Privacy

It's a cliche but I value your privacy. I have strong views on what you should be able to keep private "by default". I believe that the players are the clients and customers and not the advertisers and other parties. I do need to tell you what information I keep about you though, as without it, the game would not "work". I strive to ensure that no personally identifiable data (unless you specifically allow it) is published or shared. I am only human though, so I may make mistakes. If you identify any areas of concern though, please let me know and I will try to remedy it. I also collate and autonomise the data that I do collect for statistical purposes - based on data that I must keep in order to run the multiplayer and minimise breaches of the rules. This anonymous, aggregated data may become available to 3rd parties. For example, I reserve the right to be able to answer questions such as "How many people in South West England scanned a Tesco 4 lt milk container?" and similar. If you have any issue with being part of these questions, then please let me know and I will work on and enable an exclusion option. 

Anyway, enough of that. Here is the list of data and why I keep it:

1) Whenever you start the application on your phone, the application "sends a message home" to verify that it is the most up-to-date version and also it checks to see if there is any news. In the message is also your phone make and model type and android version. I use these to ensure that the app is kept up to date for the majority of the phones that run it (for example, there is no point me making the application only run on 2.1 android phones - I would exclude 90% of the players!). Likewise, if two people tell me there are bugs in the game, and one person's phone is used by 50% of the players and the other person's phone is used by 1% of the players, then I know which bugs to fix first to get the maximum benefit. If you think this feature is unnecessary then please let me know, and I will put an option in to turn it off.

2) I generate a number of random codes on your phone. One of these codes is used to identify the phone to the application server. No personally recognisable information is stored within this code. This code is used to register and record your "beasts" onto the server and ensure that you can retrieve them. Another code is used to confirm updates and changes to the beasts, whilst the first code is only used for minor operations. This code is visible on your "player" page. However, if you associate your google account (or, if applicable, another means of identification) with your phone, then there will be a link formed between this identification code and your individual information.

3) Although the XP and levelling up is still in it's infancy, I need to record each barcode you scan. This is so that (for example) if you have lots of lvl 7 beasts and you wish to "power level" them, you could easily scan a (for example) level 5 beast (which would give it the best fight but also weighed in the lvl 7 beasts favour), battle them, have the lvl 7 beast benefit, delete the level 5 beast and then rescan the level 5 beast. Also, if it is the case that someone should find a "super beast" and publish the code onto the internet for all players to scan, then instead of the game being about discovery, it would be about who can use a search engine the best. For this reason, there will be checks such that any powerful beasts can only be found so often and if they should become coincidentally scanned in a number of places in very quick succession, there will be measures to either remove or weaken the beast. If this is an issue for you, then please contact me so we can start a discussion about how best to suit everybodies needs (ie the players and the anti-cheating mechanisms).

4) Locational data. In addition to 3) above, I store location data as there has been a large response in answer the question about integrating 3rd party android applications such as "Layar" to the game. As Layar is a geographical application, I must store the locational data of beasts. Obviously there will be a number of options as to who will be able to see this data, and there will be an option to opt-out as well in its entirety if this concerns you.

5) Player / Friends data. Obviously if you start joining leagues, having friends lists etc etc, then I need to store information about those associations. 

Additional bits (that I didn't think of in the first draft but I guess are pretty "standard" to most privacy statements)

6) If I am asked by any government or law enforcement agency to provide data that is stored within the databases, then I will comply if 

6a) they have the required and relevant orders from their judicial system or

6b) if they do not have the relevant order, and after reviewing their request then I believe that there is sufficient information that I could provide to prevent serious crime or assist conviction of a serious crime

ie I won't just give the local council details if they want a nose around - I will try and do my moral duty in keeping your details safe but don't expect me to shelter you from the law if you are hiding something !

[ I have no idea how or why on earth the data that is kept could be relevant but hey ho you never know ]