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Privacy Policy — TEMPLATE

Instructions for operators. This template is a fill-in-the-blanks privacy policy you may adapt for your deployment. Replace every <PLACEHOLDER> with your specific value, review the result with legal counsel, then publish at a stable URL (typically https://<your-domain>/privacy).

This template is not legal advice. It covers GDPR Article 13 disclosures and the MAID-specific surface (AI sub-processors, cookie use, retention). It does NOT cover:

  • Jurisdiction-specific requirements outside the EU and California.
  • Sector-specific rules (children's services, health, finance).
  • Your contractual obligations to upstream parties.

Have a lawyer in your jurisdiction read the filled-in result.

Operator-facing companion documentation lives in privacy.md.


Privacy Policy

Last updated: <YYYY-MM-DD>

1. Who we are

<COMPANY NAME> ("we", "us", "our") operates the <SERVICE NAME> text-based multiplayer game (the "Service"), available at <SERVICE URL>. We are the data controller for the purposes of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), as applicable.

Contact:

  • General privacy enquiries: <CONTACT EMAIL>
  • Data Protection Officer (DPO): <DPO EMAIL>
  • Postal: <COMPANY ADDRESS>

If you are an EU resident and we are not established in the EU, our EU representative under GDPR Article 27 is: <EU REPRESENTATIVE NAME AND ADDRESS>.

2. What personal data we collect

When you use the Service, we collect:

Category Examples Purpose
Account data Username; email address; password (stored hashed, not in plain text) Authentication; password reset; service-related notifications.
Session data Source IP address; browser user-agent (web only); session timestamps Session continuity; abuse mitigation; security audit.
Gameplay data In-game character name; character description; gameplay actions; messages you send to other players or NPCs Operating the game.
Audit log Administrative actions affecting your account; your IP address at the time of the action Security; compliance with legal obligations.
AI dialogue context The last few turns of conversation with NPCs that use AI dialogue, including your in-game name and the text you sent NPC dialogue generation (passed to a sub-processor — see § 7).

We do NOT collect:

  • Real-name verification documents.
  • Voice or audio recordings.
  • Payment information (the Service has no built-in commerce).
  • Tracking cookies or analytic cookies (see § 6).

Under GDPR Article 6, we process your personal data on the following bases:

Purpose Legal basis Articles
Providing the Service (account, gameplay, sessions, NPC dialogue) Performance of a contract 6(1)(b)
Securing the Service (audit log, abuse mitigation, account-tied notifications) Legitimate interest in protecting players and the Service 6(1)(f)
Retaining audit records Legal obligation (record-keeping for legal-defense) 6(1)©
Marketing communications (if any) Consent 6(1)(a)

You can withdraw consent for marketing at any time by emailing <CONTACT EMAIL>; withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.

4. Retention

Data Retention
Account record Until you request erasure (see § 8) or close the account, plus 30 days for backup roll-off.
Session data 30 days from disconnect.
Gameplay data Until you request erasure or close the account.
AI dialogue context Discarded after the dialogue ends. Provider may retain per their policy (see § 7).
Audit log We retain audit records (operator actions on your account, security events) for <RETENTION PERIOD> from the event timestamp, set by us per our jurisdiction's statute-of-limitations. After erasure, audit records about you are retained but personal identifiers are replaced with a [REDACTED] sentinel where the law permits.
Backups Backups are retained on a tiered schedule (daily 14 days, weekly 8 weeks, monthly 90 days). Backup-storage encryption is operator-supplied (MAID does not encrypt archives itself — see § 5). Erasure is fully effective once all tiers have rolled over (≤ 90 days).

5. Where we store your data

We store live data and backups in <JURISDICTION> (specifically: <DATA CENTER REGION / FACILITY>).

Backups are shipped to a destination in <BACKUP JURISDICTION>. <STATE YOUR BACKUP ENCRYPTION HERE: MAID does not encrypt backup archives itself — describe the storage-layer encryption you apply at the destination (e.g. an encrypted bucket or filesystem), or state "none">.

If you are an EU resident and any of the above is outside the EU/EEA, we rely on <TRANSFER MECHANISM: SCCs / adequacy decision / BCR> for the international transfer. A copy of the mechanism is available on request at <DPO EMAIL>.

6. Cookies

We set exactly one cookie when you use the Service:

Name Purpose Lifetime Type
maid_admin_session (admin UI) or maid_session (player UI) Authentication. Lets the server recognise you between requests after you log in. Session (deleted when you close the browser) by default. Strictly necessary (functional).

We do NOT use tracking, analytic, advertising, or third-party cookies. We do not need a cookie banner because the only cookie we set is strictly necessary for the Service.

7. Sub-processors

We use the following third parties (sub-processors) that may process your personal data on our behalf:

Sub-processor Service Data shared
<AI PROVIDER 1> (e.g. Anthropic) NPC dialogue generation NPC conversation context including your in-game name and free-text you send in dialogue. NOT your email, password, or audit log.
<AI PROVIDER 2> (if applicable) NPC dialogue generation As above.
<BACKUP PROVIDER> (e.g. AWS S3, Backblaze B2, your own) Off-host backup storage Backup archives. MAID does not encrypt them — the provider sees plaintext unless you enable encryption-at-rest at the storage layer (an encrypted bucket or filesystem). Edit this row to state which applies to your deployment.
<HOSTING PROVIDER> Server hosting All data the Service handles; the provider sees the operating system, not the application data, as long as our disk encryption is enabled.

<EDIT THE TABLE ABOVE FOR YOUR DEPLOYMENT. List every actual provider. Remove rows that don't apply.>

If <AI PROVIDER> is not configured on our deployment, no NPC dialogue context leaves our servers; NPCs fall back to scripted responses.

We have data-processing agreements in place with each sub-processor listed above. Copies are available on request at <DPO EMAIL>.

8. Your rights

Under GDPR (and CCPA where applicable) you have the right to:

  • Access (GDPR Art 15 / CCPA): receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
  • Rectification (GDPR Art 16): correct inaccurate data.
  • Erasure (GDPR Art 17 / CCPA): have your data deleted, subject to the exceptions in those laws (notably, legal-obligation retention of the audit log; see § 4).
  • Restriction of processing (GDPR Art 18).
  • Data portability (GDPR Art 20): receive your data in a machine-readable format.
  • Object (GDPR Art 21) to processing based on legitimate interest.
  • Lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. The EU lead authority for our deployment is <LEAD SUPERVISORY AUTHORITY> (<URL>). You may also complain to your local data protection authority.

How to exercise these rights: email <DPO EMAIL> with the words "GDPR REQUEST" in the subject line. We will respond within one month (GDPR Art 12(3)). Identity verification will be required before we act; we will request the minimum information needed to verify you are the data subject.

9. Children

The Service is not directed at children under <AGE THRESHOLD> and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children under that age. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact <CONTACT EMAIL> and we will delete the account.

10. Security

We follow industry-standard security practices including:

  • Password hashing with PBKDF2-SHA256 (600,000 rounds, per-account salt). We never store plain-text passwords.
  • <STATE YOUR TRANSPORT ENCRYPTION HERE>: TLS is available for Telnet (MAID_TELNET__SSL__ENABLED) and for the web client, but is off by default — describe what your deployment actually enables (e.g. TLS terminated at your reverse proxy for the web/WebSocket client, Telnet TLS on or off), or state "none".
  • <STATE YOUR BACKUP-AT-REST ENCRYPTION HERE>: MAID does not encrypt backup archives itself (see § 5) — describe the storage-layer encryption you apply at the backup destination (an encrypted bucket or filesystem), or remove this line if you apply none.
  • Audit logging of administrative actions.
  • Least-privilege database roles (the Service connects with a role that cannot read its own password hashes for other accounts).
  • Regular security review per our internal checklist.

No security measure is perfect. If we become aware of a personal-data breach affecting you, we will notify you and the relevant supervisory authority as required by GDPR Article 34.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be notified to active accounts via <NOTIFICATION CHANNEL: e.g. account email, in-game broadcast> at least 30 days before they take effect.

The "Last updated" date at the top of this document reflects the most recent change.

12. Disclaimer

<COMPANY NAME> provides this Service on an as-is basis. This privacy policy describes how we handle personal data; it is not a warranty of the Service.


Operator footer (REMOVE BEFORE PUBLISHING): this template was generated from MAID's docs/deployment/privacy-policy-template.md at engine version <VERSION>. It is not legal advice. Review with your counsel in <JURISDICTION> before publishing. Update when you add a new sub-processor, change retention, or change residency.