Effective date: 19 July 2026
Who we are
Algarve.org is a curated guide to photo-worthy places in the Algarve, Portugal. Our website address is https://algarve.org. For any privacy question or request, reach us through our contact page.
What data we collect and why
Accounts
If you create a free account, we store your username, email address, and a securely hashed version of your password. We use this to operate your account — including showing you member-only details on listings — and to send essential service emails such as password resets. Password reset emails include the IP address that requested the reset, as a security measure. We do not send marketing email unless you explicitly opt in.
Comments and reviews
When you leave a comment or review, we collect the content you submit along with your IP address and browser user-agent string to help with spam detection. An anonymized hash of your email address may be shared with the Gravatar service to check whether you use it; the Gravatar privacy policy is available at https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval, your comment and profile picture are visible publicly in the context of your comment.
Contact form
Messages sent through our contact page are used to answer you and are kept for as long as needed to handle your request. They are not used for marketing.
Technical data and cookies
Like almost every website, our server keeps standard access logs (IP address, browser type, pages requested) for security and troubleshooting. Cookies we set are functional: if you log in, cookies keep your session active (expiring when you close the browser, or after up to two weeks if you select “Remember Me”); if you comment, an optional cookie can remember your name and email for next time. We may use aggregate analytics to understand which pages are useful. We do not sell personal data and we do not share it with advertisers.
Media you upload
If you upload images to the site, be aware that photos can contain embedded location data (EXIF GPS). Visitors can download and extract that data from published images — consider removing location metadata before uploading.
Embedded content from other platforms
Listings and articles on this site may include embedded content from other platforms — for example Instagram or Pinterest posts, or YouTube videos, shown through those platforms’ official embedding tools. Embedded content behaves exactly as if you had visited the other website directly: the platform may collect data about you, use its own cookies, and track your interaction with the embed, especially if you are logged in to that platform. Their privacy policies, not ours, govern that processing.
Public social media content and creator credit
Our editorial work references publicly available social media posts — for example, featuring a photographer’s public Instagram post on a listing about the place it shows, always via the platform’s official embed with full attribution and a link to the creator. We store links and public post information, never copies of anyone’s photos. If you are a creator and would prefer your content not to be featured, tell us via the contact page and we will remove the embed promptly.
Who we share data with
We do not sell or rent personal data. Data is processed by the service providers needed to run the site — our hosting provider, automated spam-detection, and email delivery — under their own data-processing terms.
How long we keep data
Account data is kept while your account exists and deleted when the account is deleted. Approved comments and their metadata are retained so that follow-up comments can be recognized and displayed. Server logs are rotated routinely.
Your rights
Under the GDPR you can request access to the personal data we hold about you, receive an exported copy, correct it, or have it erased (except data we must keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes). To exercise any of these rights, contact us via the contact page. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your data-protection authority; in Portugal that is the CNPD.
Security
The site is served over HTTPS, passwords are stored hashed, and administrative access is restricted. No internet service can guarantee absolute security, but we keep the software stack updated and limit the data we collect to what the site actually needs.
Changes to this policy
If our data practices change — for example when new features launch — we will update this page and revise the effective date above.