Privacy Policy

At Disc-Connected, we are committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and how we keep it secure, particularly regarding our “Lost & Found” connection service.

1. Information We Collect

When you register or use our Service, we may collect the following:

• Account Information: Email address, Display Alias, Country, and Phone Number.
• Disc Listings: Information about lost discs (Brand, Mold, Color, Weight, Location Lost) and optional images.
• Usage Data: Login timestamps and interaction history (such as Pings sent/received).
• My Bag (Optional):If you use the “My Bag” feature, details of the discs in your personal collection (such as brand, mold, colour, weight, and any notes you add).
• Notification Tokens (Optional): If you turn on push notifications, a device-specific messaging token (via Google Firebase Cloud Messaging) so we can deliver notifications to that device. You can turn this off per device at any time.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use your data to:

• Create and manage your user account.
• Display your lost disc listings to other users (without revealing your direct contact info publicly).
• Facilitate the “Ping” system to connect owners with finders.
• Improve the functionality of the website.

3. How Your Contact Data is Shared (The “Ping” System)

We take a privacy-first approach to lost property:

• Public Visibility:Your “Alias” and disc details are public. Your Email Address and Phone Number are HIDDEN by default.
• Consent-Based Sharing: Your private contact details (Email/Phone) are stored securely in our database. They are only revealed to another user if you specifically click “Accept” on a contact request (Ping) sent by that user.
• We do not sell your personal data to third parties.
• Post-Sharing Disclaimer: Please note that once you consent to share your contact information with another user, Disc-Connected has no control over, and is not responsible for, how that user stores, uses, or shares your information.

4. Third-Party Services

We use trusted third-party services to operate our platform:

• Google Firebase:We use Firebase for authentication, database storage, and image hosting. Data stored in Firebase is subject to Google's security standards.
• Google Auth: If you sign in via Google, we access your basic profile info (Email/Name) to create your account.
• Google Ads (AdSense): We display advertisements provided by Google. Google may use cookies and similar tracking technologies to serve ads based on your prior visits to our website or other websites. You can opt out of personalised advertising at any time by visiting Google's Ad Settings. For more information on how Google uses data from our site, visit Google's Privacy & Terms.
• Google Analytics: We use Google Analytics (provided through Firebase) to understand how visitors use the site — for example which pages and features are popular — so we can improve the Service. This collects anonymised usage, event, and device data. Its use is governed by Google's Privacy Policy.
• Firebase Cloud Messaging: If you opt in to push notifications, we use Google Firebase Cloud Messaging to deliver them to your device (see Section 7).

5. Data Retention and Deletion

We retain your account data as long as your account is active. You may delete your disc listings at any time via your Dashboard. If you wish to delete your account entirely, please contact us at disc.connected.nz@gmail.com.

Disc listings (lost or found posts on the community board) are retained according to the following lifecycle:

• Active listings are retained for as long as needed to facilitate the disc finding its owner or finder.
• Stale listings (active for more than 90 days without renewal) are flagged for review. We send the listing owner an email asking whether the listing is still needed.
• Unrenewed listings (no response within 7 days of the reminder, and no active contact requests on the listing) are automatically archived. Archived listings are removed from public search results but retained on our systems.
• Archived listings may be permanently deleted after a further period — including the listing details, any uploaded photos, and the private contact details associated with the listing (phone number, email address). At time of writing this period is 30 days, but we may extend or shorten it for operational reasons.

Listings with active or pending contact requests are exempt from auto-archiving and the associated retention timers, so any in-flight reunion conversation can complete naturally.

This lifecycle is designed to comply with the data minimisation principle of the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020 — keeping personal information only as long as it serves the purpose for which it was collected.

If you wish to delete a listing (and any associated personal data) sooner than the automatic lifecycle would, you can:

• Close the listing from your Dashboard at any time, which makes it ineligible for public search and queues it for the standard retention timer.
• Email us at disc.connected.nz@gmail.com to request immediate deletion.

In the event of a data breach that is likely to cause serious harm, we will notify affected users and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner as required by New Zealand law.

6. Cookies and Local Storage

We use cookies and local storage to keep you logged in and to track which notifications (Pings) you have already viewed.

In addition, our third-party advertising partner (Google) may set cookies on your device to serve personalised advertisements based on your browsing activity. These cookies are set by Google, not by us, and are subject to Google's Privacy Policy. You can manage or withdraw your consent to advertising cookies at any time using the cookie settings banner on our site, or by visiting Google's Ad Settings.

7. Notifications (Email & Push)

In addition to the listing-status reminders described in Section 5, we may send you the following emails as part of operating the Service:

• Match notifications when a new listing matches one of yours (lost ↔ found).
• Contact request notifications when another user pings your listing, and when an owner accepts or declines your ping.
• Return-completion review requests after a disc is reunited, asking you to leave optional feedback.
• Welcome emails when you first sign up.

We never share your email address with other users. Contact details are only revealed inside the platform once both parties accept a contact request (see Section 3), and only to the two parties involved in that ping.

Operational emails (matches, ping notifications, lifecycle reminders) are integral to using the Service and cannot be individually opted out of while you maintain an active listing. Marketing or promotional emails (Section 4 of our Terms) are optional and can be unsubscribed from at any time.

Push notifications: If you opt in (per device) from your Dashboard, we may also send key account updates — a new ping, an accepted ping, a potential match, or a completed return — as web push notifications. We store a device-specific messaging token (via Google Firebase Cloud Messaging) solely to deliver these. Push is entirely optional and separate from email: you can turn it off for any device from your Dashboard profile settings, or by revoking notification permission in your browser or device settings.

8. Your Rights (NZ Privacy Act 2020)

Under the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020, you have the right to ask for a copy of any personal information we hold about you, and to ask for it to be corrected if you think it is wrong. If you'd like to ask for a copy of your information, or to have it corrected, please contact us at disc.connected.nz@gmail.com.

9. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at: disc.connected.nz@gmail.com