Privacy Policy

black.wiki is operated by Black.Wiki, Inc., a Florida nonprofit corporation and IRS-recognized 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. In this policy, “we”, “us”, and “Black.Wiki” mean Black.Wiki, Inc.

This Policy explains what information we collect when you use black.wiki, how we use it, who we share it with, and the choices you have. By using the site you agree to this Policy together with our Terms of Service.

We try to collect as little as we can to run the platform. Specifically:

• Account information. If you create an account, we store the email address and password you provide (passwords are hashed by our auth provider; we never see your plaintext password). You can add an optional username and display name to your profile.
• Content you submit. Directory entries, news posts, Black History stories, On Stage features and nominations, Homage entries, Sayings, Polls, Apps, playbooks, comments, images, and any other content you publish or submit. Most of this is intended to be public.
• Optional submitter contact. Some submission forms (Sayings, On Stage nominations, etc.) let you include a name + email so we can credit you or follow up. These fields are optional and are not shown publicly.
• Spam and abuse signals. For anonymous submissions and poll votes we record an HMAC-hashed fingerprint derived from your IP and a per-browser cookie, and on some submission tables we also store the raw IP and user-agent string so we can block abusive sources. We do not sell, share, or use this data for advertising.
• Server logs. Our hosting providers keep standard request logs (IP, timestamp, user agent, requested URL, response code) for a short period for operational and security purposes.
• Cookies. We use a small number of strictly functional cookies: a session cookie set by our auth provider when you sign in, and a long-lived “voter” cookie used to dedupe poll votes and anonymous submissions. We do not set advertising or third-party tracking cookies.

• No ad tracking. black.wiki runs no third-party analytics, advertising, fingerprinting, or cross-site tracking SDKs.
• No selling your data. We do not sell, rent, or trade personal information.
• No profiling for ads. We do not build advertising profiles, share data with ad networks, or participate in real-time bidding.

The black.wiki mobile app is a wrapper around the same web platform you're reading this on. It does not collect any data from your device beyond what you explicitly send us by signing in or submitting content.

• No device identifiers. We do not collect or transmit your IDFA (iOS advertising identifier), Android Advertising ID, IMEI, MAC address, device serial number, or any other persistent device identifier.
• No analytics or ad SDKs. The app contains no third-party analytics, advertising, attribution, fingerprinting, or crash-reporting SDKs that profile you.
• No access to private device data. The app does not request access to your contacts, photo library, calendar, microphone, camera, motion sensors, health data, Bluetooth, or background location.
• Location only on tap, only when you ask. If you tap “Near me” we ask iOS or Android for your current coordinates, send them to our server to find nearby results, and discard them. We do not store your GPS history and we do not run location collection in the background.
• Account + content data is the same as the web. When you sign in or submit content from the app, that data is handled the same way as a web submission — see What we collect above.

App Store and Google Play also collect some installation and purchase data on their own (e.g. download counts, crash reports you opt into) that we never see. Those are governed by Apple and Google's own privacy policies.

• To operate the platform and show you what you asked for.
• To authenticate you and keep your session secure.
• To moderate content — flagged or borderline submissions are evaluated against a wordlist, lightweight heuristics, and an automated review by Anthropic's Claude model. Repeated abusive submissions can result in the originating IP being blocked.
• To respond when you contact us, including takedown notices, account questions, or general inquiries.
• To produce aggregate, non-identifying statistics (e.g. “total donors”, “number of entries”).
• To comply with law and enforce our Terms of Service.

We share information only with the service providers and parties needed to run the platform:

• Hosting and database. We run on Supabase (Postgres + Auth + Storage) and a cloud hosting provider for our Next.js application. They process the data we store on our behalf under their own privacy commitments.
• Content moderation. We send text submissions (or excerpts) to Anthropic for automated moderation review. Anthropic processes the text under their commercial terms and does not use API content to train their models.
• Embeds. Pages that embed Threads, YouTube, or similar third-party content load those embeds directly from the third party. Their privacy policies apply to what they collect when their embed loads in your browser.
• Legal compliance. We may disclose information when required by law, court order, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Black.Wiki, its users, or the public.

black.wiki is a community directory and publishing platform. Most of what you submit — directory entries, stories, news, On Stage features, comments, sayings, polls, Homage entries — is meant to be public. Don't include information in public submissions that you wouldn't want associated with the name you provide. Submitter email addresses on anonymous submission forms are stored privately and not shown on the site.

Account data is kept while your account exists. Submissions are kept for as long as the content remains on the platform, plus a reasonable backup window. Anonymous submitter contact fields are kept while the related submission is kept. Server logs and short-term operational logs are retained for a limited period (typically days to weeks) by our hosting providers. Aggregate, non-identifying statistics may be kept indefinitely.

• Access and correction. You can view and edit your account profile while signed in. For other requests, email contact@black.wiki.
• Deletion. You can request deletion of your account and the personal information associated with it. Public content you submitted may be retained in anonymized form (e.g. a directory entry credited to “former contributor”) where removing it would damage the historical record other users have built around it.
• Comments. Comment authors can soft-delete their own comments at any time from the comment thread.
• Cookies. You can clear the voter cookie at any time from your browser. Signing out clears the session cookie.
• Regional rights. If you are in the EU/UK, California, or another jurisdiction with specific privacy rights, you have the right to access, correct, delete, object to, and (where applicable) port your personal data. Contact us using the address below to exercise those rights; we will respond within the timeframes required by applicable law.

black.wiki is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please email contact@black.wiki and we will delete it.

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect the information we collect, including row-level security in our database, encrypted connections, and access controls on administrative tools. No system is perfectly secure, however, and we cannot guarantee the security of information transmitted to or stored by us.

Black.Wiki is based in the United States and our service providers may process data in the United States and other countries. If you use black.wiki from outside the U.S., your information may be transferred to and processed in the U.S. under U.S. law.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be reflected by updating the “Last updated” date above and, where appropriate, by notifying you in-product.

Questions, requests, or complaints? Email contact@black.wiki.