Privacy notice
This notice explains what personal data the public website of Project Witness collects about visitors, why, how long we keep it, and what you can ask us to do. You can browse and search without an account.
Who this covers
This notice applies to everyone who visits this website, with or without an account. It covers the website and the optional visitor account.
It does not cover the people named in archival records. The ethics and access policies explain how the archive protects them and how to ask for a record to be corrected or removed.
What we collect
We collect only what the features you use need. This site contains no analytics, advertising or tracking code, and it sets no tracking cookies.
- 01
Browsing. Our servers receive the technical details of each request: your IP address, the address of the page you asked for, and the time. We use them to run and secure the site and to limit abuse.
- 02
Language. If you switch language, your browser stores a cookie named “locale” (en or he) for one year. We use it only to show the site in your language.
- 03
Account. Your email address, your name, and a password, which we store only as a one-way hash. If you give them, also your institution and the kind of user you say you are (general, educator, researcher or genealogist). We record when you created the account and when you last signed in.
- 04
Sign-in with Google. If you choose “Continue with Google”, Google tells us your email address and name through a sign-in service operated for the archive. We do not receive your Google password.
- 05
Sign-in links. When you ask for an email sign-in link, we store your email address, the IP address of the request, and the times the link was requested and used.
- 06
Saved items and searches. The records you save, with any notes and tags you add, and the searches you save, with their names and filters.
- 07
Access requests. The record, the type of use, the purpose you describe, your institution if you give it, the status of the request and the reason for any decision. Archivists read these to decide your request.
To keep you signed in, your browser keeps a sign-in token in its local storage, not in a cookie. It is removed when you sign out. During Google sign-in, a short-lived security cookie and a temporary browser-session value protect the sign-in from forgery.
Why we use it
We use your data for these purposes only.
- 01
To create your account and sign you in.
- 02
To review your access requests, decide them, and email you the result.
- 03
To keep your saved items and saved searches for you.
- 04
To protect the service from abuse, for example by limiting how many requests one address can make in a short time.
- 05
To show the site in your language.
How long we keep it
We keep your account data for as long as your account exists, and we delete it when you ask.
- 01
When you delete your account, we delete the account itself, your saved items, your saved searches, your verification records and your sign-in link records.
- 02
Your access requests stay in the archive’s records without your name, purpose or institution. Any download link for them stops working.
- 03
Rate-limit counters are short-lived and expire on their own.
You can delete your account yourself from the Account page, or by writing to us.
Your choices and rights
You can ask to see, correct or delete the personal data we hold about you, and you can object to how we use it.
- 01
See your data. Sign in, open the Account page and choose “Download my data” to get a file of everything we store about your account.
- 02
Delete your data. On the Account page choose “Delete my account”. The account is erased as described under “How long we keep it”.
- 03
Correct your data, object to a use, withdraw consent, or ask a question. Write to archive@projectwitness.org.
If you are not satisfied with our answer, you may also complain to the data protection authority in your country.
Changes to this notice
We may update this notice. The “Last reviewed” date at the top of this page shows when it was last checked.
Questions about this notice: archive@projectwitness.org.
Document
Visitor privacy notice
Questions and requests
Write to us to see, correct or delete your personal data.
archive@projectwitness.org