Introduction

WorldSeeIran ("we," "our," or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our website and use our services.

Important: WorldSeeIran is an informational website built to provide information about Iran, including monitoring internet connectivity status, raising awareness about human rights violations, and documenting information about victims and oppressors. In general, we do not require you to provide personal data to browse this website. We process personal data only when you choose to submit content (for example, an event submission) or when you use admin-only features (authentication).

This Privacy Policy complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the ePrivacy Directive (Cookie Law), and other applicable data protection laws. If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom, or other jurisdictions with data protection laws, you have specific rights regarding your personal data, which are detailed in this policy.

Nature of Our Website

WorldSeeIran is an informational website designed to:

• Provide information about internet connectivity status in Iran
• Raise awareness about human rights violations in Iran
• Document and display information about victims of human rights abuses ("Unforgotten Heroes")
• Document information about those responsible for human rights violations ("Oppressors")
• Provide a public slogans directory to browse protest slogans
• Enable anonymous public submissions of slogans for admin review
• Provide a "Chant mode" view to help groups chant the same slogan in sync (client-side timing; no audio recording)
• Enable anonymous public submissions of oppressor information
• Allow users to vote on the accuracy of oppressor information
• Enable anonymous comments and reports about oppressor information
• Provide real-time air traffic tracking information over Iran using publicly available flight data
• Share information about social media discussions and trends related to Iran
• Provide a "Solidarity Hub" to discover and submit global solidarity events supporting Iran

We do not collect, store, or process personal data for any commercial purposes. This website serves purely informational and awareness-raising purposes. Any minimal data collection is strictly limited to essential website functionality or optional analytics (which requires your explicit consent).

Information We Collect

We do NOT actively collect personal data from visitors to this informational website. The following sections describe the minimal, automated information that may be collected:

Information You Provide (Anonymous Submissions)

Our website allows users to submit information through the following features:

• Slogan Submissions: Users can anonymously submit protest slogans and optional details (for example language, translation, transliteration, context, tags, and source links). We do NOT collect any personal information about the submitter. Submissions are reviewed by administrators before publication. Do not include sensitive personal data in submissions (for example private addresses, identity documents, or personal phone numbers).
• Oppressor Submissions: Users can anonymously submit information about individuals, including images, biographical information, and evidence. We do NOT collect any personal information about the submitter. Submissions are completely anonymous.
• Votes: Users can vote on whether oppressor information is correct or incorrect. Votes are anonymous and linked only to a hashed IP address for rate limiting purposes. We cannot identify individual users from votes.
• Comments: Users can submit anonymous comments providing additional information about oppressors. Comments are reviewed by administrators before publication. We do NOT collect any personal information about commenters.
• Reports: Users can anonymously report false or misleading information about oppressors. Reports are reviewed by administrators. We do NOT collect any personal information about reporters.
• Solidarity Event Submissions: Users can submit global solidarity events (for example, protests, rallies, vigils) for review by administrators. Submissions may include:
  • Event details (title, description, type, date/time, country, location, map coordinates)
  • Optional organizer information (organizer name, email, phone, website, social links)
  • Optional proof image/poster uploaded by the submitter

  Public vs. admin-only: When an event is approved, we may display event details publicly and may display the organizer name and proof image if provided. Organizer email and phone (if provided) are treated as admin-only contact information and are not intended for public display.

  Safety note: Do not upload images that contain sensitive personal data (for example, home addresses, identity documents, or faces of people who did not consent).

Important Privacy Protection: For all anonymous submissions (votes, comments, reports), we use one-way cryptographic hashing of IP addresses. This means:

• We cannot reverse the hash to identify your IP address
• We cannot link multiple submissions to the same user
• Hashed IP addresses are used solely for rate limiting to prevent abuse
• Your anonymity is protected even from us

Administrator Access: If you are an administrator accessing the admin panel, authentication information is collected solely for security and access control purposes.

Note: All user submissions (oppressor information, votes, comments, reports) are completely anonymous. We do not collect, store, or process any personal information that could identify you as the submitter.

Automatically Collected Information (Minimal and Essential Only)

When you visit our informational website, the following minimal information may be automatically collected:

Essential Information (Automatically Collected):

• Technical Data: Browser type, version, operating system, device type - necessary for website functionality and security
• Server Logs: IP address (anonymized in server logs), date/time of visit, pages accessed - required for security and preventing abuse
• Session Information: Temporary session data to maintain website functionality (cleared when you close your browser)
• Rate Limiting Data: For anonymous submissions (votes, comments, reports), we use one-way hashed IP addresses to enforce rate limits and prevent abuse. These hashed values cannot be reversed to identify your actual IP address.

Analytics Information (Only with Your Explicit Consent):

Only if you accept "Measurement" cookies, we may collect analytics information through Google Analytics, including:

• IP address (always anonymized - last octet removed)
• Pages you visit and time spent on pages
• Device type and screen resolution
• Geographic location (country-level only, anonymized)
• Referring website addresses

Important: We do NOT collect personally identifiable information such as names, email addresses, phone numbers, or addresses from general website visitors. We do NOT use Facebook Pixel, Meta Pixel, advertising tracking pixels, or any marketing/advertising tracking technologies.

Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR Compliance)

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we process your data based on the following legal grounds:

• Legitimate Interest: Essential technical data (IP address in server logs, browser information) is processed for security, fraud prevention, and ensuring website functionality. This is necessary to protect our website and users.
• Consent: Analytics data through Google Analytics is processed only with your explicit consent when you accept "Measurement" cookies. You can withdraw consent at any time.
• Legal Obligation: We may process data to comply with legal obligations, such as responding to valid legal requests or court orders.

Note: As an informational website, we minimize data collection to the absolute minimum necessary. We do not process personal data for commercial purposes, marketing, or advertising.

How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Provide, maintain, and improve our services
• Monitor internet connectivity status in Iran
• Provide air traffic tracking information over Iran using publicly available flight data
• Document and display information about victims of human rights abuses and those responsible for such violations
• Process anonymous slogan submissions and optional source links
• Review and moderate user-submitted slogans before publication
• Provide the "Chant mode" view (client-side) to help groups chant in sync
• Process anonymous oppressor submissions, votes, comments, and reports
• Review and moderate user-submitted content (oppressor information, comments, reports) before publication
• Review, moderate, and (when approved) publish solidarity event submissions
• Store and serve uploaded proof images for solidarity event submissions (when provided)
• Enforce rate limiting to prevent abuse of submission features (using hashed IP addresses)
• Respond to your inquiries
• Send you updates and information about our services (with your consent)
• Analyze usage patterns to improve user experience (using Google Analytics, only with your explicit consent)
• Detect, prevent, and address technical issues
• Comply with legal obligations

Third-Party Services and APIs

Our Service integrates with the following third-party services and APIs to provide functionality:

• Google Analytics: We use Google Analytics (gtag.js) to understand website usage and improve our services. This service is only activated with your explicit consent when you accept "Measurement" cookies. Google Analytics collects anonymous data about page views, session duration, device type, and geographic location (with IP anonymization enabled). We have configured Google Analytics with IP anonymization and Do Not Track (DNT) respect enabled. Data is processed according to Google's privacy policy. For more information, visit Google's Privacy Policy.
• Cloudflare Radar API: We use Cloudflare Radar API to monitor and analyze internet connectivity status in Iran. This service provides real-time and historical data about internet traffic patterns. Data is processed according to Cloudflare's privacy policy and terms of service. For more information, visit Cloudflare's Privacy Policy.
• OpenSky Network API: We use OpenSky Network API to provide real-time air traffic tracking over Iran. This service provides aircraft position and flight information from publicly available ADS-B data. The air traffic data is publicly available information from aircraft transponders and is processed according to OpenSky Network's privacy policy and terms of service. For more information, visit OpenSky Network FAQ.
• Map tile providers (Solidarity Hub): When you view the map, your browser loads map tiles from third-party providers (for example, OpenStreetMap and CARTO). These providers receive your IP address and standard request metadata (for example, user agent) as part of serving map tiles. We do not control their data practices.
• Better-Auth: We use Better-Auth for user authentication and session management. This service handles user login credentials securely and manages authentication sessions. Authentication data is processed according to Better-Auth's terms and security practices.
• PostgreSQL Database: User data, authentication information, and application data are stored in a PostgreSQL database. Database hosting and management may be provided by third-party hosting services.
• Next.js Framework: Our website is built using Next.js, which may use Google Fonts for typography. Font loading is subject to Google's privacy policy.

Important: We do NOT use Facebook Pixel, Meta Pixel, advertising tracking pixels, marketing cookies, or any advertising/marketing tracking technologies.

These third-party services have their own privacy policies and terms of service. We encourage you to review their policies to understand how they handle your data.

Data Sharing and Disclosure

We do NOT sell, trade, or rent your personal information to third parties. As an informational website that does not collect personal data from visitors, data sharing is minimal and limited to:

• Service Providers: We may share minimal technical data with third-party service providers who perform essential services on our behalf (e.g., hosting, database management, API services, authentication services for admin access only). These service providers are contractually bound to protect your data and use it only for the purposes we specify.
• Analytics (With Consent Only): If you consent to analytics cookies, data is shared with Google Analytics as described in the "Third-Party Services" section above.
• Legal Requirements: We may disclose information if required by law, court order, or in response to valid legal requests from law enforcement or regulatory authorities
• Safety and Security: We may share information to protect the rights, property, or safety of our users or others, or to prevent fraud or abuse
• With Your Explicit Consent: We may share information with your explicit, informed consent for specific purposes

Important: Since we do not collect personal data from general website visitors, there is typically no personal data to share. Any data sharing is limited to essential technical data necessary for website operation or optional analytics data (only with your consent).

Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies for essential website functionality and, only with your explicit consent, for analytics purposes via Google Analytics. You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept essential cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our service.

We use:

• Essential cookies: Required for website functionality (authentication, preferences)
• Analytics cookies (optional, consent required): Google Analytics cookies - only set if you accept "Measurement" cookies

We do NOT use: Facebook Pixel, Meta Pixel, advertising tracking pixels, marketing cookies, or any advertising/marketing tracking technologies.

For more detailed information about our use of cookies, please see our Cookie-Richtlinie.

Data Minimization and Purpose Limitation (GDPR)

In accordance with GDPR principles of data minimization and purpose limitation:

• Data Minimization: We collect and process only the minimum amount of data necessary for the stated purposes (essential website functionality and optional analytics with consent)
• Purpose Limitation: We process data only for specific, explicit, and legitimate purposes as stated in this Privacy Policy. We do not process data for incompatible or undisclosed purposes
• Storage Limitation: We retain data only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected (see "Data Retention" section above)
• No Personal Data Collection: As an informational website, we do not actively collect personal data from visitors. Any minimal data collection is automated, necessary, and limited
• No Commercial Use: We do not process personal data for commercial purposes, marketing, or advertising

Compliance: We adhere to these principles to ensure compliance with GDPR and to minimize any privacy impact on visitors to this informational website.

Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect your information against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction, including:

• Encryption of data in transit using HTTPS/TLS protocols
• Secure authentication mechanisms for admin access
• Regular security updates and patches
• Access controls and authentication requirements for administrative functions
• Server security measures and monitoring
• Regular backups and disaster recovery procedures

However, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. As an informational website that does not collect personal data from visitors, the risk to your personal information is minimal. If you have security concerns, please contact us at privacy@worldseeiran.org.

Your Rights Under GDPR and Data Protection Laws

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom, or other jurisdictions with data protection laws, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• The right to be informed: You have the right to know how we collect and use your data (this Privacy Policy provides that information)
• The right of access: You have the right to request access to any personal data we hold about you
• The right to rectification: You have the right to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information
• The right to erasure ("right to be forgotten"): You have the right to request deletion of your personal information
• The right to restrict processing: You have the right to request that we limit how we use your data
• The right to data portability: You have the right to receive your data in a structured, commonly used format
• The right to object: You have the right to object to processing of your personal information, particularly for analytics purposes
• Rights related to automated decision-making: We do not use automated decision-making or profiling
• The right to withdraw consent: You have the right to withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent (e.g., analytics cookies)
• The right to lodge a complaint: You have the right to file a complaint with a supervisory authority if you believe your data protection rights have been violated

How to Exercise Your Rights:

• To withdraw consent for analytics cookies, use our Cookie Preferences tool (available in the footer or via the cookie banner)
• To request access, deletion, or exercise any other rights, contact us at privacy@worldseeiran.org
• We will respond to your request within one month (or two months for complex requests) as required by GDPR
• To file a complaint with a supervisory authority, contact your local data protection authority (e.g., Information Commissioner's Office in the UK, CNIL in France, or your country's equivalent)

Note: As an informational website that does not actively collect personal data, most of these rights may not be applicable. However, you can always control analytics cookies through our cookie consent system.

Data Retention

We retain data only for as long as necessary for the purposes stated in this Privacy Policy:

• Server Logs: Retained for a maximum of 90 days for security and abuse prevention purposes, then automatically deleted
• Session Data: Deleted immediately when you close your browser
• Authentication Data (Admin Users Only): Retained while your session is active and for up to 7 days of inactivity, then automatically deleted
• Anonymous Submissions (Oppressor Information): Retained indefinitely as part of the public record, but without any identifying information about the submitter
• Votes: Retained indefinitely to maintain vote counts, but linked only to hashed IP addresses that cannot identify users
• Comments: Approved comments are retained indefinitely as part of the public record. Pending and rejected comments may be retained for administrative review purposes
• Reports: Retained for administrative review and record-keeping purposes, linked only to hashed IP addresses
• Solidarity Events: Approved events may be retained and displayed indefinitely as part of the public record. Pending and rejected events may be retained for administrative review and audit purposes.
• Solidarity proof images/posters: If you upload a proof image, we store the file on our servers. We retain it while the event is retained (unless removed for policy, legal, or safety reasons).
• Organizer contact (email/phone): If you provide organizer contact details, we retain them to support moderation and verification workflows. These fields are intended to be admin-only and may be removed on request where feasible.
• Hashed IP Addresses: Used only for rate limiting and retained only as long as necessary to enforce rate limits (typically 24 hours for preventing duplicate submissions)
• Analytics Data (Google Analytics): Stored according to Google Analytics' retention settings (default 26 months), subject to your consent. You can withdraw consent at any time, which will stop future data collection
• Cookie Preferences: Stored in your browser until you clear cookies or change your preferences

Important: Since we do not collect personal data from general website visitors, there is typically no personal data to retain or delete. Any minimal data collected is automatically deleted according to the schedules above.

International Data Transfers

Our website may be hosted and our services may be provided using servers located outside the European Economic Area (EEA). When data is transferred outside the EEA, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place:

• Google Analytics: If you consent to analytics cookies, data may be transferred to Google LLC servers in the United States. Google LLC is certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which provides adequate safeguards for data transfers
• Hosting Services: Our hosting provider may process data on servers outside the EEA, but they are bound by appropriate contractual safeguards and data protection agreements
• Adequate Safeguards: All international data transfers comply with GDPR requirements, including adequacy decisions, standard contractual clauses, or appropriate certifications

Note: Since we minimize data collection, international transfers are limited to essential technical data (server logs, session data) and optional analytics data (only with your consent).

Third-Party Links

Our informational website may contain links to third-party websites or services that are not owned or controlled by us, including:

• Social media platforms (Instagram, X/Twitter, Facebook)
• External websites and resources
• Third-party services and APIs

We are not responsible for the privacy practices, data collection, or content of these third-party sites. When you click on links to third-party websites, you leave our website and are subject to the privacy policies and terms of service of those third-party websites. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party sites you visit.

Disclaimer: The inclusion of any third-party links on our informational website does not imply endorsement, sponsorship, or affiliation with those third parties. We are not responsible for any loss or damage arising from your use of third-party websites or services.

Children's Privacy

Our services are not intended for individuals under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. As an informational website that does not collect personal data from visitors, this is generally not applicable.

If you are a parent or guardian and believe that your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at privacy@worldseeiran.org, and we will take steps to delete such information if it exists.

Note: Since we do not collect personal information from general website visitors, including children, this section is primarily included for legal completeness and clarity.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last updated" date. You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes.

Complaints to Supervisory Authority (GDPR)

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA) or United Kingdom and believe that we have not addressed your data protection concerns, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection supervisory authority. You can find contact information for your supervisory authority at:

• European Union: European Data Protection Board - Find your local authority
• United Kingdom: Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)
• Switzerland: Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC)
• Other Jurisdictions: Please contact your local data protection authority

Note: We encourage you to contact us first at privacy@worldseeiran.org so we can address your concerns directly.

California Privacy Rights (CCPA/CPRA)

If you are a California resident, you have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), including:

• The right to know: You have the right to request information about what personal information we collect, use, and disclose
• The right to delete: You have the right to request deletion of your personal information
• The right to opt-out: You have the right to opt-out of the sale or sharing of personal information (we do not sell or share personal information)
• The right to non-discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising your privacy rights

Important: As an informational website, we do not sell personal information and do not collect personal information from general visitors. We do not knowingly sell personal information of minors under 16 years of age.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, our data practices, or wish to exercise your data protection rights, please contact us at:

Email: privacy@worldseeiran.org

Website: worldseeiran.org

Response Time: We will respond to your privacy-related inquiries within 30 days (or 60 days for complex requests) as required by applicable data protection laws.