Privacy Policy
Draft for review. Items in [square brackets] need filling in, and the whole policy should be checked against the Cayman Islands Data Protection Act before launch.
Alert! Cayman ("Alert!", "we") is a community app for live traffic and safety alerts on Grand Cayman. It is published by GRAB IT US LLC, [registered address]. This policy explains what we collect, why, how long we keep it, and the choices you have. Questions: alert@grabit.ky.
The short version
- You sign in with your mobile number. Other people never see it.
- Your location is used on your phone to show what's near you. It's sent to us only when you post, confirm, clear or comment, so we can check you're on Grand Cayman and near the incident.
- Faces and licence plates in photos are blurred on your phone before upload, and photo details (like the camera's location data) are removed.
- Reports, photos and comments are deleted 7 days after the incident ends. We don't keep a history of your movements.
- We don't sell your data and there are no ads.
What we collect and why
| What | Why | How long |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile number | To create your account and keep out fake accounts. It is never shown to other users. | Until you delete your account. If an account is banned, we keep a one-way fingerprint of the number so the ban can't be avoided by signing up again. |
| Location when you post, confirm, clear or comment (position, accuracy, time) | To check you're on Grand Cayman and close to the incident, which keeps false reports down. | Kept with the incident and deleted 7 days after it ends. |
| Location while the app is open | To centre the map and show distances. This stays on your phone. | Not stored by us. |
| Your zones (for example Home and Work) and alert settings | To send you alerts about incidents in those areas. | Until you change them or delete your account. |
| Reports, photos, one-tap updates and comments | To show them to other users. They appear anonymously (for example "Driver 2"). We keep a private record of who posted what so moderators can act on abuse. | Deleted 7 days after the incident ends. |
| Votes ("Still there", "Cleared") | To confirm or clear incidents and to work out how reliable reports are. | Deleted 7 days after the incident ends. |
| A hidden reliability score for your account | Reports from people whose reports are usually confirmed go out faster; repeated false reports slow them down. | Until you delete your account. |
| A notification ID for your device | To send you alerts. | Until you sign out, delete your account, or the ID stops working. |
| Crash reports and basic app usage (screens opened, app version, device type) | To fix problems and see which features are used. | [Firebase Crashlytics: 90 days; Google Analytics for Firebase: set retention, e.g. 2 months] |
| Flags you send ("Report a problem") | So moderators can review a post. | Deleted with the incident. |
Photos and moderation
Photos are blurred on your phone before they leave it. Depending on the kind of incident, a photo may be checked by a moderator, or by an automated image check (Google Cloud Vision), before others see it. Photos must not show injured people, children or the inside of homes, and moderators remove any that do.
Who processes your data
We use Google services to run Alert!: Firebase (sign-in, database, file storage, notifications, crash reports and analytics), Google Cloud (servers and the automated photo check) and Google Maps (maps, place names and address search). Data is stored on Google servers in the United States. Text messages with sign-in codes are sent by Firebase. We do not share your data with anyone else, except where the law requires it.
Your choices and rights
- Delete your account at any time in the app: Settings → Delete account. This removes your number, zones, settings and device from Alert!. Posts you made stay up anonymously until they are removed with the incident.
- Location and notifications can be turned off in your phone's settings. You can still read the map without either.
- Access, correction or deletion: you can ask us for a copy of your data, or to correct or delete it, by emailing alert@grabit.ky with the mobile number on your account. Under the Cayman Islands Data Protection Act you can also complain to the Ombudsman (ombudsman.ky).
Children
Alert! is not meant for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their data.
Changes
If we change this policy, we'll update the date above, and tell you in the app if the change is significant.