This notice describes how from-below collects and uses data about you.

What is from-below?

From-below is an independent online discussion forum initiated and maintained by Christoph Haug.

How does from-below collect data about me?

From-below collects data about you:

• when you usw the from-below forum

• when you create and use an account on the from-below forum

• when you post, send personal messages, and otherwise participate in from-below forum

From-below collects data when you use the forum, whether you use the forum using a web browser on your own computer, a mobile device, or a Discourse app for mobile devices.

From-below does not buy or otherwise receive data about you from data brokers.

What data does from-below collect about me, and why?

From-below collects data about visits to the forum.

When you visit the from-below forum, whether you have an account or not, the forum uses cookies, server logs, and other methods to collect data about what pages you visit and when.

from-below uses data about how you use the website to:

• optimize the forum, so that it’s quick and easy to use

• diagnose and debug technical errors

• defend the forum from abuse and technical attacks

• compile statistics on forum and topic popularity

• compile statistics on the kinds of software and computers visitors use

• to conduct academic (non-commercial) research

From-below usually stores data about how you use the forum in identifiable form for just a few weeks. In special circumstances, like extended investigations about technical attacks, from-below may preserve log data longer, for analysis. from-below stores aggregate statistics about use of the forum for as long as from-below hosts the forum, but those statistics don’t include data identifiable to you personally.

from-below collects account data.

Many features the from-below forum require a forum account. For example, it requires an account to post and reply to topics.

To sign up for a forum account, from-below requires your name, a user name, and an e-mail address.

From-below uses your account data to identify you on the forum, and to create pages specific to you, like your profile page. The forum is access-restricted and from-below makes your account data available to everyone who can access the forum, according to the forum administrator’s configuration.

The from-below forum is public, so some of your account data is published on the internet.

From-below uses your e-mail address to:

• notify you about posts and other activity on the forum

• reset your password and help keep your account secure

• contact you in special circumstances related to your account

• contact you about legal requests, like DMCA takedown requests

You may provide additional data for your account, like a short biography, your location, or your birthday, on the profile settings page for your account. from-below makes that data available to others who can access the forum. You don’t have to provide this additional information, and you can erase it at any time.

from-below stores your account data as long as your account remains open.

from-below collects data about posts and other activity on the forum.

from-below collects the content of your posts, plus data about bookmarks, likes, and links you follow in order to share that data with others, through the forum. The forum is access-restricted and additional access restrictions may apply to specific post. Based on these restrictions from-below makes your activity available only to entitled users.

From-below also collects data about personal messages that you send through the forum. from-below makes personal messages available to senders and their recipients, and also to forum administrators.

From-below stores your posts and other activity as long as your account remains open.

How can I make choices about data collection?

You can make choices about how data about is used on the settings page for your account. When a forum uses access restrictions that vary by category, you can choose who will see your post by choosing the appropriate category.

From-below does not respond to the Do Not Track HTTP header.

Where does from-below store data about me?

From-below stores your data at Hetzner’s data centre park in Nuremberg, Germany.

Does from-below comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation?

from-below respects privacy rights under Regulation (EU) 2016/679, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Information that GDPR requires from-below to give can be found throughout this privacy notice. So can information about specific rights, like access, rectification, erasure, data portability, and objection to automated decision-making.

Where can I access data about me?

You can see your account data at any time by visiting your account page on the forum. Your account page also lists your posts and other activity on the forum.

Your account activity page also includes a link to download all of your activity in standard comma-separated values format.

How can I change or erase data about me?

You can change your account data at any time by visiting the profile settings page for your account. The settings for a particular forum may also allow you to close your account, on the settings page for your account. Closing your account starts a process of erasing or anonymizing from-below’s records of data you provided for your account. Forum administrators can also erase and anonymize accounts.

Depending on the settings for your particular forum, you may also be able to edit, anonymize, or erase your posts. When you edit posts, from-below will keep all versions of your posts. Forum administrators can view old versions of posts, and optionally make them visible to other forum visitors.

Does from-below make automated decisions based on data about me?

From-below classifies posts as spam automatically.

From-below uses data about your posts and other activity on many forums to make automated decisions about whether your posts to from-below.net are spam. If your post is deemed spam, the forum refuses to accept the post or holds it for moderation.

If you think a post has been wrongly blocked or removed, contact an administrator of your forum. They can override the decision that a post was spam.

From-below uses data about posts and activity to set trust levels automatically.

Depending on how administrators have configured the forum, the forum may use data about your posts and activity to award you badges and calculate a trust level for your account. Your trust level may affect how you can participate in the forum, such as whether you can upload images, as well as give you access to moderation and management powers in the forum. Your trust level therefore reflects forum administrators’ confidence in you, and their willingness to delegate community management functions, like moderation.

If you think your trust level has been set incorrectly, contact an administrator of your forum. They can manually adjust the trust level of your account.

Does from-below share data about me with others?

From-below shares account data with others as mentioned in the section about account data.

From-below shares data about your posts and other forum activity with others as mentioned in the section about forum data.

From-below does not sell or give information about you to other companies or services. However, from-below does use services from other companies. The companies behind those services may collect data about you on their own, for their own purposes. Some of these services may be used to collect information about your online activities across different websites.

Other individuals and companies may also reuse data about you that from-below publishes, such as your posts to the forum.

How can I contact from-below about privacy?

You can send questions and complaints to: privacy@from-below.net

For complaints under GDPR more generally, European Union users may lodge complaints with their local data protection supervisory authorities.

How can I find out about changes?

This version of from-below’s privacy notice took effect 30 October 2020.

from-below will post the next version at https://from-below.net/privacy. from-below may change how it announces changes in future versions.

In the meantime, from-below may update its contact information without announcing a change. Please refer to https://from-below.net/contact for the latest contact information at any time.