What we keep, and why.

MZ NY Technologies Inc. ("PetArchive", "we"), 1781 47th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11204, operates petarchive.com and is responsible for the personal information it collects. Contact us through petarchive.com/help or by mail at that address.

This policy explains what we collect, why, who sees it and how long we retain it. We keep information needed to run the map and email you about your pet, and record site usage to improve it. We don't sell personal information or use advertising networks. You can ask us to delete your data.

What we collect

From you. We collect your email address for sign-in and the information you add to a pet's page: name, nickname, photos, species, breed, story, favorite things, birthday and came-home day. We collect your comment display name, comments, replies, likes, saved pets, daily activity guesses, posts, and choices about emails and usage records. When you agree to these terms, we record your account or email, what you were doing, the terms version, your IP address and the time.

You may add your pet's city and state, never a street address, so we can show nearby adoptable pets and shelters. This location isn't displayed on the pet's page.

For ads, we collect the name, category, city, address, hours, website, phone, image and words, which are public on the ad's page. For connected shelters, we collect the name, city, email and adoption page.

We collect what you submit through the help form (name, email and message) and the ideas-and-bugs window (message, optional email, the page you were on, and up to three screenshots you choose to attach to a bug report).

From payments. Stripe handles card details in its own form on our page when you buy a bigger spot or ad. We keep the order details (what, when and how much), your email as recorded by Stripe, and Stripe's reference numbers. We never see or store your card number.

An ad's plan page shows its owner the card brand and last four digits, retrieved from Stripe at that moment and not stored by us. Stripe collects additional information for payment processing and fraud prevention under its privacy policy (stripe.com/privacy).

From other people. If someone buys your pet a bigger spot, we store the gift and their note. If a shelter transfers an adopted pet to you, it provides your email so we can send a link. If you never open it, nothing further happens, and you can ask us to delete the address. We also record reports submitted about content.

Cookies. PetArchive sets these first-party cookies:

• pa_session: keeps you signed in for up to 180 days. Essential.
• pa_vid: a random visitor ID set for every visitor. It contains no name or email but distinguishes browsers. It supports likes, guesses and comment limits for signed-out visitors and helps prevent abuse. When usage recording is on, it also records visitor activity and return visits. Lasts two years.
• pa_ft: a signed timestamp that helps distinguish real comments from automated ones. Lasts 30 days. Essential.
• pa_usage: remembers your usage-recording choice. Lasts a year.
• pa_act: remembers that you've seen the day's activity, so it isn't kept at the top on later visits. Lasts two days.
• Cloudflare, which sits in front of our server, may set short-lived cookies such as __cf_bm to distinguish people from bots. These cookies are necessary for that protection and are described at developers.cloudflare.com.
• Browser storage on your device holds small preferences and drafts: your comment name, hidden items, map settings and unfinished ad forms. This information isn't sent to us except as part of what you submit.

Usage records. We record pages viewed and viewing time, clicks (button or link labels, never what you type), map navigation, Browse filters and form steps. Records include the time, device type (phone or computer) and referring page. They're linked to pa_vid and, when you're signed in, your account. We retain these records to understand and improve the site. We don't capture form entries this way or store your IP address with these records.

If your browser's time zone suggests you're in Europe, we ask first in a small box and record nothing until you accept. Elsewhere, recording is on unless you turn it off. Anyone can turn it off or on at any time using the line at the top of this page. See "Children" for how we handle known minors.

Server logs and IP addresses. Our web server and Cloudflare log each request's IP address, browser type, page and time. To prevent abuse and enforce blocks, we also store the IP address used to create an account, post a comment or report, submit a shelter form or save-by-email request, or approve or decline an ad. Rate limits count requests by IP address for a couple of days.

From shelters and public feeds. Adoptable pets come from shelters' public listings and public data (see the Terms). We store listing information, including the shelter's name, email, phone, website and Facebook page where published by the source, and display it on the pet's page as the shelter published it.

While a pet is on the map, we keep listing photo copies on our server for the map, share cards and daily activity. Shelters can ask us to change or remove any of this information.

Not collected. We don't use Google Analytics, advertising pixels, social media trackers or third-party analytics. We don't track you across other sites or ask for your location or age.

Why we use it

We use information to:

• display your pet on the map and its page;
• sign you in and secure your account;
• email you about your pet (see "Email");
• process payments, review and run ads, and maintain legally required records;
• check text and photos against our rules and crop photos;
• prevent abuse, enforce our terms and blocks, and operate the site;
• respond when you contact us;
• understand site usage and improve the site;
• meet our legal duties.

Automated decisions. An AI service checks text and photos when posted (see Anthropic below). It may reject comments, posts, pet details, ad text or photos without prior human review. If you think a decision is wrong, contact us and a person will review it.

Who sees it

Everyone can see your pet's page, including its name, nickname, photos, kind, breed, story, favorite things, birthday and came-home day if added, archive number, join date, badges, map position, likes, posts, comments and whether it was adopted from a shelter.

Comments show the name you entered or selected. If you're signed in, your comment name links to your pets. Daily activity guesses aren't displayed with your name. Saved pets are private. Once the site is open, search engines can find pet pages.

Nobody else sees your account email. It isn't displayed on the site or shared except with the services below that need it for their work. Shelter contact details are different: shelters publish them, and we display them on their pets' pages as described above.

Services we use. Each receives only what it needs:

• Stripe, Inc. (payments): your email, purchase details and the card details you enter in its form. stripe.com/privacy.
• Anthropic, PBC (AI checks and photo cropping): comment text, posts, pet details, ad text, gift notes, and uploaded and shelter photos, without email or account details. It checks this content, locates pets' faces and detects people in photos. Under Anthropic's commercial terms, it doesn't use this content to train its models and normally deletes it within 30 days. It may retain content longer when required by law, to enforce its usage policy, or when its safety systems flag it.
• Cloudflare, Inc. (network, caching and bot protection): all site requests go through Cloudflare, which sees your IP address and request and may set the cookies described above. cloudflare.com/privacypolicy.
• Google LLC: Google Workspace hosts our mailboxes, so emails and form submissions are stored there. Google Cloud Storage holds encrypted database and photo backups in the United States.
• KnownHost, LLC (hosting): its data center in Atlanta, Georgia houses our server, where everything is stored.
• Your browser also contacts other services when displaying their content: embedded YouTube videos (youtube-nocookie.com), TikTok and Instagram videos; photos served directly by RescueGroups.org; RescueGroups' one-pixel view counter on some adoptable pets' pages; and Stripe's payment form. These services receive your IP address and may set cookies under their own policies. Shelter and advertiser links take you to their sites. We use YouTube API Services to find videos for What's new; we don't access your YouTube account or data. Google's Privacy Policy applies: policies.google.com/privacy

We don't sell personal information, provide it to advertisers or data brokers, "share" it for cross-context behavioral advertising as defined by California law, or use it for profiling. We don't respond to browser Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signals. Use the choice at the top of this page instead.

If PetArchive changes hands, your data transfers to the new owner under this policy. We notify account holders by email first.

The law. We disclose data when legally required, to respond to valid legal process, or to protect the site, users or public from harm or fraud.

Email

We send required emails to sign you in; confirm your email after a claim, with one reminder; confirm a save requested by email; confirm a payment or ad change; notify you when a pet is removed or an account deleted; and notify you when a shelter transfers a pet to you. These emails can't be turned off because they're needed to operate the site.

Optional emails cover likes and comments on your pet, replies to your comments, birthdays and came-home days, featured pets and badges, the daily activity, and reminders about pages without a photo or story. Each has a link at the bottom to choose which emails you get or stop them, and a setting on your Notifications page.

We don't send other companies' marketing or share your address. If you contact us, we reply to the address you used. We also email shelters and rescues at their published public addresses to tell them their pets are on the map. Any shelter can reply to be excluded.

How long we keep it

We retain information while your account is active. Removing a pet's page immediately deletes its photos, story, posts, comments and likes. We keep the pet's name, species, number and square so the number isn't reissued.

Deleting your account immediately deletes your pets' pages, comments, likes, saves and guesses. We anonymize your account record by removing its email, name and IP address, with these exceptions:

• Payment records are retained for up to seven years for tax, accounting and disputes.
• The event log and messages sent through the help or ideas form are retained without a link to your account.
• We retain anything required for a legal claim.

Comments and likes submitted while signed out aren't linked to an account and remain. Deleted data remains in encrypted backups for up to six months as backups rotate out. Server and email logs are retained for up to 12 months.

We retain usage records as long as they help improve the site. After account deletion, we remove the account link, but records remain under their original browser ID. Rate-limit counters are deleted after two days, unconfirmed claims after 24 hours, and unconfirmed saves after 7 days.

Where it's kept

Our server and backups are in the United States, and PetArchive is operated for people in the United States. If you use it elsewhere, your data is transferred to and stored in the US, where data protection rules may differ from those in your country.

Security

Connections are encrypted using HTTPS. Passwords are stored only as salted scrypt hashes, not as readable text. Uploaded photos are re-encoded to remove hidden data, including camera location. Backups are encrypted, and server access is limited to the people operating the site.

No site can guarantee perfect security. If a breach affects your personal information, we'll notify you without unreasonable delay and within the legally required time.

Your choices and rights

You can edit or delete anything on a pet's page, remove a pet, and delete your account from your account page. Manage optional emails on your Notifications page or through the link in any optional email. Turn usage recording off or on at the top of this page.

Wherever you live, you can contact us through petarchive.com/help using your account email to request access to your personal information, a copy in a usable format, corrections, deletion, or an end to a particular use. We respond within 30 days, never charge, and never treat you differently for asking. If you're dissatisfied, you can complain to your local consumer protection or data protection authority.

California residents. Whether or not California's consumer privacy law applies to a company our size, we provide its requested disclosures. We collect the categories listed above: identifiers (email, IP address and visitor ID), your content, payment records, and device, log and usage data. Sources are you, your browser, Stripe and shelters' public listings. Purposes appear under "Why we use it". We don't sell or share personal information, so there is nothing to opt out of. You may request access, correction or deletion as described above.

EU, UK and Swiss residents. PetArchive is a US service and doesn't target Europe. If you use it there, you have the same choices as everyone else, and we'll honor requests for access, correction, erasure, restriction, portability and objection. Where EU or UK law applies, our legal bases are our contract with you (accounts and pages), legitimate interest (security and map operation), and consent (usage records and optional emails). You may complain to your data protection authority.

Children

PetArchive is not for children under 13 and isn't directed at anyone under 18. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we discover that we have, we delete it and close the account. People ages 13 to 17 may hold a free account with a parent's or guardian's permission but can't pay for anything.

If we learn that an account holder or visitor is under 18, we retain only what's needed to operate their account and protect the site. Within 30 days, we stop recording their usage, delete usage records and other personal data linked to them that the law doesn't allow us to retain, and ask our service providers to delete what they hold.

Recording on a signed-out device stops when its usage choice is turned off. The visitor or a parent can do this at the top of this page. We don't ask anyone's age or birthday. Contact us if you believe a child under 13 is using PetArchive or want us to treat an account as a minor's.

Changes

For material changes to this policy, we email account holders before the changes take effect and update the date above. For smaller changes, we update the date.

Contact

Contact us through petarchive.com/help. Mail: MZ NY Technologies Inc., 1781 47th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11204.