Privacy Policy

Who we are

Unknown Tales is a collaborative fiction platform where readers and writers build branching stories together.

Data controller: Daniel Hollands
Contact: daniel@unknowntales.net
Website: https://unknowntales.net

If you have any questions about how we handle your personal data, or wish to exercise any of your rights, please contact us at the address above.

What data we collect and why

Account data

When you register, we collect your email address, username, and password (stored as a one-way hash — we cannot read it).

We need this data to provide you with an account and to deliver the service. The legal basis is performance of a contract.

Content you contribute

All content you submit to the platform (including stories, chapters, and paths) is stored on our servers and published under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) licence. If your content contains personal information about yourself, that is your choice — we do not ask for it and do not use it.

If you upload a story icon, the original image file and any resized variants generated from it are stored in our cloud object storage.

The legal basis is performance of a contract.

Technical data

When you use the site, our servers automatically record limited technical data for security and product analytics. This includes a masked IP address, approximate country, session data, request path, referrer, browser, operating system, device type, and timestamps. We use this data to understand overall usage patterns, measure core actions on the site, and detect abuse or unauthorised access.

The country value is derived server-side from a local geolocation database and is intended to show only coarse geographic origin. We do not use this for advertising, cross-site tracking, or precise location profiling.

The legal basis is legitimate interests — specifically, maintaining the security and integrity of the platform and understanding how the service is used so we can improve it.

Account activity analytics

When key account and writing actions succeed, we record first-party analytics events. These include registrations, sign-ins, sign-outs, story creation and editing, chapter creation and editing, path editing, bookmark changes, and chapter likes or unlikes. For signed-in users, these events may be linked to your account.

The legal basis is legitimate interests — helping us understand which parts of Unknown Tales are being used and where the writing and reading journey succeeds or breaks down.

How long we keep your data

Who we share your data with

We do not sell your data. We share it only with the following processors, who act on our instructions:

All processors are based in the EU. The UK has an adequacy decision for EU countries, meaning these transfers meet UK GDPR requirements without additional safeguards.

Analytics

We use first-party, self-hosted analytics on Unknown Tales. This analytics runs server-side, stores data in our own database, and does not rely on third-party analytics scripts.

We record page visits and selected product events so we can understand how readers and writers move through the site. This includes coarse country-level geolocation derived on our server from a local database. We do not use this analytics for advertising, cross-site tracking, or profiling for marketing purposes.

Cookies

We use only a single session cookie, which is strictly necessary to keep you logged in. It is deleted when you close your browser or log out.

We do not use analytics cookies, advertising cookies, or any third-party cookies for analytics. Our analytics is recorded server-side without storing a separate analytics identifier on your device.

Local draft storage

When you write a new chapter or create a new story, Unknown Tales stores your in-progress form fields in your browser's local storage so you can recover an unsent draft after a reload, navigation away from the page, or session expiry.

This draft data stays on your device unless and until you submit the relevant form. We do not receive it just because it is saved locally in your browser.

Chapter drafts are scoped to the specific unwritten path you are working on, and new story drafts are scoped to the story creation form. When you return to a supported writing page, the site removes drafts that have been inactive for more than 24 hours and may restore the remaining local draft for that page. A successfully submitted chapter or story also clears its saved local draft.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to:

• Access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Rectification — ask us to correct inaccurate data
• Erasure — ask us to close your account, erasing your email and password (your username is retained as attribution on published content — see the retention table above)
• Restriction — ask us to pause processing while a dispute is resolved
• Portability — receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format
• Object — object to processing based on legitimate interests

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at daniel@unknowntales.net. We will respond within one month.

Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we handle your data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO):

• Website: ico.org.uk
• Helpline: 0303 123 1113

We would always prefer to resolve any concern directly first — please contact us before going to the ICO and we will do our best to help.

Changes to this policy

If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify registered users by email before the changes take effect. The “last updated” date at the top of this page will always reflect the current version.

This policy covers the unknowntales.net platform only. If you have signed up to the Unknown Tales newsletter, that is operated separately and has its own privacy notice.