Wikivoyage:Privacy policy

The aim of the following article is to give you information about the kind, amount and meaning of collecting private data and how they are used.

Data recording

 * Data are recorded in the server log files.

Logging user name or IP-address when editing
Every edit on a Wiki is recorded and logged. The following information is visible to everybody on the internet:


 * exact time of the edit
 * user name or IP address
 * contents of the edit
 * difference with earlier versions
 * all contributions of the user identified either via user name or IP-address

All these data will be stored forever on the Wiki and are therefore publicly available as stated above. Deletion is only possible as an absolute exception when a proper reason is given. Deletion is technically rather complicated.

As Wikivoyage gives out database dumps on a regular base, all those information can be analysed by third parties using IT means.

User accounts
When creating a new user account a user name and password must be given. Additionally an e-mail address and the real name can be given by the user.

With the exception of the password all those data are recorded unencrypted on our server. The password is one-way-encrypted and therefore hard to hack if the server is corrupted by unauthorized intruders.

All user data except the user name are editable by the user. Only the actual file is recorded. The user name can only be changed by an administrator if provided with a proper reason.

The time of the last login/logout is also recorded in the server log.

A once created user account will exist forever.

All those private user data are not included in database dumps.

Cookies
When login in a so-called Cookies is saved on your computer. The cookie contains your user ID, your user name and a session key. The session-key a hexadecimal-number identifying the Wiki. You can use your browser settings to keep or delete the cookie.

Log files of the Web-Servers
The log files of our web servers are normally recorded for 7 to 14 days.The following information can be taken out of those files:


 * your IP-address
 * the exact time of page entry
 * your browser id and the id of your browser plugins
 * the system your computer is running on (i.e. LINUX, MAC OS, Windows)
 * the wanted url, meaning which pages are opened and whether you are editing or previewing
 * the referrer, which means the url of the page (on any server) you opened immediately before.

Those log files are analysed regularly by our server admins for internal statistical use. Any information created out of the log files are issued in a anonymous way.

E-Mails
Providing an e-mail address is voluntary. An e-mail address becomes valid only after a validation mail is returned by the user.

Every user with a valid e-mail address is able to send each other user with a valid e-mail address an e-mail. The address of the receiver is hidden while the sender gives away its e-mail address automatically.

This action is recorded in the mail server log. The e-mail contents are not recorded and not accessible to the admins. If an e-mail is returned by the users mail server it might arrive to the postmasters inbox.

Wikivoyage is not maintaining any mailing lists.

Chatrooms
none

Data distribution to third parties
All personal data recorded on our server are not given away to any third party. Those data can only be seen and edited by server admins who are currently Hansm and Unger.

The only exception of the above is:


 * If asked by legal authorities for crime pursuit (we are legally committed to do so).
 * If a suspicion of data abuse by admins occurs, WIKIVOYAGE e.V. has the right to use this data for investigation purposes. The data will be seen by a commission who is obliged to non-disclosure.

Data safety
We do our very best to maintain the server and software, nevertheless mistakes may occur.

Although heavily protected, breaking in is not completely impossible. If this happens all data are visible.

Backup dumps are automatically generated and stored by our server. The backups are stored for the period of one year. Additionally our admins do manual backups. Those backups include personal data but are not the same as the dumps mentioned above for distribution.

Anonymity of the user
You only have to give a user name and a password therefore you are anonymous to everybody.

Occasionally it may happen that your session data is lost although you did not log out. When saving your edits your IP-address is given instead your user name (a warning will pop up prior to saving). Now it is possible to use your IP address with your name to find out who you are (who is database usage for identifying).

Currently Wikivoyage authors are attributed by their user names. We can not guarantee that this will be forever. It might be possible to use a given real name instead. A note will be issued prior to change.

If any work is imported from any other server we will attribute the same way it was done on the server of origin which means a real name (if given there) will be used here as well.

EXIF data of digital photographies
When taking a digital picture your camera is storing data of aperture, light and more, it also stores the date and time the picture was taken. When you upload a picture those data are uploaded as well. So one can assume that you (identified by your user name) have taken a picture i.e. of a church an march 20th 2007. Third parties may use this for profiling. If you don't want your exif data being visible remove them with an appropriate editor.