Privacy Policy

ViralUFOs (“we,” “us”) runs viralufos.com and the Field Gear shop (the “Service”). This policy explains what we collect, why, who we share it with, and the choices you have. We collect only what we need to run the site, the shop and the newsletter.

• Account details. Your name, email address and a securely hashed password. We never store passwords in plain text. Sign-in codes we email you expire after 10 minutes.
• Your reading list. Articles you save while signed in.
• Orders. Name, email, phone (optional), shipping and billing addresses, items, totals and coupons. See section 4.
• Newsletter. Your email address, where you signed up, and the IP address and browser used when you subscribed, which we keep as a record of your consent.
• Bug reports. What you write, an optional screenshot and any images you attach, plus the page, screen size, timezone, recent console messages and failed requests. If you’re signed in we add your account type and how long you’ve been a member; if not, the email you enter. The form shows exactly what is sent before you submit it.
• Contact messages. Your name, email and message, delivered to our inbox.
• Usage data. Pages viewed, referrer, browser, device and approximate location. See section 5.
• Cookies. See our Cookie Policy for the full list.

• To run, secure and maintain the Service and your account;
• To take payment for, produce, ship and support your orders, including refunds;
• To send sign-in codes, order emails and, if you subscribed, the newsletter;
• To investigate and fix the bugs you report, and to reward confirmed finds;
• To understand which content and channels work, with your consent where required;
• To prevent fraud, spam and abuse, and to meet our legal obligations.

When you buy from the Field Gear shop at /shop, here is what happens to your information:

• Payments run through Stripe. Our checkout uses Stripe’s secure payment fields. Your card number, expiry and security code go directly to Stripe and never reach our servers. Apple Pay, Google Pay and other wallets Stripe supports appear when your device offers them. Stripe tells us whether the payment succeeded; we never see or store your full card details.
• Printful makes and ships your order. Our products are printed on demand by Printful. To produce and deliver your order, we send Printful your name, shipping address, email, phone number if you gave one, and the items you ordered.
• We keep the order. Your order, its items, your shipping and billing addresses, any coupon you used and its status history are stored in our database. If you are signed in, the order is linked to your account and you can save addresses there.
• We email you about it. We send an order confirmation, a shipping notification with tracking, and a notice if we issue a refund.

Shipping, returns and refunds are covered on our Shipping & Returns page.

We measure how the site is used so we can publish better files and run a better shop.

• Our own analytics. Our API runs a first-party collector. With analytics consent, it records page views, reading time, searches, outbound clicks and shop events against a random visitor id (vu_vid), plus your account if you are signed in. Approximate country and region come from our network provider; we don’t store your IP address with these events.
• Counting without consent. If you say no, we still count page views in aggregate using a daily-rotating hash that can’t follow you from one day to the next. Details are in our Cookie Policy.
• Google Analytics 4. We use Google Consent Mode v2. Nothing is sent to Google Analytics until you allow analytics. Google’s ad-related signals (ad_user_data and ad_personalization) stay off unless you also allow the ads category.
• Server-side purchase events. When an order is paid or refunded, our server may report it to Google Analytics through the Measurement Protocol (order number, value, items, coupon). We only do this if you gave analytics consent and your browser had a Google Analytics id at checkout.
• Social Flow attribution. When you arrive from a social post, creator link or campaign link, we note the first source (UTM tags, ad click ids, referrer and landing page) so we know which channels bring readers and members. This needs analytics or ads consent. Members may also be asked, once, how they found us; answering is optional.

Our newsletter, sign-in, registration and bug-report forms are protected by Cloudflare Turnstile, which loads only once you start using the form, and by hidden honeypot fields that bots tend to fill in. Turnstile checks signals from your browser and device to tell people from bots. We also rate-limit some requests by IP address to stop abuse.

These companies process data for us, only to provide their service:

• Vercel hosts the website.
• Railway hosts our API and database.
• Cloudflare provides DNS and network delivery, stores our media on R2 (cdn.viralufos.com) and runs Turnstile.
• Stripe processes payments.
• Printful prints, packs and ships shop orders.
• Resend delivers our emails: sign-in codes, newsletter confirmations, order and shipping updates.
• Google provides Google Analytics 4, with your consent.
• YouTube serves video thumbnails, and loads its player only when you press play.

Some providers process data in the United States and other countries. Where the law requires it, we rely on appropriate safeguards for those transfers.

The Dispatch uses double opt-in: you get a confirmation email, and you’re subscribed only after you click the link in it. Every newsletter email includes a way to unsubscribe, and you can also email contact@viralufos.com to be removed.

We do not sell your personal information, and we don’t load advertising pixels. We share data only with the providers above, when the law requires it, to protect people or the Service, or as part of a merger or sale of the business (we’d tell you first). If you switch on the ads category, Google may use Google Analytics data for ad measurement and personalization under its own terms. It’s off by default.

• Account data: while your account is open.
• Orders: as long as we need them for tax, accounting and warranty reasons.
• Newsletter: until you unsubscribe, plus a record that you did.
• Raw analytics events: 13 months, after which only aggregate totals remain.
• Google Analytics data: 14 months.
• Bug reports: until the issue is resolved and we no longer need it.

Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR, the UK GDPR, or California’s CCPA/CPRA), you may have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you, and get a copy;
• Correct it if it’s wrong;
• Delete it, including deleting your account;
• Object to or restrict certain uses, and withdraw consent at any time;
• Opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information (we don’t sell it).

To make a request, email contact@viralufos.com from the address on your account. We’ll respond within the time the law requires and won’t treat you differently for using your rights. Some order records may be kept after deletion where the law requires it. You can change your cookie choice at any time from Cookie settings in the footer. If you’re in the EU or UK, you can also complain to your local data protection authority.

We use encrypted connections (TLS), hashed passwords, access controls and least-privilege practices. Bug-report screenshots are kept in private storage, reachable only by our team through short-lived links. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your data and will notify you and the authorities of a breach where the law requires.

The Service isn’t directed to children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect their information. In the EU and UK, where the age of digital consent can be up to 16, you need a parent’s permission below that age. If you think a child has given us data, contact us and we’ll delete it.

We link to other sites, including our sister platform Sighted, YouTube and social networks. Links to Sighted carry tags so we know which page sent you. Once you leave viralufos.com, that site’s own privacy policy applies.

We may update this policy. Material changes will be posted here with a new “Last updated” date. Questions? Email contact@viralufos.com or use our contact page.