MacDesktops is a one person operation. It is a hobby, not a profession.

What information gets saved?
Each of your preference selections gets saved. At the time this was written, that includes:

• Whether or not you want to see each picture resolution
• Whether or not you want to see nude, and/or risque images
• Whether you wish to have pictures open in the same window as the preview or in a new window
• How many columns of pictures you want the site to display
• How frequently you want the site to update
• Whether or not you want to receive email announcements
• If you want to receive announcements, then your email address
• The IP address you used when you created your preferences which need not be the address you use any other time
• The time at which the web server created the preferences page, though I don't know how to decypher it.

Why save the IP address and time?
It's an easy way to uniquely identify each user without dealing with usernames or risking someone spoofing somebody else's id. An IP address alone is insufficient because IP addresses are dynamic for some people and shared by other people. Either way, multiple people can use the same IP address at different times. The time might be unique enough, but I don't know how precise it is so a couple of people might be able to get the same time. The time alone would also be easier to spoof.

What information does not get saved in the database?
Of course it's impossible to answer this question fully, but here's a sample:

• Which pictures you viewed
• When you last visited
• How many times you visited
• How many pictures you view each time you visit
• How you voted in the last election
• Your shoe size

Of course, much of that information (the first four items anyway) is stored in the web logs as it always has been, just like every other website on the net. In theory, I could somehow manage to piece all of the information together to see exactly what an individual IP address did over the past couple of years. But why would I ever want to, and how would I ever find the time?

Who can see stored information?
Only Ryan Walker and you can see your preferences.
Ryan Walker and contributors can see summary web log data after it has been processed logs, but nothing from your preferences. This has been true since 1999.

How is your information used?
It's only used to customize your MacDesktops experience.
No Marketing data is collected.
No information is shared or will be shared with any business, organization, web site, individual, advertiser, etc outside of MacDesktops.
If MacDesktops ever receives pressure to share data from user preferences for Marketing or Advertising reasons, the database will be destroyed and the site will return to a more generic format.

Summary
Only Ryan Walker and you can see your preferences, and Ryan does not care to look at individual preferences.
No outside organization does now or will ever have access to user preference information.
The only potentially personal pieces of information stored in preferences are the IP address you used when you created your preferences, and, if and only if your provided it, your email address.

I hope you find this document reassuring. Feel free to save it and throw it back in my face if I ever try to make it less protective of your privacy.

Sincerely,
    Ryan Walker, 2 December 2000