Privacy Policy

This policy covers the BirdyWatch Discord bot, which appears in servers as Birder, and the website at www.birdywatch.com. Both are operated by BirdyWatch (“we”), and it is written against the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

1. What we collect

Everything below is collected from you directly: from playing the game in Discord, or from using this website.

• Your Discord user ID and username. From the bot when you catch a bird, and from Discord when you sign in to this site. Sign-in requests the identify scope only, so we do not receive your email address.
• Server and channel IDs where the bot has been set up.
• Your play record: catches and their scores, your life list, Trip Checklists, your feather balance, who you follow, and any perks you hold.
• Suggestions you send through the form on this site, including any contact detail you choose to type into it.

We do not record IP addresses, and we do not store the contents of your Discord messages — the bot checks whether a message is the word bird and discards it. There are no analytics or advertising trackers on this site. The only cookie it sets is your sign-in session.

2. Why we hold it

To run the game and keep it fair, to deliver anything you buy or claim, and to answer suggestions and bug reports you send us.

3. What is public

The leaderboard is public, on this site and in Discord. It shows your Discord username, your totals, your best bird and your best score. Your user ID is not published, and your life list, feathers, checklists, follows and suggestions are not public.

4. Where it is held, and who else sees it

The database runs on Supabase and the bot on Railway, both in US East (Northern Virginia). This website runs on Vercel. Discord processes whatever you type there under its own policy. Your information is therefore stored and processed outside Australia, in the United States.

A payment and checkout provider is still to be decided, and will be named here before anything is charged. We do not sell your information or disclose it for advertising, and otherwise disclose it only where the law requires or to investigate abuse.

5. Access, correction and deletion

Ask through the suggestions form and we will respond within a reasonable time, normally 30 days. You can ask for a copy of what we hold, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it.

We keep your play record while you play, and remove it when you ask. Deleting it removes your player record and everything attached — life list, checklists, feathers, follows and perks. Catch records stay in the game’s history with the link to you removed. Deletion is permanent.

The form is behind Discord sign-in, which is how we confirm a request is yours. If you no longer have access to that account, reach us by whatever route you can and we will verify it another way.

6. Complaints

Tell us first, through the suggestions form. We will look into it and reply with what we have done. If you are not satisfied with our answer, you can take the complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

7. Children

Discord requires its own users to be at least 13, so everyone who reaches the game has already passed that gate. We do not ask anyone’s age — the bot only ever sees a Discord account — and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone younger. If you believe someone under 13 is playing, tell us through the suggestions form and we will remove their data.

8. Changes

This policy will change as the game develops. The date at the top is the date of the current version.

See also the Terms of Service.