PITLANE

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 21 July 2026

1. Who we are

Pitlane is a personal, non-commercial project ("Pitlane," "we," "us"). We are the controller of the personal data described here. For any privacy-related request, contact us at [email protected].

2. What we collect

  • Account data: username, email address, and a password (stored only as a secure bcrypt hash, never in plain text).
  • Optional profile data: bio, car description, country, and avatar image.
  • Content you create: posts, comments, votes, saved posts, event and community memberships, and photos you upload.
  • Technical data: your IP address (used for security rate-limiting), strictly-necessary cookies, and error/diagnostic data collected via Sentry.

3. How we use your data

We use your data to run the service (accounts, sign-in, the feed, events, and communities), to send the notification emails you have opted into, for security and abuse prevention, for moderation, and to maintain and debug the service.

4. Legal bases (GDPR)

We process your data on the basis of performing our contract with you (providing the service you signed up for), our legitimate interests (keeping the service secure and working), and your consent where it applies (for example, the notification-email preferences you control in your settings).

5. Cookies

We use only strictly-necessary cookies: token (short-lived sign-in), refresh_token (keeps you signed in), and error tracking via Sentry (with personal data disabled). If we later place the site behind Cloudflare's proxy, it may set a __cf_bm bot-management cookie, which is also strictly necessary. We do not use analytics, advertising, or tracking cookies, so no cookie-consent banner is required and this section is your notice.

6. Who we share data with

We do not sell your personal data. We share it only with the service providers that run Pitlane:

  • Amazon Web Services (AWS): hosting, database, photo storage (S3), content delivery (CloudFront), and email (SES) — hosted in the EU (Frankfurt, eu-central-1).
  • Cloudflare: DNS and email forwarding for our contact address.
  • Sentry: error and diagnostic tracking.

7. Photos and metadata

Photos you upload are stored via AWS S3 and served via CloudFront. As a safeguard we strip location (EXIF/GPS) metadata from images, but you remain responsible for the content of the images you upload. Please blur or remove license plates, faces, or private details before uploading.

8. Where your data is stored

Your data is stored primarily in the EU (AWS Frankfurt). Some of our service providers are based in the United States; any transfer of data to them relies on their standard legal safeguards, such as Standard Contractual Clauses or recognized adequacy frameworks.

9. How long we keep your data

We keep your account and content until you delete them or your account. Because Pitlane is a project that may be discontinued at any time, we do not guarantee long-term retention. Please keep your own copies of anything important. Routine database backups are kept for about 30 days and then deleted; application logs are kept for about 7 days. When you delete your account, your profile is anonymized and your sign-in tokens are deleted immediately.

10. Your rights

Under the GDPR you have the right to access, correct, delete, restrict, object to, and port your personal data. You can delete your account and its personal data at any time from your settings. To exercise any other right, email [email protected]. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data-protection authority.

11. Children

Pitlane is not intended for anyone under 16. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 16, and if we learn that we have, we will delete it.

12. Security

We protect your data with measures including bcrypt password hashing, sign-in tokens stored in httpOnly cookies (not readable by JavaScript), encryption in transit (TLS), and least-privilege access to our infrastructure. No online service can be perfectly secure, but we take reasonable steps to protect your data.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top reflects the current version, and we will note material changes on the site where practical.

14. Contact

Questions about your privacy? Email [email protected]. See also our Terms & Conditions.