Privacy Policy

Effective date: September 4, 2026 · Last updated: October 5, 2026

1. Introduction

This Privacy Policy explains how A Cup of Crime (“we”, “us”, “the Site”) collects, uses, discloses and safeguards your information when you visit. It applies to every visitor.

By using the Site, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this policy and agree to the collection and use of information described. If you do not agree, please do not use the Site.

This policy is designed to comply with applicable U.S. federal and state privacy laws — including, where it applies to you, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), the Colorado Privacy Act, the Connecticut Data Privacy Act, the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act and other state privacy statutes — and with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for visitors in the European Union.

2. Information the site collects

A Cup of Crime is a reader-supported review site with no accounts, no purchases and no newsletter. It collects far less than most websites, and this section is honest about exactly what it holds.

2.1 Information you provide

There is no account registration and no checkout, so the only information you actively provide is a vote on a review page: a one-to-five-star rating, or a “fair / unfair” verdict, or both.

2.2 Information collected automatically

When you vote, the Site records a one-way hash of your IP address. It is salted and hashed before it is stored (see section 8), never stored as a readable address, and used only to stop one person inflating the tallies and to enforce the per-device daily vote cap.

Your browser also stores small bits of data entirely on your own device when you vote on a rating, and it stores your answer to the Analytics notice. The Cookie Policy covers both.

2.3 Information collected by Google Analytics, where you allow it

The Site can measure how it is read with Google Analytics. The tool stays switched off until you allow it. Where you allow it, Google receives the pages you view here, the address of the page that sent you here, an approximate location derived from your IP address, your device, browser and screen size, and two cookies that identify your browser to the tool. Section 5 explains the notice and how to withdraw your answer. Google’s own privacy policy, at policies.google.com/privacy, governs what Google does with the data it holds.

3. How the site uses your information

The Site uses the information it holds only for these purposes:

To operate and maintain the Site, including showing accurate vote tallies on reviews.
To understand which pages are most used, in aggregate, so the Site can be improved. Tallies are shown as overall averages and counts; individual votes are not published.
To see which pages are read and how visitors arrive, through Google Analytics, and only where you have allowed analytics to run.
To prevent fraud, abuse and inflated voting, and to keep the Site secure.
To comply with legal obligations and to protect the Site’s rights.

It does not use your information for advertising, profiling or marketing of any kind.

4. How the site shares your information

The Site does not sell, rent or trade your personal information, and it shares information only in the narrow circumstances below:

4.1 Service providers

The Site is hosted by a web hosting provider that maintains the server and database on our behalf. That provider is contractually required to use the data only to host the Site and to keep it secure.

4.2 Google Analytics

Where you have allowed analytics, Google receives the measurement data described in section 2.3 and handles it under its own privacy policy. It is the only third party that receives anything from your visit through the Site itself.

4.3 Legal requirements

The Site may disclose information if required by law, in response to a valid request from a public authority, to comply with a subpoena or court order, or to protect its rights, prevent fraud or ensure safety.

4.4 Business transfers

If the Site were ever sold or merged, the data held on its server (aggregate vote records and hashes) could transfer to the new owner. You would be notified of any such transfer, and your rights in this policy would continue to apply.

5. Cookies and tracking technologies

The Site uses local storage on your own device to remember your votes and your answer to the Analytics notice. It sets no cookie of its own. Where you allow analytics, Google Analytics sets two cookies and receives the data described in section 2.3; where you refuse it, no Google script runs. The Site serves its own fonts, runs no advertising, uses no web beacons or pixels, and does not sell or share personal information for advertising.

The Cookie Policy explains this in fuller detail, including how to refuse analytics, how to change your mind and how to clear this storage in your browser.

6. Your privacy rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the following rights over the personal information the Site holds:

Right to know / access — to ask what personal information the Site holds about you.
Right to delete — to ask that it be removed, subject to legal exceptions.
Right to correct — to ask that inaccurate information be fixed.
Right to data portability — to receive your information in a structured, machine-readable form.
Right to non-discrimination — the Site will not treat you differently for exercising your rights.

Because the Site stores only salted, one-way hashes of IP addresses, it generally cannot identify or retrieve the votes linked to a particular individual — the whole point of hashing is that the address cannot be recovered. If you want no identifiable footprint at all, vote in a private window or clear your browser’s site data afterwards.

If you are in the European Union, you have the right to access, rectify, erase, restrict and object to processing, and to data portability. Contact us below to exercise these.

Do Not Track

The Site does not follow you across other websites itself. Google Analytics, where it is allowed, recognises a returning visitor and connects the visit to what Google already holds about your browser. The Site does nothing different in response to a browser “Do Not Track” signal; refusing analytics is the control that matters. You can also manage site data through your browser at any time.

How to exercise your rights

To make any request, contact us using the details at the bottom of this page. The Site will respond within the timeframe the law requires — generally 45 days under the CCPA, extendable once more where needed. It never asks you to create an account to make a request.

7. Data retention

Vote records and the hashes that accompany them are kept for as long as the tallies they power are useful — effectively for as long as a review page is live — and then deleted when they are no longer needed. There are no account records, payment details or correspondence databases to retain.

8. Data security

Vote integrity and visitor privacy are protected by design:

IP addresses are salted and hashed (SHA-256) and never stored or echoed in readable form.
The database sits behind a deny rule so it cannot be downloaded or browsed.
The Site is served over HTTPS, encrypting data in transit.
Error output is suppressed so failures cannot leak details.

No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure. If the Site learned of a breach affecting personal information, it would investigate, take reasonable steps, and notify affected users and authorities as the law requires.

9. Children’s privacy

The Site is not directed at children under 13, publishes reviews of television made for adults, and does not knowingly collect personal information from children. If it becomes aware that a child under 13 has submitted personal information, that information will be deleted. See the Children’s Privacy notice for more detail, and parents can contact us using the details below.

10. International visitors

The Site is hosted in the United States. If you visit from outside the United States, your information (in practice, a hashed IP tied to a vote) is processed in the United States. Where you allow analytics, Google processes the measurement data described in section 2.3 on servers in the United States and elsewhere, under its own privacy policy. The Site will take reasonable steps to keep that information treated securely and in line with this policy.

11. Changes to this policy

This policy was updated on October 5, 2026, when Google Analytics and its consent notice were added, and it now describes the measurement data involved and how to refuse it. If the practices change again, this page will be updated with a new last updated date at the top. Material changes will be flagged. Reviewing this page from the footer now and then keeps you current; continuing to use the Site after a change means you accept the updated policy.

12. Third-party links

Reviews link out to other websites. The Site is not responsible for the privacy practices of those third-party sites, and their own policies apply once you leave. If you follow an external link, it is worth reading the destination’s policy.

13. Contact us

David O’Connell
A Cup of Crime
Email: david@acupofcrime.com
Phone: (631) 956 4581