Privacy

"FilmShelves", "we", "us", and "our" refer to the operator of the FilmShelves service, based in British Columbia, Canada. For privacy enquiries, contact privacy@filmshelves.com.

FilmShelves is a personal collection management product for physical film media (DVD, Blu-ray, UHD, VHS, LaserDisc, and similar). Most personal data we hold exists to operate that service — account access, your collection, and your interactions with other users.

We collect the following categories of personal data:

• Account identifiers — your email address, display name, and authentication credentials, provided when you create an account.
• Profile data — optional fields such as pronouns, location, and avatar image.
• Collection and catalogue data — the releases in your shelves, your edit suggestions, ratings, notes, and similar contributions.
• Social graph — friendships, follows, and any messages or activity you exchange with other users.
• Payment data — if you purchase paid features, billing information is collected by our payment processor (Stripe). We do not store full card numbers ourselves.
• Technical data — IP address, browser type, device type, and pages visited, collected through standard server logs and through analytics where you have consented.
• Consent state — your cookie and analytics consent choices, stored so we can honour them across sessions.

We do not collect special-category or sensitive personal data, such as information about your health, race or ethnicity, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation.

We use personal data to:

• operate the FilmShelves service and your account;
• authenticate you and keep your account secure (including abuse and fraud prevention);
• display your collection, contributions, and social interactions to you and to the users you choose to share them with;
• send service-related communications (security alerts, account changes, policy updates);
• respond to support requests and enforce our Terms of Use;
• measure aggregate product usage, but only when you have given analytics consent.

We do not sell personal data. We do not use your data to train machine-learning models for third parties.

Where the GDPR applies to you, we rely on the following legal bases:

• Contract — to provide the account and features you sign up for.
• Legitimate interests — to keep the service secure, prevent abuse, and improve product reliability.
• Consent — for non-essential analytics and preference cookies, and for any marketing communications.
• Legal obligation — to comply with applicable law, including responding to lawful requests from authorities.

The table below maps the main things we do with personal data to the legal basis we rely on for each:

FilmShelves relies on a small number of service providers to operate. Each processor only receives the data needed to do its job. Where data leaves Canada, we rely on standard contractual clauses or equivalent safeguards.

• Clerk (United States) — authentication and session management. Receives your email, display name, and authentication credentials.
• Stripe (United States / Ireland) — payment processing for paid features. Receives billing identifiers; processes card data directly without exposing it to FilmShelves.
• TMDB (United States) — film and release metadata source. We query TMDB for catalogue lookups; we do not send personal data to TMDB.
• Cloudflare R2 (global edge) — storage for images and assets such as cover art and avatars.
• Sentry (United States / European Union) — error and performance monitoring. Configured to scrub personal data from error payloads.
• Google Analytics 4 (United States) — aggregate product analytics. Only loaded after you grant analytics consent via the cookie banner or in Settings.
• JustWatch(Germany / European Union) — the "where to watch" streaming-availability widget on digital release pages. Receives the page URL and your IP address to return streaming, rental, and purchase options for the title. It sets no cookies or storage on FilmShelves; affiliate attribution happens only if you choose to click through to a provider.
• Google Fonts (United States) — web font delivery within the JustWatch widget. Receives your IP address when the font file loads.
• Amazon Associates(United States) — the affiliate programme behind the "where to buy" links on physical release pages. We send no personal data to Amazon; a link carries only our affiliate tag. If you click through, Amazon may set its own cookies to attribute a purchase.
• eBay Partner Network(United States / global) — the affiliate programme behind the "where to buy" links on release pages. We send no personal data to eBay; a link carries only our campaign identifier. If you click through, eBay may set its own cookies to attribute a purchase.

Some release pages show "where to buy" links to retailers such as Amazon and eBay. These are affiliate links: if you follow one and make a purchase, FilmShelves may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. We surface them to help you find a disc — the retailer shown is chosen by where the release is likely to be available, not by which pays the highest commission.

Following an affiliate link takes you to the retailer's own site, where that retailer may set its own cookies to attribute a purchase. Those cookies are governed by the retailer's privacy policy, not this one. FilmShelves does not receive your payment details, and we do not share your personal data with these retailers — the links carry only our affiliate identifier.

Beyond the processors above, we may share personal data in these limited situations:

• Lawful requests — to law enforcement, regulators, courts, or other public authorities where we reasonably believe we are required to do so, or to exercise, establish, or defend legal claims.
• Business transfers — to a buyer or successor in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or part of FilmShelves. Any such recipient would be required to honour this Privacy Policy.
• With your consent — to anyone else when you ask us to, separately from these defaults.

You can exercise the following rights at any time. We respond to requests within 30 days.

• Access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you. A self-service export is available in Settings.
• Correction — update inaccurate or incomplete data, mostly directly editable in your profile.
• Deletion — close your account and request deletion of personal data we hold. Some records may be retained where required for legal, accounting, or abuse prevention purposes.
• Portability — receive your collection and contribution data in a machine-readable format.
• Withdraw consent — change your analytics or preference-cookie consent at any time via the Privacy tab in Settings.
• Object / restrict (EU/UK only) — object to processing based on legitimate interests, or request restriction of processing pending review.
• Lodge a complaint — contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, the relevant EU data-protection authority if you are in the EEA, or the UK Information Commissioner's Office if you are in the UK.

Send rights requests to privacy@filmshelves.com.

FilmShelves uses cookies and equivalent browser storage in three categories:

• Essential — required for authentication, security, and core session behaviour. Always on.
• Preference — remember interface settings such as theme and locale. Set only with your consent.
• Analytics — aggregate usage measurement via Google Analytics 4. Set only with your consent.

You can change your choices at any time through the cookie banner or via Settings → Privacy. You can also clear or block cookies in your browser, though disabling essential cookies will prevent you from signing in.

We use technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal data against unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. These include encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS), access controls on production systems, and routine monitoring for unusual activity.

Account passwords are handled by our authentication provider (Clerk) and are not stored on FilmShelves servers in a form we can read. You are responsible for keeping your own login credentials confidential and for telling us promptly if you suspect unauthorised access to your account.

No method of transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is perfectly secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

We keep your account data for as long as your account is active. When you delete your account, we delete or anonymise personal data within 30 days, except for records we are required to retain for legal, tax, or abuse-prevention purposes (which are kept only for as long as needed for that purpose).

Server and security logs are retained for up to 90 days. Aggregate analytics data, once stripped of identifiers, may be retained indefinitely.

FilmShelves is operated from Canada, but some of our processors are based in the United States, the European Union, or operate global infrastructure. When personal data is transferred outside Canada or the EU/UK, we rely on processor commitments and, where applicable, the European Commission's standard contractual clauses to maintain comparable protection.

FilmShelves is not directed at children under 13. If you are in the European Economic Area, the minimum age in your country may be higher (commonly 16). If we learn that we have collected personal data from a child below the applicable age, we will delete it.

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Material changes will be communicated in-app or by email to your account address before they take effect.

For any privacy question, request, or complaint, email privacy@filmshelves.com.