1/ One topic that often comes up around location data is privacy. If you accurately know where someone spends their time, you can figure out who they are. Users of our geocoding API have to send us location info. How can they ensure privacy?

2/ From day 1, we've known one of the key value propositions of our geocoding API is that some customers really do NOT want to share data with Google and other internet giants. So privacy has been a continual focus for us, not an afterthought.

3/ We're a German legal entity thus fully compliant with GDPR. Here's our GDPR policy: https://opencagedata.com/gdpr  and you can easily see all the details of exactly who we are on our about page: https://opencagedata.com/about 

4/ But let's get into what we actually do about privacy. It starts with our website, where we don't use Google Analytics or any other trackers. Instead, we use privacy focused @usefathom so we can anonymously see what is happening on the site without tracking anyone

5/ Our website and API are of course both available via HTTPS

6/ When you sign up for a free trial all you need is a working email, and inactive accounts get deleted after 6 months. Of course, you can also delete your account sooner. And don't worry , signing up doesn't put you on our marketing list. We have no marketing list.

7/ If you become a customer we do legally have to store a record of the transaction, but you can delete your payment info https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/delete-your-card-details That said, all the billing is done via Stripe, we never have a record of your card details

8/ So now let's get into the API itself. First up, please send us only location information, never details of who is at that location. Besides privacy concerns it just makes geocoding much harder. See: https://opencagedata.com/guides/how-to-format-your-geocoding-query

9/ Next, if you use the optional "no_record" parameter in your API call, we will keep ... absolutely no record of what your query was. None. Nada. Zilch. https://opencagedata.com/api#no_record-param

10/ Finally, we do our best to educate users of the API about privacy implications of location data. Here for example is a guide to NOT showing precisely geocoded locations https://opencagedata.com/guides/how-to-preserve-privacy-by-showing-only-an-imprecise-location

11/ Digital privacy is a continually evolving issue. New technology makes so much possible, but also exposes us to new risks. It's a topic that is never "done". Please get in touch if you have any questions (or suggestions) about our approach. Thanks for reading and stay safe!

12/ Final, final point - what to do if you want the benefits of tracking where you’ve been without the privacy risk? Please check out our friends at @OwnTracks https://owntracks.org/  open source, privacy-focused journey tracking and sharing software