Information We Collect

Transparency policy regarding data collection, archival metadata, and user privacy.

Introduction

At 1990 Web Archive, preserving digital history is our mission, but protecting your privacy is equally important. This document outlines the types of information we collect, how it is used, stored, and protected, and the rights you have regarding your personal data. We operate in compliance with applicable data protection regulations including GDPR, CCPA, and other international privacy standards.

Directly Provided Information

We collect information you voluntarily submit when interacting with our platform, API, or support channels:

  • Account Registration: Email address, username, password hash, and optional profile details when creating a researcher or contributor account.
  • Archive Submissions: URLs, descriptions, collection tags, and scheduling preferences provided when you manually request a page to be captured.
  • Communications: Name, email, organization, and message content when contacting support, sales, or academic partnership inquires.
  • Research & Export Requests: Specific query parameters, citation formats, bulk-download scopes, and API key configurations.

Automatically Collected Data

When you visit our website or use our archival tools, certain data is collected automatically to ensure functionality, security, and service optimization:

  • Server Logs: IP address, browser type, operating system, referring URLs, and timestamps of visits.
  • Cookies & Local Storage: Essential cookies for session management, analytics cookies to understand usage patterns, and preference cookies for interface customization.
  • Device & Performance Metrics: Page load times, JavaScript error logs, API request frequencies, and rendering engine compatibility data to optimize historical page reconstruction.
Privacy Commitment: We do not use invasive third-party tracking pixels, behavioral profiling, or sell browsing history to advertisers. All analytics are privacy-first, aggregated, and anonymized where possible.

Archived Web Content & Public Data

Our core function involves capturing publicly accessible web pages. It is critical to distinguish between user data and archived content:

  • We only archive content that is publicly accessible on the open web at the time of crawling.
  • We automatically redact or blur personally identifiable information (PII) found in archived pages when feasible, following our Digital Preservation Ethics Guidelines.
  • Metadata extracted during archiving includes page titles, HTML structure, resource links (CSS/JS/images), HTTP headers, and capture timestamps.
  • We respect robots.txt directives and X-Robots-Tag: noarchive headers unless explicitly requested for historical preservation under fair use or academic research exemptions.

How We Use Your Information

All collected data serves specific, transparent purposes:

  • Service Delivery: Maintaining accounts, processing archive requests, and delivering rendered historical pages.
  • Research & Preservation: Aggregating usage trends to improve archival accuracy, optimize crawling algorithms, and support digital humanities research.
  • Communication: Sending service updates, archival completion notifications, security alerts, and responding to inquiries.
  • Compliance & Security: Detecting fraud, preventing abuse of crawling infrastructure, managing API rate limits, and meeting legal obligations.

Security & Data Retention

We implement industry-standard safeguards to protect your information:

  • End-to-end TLS 1.3 encryption for all data in transit
  • AES-256 encryption for data at rest in our archival database and backup systems
  • Role-based access controls, multi-factor authentication for staff, and regular third-party security audits

Retention Policy: Personal account data is retained as long as your account is active or as needed to provide services. You may request deletion at any time. Archived web content is preserved indefinitely unless removed due to valid legal requests, copyright compliance, or technical degradation.

Your Rights & Choices

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:

  • Access & Export: Request a machine-readable copy of all personal data we hold about you.
  • Correction: Update or correct inaccurate account information or contact details.
  • Deletion: Request erasure of your personal data (subject to legal/archival retention requirements and tax/accounting laws).
  • Opt-Out: Manage cookie preferences via our consent banner, browser settings, or account dashboard.
  • Restriction & Portability: Limit processing or transfer your data to another service provider.

To exercise these rights, please contact our Data Protection Officer using the details below. We respond to valid requests within 30 days.

Contact Us

If you have questions about this policy, our data practices, or need to make a privacy request:

  • Email: privacy@1990webarchive.com
  • Mail: 1990 Web Archive, Digital Preservation Division, c/o Internet History Foundation, San Francisco, CA 94105
  • Support Portal: help.1990webarchive.com
Last Updated: October 24, 2024 Policy Version 2.1