Privacy Policy

1. What data we collect

Your cat's name and your preferences

The name you give your cat, the class you picked, the server, the game mode and the settings you change (graphics quality, lighting, mouse sensitivity, sound and so on) are stored in your browser's local storage so that the Game remembers them next time. They stay on your device. When you press Play, your browser sends the name, the class, the game mode and the number of games started in this browser to the game server, and the name is shown to everyone in your room for as long as you are in it. The name is also included in the web address of the game page while you play, which your browser may keep in its history.

Choose a name that is not your real name if you do not want other players to know it. Our Terms and Conditions do not allow names that contain personal information.

What happens in a round

While you play, the game server receives your inputs (movement, aim, firing, the keys you press in the Game) and computes your cat's position, health, catnip, level, KOs, team and ping, which it sends to everyone in the room many times a second so that the Game can be drawn. This data is held in the server's memory for the round and discarded when the room closes. It is not written to a database. The only things kept afterwards are totals that contain no personal data: how many people are playing, the peak and when it happened, joins, and rounds finished.

How the Game runs on your device

While you play, your browser sends the game server a short report on how the Game runs on your device: how long it took to load, its frame rate, and the graphics quality it is set to. It contains nothing else.

Connection data

Like any website, our servers automatically receive your IP address, the standard headers your browser sends (such as its type and the site the connection came from) and the time of each request. The game servers use your IP address to deliver the Game, to limit the number of connections one address may hold, to apply blocks for abuse, and to measure load per region. When a connection arrives and when it leaves, the game server writes a log line with the time, the server, the room, the game mode, the IP address and the cat name. We keep these logs for no longer than 30 days.

What our team sees

We have a private dashboard that shows who is on each server right now: cat names, class, score, when each connection arrived, its ping, and a tag derived from its IP address with a secret key, so that the same address shows the same tag without the address itself being visible. The dashboard is for keeping the servers healthy and for spotting abuse; it keeps no history beyond the totals described above.

When you start a game and when you stop, the game server also posts a short message to our team's private Slack workspace: your cat's name, the game mode, the map and the server, your type of device and browser (read from the headers your browser sends), whether it is the first game started in your browser or how many came before it, and, when you stop, how long you played, the frame rate and graphics quality from the report above, and how long the Game took to load. These messages never include your IP address.

Analytics

If analytics is switched on for the build you are using, Google Analytics receives which pages you open (the page path only, never the part of the address that carries your cat's name) and a few events from the Game: a game started, a round ended, a game ended, an error, each with ids and numbers such as the game mode, the class, the map, your finishing place, the length of the session and the kind of error. Google Analytics also collects, on its own, your device and browser type, screen size, language, an approximate location derived from your IP address, and a random identifier stored in a cookie so that it can tell repeat visits apart. Section 7 has the detail.

Feedback and support

When you email us or write to us on Discord we keep the message and your contact details so that we can reply.

Data we do not collect

The Game has no accounts, so we do not collect names, email addresses, dates of birth or passwords. There is no text chat, no voice chat and no camera or microphone use. We do not collect your precise location, your contacts, or anything from other apps or sites. We do not use advertising cookies or device fingerprinting, and we do not buy data about you from anyone.

2. Why we use it and our legal basis

Under UK and EU data protection law we need a legal basis for each way we use your data.

We do not make automated decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects. Automatic blocks for cheating or flooding affect only whether a connection can join a game.

3. Who we share it with

We use a small number of service providers to run the Game. They process data on our instructions and cannot use it for their own purposes, except that Google uses the analytics data it collects in accordance with its own terms, as described in section 7.

We also share data when the law requires it, for example in response to a valid legal request, and we may report unlawful activity to the authorities. If Catcopter is ever sold or merged, your data would be transferred to the new owner under the same protections.

Other players see what is described in section 6. Discord is a separate service you join on your own; see section 8.

We do not share your data with advertisers and we do not sell it.

4. Where your data is stored

Our game servers run in the regions shown in the Game's server picker, so that play stays fast wherever you are. The region you pick is where your connection data and round data are processed. The website is served from servers in the European Union and the United States.

Google Analytics processes data in the United States. Where personal data is transferred outside the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, the transfer is covered by the provider's certification under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and its UK extension, or by the UK International Data Transfer Addendum and the EU Standard Contractual Clauses. You can ask us which mechanism covers a specific provider.

5. How long we keep it

6. What other players and our team can see

Catcopter is a shared game, so some of what you do is visible to the people in your room.

• Other players in your room see your cat's name, its class and colour, where it is and what it does, your catnip, level and KOs on the scoreboard, and the knockout cards that name who bonked whom. They cannot see your IP address, your device or where you are.
• Players who record or stream their games may capture your cat and its name in their videos. Our Terms and Conditions ask them to remove a clip if you reasonably ask.
• Our team sees the dashboard described in section 1, the server logs and the start and stop messages in our Slack.

Computer-controlled cats appear in rooms alongside people. They have no data of their own.

7. Analytics and cookies

Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics 4 to understand how the Game is used: how many people visit, which modes and classes they play, how long sessions last, how many rounds are finished and where errors happen. Google Analytics is only active in builds where we have switched it on. It is configured so that advertising features, ad personalisation and the sharing of data for Google's advertising purposes are off. We never send it your cat's name, your IP address or anything you type. Google states that Google Analytics 4 does not log or store IP addresses; it uses the address only to derive an approximate location and then discards it. How Google processes the data it collects is described in Google's privacy policy and in how Google uses information from sites that use its services.

Your choice

If you are in the United Kingdom, the European Economic Area or Switzerland, analytics cookies are set only after you accept them in the cookie banner, and you can change your choice at any time through the "Cookie settings" link in the footer of the menu and of this page. Elsewhere analytics run by default and the same link lets you switch them off. Before you have chosen, and after you reject, Google Analytics is told that it may not use cookies: it then receives only anonymous, cookieless pings that cannot tell one visit from another. We use your approximate location, from the country your connection comes from, only to decide whether to show you the banner; if we cannot tell where you are, we ask. Analytics is not needed for the Game to work.

You can also keep Google Analytics out altogether by blocking cookies for catcopter.com in your browser, by using a content blocker, or by installing Google's opt-out browser add-on.

Cookies and browser storage

We use no advertising cookies and no third-party trackers other than Google Analytics. The first two cookies are ours and hold nothing but your choice and a country code. Everything the Game needs to run is in the local storage entries above, which stay in your browser; of them, only the name, the class, the game mode and the count of games are sent to the game server, when you press Play.

8. Discord

Our community Discord server is run on Discord, a separate service operated by Discord Inc. If you join it, Discord collects and processes your data under its own privacy policy, and what you post there is visible to the server's members. We see what you post in the server and your Discord profile as any member does, and nothing from Discord is connected to the Game: your cat's name is not linked to your Discord account unless you link them yourself.

9. Your rights

You have the right to:

• access the personal data we hold about you;
• correct it if it is wrong;
• delete it;
• receive a copy of the data you gave us in a portable format;
• restrict or object to certain processing, including processing based on our legitimate interests;
• withdraw consent where we rely on it.

Your cat's name and preferences are in your own browser: you can change them in the Game's menu and delete them by clearing the site data for catcopter.com. Because the Game has no accounts, we usually cannot tell which log lines or analytics records are yours. If you want us to look, email [email protected] with the server, the date and time you played and your cat's name, and we will do what we can. We will respond within one month and may need to verify that the data is yours first.

If you are unhappy with how we handle your data you can complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk or, if you live in the European Economic Area, to your local data protection authority. We would appreciate the chance to resolve the issue first.

10. Children

Catcopter is not directed at children under 13, and our Terms and Conditions require players to be 13 or older. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 13. Because there are no accounts, the Game does not ask for a date of birth; the only personal data a child could give us is a cat's name, which we tell everyone not to make a real name. If you believe a child under 13 has played and given us personal data, email [email protected] and we will delete what we can find.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the Game changes. The date at the top shows when it was last updated. Because the Game has no accounts we cannot email you; if we make a material change we will show a notice on catcopter.com or in the Game before it takes effect.

12. Contact us

Borkowski Consulting Ltd2 Cambridge Mansions, 13 Bromells RoadClapham, London, SW4 0BNUnited KingdomCompany number 09958565

Email: [email protected]

Discord: https://discord.gg/jeVrQGUSZ6