Privacy Policy

1. What data we collect

• Account information — name, email, and avatar provided by Google or Apple OAuth when you sign in.
• System profile data — speaker configuration, receiver, subwoofer, room details, and equipment budget that you submit voluntarily.
• Content you create — ratings, reviews, discussion comments, lists, and guestbook posts.
• Usage data — pages visited and features used, collected via privacy- respecting analytics if you opt in.
• Cookies — session, CSRF, notification preferences, your cookie consent choice, and (with your consent) analytics and advertising cookies.

2. How we use your data

• To provide, operate, and improve the HDIS service.
• To produce aggregated equipment statistics for the community, with no individual attribution.
• To display advertising that supports the service (only if you consent).
• To send notifications you have opted into (in-app and email).
• To moderate content and enforce community guidelines.

3. Third-party services

We use the following third parties:

• Google OAuth and Apple OAuth for authentication.
• Google AdSense for advertising. AdSense uses cookies for ad personalization (only if you consent via the Cookie Preferences banner).
• Amazon Associates and Crutchfield for affiliate links. These partners may track purchases made through our links via their own cookies.
• Amazon Web Services (AWS) for hosting and storage. Data remains in US regions.
• The Movie Database (TMDB) as our movie metadata provider.
• Google Workspace for our business email (privacy@howdoesitsound.io and other aliases).

4. Cookies we use

• Essential — session cookie (HttpOnly, secure), CSRF token, and your cookie consent choice. Always set; required for the site to work.
• Functional — notification preferences and similar settings.
• Analytics — usage measurement. Only set if you consent.
• Advertising — third-party cookies set by Google AdSense. Only set if you consent.

You can change your cookie preferences at any time using the Cookie Preferences link in the site footer.

5. Data sharing

• We do not sell your personal data.
• Equipment statistics are aggregated and anonymized — no individual attribution.
• Affiliate partners receive aggregated impression and click counts, never individual user data.
• We will comply with valid legal requests from law enforcement when required by law.

6. Your rights

• Access your data — your profile page shows everything we associate with your account.
• Delete your account — email privacy@howdoesitsound.io. We soft-delete on request and hard-delete after 30 days.
• Opt out of email notifications — via your notification preferences page or the unsubscribe link in any email.
• Opt out of advertising and analytics cookies — via the Cookie Preferences link in the footer.

7. Data retention

• Account data: retained while your account is active.
• Ratings and reviews: retained while your account is active. Soft-deleted content is removed permanently after 90 days.
• Notification data: 90 days.
• Analytics and click logs: 12 months.

8. Children

HDIS is not intended for users under 13 years of age, in compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

9. California Residents (CCPA)

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act gives you additional rights:

• Right to know what personal information we have collected about you.
• Right to delete personal information we have collected, subject to legal exceptions.
• Right to correct inaccurate personal information.
• Right to opt out of the sale of personal information. We do not sell personal information, so this right is automatic.
• Right to non-discrimination for exercising any of the above rights.

To exercise any of these rights, email privacy@howdoesitsound.io with the subject "CCPA Request". We will respond within 45 days.

10. Contact

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision. For material changes, we will provide additional notice through an in-app announcement.