pwnHACKER // PRIVACY POLICY

When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor's IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

• An anonymized string (hash) created from your email address may be provided to the Gravatar service to check if you use it. Gravatar's privacy policy: automattic.com/privacy ↗
• After your comment is approved, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
• Comment metadata is retained indefinitely so follow-up comments can be recognised and approved automatically.

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

• Use a tool like ExifTool to strip metadata from images before uploading.
• GPS coordinates embedded in smartphone photos can reveal your precise location at the time of capture.
• This applies to any image file — JPEG, PNG, HEIC, TIFF, and more.

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

• Login page: A temporary cookie is set to determine if your browser accepts cookies. It contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
• Login session: When you log in, several cookies save your login information and screen display choices. Login cookies last two days; screen option cookies last one year.
• Remember Me: If selected, your login persists for two weeks. Logging out removes all login cookies immediately.
• Article editing: An additional cookie is saved containing only the post ID of the article you just edited. Contains no personal data. Expires after one day.

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website directly.

• These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, and embed additional third-party tracking.
• They may monitor your interaction with that embedded content — including if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
• pwnHACKER has no control over the data practices of third-party embedded content providers.

Data sharing is minimal and purposeful. We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data.

• Password resets: If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.
• Spam detection: Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.
• Gravatar: An anonymized email hash may be shared with Gravatar for profile picture lookup only.

Retention periods vary by data type and are kept to the minimum necessary for site operation.

• Comments: The comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This allows us to recognise and approve follow-up comments automatically without holding them in a moderation queue.
• Registered user profiles: Personal information provided in your user profile is stored for the duration of your account. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username).
• Website administrators can also see and edit user information.

You retain meaningful control over any personal data we hold about you.

• Export: If you have an account or have left comments, you can request a full export of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided.
• Erasure: You can request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
• Edit: Registered users can update their profile information at any time through their account settings. Username changes are not permitted.
• To exercise any of these rights, use the contact page ↗ or reach out via @majorjoker on X ↗.

Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service. Beyond this, no personal data is transmitted to external servers or third-party databases by pwnHACKER as part of normal site operation.

• Spam detection services may receive comment text, IP address, and browser information for classification purposes.
• Embedded third-party content (videos, widgets) may independently transmit data per their own privacy policies.
• This site does not use advertising networks, marketing trackers, or analytics platforms that profile individual users.