AQ Stream is committed to protecting your privacy and we aim to store as little user information as necessary. This policy describes the way we store information during your visit.

Website analytics

We use Google Analytics to gather information about visitors to our website. Examples of this information include the page that you are visiting, features of the website that you use (e.g. menu, chat, categories), and basic information about the device you are using (e.g. your browser and operating system). We use this information to measure and improve the performance of the website, such directing more resources to content that is in high demand.

You can read more about Google Analytics.

Chat service

The chat service used by the AQ Stream website logs various standard information as part of its operation. This includes connection details (e.g. IP address, your nickname, chat channels, date and time of the connection) and commands (e.g. joining a channel). Your IP address is stored in a hashed form wherever possible. If you register an account then additional information such as the email address you provide and hashed password will also be stored.

Messages posted in the chat may be temporarily stored and displayed as part of the "channel history" feature. Recent messages may also be temporarily stored and displayed in the chat preview feature of the website. Given the public nature of the chat, please exercise caution when posting messages. AQ Stream is not responsible for any content posted in the chat service.

Emails

If you send an email to our email address then a copy of your email may be retained for record-keeping purposes.

Servers

When you use our website, our servers may automatically record information about your visit in the form of server logs. These logs may include information such as the page you visited, your IP address, date and time of your visit and browser, and are periodically cleared.

Local storage

Some basic data relating to how you use our website is stored locally in your browser, in order to improve your browsing experience. This includes data such as the chosen website theme, information about how often ads are shown, and the last nickname you used for the chat service.

Social networks

Our website uses social buttons provided by social networking services, such as the Facebook "Share" button. These buttons are embedded directly from their respective social networking services and they may collect information using cookies and other means.

Third-party cookies

Third-party websites are used to serve ads on AQ Stream, and these websites may use cookies to collect information in the course of serving these ads.

We embed content from external websites, such as YouTube, which may use cookies and other means to collect information as part of their operation.

Security

We offer HTTPS for our website and chat service which securely transmits data between your browser and our website/chat service. However, some external content that we embed might not offer HTTPS and this could introduce some insecure elements to your browsing experience or could prevent you from accessing that content, depending on your browser and its settings.