Privacy and cookie policy
This policy explains what information we gather when you use/play Reality F1, and explains how that information is used. It also explains our use of cookies.
This policy applies only to direct accesses to Reality F1 - URLs starting https://realityf1.com/
Reality F1 is run by a single person (Kieren Pitts - help@realityf1.com) and the game is provided for free and for fun only. Reality F1 is not run for profit. The personal data collected (primarily your email address) is only used to provide access to the Reality F1 and, if you have provided consent, for you to receive update emails from Reality F1.
Reality F1 is intended to be a free, fun, family game and has no age restrictions. However, if you are under 18, you may use only this web site with the agreement and/or supervision of a parent or guardian. In these cases, the email address used must be that of the parent or guardian. If you are a parent, you might also like to read safe surfing tips for parents and carers.
Data collected
The privacy of data submitted by players of Reality F1 is very important to us and we are committed to protecting player privacy.
As part of the player registration process you will need to provide an email address. Email addresses are only required as a means of maintaining membership of the game/competition and identifying a player's account. Email addresses are only used/processed on a 'legitimate interests' basis to allow players to create an account and log in to update their team etc (for example, to log in we need to match up the email address you provide in the form with the one held in our database in order to identify the account). In the case of the opt-in mailing list your data is only processed if you have provided your consent. You can withdraw consent, via the player admin area, at any time and stop receiving emails from the mailing list. In registering as a player, or activating an account, you agree to the storage of your email address in the game database which currently resides on servers belonging to our web hosting company in Europe (Germany). You will also be required to provide a player name and team name but these need not reflect your actual name in any way.
All other information (such as providing a biography) is optional and you are strongly urged not to enter personally identifiable information as this may be visible on the Reality F1 web site (such as on your player profile page).
Data entered as part of the player registration process will not be passed to any third party except if required by law or in the case of a player attacking or in any way abusing Reality F1.
Email address use
In order to use Reality F1 you will need to provide a valid and operational email address. Confirmation of registration will be sent to the email address and the same address will be used if you request a password reminder.
Reality F1 also operates an OPT-IN email list. If you choose to join the list you will be emailed a reminder about each race and information on your team performance within the game after each race. You can opt-out of receiving reminder emails at any point by logging in as a player and changing your mailing list options. To comply with acceptable use policies and anti-spam measures we do record the date and time that you signed up to the mailing list and the IP address you used at the time. If your email address ceases to work during the season then we reserve the right to unsubscribe you from the mailing list. You can resubscribe at any time once your email is functioning again.
Under some circumstances important announcements may be sent to all players. These announcements will only be sent if absolutely necessary to ensure the continued good operation of Reality F1 or if something has changed within the game itself such that the change will affect the enjoyment of the game by individual players. In addition, all players who contested the previous season or registered between seasons will be notified when the game opens for the next season. These players will receive one notification email only. Subsequent reminders will only be sent to players who opted in to the mailing list.
Your email address will not be passed to any third party except if required by law or in the case of a player attacking or in any way abusing Reality F1 - in which case details will be passed to contacts at the relevant service provider.
All of your personal data held within Reality F1 can be edited and updated by you using your active player account. If you cannot, for whatever reason, update this information then please contact us. You have the right to request the removal of your email address from Reality F1 at any time. However, in removing the email address we would need to close your player account immediately and anonymise your data as described in the 'Data Retention' section of this document - at this point your involvement in the game would cease. In addition to contacting us with any concerns you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Office of the Information Commissioner in the United Kingdom if you have concerns over how your data is stored or used.
Please note: if you email any @realityf1.com email addresses the message you send will be sent to the email provider used by Reality F1 (currently Gmail). Your email will not be passed to anyone else without your permission. Emails will be retained for historical interest or statistical purposes but you can request that emails sent to Reality F1 be deleted at any time.
Data retention
If you played Reality F1 prior to 2012 then you will know that the game previously required you to re-register each year. This changed for the 2012 season and, since then, player accounts have persisted between seasons. The advantages of this are ease of use for players but it also means that you can now access performance statistics from all the years that you played Reality F1.
However, we also have a data retention policy and your email address will be removed if you did not play last season and have not logged in within the last 12 months (calculated from when the game launched for the current season). Team performance data will be retained to maintain a historic record of Reality F1 results but your email address will be anonymised if you didn't play last season and have not logged in within a year of the most recent season starting. Your team name and player name will not be changed in this process so as to provide a historic record of Reality F1 seasons. Your team name and player name should not reflect your actual name but, if they do and you want them changed, you can contact us and ask for these to be anonymised.
From 2012, if a player registers and activates their account but does not create a team the data will normally be retained until the end of the season following the one during which the player account was created. This arrangement allows players to register mid-season but not enter the game until the next full season. However, we also reserve the right to remove these accounts at any time, for any reason and without warning, as these users have not created a team and are not considered Reality F1 players until they do.
Under most circumstances the data will be removed from the live game database when the game launches at the start of a new season.
Anyone signing up but not activating their user account within seven days (or within 48 hours of the game launching for the coming season) will have their data removed. By not activating their account these users are not considered genuine players of Reality F1.
User accounts that are considered fake/spam (for example, but not limited to, using inactive/incorrect email addresses, have never been logged in to or were created by users not using their own email address) may be deleted without warning and at any time.
In all cases, data will remain within Reality F1's backups for six months.
If, for any reason, you are not contesting the current season and would like your email address removed from Reality F1 then please contact us.
Backups
Your data, held within the database that supports Reality F1, is backed up daily. This backup file is encrypted and securely copied from the game server to a server provided by Amazon within their data centre in Ireland. The server storing the backups itself uses an encrypted disk. Backups are stored for six months before being automatically deleted.
In addition to these backups, the web host used for Reality F1 take their own backups but we do not have access to these.
Logged data
As with the vast majority of web sites, Reality F1 automatically logs certain information, including the IP address, for every request made. This information is used for system administration, for bug tracking, and for producing usage statistics. The logged information may be kept indefinitely for security reasons.
Data may on occasion be passed to the administrators of other computer systems/networks to enable investigation of abuse, problems accessing this site or of system misconfiguration. Otherwise the logged information is not passed to any third party except if required by law. Summary statistics are extracted from this data and some of these may be made publicly available, but those that are do not include information from which individuals could be identified.
The following data is automatically logged for each request:
- The name or network address of the computer making the request. Note that under some (but not all) circumstances it may be possible to infer from this the identity of the person making the request. Note also that the data recorded may be that of a web proxy rather than that of the originating client.
- The date and time of connection.
- The HTTP request, which contains the identification of the document requested.
- The status code of the request (success or failure etc.).
- The number of data bytes sent in response.
- The contents of the HTTP Referrer header supplied by the browser.
- The content of the HTTP User-Agent header supplied by the browser.
- Logging of additional data may be enabled temporarily from time to time for specific purposes.
In addition, for game play or support/security reasons we may keep a player audit trail. This may include such things as last log in date, team change date, mailing list sign up consent etc.
Cookies
Cookies (small files stored on your computer's hard drive) are used for authenticating registered players. In registering with Reality F1 you are granting Reality F1 permission to store cookies on your computer if the settings in your browser permit this.
If your web browser allows the setting of cookies then Reality F1 may set the following (first party) cookies:
- sessionid - this is used to store session information when players log in to make changes to their team. Please note that this cookie is only valid for your session and is deleted when you close your browser.
- csrftoken - this cookie is used to prevent a type of security attack called a Cross-site Request Forgery (CSRF). The presence of this cookie is a security measure and helps mitigate against this sort of attack, we consider this essential protection for the players of Reality F1. If you are browsing the site with cookies disabled then you may find that some functionality (commonly any functionality that requires you to enter data or select options in forms) will not work for you and you will see an error message referring to CSRF protection.
- testcookie - a cookie used to test if your browser settings allow the setting of cookies. This cookie is only used very rarely.
Cookies are predominantly used to authenticate registered players and are not required to access most parts of the web site, for example browsing a race results page.
Should you wish to know more about managing cookies on your browser please read: All About Cookies
Reality F1 also contains links to a Facebook page for Reality F1. If you choose to visit this page or 'follow'/join it on Facebook then please familiarise yourself with information on how data used to provide 'Page Insights' by Facebook may be used. Reality F1 does not currently use the 'Page Insights' data associated with the Facebook page.
Reality F1 does not currently carry advertising. In the unlikely event that advertising become necessary as a means of supporting Reality F1 and allowing it to continue as not for profit, registering with Reality F1 grants permission to store cookies on your computer to facilitate this. However, should Reality F1 plan to carry advertising then all current players will be notified and advertising will not be added to the site during a running season.