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Privacy Policy

Last updated: June 21, 2025 · Effective: June 21, 2025

1. Introduction

CalcBot ("we", "our", "us") operates the website https://calcbot.net (the "Service"). The Service is a free, browser-based platform that offers a curated catalog of 100+ online games across 12 categories — racing, sports, platformer, puzzle, action, adventure, .io, idle, horror, strategy, casual, and arcade. We are committed to being transparent about how we handle data and to giving you meaningful control over your information.

This Privacy Policy explains, in plain language, what information we collect, why we collect it, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and the rights you have over it. By using the Service, you acknowledge the practices described in this policy. If you do not agree with these practices, please do not use the Service.

This policy applies only to data collected through calcbot.net. It does not apply to third-party websites we link to or to game content embedded from third-party publishers — those services are governed by their own privacy policies.

2. Information We Collect

We follow a strict data-minimization principle: we only collect what is genuinely needed to operate the Service, provide support, and comply with our legal obligations.

2.1 Information you provide voluntarily

• Contact form submissions. When you contact us through our Contact Us page, we collect your name, email address, the subject of your message, the category you select, and the message text. This information is used solely to respond to your inquiry and is stored in our internal database.
• Account information (optional). If you create a free CalcBot account to track your game progress, achievements, and streaks, we collect your email address (used as your login identifier), an optional display name, and an optional password (stored as a salted bcrypt hash — never in plain text). Account creation is completely optional; the vast majority of our games work without any account.
• DMCA and legal notices. If you submit a copyright or legal notice, we retain the contents of that notice (including your identity and contact information) for as long as required to handle the claim and keep records of our response.

2.2 Information collected automatically

• Server logs. Like virtually all web servers, our hosting provider automatically records the IP address of incoming requests, the requested URL, the user-agent string, the referer, and a timestamp. These logs are kept for a limited period for security, abuse prevention, and debugging, and are then automatically deleted.
• Local storage. We store a small amount of data in your browser's local storage (for example, whether you have dismissed the cookie-consent banner, your game preferences, and your XP if you play without an account). This data lives on your device and is never transmitted to our servers.
• Analytics. We use privacy-respecting analytics to understand aggregate traffic patterns (popular pages, rough geographic region, device type). We do not use this data to build cross-site behavioral profiles.

2.3 Information we do NOT collect

• We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data to anyone.
• We do not build behavioral advertising profiles based on your activity across other websites.
• We do not require you to provide a phone number, physical address, payment information, government ID, or any other sensitive identifier to use the Service.
• We do not request or store payment-card data — there is nothing to buy on CalcBot.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for the following specific, limited purposes:

• To operate the Service. Serving pages and loading embedded game frames require basic request data.
• To respond to your inquiries. If you submit the contact form, we use your name, email, and message to reply to you.
• To provide account features. If you register an account, we use your email to identify you and your display name to show your progress on leaderboards (if applicable).
• To display advertising. We use Google AdSense to display ads. Where required by law (for example, in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland), we will ask for your consent before serving non-essential cookies. See Section 5 for details.
• To measure and improve the Service. We use aggregate, anonymized analytics to understand which games are popular, where visitors are roughly located, and what devices they use.
• To prevent abuse. Server logs and rate-limiting help us protect the Service from spam, scraping, DDoS attacks, and fraudulent activity.
• To comply with legal obligations. We may process or retain data where required by law, regulation, legal process, or government request.

4. Cookies & Similar Technologies

A cookie is a small text file stored on your device by your web browser. CalcBot uses cookies and similar technologies (such as local storage) for the following purposes:

Category	Purpose	Examples	Required?
Essential	Needed for the website to function (security, session, cookie-consent state).	session ID, consent state	Yes
Functional	Remember your preferences (e.g., dismissed banners, game progress when not logged in).	local-storage keys	No
Analytics	Understand aggregate traffic patterns so we can improve the site.	_ga, _gid	No (opt-in EEA/UK/CH)
Advertising	Google AdSense uses cookies to serve and measure ads (see Section 5).	__gads, IDE, NID	No (opt-in EEA/UK/CH)

Most browsers let you control or delete cookies through their settings. Limiting cookies may affect some features of the Service (for example, your consent choice will not be remembered). For browser-specific instructions, see the help pages of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge.

5. Google AdSense & Advertising

CalcBot is a free Service, and we cover our hosting and development costs by displaying ads through Google AdSense. We have implemented AdSense in line with Google's policies and applicable advertising laws.

5.1 How AdSense works

Google AdSense is a third-party service that delivers ads to our pages. Google and its partners may use cookies (such as the __gads cookie and, in some regions, the IDE cookie) to serve ads based on your prior visits to our website or other websites on the Internet.

• Personalized ads. In regions where this is permitted, Google may use your browsing history to show ads that are more relevant to your interests.
• Non-personalized ads. In regions where personalized ads require consent (such as the EEA, UK, and Switzerland) and you do not give consent, Google will serve non-personalized ads. These are chosen based on the context of your current visit (the page topic, your rough location, the time of day) rather than your browsing history.

5.2 Third-party vendors and the IAB Transparency & Consent Framework

Google AdSense works with a number of third-party ad-tech vendors. The list of vendors that may be present on CalcBot can be reviewed in our consent-management dialog (shown to visitors from the EEA, UK, and Switzerland) or directly at Google's "How Google uses information from sites that use its services" page.

5.3 Your ad-settings controls

• Control personalized advertising from Google in your Google Ads Settings.
• Opt out of personalized ads from participating third-party vendors at aboutads.info/choices.
• Opt out of Google Analytics advertising features at Google Analytics Opt-out.
• Review Google's Privacy Policy for details on how Google handles advertising data.

5.4 Our commitment to AdSense policy

We comply with Google AdSense Program Policies. We do not click our own ads, do not encourage visitors to click ads, do not place ads on pages with prohibited content (violence, adult content, illegal goods), and do not place ad units in a way that misleads users or interferes with site navigation.

6. Third-Party Services

CalcBot integrates with the following third-party services. Each one has its own privacy policy, and we encourage you to review them.

• Google AdSense — advertising. Privacy policy.
• Google Analytics — aggregate traffic analytics. Privacy policy.
• Game publishers' CDNs — embedded game content is loaded from the original publishers' content delivery networks (for example, the publisher of Moto X3M, the publisher of 2048, etc.). Each publisher has its own privacy practices that govern any data collected through the embedded iframe.
• Cloud hosting provider — the website is hosted on a cloud VPS. The hosting provider processes server-level request data (IP, timestamps, traffic volume) for infrastructure operations.
• NextAuth.js — our optional authentication layer for user accounts. Authentication data never leaves our server.

We do not use behavioral retargeting platforms, social-media tracking pixels, or chat widgets that transmit conversation content to third parties.

7. Embedded Game Frames (iframes)

The games on CalcBot are not hosted on our servers. They are embedded in <iframe> elements that load the game directly from the original publisher's CDN. When you click "Play" on a game, your browser establishes a direct connection with that publisher's infrastructure, and that publisher's privacy policy applies to any data collected during your play session.

This embedding model is the same one used by major game-aggregator websites. It allows us to (a) always serve the latest version of each game, (b) avoid re-hosting copyrighted content, and (c) give full credit and traffic to the original creators. If you have concerns about a specific game's data practices, we recommend reviewing that publisher's privacy policy.

8. Children's Privacy (COPPA & GDPR-Kids)

CalcBot is a general-audience website. We do not direct the Service at children under the age of 13 (under 16 in the European Union, under 14 in some other jurisdictions), and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

• We do not ask children for their age, school name, location, or any other personally identifying information.
• Account registration requires an email address and is intended for teens and adults. We do not use age-gates that would invite children to falsely claim a higher age.
• Google AdSense is configured to serve ads appropriate for a general audience. We do not enable ad personalization signals that target minors.
• If we become aware that a child has provided us with personal information (for example, through the contact form or via an account), we will delete that information as soon as practicable.

If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at contact@calcbot.net with the subject line "Children's Privacy Request" and we will promptly investigate and delete the relevant data.

9. Data Security

We take reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect the information we hold, including:

• HTTPS/TLS encryption for all traffic between your browser and our server.
• Hashed passwords (bcrypt with per-user salt) — we never store passwords in plain text.
• Database access restricted to the application server; no direct external database exposure.
• Rate limiting and abuse detection on publicly submitted endpoints (including the contact form).
• Regular security updates to the underlying operating system, Node.js runtime, and application dependencies.

However, no system is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee the absolute security of your data, and you share the Service at your own risk. In the unlikely event of a data breach affecting your personal information, we will notify affected users and the relevant supervisory authorities as required by applicable law (for example, within 72 hours under GDPR Article 33).

10. Data Retention

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this policy:

• Contact-form messages: 12 months from the date of submission, after which they are automatically deleted. (Messages related to ongoing legal matters may be retained longer.)
• Account data: retained for as long as your account is active. You may request deletion of your account at any time, and we will erase your personal data within 30 days.
• Server logs: retained for 30 days for security and debugging, then automatically purged.
• DMCA / legal notices: retained for the duration of the legal matter plus a reasonable archive period (typically 3 years) for our records.
• Anonymous analytics: retained indefinitely in aggregated form (no individual user is identifiable).

11. Your Privacy Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Right of access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to rectification — request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Right to erasure ("right to be forgotten") — request deletion of your personal data.
• Right to restrict processing — request that we limit how we use your data.
• Right to data portability — receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
• Right to object — object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
• Right to withdraw consent — at any time, where we rely on your consent.

For California residents, these rights are also recognized under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA). For EU/UK residents, these rights are recognized under the GDPR and UK GDPR.

To exercise any of these rights, email contact@calcbot.net with the subject "Privacy Rights Request". We will respond within 30 days. We may need to verify your identity before acting on your request.

12. International Data Transfers

CalcBot is hosted on a cloud server located in the European Union. However, some of our third-party service providers (notably Google AdSense and Google Analytics) may transfer data to servers located outside the EU — for example, in the United States. Where this occurs, we rely on the European Commission's adequacy decisions or appropriate safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) to ensure that your data is protected in line with EU law.

For details about how Google transfers data internationally, see Google's Privacy Policy and Google's documentation on data transfers.

13. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technologies, legal requirements, or features of the Service. When we do, we will:

• Post the updated policy on this page.
• Update the "Last updated" date at the top of the page.
• For material changes that affect how we process your personal data, provide a more prominent notice (such as a banner on the homepage) for a reasonable period.

We encourage you to review this page periodically. Your continued use of the Service after any changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

14. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your personal data, please contact us:

For privacy-related requests, please include the email address associated with your account (if any) and a clear description of your request. For faster processing, use the subject line "Privacy Rights Request" or "Children's Privacy Request" as appropriate.