Privacy / Data practices

Privacy Policy

Effective and last updated: August 10, 2026

Overview

This Privacy Policy explains how N6MUD (“N6MUD,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) handles information when you visit n6mud.com or use its features. N6MUD is a personal amateur-radio website operated from California.

Station chat is public. Anything you post—including your callsign, message, reactions, and uploaded media—may be viewed, copied, or shared by anyone. Do not post information you want to keep private.

Information we collect

  • Information you submit: your amateur-radio callsign, chat messages, reactions, uploaded images or audio, filenames, and message timestamps. Images rejected by automated safety screening may be retained temporarily in a private moderation quarantine for administrator review.
  • Google sign-in information: if you use Google sign-in, we receive your Google account identifier, verified email address, name, and optional profile picture. Sign-in is currently intended for authorized site-management functions.
  • Cookies: a callsign cookie may remember a QRZ-verified callsign for one year. Google sign-in uses short-lived security state and a signed session cookie that lasts up to seven days. These cookies support requested functionality, authentication, and security.
  • Technical information: our hosting and service providers may process IP address, browser/device information, requested URLs, timestamps, referrer information, and security or diagnostic logs when you connect to the site.
  • Chat IP addresses: when you create a chat post, we store its originating IP address with the message for moderation, abuse prevention, and possible future blocking. When an image fails automated safety screening, its originating IP address and the callsign entered at upload time are stored with the private quarantine record. This information is not included in public chat data and is displayed only to the authenticated N6MUD administrator.
  • Page count: loading a page with the footer counter sends a request to CounterAPI, which increments and returns an aggregate view count.

How we use information

We use information to operate and secure the site; verify callsigns; display, retain, and moderate chat; deliver uploads; remember your callsign; authenticate authorized administrators; count visits; troubleshoot problems; prevent abuse; and comply with law. A new chat message after an extended quiet period may trigger an email notification to the site operator containing the posting callsign and message text or attachment filename.

Public content and sharing

Chat content and associated callsigns are published to other visitors. We also disclose information to vendors as needed to operate the site. Those services include Cloudflare for hosting, storage, real-time chat, security, and email delivery; OpenAI for automated safety screening of image attachments before publication; Google for sign-in; QRZ for callsign verification and the embedded logbook; CounterAPI for the view counter; WeatherFlow for weather information; and YouTube for embedded video and livestream links. Spotify and other external sites receive information when you follow their links.

YouTube videos use YouTube’s privacy-enhanced embed domain, but YouTube may still receive device and usage information when the player loads or you interact with it. The embedded QRZ logbook and other third-party resources operate under their own privacy policies. We do not control their data practices.

Sale, advertising, and tracking choices

We do not sell personal information, and we do not share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. N6MUD does not serve targeted advertising. Because the site does not currently use a mechanism that interprets browser “Do Not Track” signals, its behavior does not change in response to those signals. You can limit third-party requests by blocking cookies or embedded content in your browser, though some features may not work.

Retention and deletion

The chat retains up to the most recent 1,000 messages, including the IP address stored with each post. Associated uploads may remain stored while their messages remain available, unless removed earlier for moderation, operational, or legal reasons. Images awaiting transmission are held in non-public staging storage for up to approximately 30 minutes after approval. Images rejected by automated safety screening, together with their submitted callsign and originating IP address, are held in a separate, non-public moderation quarantine for administrator review and automatically expire after approximately 30 days unless an administrator deletes them earlier. Callsign-verification results may be cached for up to seven days, and browser cookies expire according to the periods described above. Hosting, security, and backup records may persist for the periods set by our providers or as reasonably needed for security and legal obligations.

To request removal of content you posted or ask about access, correction, or deletion, email n6mud@outlook.com. Include enough information to identify the relevant content. We may need to verify your identity or callsign and may retain information when required or permitted by law.

Security

We use reasonable technical and organizational safeguards appropriate for this personal site, including encrypted HTTPS connections, signed authentication sessions, server-side validation, and restricted administrative controls. No internet service or storage system can be guaranteed completely secure.

Children

N6MUD is a general-audience amateur-radio site and is not directed to children under 13. Children under 13 must not submit chat messages, uploads, or other personal information. If you believe a child under 13 has provided personal information, contact us so we can review and remove it.

California and other privacy rights

Depending on where you live and whether an applicable law covers this personal site, you may have rights concerning your personal information. We will consider reasonable privacy requests even when a particular law does not apply. We will not discriminate against you for making a privacy request.

Changes and contact

We may update this policy as the site changes. The date at the top identifies the latest version. Questions or requests may be sent to Craig, N6MUD, at n6mud@outlook.com.