Privacy Policy

BracketSpot ("we," "us," or "our") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our tournament management platform.

1. Information We Collect

Account Information

When you create an account, we collect:

• Username and display name
• Email address
• Password (stored as a secure hash, never in plain text)

Tournament Data

When you participate in or organize tournaments, we collect:

• Participant names and optional contact information
• Match scores and tournament results
• Rankings and Elo ratings
• Tournament configurations and settings

Payment Information

Payment processing is handled entirely by Stripe. We do not store credit card numbers, CVVs, or other sensitive payment details on our servers. We only receive transaction confirmations and payment status from Stripe.

Technical Information

We automatically collect:

• IP address (for session security and abuse prevention)
• Browser type and device information
• Access times and referring URLs

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Provide and maintain our tournament management services
• Process tournament registrations and entry fee payments
• Display brackets, standings, and match results
• Calculate and display player rankings and statistics
• Send transactional emails (registration confirmations, match notifications)
• Improve our platform and develop new features
• Prevent fraud and ensure platform security

3. Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services to operate our platform:

4. Cookies and Local Storage

We use essential cookies and local storage for:

• Authentication: Session cookies to keep you logged in
• Security: CSRF tokens to protect against cross-site attacks
• Preferences: Theme selection and display settings

We do not use tracking cookies, advertising cookies, or third-party analytics that track your behavior across websites.

5. Data Retention

• Account data: Retained while your account is active
• Tournament data: Retained for historical records and player statistics
• Backups: Retained for 30 days for disaster recovery
• Deleted accounts: Data is removed within 30 days of account deletion

6. Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Access: Request a copy of your personal data
• Correction: Request correction of inaccurate data
• Deletion: Request deletion of your account and data
• Portability: Request your data in a machine-readable format
• Objection: Object to certain processing of your data

To exercise these rights, please contact us at [email protected].

7. Children's Privacy

Our service is not intended for users under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we discover that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, we will promptly delete such information from our servers.

8. Data Security

We implement industry-standard security measures including:

• HTTPS encryption for all data in transit
• Bcrypt password hashing with salt
• CSRF protection on all forms
• Rate limiting to prevent brute-force attacks
• Regular security audits and updates

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Effective Date" at the top. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically.

10. Contact Us

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

Email: [email protected]