Privacy Policy

1. Overview

CheckTown ("we", "us", "our") operates the website check.town and provides free online validation tools for email addresses, IBAN numbers, BIC/SWIFT codes, phone numbers, VAT identification numbers, and postal addresses.

This Privacy Policy explains what personal data we collect when you use CheckTown, why we collect it, how we process it, and what rights you have over your data. It applies to all visitors and users of our website and services.

By using CheckTown, you agree to the practices described in this policy. If you do not agree, please discontinue use of the service.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Data You Submit for Validation

When you use our validation tools, you submit data values (such as an email address, IBAN, or phone number) for checking. These values are transmitted to our servers to perform the validation and return a result. We do not permanently store the values you submit. Input data is held in memory only for the duration of the request and discarded immediately after the validation response is delivered.

2.2 Automatically Collected Technical Data

When you visit check.town, our servers and third-party services automatically record certain technical information, including:

• IP address — IP address — used for rate limiting, fraud prevention, and approximate geographic analytics (country/region level only).
• Browser type and version — Browser type and version — used to ensure compatibility and improve the interface.
• Operating system — Operating system — used for analytics and compatibility decisions.
• Referring URL — Referring URL — the page that linked you to CheckTown, used for understanding traffic sources.
• Pages visited and timestamps — Pages visited and timestamps — used for aggregate usage analytics.
• HTTP headers — HTTP headers — standard metadata included in every web request.

2.3 Preference Data

We store your language preference and theme preference (light/dark mode) in your browser's local storage. This data never leaves your device and is not transmitted to our servers.

2.4 Communications

If you contact us by email (e.g. at hello@check.town), we retain your email address and the content of your message to respond to your inquiry. This data is stored only as long as needed to resolve your query.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the data we collect for the following purposes:

• Providing the service — processing your validation requests and returning accurate results.
• Rate limiting and abuse prevention — using IP addresses and request patterns to prevent automated abuse and ensure fair use for all users.
• Analytics and performance — understanding how users interact with the service so we can identify and fix issues and improve features.
• Security monitoring — detecting and responding to security incidents, unusual activity, or potential attacks.
• Legal compliance — retaining certain records as required by applicable law.

We do not use your data to serve advertisements, build user profiles, or sell information to third parties.

4. Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA) or the United Kingdom, we rely on the following legal bases under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):

• Contractual necessity (Art. 6(1)(b)) — processing your validation input is necessary to perform the service you requested.
• Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)) — collecting technical data for security, rate limiting, fraud prevention, and aggregate analytics represents a legitimate business interest that does not override your privacy rights.
• Legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c)) — retaining certain records where required by law.

For a detailed description of your GDPR rights, see our GDPR page.

5. Data Sharing and Third Parties

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data. We may share limited data with the following categories of service providers:

• Hosting and infrastructure providers — our servers and CDN providers process traffic data to deliver the service. These providers are contractually bound to confidentiality.
• Analytics services — we use privacy-friendly analytics tools that process aggregated, anonymised data. We do not enable tracking across other sites.
• Legal authorities — we may disclose information if required by law, court order, or to protect our legal rights.

Any third-party service providers we use are required to process data only according to our instructions and maintain appropriate security measures.

6. Data Retention

We retain different types of data for different periods:

7. Your Privacy Rights

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

• Right of access — request a copy of the data we hold about you.
• Right to rectification — request correction of inaccurate data.
• Right to erasure — request deletion of your personal data ("right to be forgotten").
• Right to restrict processing — ask us to limit how we use your data.
• Right to data portability — receive your data in a portable format.
• Right to object — object to processing based on legitimate interests.
• Right to withdraw consent — where processing is based on consent, withdraw it at any time.

Because we do not create user accounts and do not permanently store validation input, many of these rights have limited practical scope for most users. However, if you have contacted us by email, we hold that correspondence and will honour any erasure or access request promptly.

To exercise any right, email us at hello@check.town. We will respond within 30 days.

8. Cookies

CheckTown uses a minimal number of cookies. For full details, see our Cookie Policy. In summary:

• Essential cookies — required for rate limiting and basic service functionality.
• Analytics cookies — used to understand aggregate usage patterns. These are anonymised and do not track you personally across sites.

We do not use advertising cookies, remarketing cookies, or any cross-site tracking technologies.

9. Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your data, including:

• All data transmitted between your browser and our servers is encrypted using TLS (HTTPS).
• Validation inputs are processed in memory only and not written to persistent storage.
• Access to server infrastructure is restricted to authorised personnel only.
• Rate limiting and abuse detection systems are in place to protect service integrity.

No method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your data, we cannot guarantee absolute security. If you believe a security incident has occurred, please contact us immediately at hello@check.town.

10. International Data Transfers

CheckTown may process data on servers located outside your country of residence. If you are in the EEA or UK, and data is transferred to countries without an EU adequacy decision, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs), as required by GDPR Chapter V.

11. Children's Privacy

CheckTown is not directed at children under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has submitted personal data to our service, please contact us at hello@check.town and we will promptly delete it.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal requirements, or service features. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

Continued use of CheckTown after a policy update constitutes your acceptance of the revised terms.

13. Contact Us

For privacy-related questions, requests, or complaints, please contact us:

• Email:hello@check.town
• Website:https://check.town

We aim to respond to all privacy inquiries within 30 days. For GDPR-related matters, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority — see our GDPR page for more information.