Privacy Policy
Effective: [BETA] | Last Updated: November 4, 2025
🔒 Our Privacy Promise
webcam.org is built on one principle: Your cameras, your data, your control.
Unlike Ring, Nest, and other corporate surveillance platforms, we believe privacy is a right, not a feature you pay for.
1. What We Collect
✅ Data We DO Collect:
Account Information:
- Email address (for login)
- Username (public display name)
- Password (encrypted with bcrypt - we cannot see it)
- Subscription tier (free, plus, pro)
Camera Metadata (NOT Video):
- Camera name, description, type
- GPS location (only if you mark camera public)
- Technical details (resolution, FPS)
- Last seen timestamp
- Thumbnail images (public cameras only)
Mobile App Data:
- Device type (iOS/Android)
- Push notification token
- App version
Usage Analytics (Anonymized):
- Pages visited (via Google Analytics)
- Feature usage
- Error logs (to fix bugs)
2. What We Do NOT Collect
❌ Data We DO NOT Collect:
- Your private camera video feeds (video stays on your device)
- Live surveillance footage (we cannot watch your cameras)
- Audio recordings (unless you upload clips)
- Biometric data (facial recognition, fingerprints)
- Precise home address (only GPS if you share publicly)
- Payment card details (handled by Stripe)
- Passwords in plain text (encrypted)
3. Technical Proof
Private Cameras:
- Stream via WebRTC peer-to-peer (direct device-to-device)
- Or through Tailscale VPN (encrypted tunnel)
- We only provide "signaling" (helping devices find each other)
- We NEVER see your video
Self-Hosted Software:
- All AI detection runs on YOUR hardware
- Video stored on YOUR hard drive or cloud storage
- Our plugin only sends event metadata (not video)
Open Source:
- Our code is on GitHub (link coming soon)
- Security researchers can verify these claims
- No hidden data collection
4. How We Use Your Information
To Provide the Service:
- Authenticate your login
- Register and manage your cameras
- Send push notifications (person detected, doorbell press)
- Display public cameras on the map
- Process payments (via Stripe)
What We Do NOT Do:
- ❌ Sell your data to third parties
- ❌ Show you targeted ads
- ❌ Share data with police without legal process
- ❌ Train AI models on your private footage
- ❌ Use your cameras for our own surveillance
5. Data Sharing
What We Share Publicly (if you mark camera public):
- Camera name, description, GPS location
- Thumbnail image
- Live stream (visible to anyone)
Service Providers We Use:
- Firebase (push notifications)
- Stripe (payments - PCI-DSS compliant)
- Amazon S3 (cloud backup if enabled)
- Google Analytics (anonymized stats)
Legal Requirements:
- We may disclose data if required by valid subpoena or court order
- We notify users before disclosure unless legally prohibited
- We require proper legal process (no informal police requests)
- Unlike Ring: We have NO agreements with police for warrantless access
6. Your Rights
You Can:
- View all your account data in settings
- Export your camera metadata (JSON format)
- Download your cloud backup clips
- Edit account information anytime
- Make cameras public or private
- Disable cloud backup
- Delete your entire account (permanent)
GDPR (EU Users):
- Right to access your data
- Right to rectification (correct errors)
- Right to erasure ("right to be forgotten")
- Right to data portability
- Contact: gdpr@webcam.org
CCPA (California Users):
- Right to know what data is collected
- Right to delete personal information
- Right to opt-out of "sale" (we don't sell data)
- Contact: privacy@webcam.org
7. Data Storage & Security
Where Data is Stored:
- User data: PostgreSQL database (US East)
- Metadata: Encrypted at rest
- Video clips (if cloud backup): Amazon S3 encrypted
- Passwords: Bcrypt hashed
Security Measures:
- HTTPS/TLS encryption for all connections
- Two-factor authentication available
- Regular security audits
- Encrypted database backups
Data Retention:
- Account data: Until you delete your account
- Public camera listings: Until you remove from directory
- Cloud backup clips: 7 days (Plus) or 30 days (Pro), then auto-deleted
- Logs: 90 days for security
8. Children's Privacy
webcam.org is not intended for children under 18. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 18. If we discover a child's data, we delete it immediately.
9. Changes to Policy
We may update this policy. Significant changes will be announced via email and in-app notification. Continued use after changes = acceptance.
10. Contact Us
- Privacy Questions: privacy@webcam.org
- GDPR (EU): gdpr@webcam.org
- Security Issues: security@webcam.org
- General Support: support@webcam.org
Our Commitment
Privacy is not a feature you pay for at webcam.org - it's our foundation.
- We will never sell your data
- We will never give warrantless police access
- We will notify you before complying with legal requests (when legally allowed)
- We will keep our code open source so you can verify these promises