Privacy Policy

The Couch Critic ("we", "us", or "our") respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your information when you use our movie and TV show review platform.

This policy applies to all users of our website and services, regardless of how you access or use them.

Personal Information

When you create an account, we collect:

• Name and email address
• Profile picture (if provided)
• Password (stored securely using encryption)
• Account preferences and settings

Usage Data

We automatically collect information about how you use our service:

• Movies and TV shows you view, rate, and review
• Your watchlist and viewing history
• Search queries and browsing behavior
• Device information and IP address
• Browser type and operating system
• Access times and referring websites

Third-Party Authentication

If you sign in using Google or other third-party services, we receive basic profile information as permitted by your privacy settings with those services.

We use your information to:

• Provide and maintain our services
• Personalize your experience and recommendations
• Process your reviews, ratings, and watchlist items
• Communicate with you about your account and our services
• Improve our platform and develop new features
• Ensure security and prevent fraud
• Comply with legal obligations
• Send you updates and promotional content (with your consent)

Public Information

Your reviews, ratings, and profile information (name and profile picture) are public by default and visible to other users. You can adjust privacy settings in your account preferences.

Third-Party Services

We share data with trusted third parties who help us operate our service:

• The Movie Database (TMDB) for movie and TV show data
• Authentication providers (Google, etc.)
• Cloud hosting and database services
• Analytics and performance monitoring tools

Legal Requirements

We may disclose your information if required by law, court order, or to protect our rights, property, or safety, or that of our users or others.

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. This includes:

• Encryption of sensitive data in transit and at rest
• Regular security assessments and updates
• Access controls and authentication mechanisms
• Secure hosting infrastructure

However, no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

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

• Access: Request a copy of your personal data
• Rectification: Correct inaccurate or incomplete data
• Erasure: Request deletion of your personal data
• Portability: Receive your data in a structured format
• Restriction: Limit how we process your data
• Objection: Object to processing based on legitimate interests
• Withdraw consent: Where processing is based on consent

To exercise these rights, please contact us using the information provided at the end of this policy.

We use cookies and similar technologies to enhance your browsing experience, analyze site traffic, and understand user preferences. For detailed information about our cookie practices, please see our Cookie Policy.

You can control cookie settings through your browser preferences, though disabling certain cookies may affect site functionality.

Your information may be transferred to and processed in countries other than your own. We ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your data in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

Our service is not intended for children under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we discover that we have collected information from a child under 13, we will delete that information promptly.

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the new policy on this page and updating the "Last updated" date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us: