site once approved. Comments and contributions show your username and, where shown, your profile photo and Renown. Your email address, birth year, phone number and home location are never shown publicly.

4. Cookies and sessions

We use a session cookie to keep you signed in and, only if you tick “Keep me logged in”, a longer-lived cookie that keeps you signed in across visits. We also store a small cache in your browser so the site loads quickly and opens an offline page when you have no connection. These are strictly necessary for the site to function. We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.

5. How your data is protected

We never store passwords. Login uses a one-time code sent to your email, or Google sign-in. One-time codes are stored only as irreversible hashes and expire automatically. Uploaded photos are re-processed on upload, which removes hidden location and device metadata (EXIF data). Every form is protected against cross-site request forgery, and we limit repeated login attempts. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your data.

6. Who we share data with

We do not sell your personal data. We share it only where needed to run the service:

• Email delivery provider: to send login codes and notifications.
• Google: only if you choose Google sign-in. Google’s own privacy policy governs the data it holds.
• Google reCAPTCHA: loaded only when we detect repeated failed login attempts, to tell people from bots.
• Content delivery networks: page styles, icons and scripts are loaded from public CDNs (such as jsDelivr and unpkg), which can see your IP address when your browser fetches them.
• Our hosting provider: which stores the data on our behalf.
• Authorities: where we are legally required to disclose information.

If we later use third-party AI services, for example to help moderators review submitted listings and comments, we will update this policy before doing so. We would not send your email address or sign-in details to such services.

7. How long we keep it

We keep your account data while your account is active. You can request deletion from My Account. Deletion takes effect after a 30-day grace period, and logging back in during that period cancels it. When it is processed, we remove your name, email, phone, location and profile photo. Comments you posted are either removed or kept unlinked from you, depending on the choice you make when you request deletion. Approved listing contributions stay in the directory without being linked to you. We keep security logs only as long as needed to prevent abuse, and any records we are legally required to retain.

8. Children’s privacy

This site is not directed at, and does not knowingly collect data from, anyone under 18. Accounts are restricted to people who confirm they are 18 or older at registration. If you believe a child has registered, contact us and we will delete the account.

9. Your rights

You may access and correct your personal data, ask for it to be erased, withdraw consent, and make a complaint about how it is handled. Most of this is available directly from My Account. For anything else, email alok@whereismyroom.in with the subject “Privacy request”. We will respond within a reasonable time as required by law.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the site evolves, for example when a new feature collects additional data. We will update the “Last updated” date above when we do.

11. Contact and Grievance Officer

Questions or complaints about this policy or how your data is handled can be sent to our Grievance Officer, Alok Shukla, at alok@whereismyroom.in. We acknowledge grievances within 24 hours and aim to resolve them within 15 days. See also our Contact page.