Privacy Policy

Global Ethnic Map (“the Service”, “we”, “us”) is a crowd-sourced interactive map operated as an independent project. This policy explains what data we collect when you visit ethnomaps.com, why we collect it, and what your rights are under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and similar laws.

When you visit or interact with the Service, we process:

• Vote records: the ethnicity or tag you submit, the two-letter country code derived from your IP address through Cloudflare’s cf-ipcountry header, and a timestamp.
• Pseudonymous fingerprint: a SHA-256 hash derived from your IP address, a truncated User-Agent string, and a server-side salt. We do not store the raw IP address or the raw User-Agent. The hash cannot be reversed to identify you. The salt is rotated periodically; rotation invalidates all previous hashes.
• Local browser storage: a small flag indicating which options you have voted for, used to prevent accidental double-voting from the same device. This stays in your browser and is never transmitted to us. You can clear it at any time via your browser’s site data settings.
• Technical access data: standard server logs (IP address, request time, requested URL, response status) processed by Cloudflare for security and abuse prevention. These logs are retained by Cloudflare under their own policy.

We process the data above on the following bases:

• Legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)) for the pseudonymous fingerprint, vote records, and technical logs — necessary to operate the Service and prevent abuse.
• Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)) for any non-essential cookies or advertising-related data processing.

We rely on the following processors to operate the Service. Each has its own privacy policy that governs their handling of your data.

• Cloudflare Inc. — hosting, CDN, DDoS protection, and geo-location. Cloudflare Privacy Policy
• Supabase Inc. — database storage of vote records and pseudonymous fingerprints. Supabase Privacy Policy
• Google AdSense (Google LLC) — advertising. Google and its partners may use cookies (including the DoubleClick DART cookie) to serve ads based on your visits to this and other sites. Google Privacy Policy

This Service may display advertisements served by Google AdSense. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user’s prior visits to this site and other sites on the Internet.

You can opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings or, for EU users, by managing your consent through any consent banner displayed on this Service. Opting out does not remove ads; it makes them less relevant to you.

For more information about how third-party vendors use cookies for advertising, visit www.aboutads.info and youronlinechoices.eu.

Vote records and pseudonymous fingerprints are retained for as long as the Service operates, in order to keep the aggregate map meaningful. We may purge or anonymize older records at our discretion. Server logs handled by Cloudflare follow their own retention policy (typically a few days).

Our third-party processors operate globally and may store or process data outside the European Economic Area, including in the United States. Where required, transfers are protected by Standard Contractual Clauses or equivalent safeguards under GDPR Chapter V.

Under GDPR you have the right to:

• access the data we process about you (Art. 15);
• request rectification or erasure (Art. 16, 17);
• object to processing based on legitimate interest (Art. 21);
• lodge a complaint with your national data protection authority.

Because we do not store directly identifying data, we are typically unable to link an access request to a specific individual without additional information (e.g. approximate IP, time of vote). Please include such context in any request.

The Service is not directed at children under 16. We do not knowingly collect data from children. If you believe a child has submitted data, please contact us and we will remove it.

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be indicated by updating the “Last updated” date above. Continued use of the Service after changes constitutes acceptance.

For any privacy-related question, write to [email protected].