Privacy Policy

Lost at Faire helps renaissance faires run their lost and found. This policy explains what information the service collects, why, who can see it, how long it’s kept, and the choices you have. We’ve tried to keep it plain.

Who we are

Lost at Faire is run by Thought Software (“we”, “us”). You can reach us at [privacy contact email].

We play two different roles:

• For a faire’s lost and found, the faire decides what to collect and how to use it, and we run the service on the faire’s behalf. If you reported a lost item or your item was found at a faire, that faire is responsible for your information, and you can also contact them directly.
• For this website and demo requests, we’re responsible for the information ourselves.

What we collect

If you report something you lost

When faire staff take your report at the info booth, they may record:

• your first and last name;
• your email address or phone number, if you choose to give one (you don’t have to; you can check back at the booth instead);
• what you lost, when, and any details the faire asks for about that kind of item (for example, the name on a lost ID or the type of card);
• whether you’re a patron or a participant, and your participant group;
• if you’re camping at the faire, where and on which dates, so staff can find you;
• notes staff add, and a record of each time they contact you, or try to.

We also record which staff member took the report and when.

If an item you lost is found

Staff log found items with a description, up to two photos, and details such as the brand, color, and where the item is stored. Found items can carry personal information of their own: a photo of a wallet may show an ID or a card, and staff may note the name on an ID so it can be matched to its owner.

If you’re a faire staff member

Your name, email address, and password (stored only in scrambled, “hashed” form that we can’t read), your role, and which faires you work at. The service records which staff member logged, changed, or handed over each item and report.

If you request a demo

The details you enter in the demo form: your name, email address, and faire or organization, plus anything optional you add (phone, role, attendance, number of weekends, how you run lost and found today, and your message). To stop the form being flooded, we also keep a scrambled code made from your IP address. We can’t turn it back into the address; we only use it to count how many requests come from the same place.

When you visit

• This website sets no cookies and doesn’t track you. [If we add visitor statistics, they will be cookie-free and won’t identify you. Name the service here, e.g. Plausible.]
• The staff app uses one cookie to keep staff signed in (for up to 8 hours), and remembers the staff member’s chosen faire in their browser. Neither is used for tracking or advertising.
• Our servers keep short-lived technical logs, including IP addresses, the pages requested, and browser details, to keep the service secure and fix problems. The logs are overwritten automatically as new ones are written.

How we use it

• to run the faire’s lost and found: logging found items, taking reports, suggesting possible matches, contacting you, and returning your belongings;
• to reply to demo requests;
• to keep the service secure and working, and to prevent abuse.

Suggested matches come from simple rules (the same kind of item, found around the same date, and for IDs, the same name). A person on the faire’s staff always decides whether an item is yours.

We don’t sell your information, use it for advertising, or share it with anyone to market to you.

Who can see it

• The faire’s staff. Staff see only the faires they’re assigned to. Staff at other faires can’t see your report or items found at their faire.
• Not other patrons. Patrons never browse the found items, and no one else can see your report through this website.
• Anyone with your status link. If you’re given a link or QR code to check your report, anyone who has it can see and update your report while the link works (30 days), so keep it private.
• Companies that help us run the service, only as far as they need to:
  • The Constant Company, LLC (Vultr), which hosts our servers and backups in the United States;
  • Brevo (Sendinblue SAS), which delivers our emails, such as report confirmations and replies to demo requests.
• When the law requires it, for example in response to a valid legal request.

Where it’s stored

Our servers are in the United States. If you’re outside the United States, your information travels there when you use the service.

How long we keep it

A lost and found needs a lasting record of what came in, what was claimed, and what was disposed of, so the record of each found item and lost report is kept permanently. The personal details in it are not. 180 days after the faire ends, we remove them automatically, and what’s left no longer identifies you.

When your personal details are removed from a lost report, we remove:

• your name, email address, and phone number;
• where and when you were camping, and your participant group;
• any extra details you gave and the notes staff wrote about your report, including the notes on each time they contacted you;
• answers that identify you, such as the name on a lost ID.

We keep what you lost, its category, the dates, the faire, whether it was found and returned, and which staff members handled it. Your status link stops working at the same time.

Found items are handled the same way once they’ve been returned or disposed of. For kinds of items that carry personal information themselves, such as IDs, cards, and wallets, we remove their photos and details like the name on the card. For an item that was returned, we also remove the staff notes about who picked it up. An item that’s still waiting to be claimed keeps everything, because staff still need it to find the owner.

Other periods:

• Status links stop working after 30 days.
• Demo requests: we remove your name, contact details, role, message, and the scrambled IP code two years after you send the request. We keep your faire or organization’s name and your answers to the multiple-choice questions, as a record that it asked.
• Staff accounts: a staff member’s name stays on the items and reports they handled, as the record of who did what.
• Backups: server backups are kept for 2 days, and any copies we keep elsewhere for at most 30 days. Removed details disappear from backups when those copies expire.
• Technical logs are overwritten automatically, usually within days.

Your choices and rights

• You never have to give an email address or phone number to report a lost item.
• You can ask to see the information held about you, or to correct it. For a faire’s lost and found, ask the faire or us; we’ll work with the faire to respond. For demo requests, ask us.
• You can ask us to delete your personal details at any time, without waiting for the 180 days (or two years for a demo request). Ask the faire’s lost and found or email us, and tell us your name and the faire, or the email address you used. The faire’s administrators or we will remove your personal details in the way described in “How long we keep it”, including from any item matched to your report, and your status link will stop working. We keep the anonymous record of the item and report, and we’ll let you know when it’s done.
• Depending on where you live, you may have further rights under local law, including the right to complain to a data protection authority.

How we protect it

All traffic is encrypted (HTTPS). Passwords are stored only in hashed form. Staff sign-in uses a secure cookie that the page’s scripts can’t read, and each staff member sees only their own faires. Servers are updated regularly and backed up daily. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to keep your information safe and will tell affected faires if something goes wrong.

Children

This website isn’t aimed at children. A parent or guardian can report an item a child lost, and faire staff may take a report from a young person at the booth when they need to. We don’t knowingly collect information from children online.

Changes

If we change this policy, we’ll post the new version here with a new effective date. If a change is significant, we’ll also let the faires using the service know.

Contact

Thought Software · [privacy contact email] · [postal address]