Your information

Who can see what?

Running your account

You don’t need an account to browse CompKoala.

If you create one, we keep information needed to provide your account and its features, including:

• your email address, username and password credentials. Your password is stored using one-way password hashing rather than in readable form;
• a profile picture, if you choose to add one;
• competitions you bookmark, enter, win or hide, and competitions you submit;
• your My Feed preferences;
• badges you’ve earned;
• blog posts and suggestions you like or vote on; and
• information such as when your account was created and when it was last active.

When you create an account, we send a code to your email address to confirm that the address belongs to you.

Your competition lists are hidden from other members unless you choose to make relevant information public.

Your public profile

Your public profile may show:

• your username;
• your profile picture;
• the month you joined;
• your badges; and
• suggestions and replies you’ve posted.

Information about competitions you’ve entered is not shown publicly unless you turn that option on in Account settings. This option is off by default.

Things you send us

Competition submissions, listing reports, suggestions and replies may be associated with your account so they can be reviewed, moderated and, where appropriate, displayed on the site.

If you use the contact form, we keep the email address, subject and message you provide so we can receive, investigate and respond to your message.

Please avoid including personal information in public suggestions or replies that you do not want other people to see.

Keeping CompKoala safe

CompKoala records certain technical information to help protect accounts and the site from unauthorised access, spam and abuse.

For example, sign-in attempts may be logged with information such as:

• the email address used;
• IP address;
• browser or device information; and
• the time of the attempt.

We also use short-lived counters and similar technical measures to slow repeated sign-in attempts, posts and other activity.

These records may be used for site security, abuse prevention, enforcement of site rules, troubleshooting and investigation of suspicious activity.

Seeing which pages are useful

CompKoala uses Cloudflare Web Analytics to understand general use of the site.

Cloudflare Web Analytics does not use analytics cookies or local storage to track visitors and is not used to build advertising profiles. It provides general information such as page views, referring sites, browser types and countries.

Competition listings may also keep aggregate counts such as:

• listing views; and
• entry-link clicks.

These are running totals and are not stored as part of your CompKoala account.

Services that help run CompKoala

CompKoala currently uses the following services.

BinaryLane

BinaryLane provides the server infrastructure that CompKoala runs on. Account information, the site database, uploaded files and other CompKoala data may be stored on this infrastructure.

Cloudflare

Cloudflare helps deliver and protect CompKoala, manage web traffic, defend against malicious activity and provide website analytics. Requests to CompKoala may therefore pass through Cloudflare’s network.

Resend

Resend is used to send account and service emails, including email verification codes and sign-in messages. It also helps deliver messages submitted through the CompKoala contact form.

Where information is processed

Some of CompKoala’s service providers operate infrastructure internationally. Information passing through services such as Cloudflare and Resend may therefore be processed outside Australia, including in the United States, as part of providing those services.

Each provider has its own privacy and security practices governing the services it provides.

Cookies

CompKoala uses cookies that are needed to provide site functionality and security. These may include:

• session and form-security cookies, which generally expire after a period of inactivity;
• a Keep me logged in cookie, if you choose that option, which lasts for up to 30 days; and
• security cookies that Cloudflare may set when needed to distinguish legitimate visitors from automated or malicious traffic.

CompKoala does not use analytics or advertising cookies to track you for advertising purposes.

What CompKoala doesn’t do

CompKoala does not:

• sell your personal information;
• give your account or competition-list information to competition promoters;
• use advertising trackers;
• see information you submit directly on a promoter’s website; or
• send you marketing emails unless our practices change and any consent required by law is obtained.

When an entry link takes you away from CompKoala, you are visiting a separate website with its own privacy practices.

Account, security and service-related emails may still be sent when needed to provide a feature you’ve used, secure your account or respond to an action you’ve taken.

Your choices

You can change your account details and preferences from Account settings. You can remove competitions from your lists at any time.

You can also download a copy of your data as a JSON file. Depending on the information associated with your account, the export may include:

• account details;
• competition lists;
• preferences;
• posts;
• badges; and
• sign-in history.

Deleting your account

You can permanently delete your account from Account settings.

Deleting your account removes the active account and associated personal information from CompKoala’s live systems, including your:

• email address;
• profile picture;
• competition lists;
• preferences; and
• badges.

Information associated with submissions, reports, security records and contact messages may also be deleted or disassociated as part of the account-deletion process.

Suggestions and replies you’ve posted may remain publicly visible after your account is deleted. They will be shown as Guest and will no longer be linked to your CompKoala account, as explained in the Terms of use.

If you included identifying information within the text of a public post itself, that information may remain visible even after the account link has been removed.

Temporary copies of deleted information may remain in routine backups for a limited period until those backups are replaced or expire.

External competition websites

CompKoala links to websites operated by competition promoters and other third parties. When you follow one of these links, that website may collect information about you independently of CompKoala.

CompKoala does not control how those websites collect, use or disclose information. You should check the promoter’s own privacy information before providing personal details.

Changes to this notice

We may update this privacy notice when CompKoala’s features, services or information-handling practices change. The date at the top of this page shows when it was last updated.

If we make a significant change to how registered members’ personal information is handled, we will provide reasonable notice through the site or another appropriate method.

Questions and privacy concerns

If you have a question about information held by CompKoala, want something corrected, or have a concern about how your information has been handled, please use our contact form.

We will review privacy concerns and respond where appropriate.