Privacy Policy

Quick read

• What we collect: visit statistics through Google Analytics. In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland only after you say yes in the cookie banner; elsewhere it runs by default and you can turn it off any time. Fonts, trailers and one music player load from Google, YouTube and Spotify, which see your IP address. A few display settings stay in your own browser.
• What we do with it: learn which reviews people read, show the site as designed, take tips through Stripe if you leave one, and answer your email if you write to us.
• What we don't do: no accounts, no newsletter, no advertising, and no selling or sharing your personal information for advertising.
• Your rights: ask to see, correct or delete what we hold, turn analytics off at any time, and more depending on where you live (section 8).
• Reach us: couchdad@screenscum.com

1. Who we are

ScreenScum (screenscum.com) is a personal review site for movies, TV, anime and games, run by Couch Dad. ScreenScum decides why and how the personal information described here is used, and is responsible for it.

Privacy contact: couchdad@screenscum.com. This address also handles data protection questions for visitors in Singapore, Indonesia, the European Economic Area and the UK.

2. What data we collect

• Visit statistics (with your consent in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland; elsewhere until you turn it off): the pages you view, how long you stay, the site or link that brought you here, your approximate location (country and city, worked out from your IP address), and your device type, browser and screen size. Google Analytics collects this using cookies and a random identifier for your browser.
• Technical data sent to content providers: your IP address and browser details reach Google when the site's fonts load (Google Fonts), YouTube when a review page shows its trailer (YouTube's privacy-enhanced mode, youtube-nocookie.com), and Spotify on the one review that embeds a Spotify player.
• Settings stored on your device: your cookie banner choice, whether you skip the intro animation, whether you have unlocked the About page's secret character, and similar display preferences. These stay in your browser's local storage and are never sent to us.
• Tips (only if you leave one): the amount, and the name or handle and message you choose to add. Your card or wallet details go straight to Stripe, our payment processor; we never see or store them. Stripe tells us the payment went through and may share limited details such as the card brand, the last four digits and the country.
• Email you send us: your email address, name if you give it, and whatever you write.

We do not ask for, and do not collect, government ID numbers, full payment card details, precise location, health information or any other sensitive personal information.

3. How we collect it

Directly, when you email us or leave a tip. Automatically, through the Google Analytics tag (after you consent where consent is required, see section 6), through the fonts, trailers and music player loading from Google, YouTube and Spotify, and through your browser's local storage for your settings.

4. Why we use it

• Visit statistics: to see which reviews and pages people read, so we know what to write next. Legal basis in the EEA and UK: your consent.
• Fonts, trailers and music player: to show the site as it is designed. Legal basis in the EEA and UK: our legitimate interest in presenting the site.
• Settings on your device: to remember your choices between visits. Legal basis in the EEA and UK: necessary to provide the features you use.
• Tips: to take your payment, show you a thank-you, read your message, and keep the records tax law requires. Legal basis in the EEA and UK: performing the transaction you asked for, and our legal obligations.
• Email: to read and reply to you. Legal basis in the EEA and UK: our legitimate interest in answering messages sent to us.

5. Who we share it with

We share personal information only with these service providers, each for the purpose listed:

• Google LLC: Google Analytics (visit statistics), Google Fonts (fonts), YouTube (trailers), and Google Workspace (our email).
• Spotify: the music player on one review.
• Stripe: processes tips, including card, Apple Pay and Google Pay payments, under its own privacy policy (stripe.com/privacy). Stripe also uses your payment data to prevent fraud.
• Fourthwall: our merch shop runs on Fourthwall. If you buy something, Fourthwall handles your order, payment and delivery under its own privacy policy. The ScreenScum site itself only links to the shop.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. Google Analytics runs with its advertising features turned off.

Links to other sites, such as streaming services, stores, Discord or our social media accounts, take you to services with their own privacy policies.

6. Cookies and similar technologies

• Functional (local storage, no cookies): your cookie choice and display settings, kept in your browser.
• Analytics cookies: Google Analytics cookies (names starting with "_ga"), set only after you accept them in the cookie banner if you are in the EEA, the UK or Switzerland. Elsewhere they are set by default, and you can turn them off.

The site uses no advertising cookies. YouTube's privacy-enhanced mode does not store cookies until you play a video, and the Spotify player may store its own cookies once it loads.

We work out which rule applies to you from your device's time zone setting, which stays in your browser. You can change your analytics choice at any time through the cookie settings link at the bottom of every page, or delete cookies in your browser settings. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, we treat it as a valid opt-out request for sale and sharing of your personal information and keep Google Analytics off.

7. International transfers

Our service providers, including Google, Spotify and Stripe, may process data in the United States and other countries outside where you live. Where data from the European Economic Area or the UK goes to a country without an adequacy decision, these providers rely on the safeguards the GDPR allows, such as the EU-US Data Privacy Framework or the European Commission's standard contractual clauses.

8. Your rights

Email couchdad@screenscum.com to use any of these rights. We may ask for information to confirm the request is yours, such as the email address you wrote from. Using your rights never changes how the site works for you.

If you are in California

• The right to know about the personal information we collect about you and how it is used and shared.
• The right to delete personal information collected from you, with some exceptions.
• The right to correct inaccurate personal information we have about you.
• The right to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information, including through the Global Privacy Control. We do not sell or share personal information.
• The right to limit the use and disclosure of sensitive personal information. We do not collect sensitive personal information.
• The right to non-discrimination for exercising these rights.

We respond to requests to know, delete or correct within 45 calendar days, and tell you if we need up to 45 more. You may use an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf.

If you are in another US state with a comprehensive privacy law

Residents of states including Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, Texas, Oregon, Montana, Iowa, Delaware, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Maryland, Minnesota, Tennessee, Indiana, Kentucky and Rhode Island generally have the right to access, correct and delete their personal information, to get a portable copy, and to opt out of its sale, targeted advertising and profiling. The exact mechanics depend on your state. We respond within 45 days, and you can appeal a decision by replying to our response.

If you are in Singapore

You can ask for access to the personal data we hold about you and how it has been used or disclosed in the past year, ask us to correct an error or omission in it, and withdraw your consent at any time. We respond as soon as reasonably possible, and within 30 days we either respond or tell you when we will.

If you are in the European Economic Area or the UK

• Right of access to your personal data.
• Right to rectification.
• Right to erasure ("right to be forgotten").
• Right to restriction of processing.
• Right to data portability.
• Right to object, including to processing based on our legitimate interests.
• Right to withdraw your consent at any time, without affecting processing that took place before.
• Right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

We respond within one month.

If you are in Indonesia

Under Law No. 27 of 2022 on Personal Data Protection you can get information about who processes your data and why, access and get a copy of it, correct or complete it, ask us to stop processing and delete it, restrict or postpone processing, withdraw your consent, and object to decisions based only on automated processing.

9. Data retention

We keep personal information as long as necessary for the purposes described here, or as required by law. Emails are kept as long as the conversation needs them. Tip records are kept as long as tax and accounting law requires. Settings in your browser stay until you clear them.

10. Children

ScreenScum is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, email us and we will delete it.

11. Security

The site is served only over HTTPS. It has no accounts and collects no passwords. Tips are paid through Stripe's secure payment form, so card details never reach our server. Our email runs on Google Workspace, and access to it is limited to the person who runs the site.

12. Automated decision-making

We do not use automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects on you.

13. Changes to this policy

When something changes, for example comments arriving on the site, we update this page before the change goes live and change the "Last updated" date at the top.

14. Contact us

ScreenScum, run by Couch Dad: couchdad@screenscum.com