This policy explains what personal information this website collects about you, why we collect it, who else receives it, and what choices and rights you have. It applies to this website (sentinel-watch.org) and to the Sentinel Watch app (app.sentinel-watch.org), including what we do with Google user data when you sign in with Google.
Who we are
This website is run by the organisation named below. That organisation is responsible for the personal information described in this policy.
What personal information we collect
When you visit this website, our web server automatically records technical details that your browser sends with every request, such as your IP address, which pages you asked for, when you asked for them, and which page or search sent you here. This happens on every website, and we use it to serve pages and to keep the site secure.
Cookies and similar technologies may collect more than this, depending on the choices you make. That is described further below.
Information you give us
- Customer accounts (shop owners and organisations): your name, email address, username and password (stored in encrypted form), your company name, and the locations and cameras you register. We use this to run your account and the services you use.
- Orders and billing: your name, email address, billing address, tax details if you give them, and what you bought. Payments are handled by our payment processor through SureCart. We never see or store your full card number.
- Watcher accounts in the Sentinel Watch app: your email address, username, chosen avatar, and your activity on the platform, such as hours on duty, attention checks, reports, Tribunal votes, Reputation Points and Sentinos balance. When you request a payout, we also collect the payout details needed to pay you, such as your PromptPay ID.
- Google account information, if you sign in with Google: see the next section.
- Contact and application forms: your name, email address, message and anything else you choose to send us, such as documents with a nonprofit application. Files uploaded through our forms are sent to us by email and are not stored on the website server.
- Newsletter: your email address, your name if you give it, and which lists you joined. Every email has an unsubscribe link.
- Camera footage: shops that use Sentinel Watch stream camera images to our Watchers. Faces and licence plates are blurred inside the shop before any stream leaves it. When a Watcher raises an alarm, a short clip of the blurred footage is shown to other Watchers in the Tribunal so they can confirm it. Watchers are not allowed to record or share what they see.
Google user data: how we access, use, store, share and protect it
You can sign in to the Sentinel Watch website and the Sentinel Watch app with your Google account ("Sign in with Google"). This section explains exactly what Google user data we receive and what we do with it.
What we access. When you sign in with Google, we request only the basic sign-in permissions: openid, email and profile. Google then shares with us your name, your email address, your profile picture and your Google account ID. We do not request or receive access to your Gmail, Google Drive, contacts, calendar or any other Google service or data.
How we use it. We use this information only to create your Sentinel Watch account, to sign you in, to recognise you when you return, and to show your name and picture inside your account. We do not use Google user data for advertising, we do not sell it, and we do not use it to develop, improve or train AI or machine-learning models.
How we store it. Your name, email address, profile picture link and Google account ID are stored in our account databases: the WordPress database of this website, hosted by Rocket.net, and Google Firebase for the Sentinel Watch app.
How we share, transfer or disclose it. We do not share, transfer or disclose Google user data to third parties, except to the service providers that host our website, sign-in and app on our behalf (Rocket.net and Google Firebase), or when the law requires us to. These providers may only use it to provide their service to us. We never sell Google user data or transfer it to data brokers or advertisers.
How we protect it. We protect Google user data and other personal information with these measures:
- Encryption in transit: all traffic to the website and the app uses HTTPS (TLS).
- Encryption at rest: data in Google Firebase and Google Cloud is encrypted at rest. Passwords are never stored in readable form, only as secure hashes.
- Access control: only the people who need it to run the service can access personal data, through individual accounts with restricted permissions.
- Protected secrets and signed requests: keys and passwords used by our systems are kept in Google Secret Manager, and requests between the app and the website are cryptographically signed.
- Data minimisation: we only request the basic Google sign-in permissions and only keep what is needed to run your account.
- Retention and deletion: we keep Google user data only while your account is open, as described below.
Limited Use. Sentinel Watch’s use and transfer of information received from Google APIs to any other app will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
Retention, removing access and deleting your data. We keep your Google user data for as long as your account is open, and delete it within 90 days after you close your account. You can remove Sentinel Watch’s access at any time in your Google Account, under Security, Third-party apps and services. To have your account and the Google user data we hold deleted sooner, contact us using the details at the bottom of this page. We will delete it within 30 days of your request, except records the law requires us to keep.
Cookies and similar technologies
Cookies are small files a website asks your browser to store. Similar technologies, such as pixels, tags and browser storage, do the same job in a different way. Some are needed for the site to work at all. Others are used for measurement or advertising, and those are the ones you get a choice about.
You can review or change your choice at any time using the cookie preferences control on this site.
Your cookie consent choices
Who receives information about your visit
Some of the services this site uses receive information about you directly, because your browser has to contact them to load the content or the script they provide. When that happens they can see your IP address and basic details about your browser, whether or not you interact with anything.
What this site sends from its own server
Other organisations that process information for us
These organisations process personal information on our behalf to run the website and the app. They may only use it to provide their service to us.
- Rocket.net: website hosting.
- Cloudflare: content delivery and protection against attacks.
- SureCart and our payment processor: checkout, payments, invoices and subscriptions.
- Google (Firebase and Google Cloud): sign-in, database and hosting for the Sentinel Watch app.
- Coinbase: a digital wallet is created for each Watcher account through Coinbase’s wallet service, which receives your email address for this purpose. Google user data other than your email address is not shared with Coinbase.
- Our email delivery service: account emails, order confirmations and newsletters.
- Banks and payment providers in Thailand (PromptPay): sending payouts to Watchers.
- Discord: only if you choose to join our community server. Discord’s own privacy policy applies there.
How long we keep your information
We keep personal information only for as long as we need it for the purpose we collected it for, or for as long as the law requires us to. How long this site keeps records of your cookie choices is set out under "Your cookie consent choices" above.
- Accounts (customer and Watcher, including Google user data from Sign in with Google): for as long as your account is open. After you close it, we delete or anonymise your details within 90 days.
- Orders, invoices and payout records: for 7 years, as required for business records under Hong Kong law.
- Watcher activity (hours, reports, Tribunal votes, Reputation Points, Sentinos): for as long as your account is open, then deleted or anonymised.
- Alarm clips reviewed in the Tribunal: only as long as needed to review the report and handle any follow-up, then deleted.
- Form messages and applications: up to 2 years, or longer while we have an ongoing relationship with you.
- Newsletter: until you unsubscribe.
Your rights over your information
Why we are allowed to use your information
For anything on this site that needs your permission, including non-essential cookies, our basis is the permission you give through the cookie banner, and you can take it back at any time without affecting anything we did before you did.
For the other information described above, our reasons are:
- A contract with you: to run your account (including when you sign in with Google), deliver the services you bought, process orders, let Watchers work on the platform and pay them.
- A legal obligation: keeping invoices, tax records and payout records.
- Our legitimate interests: keeping the site and app secure, preventing fraud and abuse, checking alarms in the Tribunal, and improving our service. We weigh these against your privacy.
- Your consent: newsletters and non-essential cookies. You can withdraw it at any time.
Keeping your information secure
We protect all personal information with the same measures described for Google user data above: encryption in transit and at rest, restricted access, protected secrets and signed requests between our systems. No website and no way of sending information over the internet is completely secure, so we cannot promise absolute security.
Links to other websites
This site may link to websites we do not run. Those websites have their own privacy policies and their own practices, and we are not responsible for their content or what they do with your information.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy when this site changes, when what we do with information changes, or when the law changes. When we do, we will publish the new version on this page and update the date at the top. If a change means we need your permission for something new, we will ask you for it.
How to contact us
If you have a question about this policy, or you want to exercise any of the rights described above, you can reach us here:
