Privacy Policy

Last updated 27 October 2026 · version 2026-10-27e

The short version

• GeoSnoop estimates where a photo was taken from what is in the picture. To do that we receive the pictures you upload, including the data stored inside the files, such as GPS location, date and camera. We keep that data, but we never use it to make the estimate.
• This website deletes uploaded pictures after 30 days. We keep a copy on our own server in the United States as a test set to check and improve GeoSnoop's accuracy. We never use your uploads to train our models. That copy is deleted when you delete your account, and in any case after 24 months.
• No advertising and no advertising cookies. Analytics (Statcounter) run only if you allow them, and you can say no or change your mind at any time (“Cookie settings” at the bottom of every page). We don't show your pictures or results to anyone else.
• GeoSnoop does not do face recognition and does not identify people.
• You can download your data and delete your account at any time on your account page. Questions: privacy@geosnoop.com.

1. Who we are

GeoSnoop (geosnoop.com, the website and its API) is operated by Polling Inc., doing business as GeoSnoop (“we”, “us”), a company in the United States, at 22604 La Alameda STE 260, Mission Viejo, CA, United States. We decide how and why the personal information described here is used (in EU and UK law, we are the “controller”). Contact us about privacy at privacy@geosnoop.com.

This policy covers GeoSnoop's website, API and emails. Payment pages are run by Stripe under its own privacy policy. Our Terms and Conditions explain the rules for using GeoSnoop.

2. What we collect

2.1 The pictures you upload

Photos (JPEG, PNG, WebP or HEIC) and, when you choose a video, still frames that your browser takes from it. The video file itself never leaves your device; we never accept video files. Pictures can show people, homes, number plates, documents and other information about you or about others, and can reveal sensitive information. Please upload only pictures you have the right to share.

2.2 Data inside and about your pictures

We store each picture exactly as you send it. We do not strip it. That means we also store any data embedded in the file (EXIF, XMP or IPTC metadata), which can include the GPS location where it was taken, the date and time, the camera or phone make and model, the editing software, and any captions, names or copyright notes. We also store the file's name. For sets of photos and video frames, your browser reads this metadata itself and sends it along with each picture. It also sends the file's name, type, size and last-modified date and, for video frames, where in the video each frame comes from.

GeoSnoop never uses this data to make its estimate: the estimate comes from the pixels alone. This website deletes it, and the file names, together with the pictures after 30 days. The evaluation copy on our own server keeps it (section 6), because it helps us check our accuracy: for example, we can compare an estimate with the GPS location a camera saved.

2.3 Results

Our estimate for each search: the likely places with their chances, the map area, and, for full results, the breakdown that shows which parts of the picture point where. To show your past results, your browser may also upload a smaller viewing copy of each picture.

2.4 Your account

Your email address. We store your password only as a salted Argon2id hash, never the password itself. We also keep your plan, credits and credit history, whether your email is confirmed, your API keys' names (each key is stored only as a hash), when each key was last used, and counts of failed sign-ins, which we use to lock out password guessing.

2.5 Payments

Stripe handles payments. We never see or store your card number. From Stripe we receive and keep your Stripe customer and subscription IDs, your plan, its status and renewal date, and whether payments succeeded, failed or were disputed. We give Stripe your email address and an internal account number.

Buying one result without an account. Stripe's payment page asks for your email address (for Stripe's receipt) and your card details; we don't receive or keep either. We keep the Stripe payment ids, the amount, the time, whether the hold was charged, released or refunded, the search it paid for, and a keyed hash of your IP address. The search itself is kept like any search made without an account (section 6).

2.6 Your agreement

Before anything is uploaded, at sign-up and when you create an API key, you agree to the Terms and this policy, confirm that you are 18 or older, confirm the lawful-use statement (“I am not uploading this image to stalk, harass, track or surveil anyone, or for any other unlawful or harmful purpose.”) and allow our cookies. We record each agreement: when it was given, the versions you agreed to, your age confirmation, your cookie choice, where it was given (upload, sign-up or API key), your account or API key (or, without an account, a random browser ID), and a keyed hash of your IP address. When you choose a paid plan, we also record your agreement that it renews automatically (the time, the plan, your account and a keyed hash of your IP address).

2.7 Security and abuse-prevention data

• IP address. We use it briefly to apply rate limits, the free test and abuse checks. In our records we keep only a keyed hash of it (a code made with a secret key that can't be turned back into the address without that key), stored with sign-ups, sign-ins, searches, consent records, account events and quote requests.
• A random browser ID (in a cookie, see section 7). It keeps your searches private to your browser and counts the free test.
• A log of account events such as sign-up, sign-in, password reset, API key creation, subscription changes and unlocking results.
• A proof-of-work check on free searches and forms: your browser solves a small puzzle. It works without third-party captchas and collects no personal information.
• Our hosting provider's network and security service (bunny.net and its Bunny Shield) process each request, including your IP address, browser type and the page asked for, to deliver the site and block attacks and bots. Bunny Shield's bot detection may add a script to our pages and set its own cookies, which can include a browser fingerprint (see section 7). Its access logs store IP addresses only in anonymised form. Uploads are scanned for viruses and for known child sexual abuse material (CSAM): for the CSAM check, a digital fingerprint (hash) of each file is compared against a database of known material run by a trusted third party. Matches are blocked and reported to the authorities.

2.8 When you contact us

Your emails to us, and what you enter in the quote request form (name, company, email, expected volume and use case).

2.9 Analytics, only if you allow them

If you choose “Allow” in the analytics question, our pages load Statcounter's counter. For each page you view, Statcounter receives your IP address, the page's address and title, the page you came from (referrer), your browser, operating system, device type and screen size, and the time; it sets its own cookies to recognise returning visitors (section 7). We use the resulting statistics to see which pages people use. Statcounter never receives your pictures, their metadata or your results: a result page's address holds only a random number that opens nothing for anyone else. Analytics never run on pages whose address holds a secret code (password reset, email confirmation) or on admin pages, nor if your browser sends Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track.

We don't collect anything else about you from other sources, apart from what Stripe tells us about your payments.

3. Why we use it, and our legal bases

The legal bases are those of the EU and UK GDPR. Other laws use other terms, but the purposes are the same.

Accuracy statistics. From the test-set copies we compute overall statistics, such as how often GeoSnoop names the right country. We may publish these statistics. They never include pictures, results for any single picture, or anything that could identify you.

We don't use your information for decisions about you that are made only by automated means and have legal or similarly significant effects on you. GeoSnoop's estimates are about pictures. Its credit counts, rate limits and abuse checks only decide what you can do on GeoSnoop.

4. What we don't do

• We never train models on your uploads. We never add them to the reference photos GeoSnoop compares pictures with, never show them or your results to other users or search engines, and never publish them.
• No face recognition or biometrics. GeoSnoop compares the whole picture with photos of places. It does not detect or analyse faces, does not create face templates or any other biometric identifiers, and does not identify anyone. The breakdown may label parts of a picture with general categories such as “person”, “building” or “sky”. That is not identification.
• No selling, no advertising. We don't sell personal information, don't share it for cross-context behavioural advertising, and don't use it for targeted advertising. Optional analytics: section 2.9.
• No advertising trackers. Our pages load no advertising or social media scripts, and no third-party fonts or maps. Our maps, fonts and scripts come from our own servers. The only outside scripts are our hosting provider's bot detection (section 2.7) and, only if you allow analytics, Statcounter's counter (section 2.9).

5. Who processes your information

These companies process personal information for us, under contract, only to provide their service to us:

GeoSnoop's location engine runs on our own server in the United States, which we operate ourselves. It receives each picture with its file details, and it keeps the test-set copies described in section 6.

Stripe also decides for itself how to use some information it collects, for example to prevent fraud and to meet its legal duties. See Stripe's privacy policy. If a known child sexual abuse image is detected, the scanning partner reports it to the authorities.

We may also disclose information: (a) when the law requires it, or to answer a valid legal request (section 14); (b) to protect someone from death or serious harm, or to protect the rights, property and safety of our users, the public or us; (c) to our professional advisers under confidentiality; and (d) to a buyer or successor if our business or GeoSnoop is sold or reorganised, under this policy's protections. We share nothing else unless you ask us to.

6. How long we keep it

Zero data retention. Accounts with zero data retention (an option of our Reseller / Scale plans) keep no evaluation copy on our own server, and their uploads, file names and metadata are deleted from this website right after the result is delivered. Their results stay in the account as described above.

Legal holds. We keep something longer than this table says only when the law requires it: for example, a court order to preserve it, or the law on reporting child sexual abuse material. We then keep only what is required, only for as long as required, and use it for nothing else. If you delete your account while it is held, we close it at once and delete the held data as soon as the duty ends.

When you delete your account, its data is removed from our live systems straight away, and from backups as they expire. If we ever have to restore a backup, deleted accounts are deleted again automatically before it goes back into use.

7. Cookies and similar technology

Uploading uses only strictly necessary cookies: one that keeps your searches private to this browser, your sign-in session if you sign in, and one that remembers this choice. Our hosting provider's security service also sets its own cookies to tell people from bots. There are no advertising cookies; analytics are a separate, optional choice (Cookie settings, at the bottom of every page). Uploading needs these cookies: without them GeoSnoop can't keep your results private to you.

The cookies above are strictly necessary for security or for a service you ask for. There are no advertising or social media cookies.

Optional analytics (Statcounter)

Only after you choose “Allow”, Statcounter's counter may set: sc_is_visitor_unique (on our site: a random ID and a count of your visits, to tell new from returning visitors; 2 years), its own cookie is_unique on statcounter.com (the same purpose; 5 years; your browser may block it), and items starting with statcounter in your browser's local and session storage. Our pages also keep your answer to the analytics question in your browser's local storage (gs_analytics, 12 months). To change your answer, use Cookie settings (also at the bottom of every page): “No thanks” stops the counter and deletes Statcounter's cookies and storage on our site (its cookie on statcounter.com can be cleared in your browser's settings).

Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control: if your browser sends either signal, we treat it as “No” to analytics: the question isn't shown and Statcounter isn't loaded. We also treat Global Privacy Control as a valid request to opt out of any selling or sharing.

8. Security

Every connection is encrypted (HTTPS). Passwords and API keys are stored only as hashes. Your results can be opened only by your browser or your account, and pictures are served only through short-lived signed links. Database backups are encrypted with a key kept offline. Our engine server runs in a locked-down environment. No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your personal information, we will tell you and the authorities as the law requires, without undue delay. Please report security problems to security@geosnoop.com.

9. Your rights and choices

Wherever you live, you can:

• Get a copy of your data: use “Download my data” on your account page: your account, consents, API key names, searches, credits and, for searches still within the 30-day period, each picture's file name and the metadata sent with it. Pictures themselves are not in the download; it explains the evaluation copy on our own server. For anything else, write to us.
• Delete your account: one button on your account page. It cancels any subscription, deletes your account, keys, searches, uploads and results, and deletes the test-set copies of your searches from our server. For a search made without an account, send us its result link.
• Correct your information: write to us, for example to change your email address.
• Object to the test-set copies: write to us and we'll delete the kept copies of your pictures. You can object to any other use based on legitimate interests too.
• Withdraw your agreement: stop using GeoSnoop and delete your account. Withdrawing doesn't affect what happened before.

Write to privacy@geosnoop.com from your account's email address, or include the result link for a search made without an account, so we can check the request is yours. We answer within one month (45 days where US state law allows), and tell you if we need longer. It's free. We won't treat you differently for using your rights.

People in the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland

You also have the right to restrict our use of your information, and the right to data portability. You can complain to your local data protection authority (in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office), though we'd like the chance to help first.

People in California and other US states with privacy laws

In the last 12 months we collected these categories of personal information: identifiers (email address, hashed IP address, browser ID, account and API key IDs); commercial information (plan, credits, payment status); internet activity (searches, account events, security logs and, if you allow analytics, pages visited); geolocation data (location metadata in the pictures you upload, which can be precise); visual information (the pictures); and inferences (our estimates of where a picture was taken). They come from you, your browser and Stripe, and we use them for the purposes in section 3. We disclose them for business purposes to the service providers in section 5. We don't sell personal information or use it for advertising. If you allow analytics, Statcounter receives internet activity and identifiers (section 2.9) under its own terms; because Statcounter may also use that data for its own purposes, California law might treat it as “sharing”. It therefore happens only if you choose “Allow”, never with a Global Privacy Control signal, and you can stop it at any time under “Cookie settings”. We don't knowingly sell or share the information of anyone under 16. We use sensitive personal information, such as precise location in picture metadata or your account password, only to provide GeoSnoop and for the other purposes the law allows, not to infer anything about you. We keep information as section 6 says.

You can ask to know or access, delete or correct your personal information, and to opt out of sale, sharing or targeted advertising (none happens). You can name an authorized agent to ask for you. We may ask the agent for proof and ask you to confirm your identity. If we turn down your request, you can appeal by replying to our answer or writing to privacy@geosnoop.com with “Appeal” in the subject line. If the appeal is denied too, you can contact your state's attorney general.

We don't disclose personal information to others for their direct marketing (California Civil Code 1798.83, “Shine the Light”), and we don't sell personal information as Nevada law (NRS 603A) defines it.

10. If you appear in someone else's picture

People can upload pictures that show other people. Everyone who uploads must confirm that they are not doing so to stalk, harass, track or surveil anyone, or for any other unlawful or harmful purpose. Results are shown only to the person who searched. If you believe a picture of you was uploaded, or GeoSnoop is being misused against you, write to privacy@geosnoop.com or abuse@geosnoop.com. We will help as far as we can identify the upload. Tell us what happened, when, and any result link or account you know of. We keep the identity of people who report misuse confidential, and never tell the reported user who reported them unless the law requires it. We reply within 5 working days, and faster where someone may be in danger.

11. Children

GeoSnoop is only for adults (18 or older): everyone confirms their age at sign-up and before uploading. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has used GeoSnoop, write to us and we will delete their information.

12. International transfers

We are in the United States, and GeoSnoop's servers and our providers process information in the United States (and Stripe also in other countries). US privacy law may differ from the law where you live. When we receive personal information from the EEA, the UK or Switzerland, we protect it as this policy describes. Our contracts with providers include the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses (and the UK addendum) or another lawful transfer mechanism where the law requires one.

13. Data breaches

If a security incident affects your personal information, we will investigate it, limit the harm, and notify you and the relevant authorities as the law requires.

14. Requests from authorities

We disclose information to authorities only in answer to valid legal process, such as a subpoena, court order or warrant, or where the law requires or allows it, for example in an emergency involving risk of death or serious harm. We check each request, disclose only what is required, and tell the affected user unless the law or the risk forbids it.

15. Changes to this policy

We'll post any change here with a new date and version. If a change matters to you, for example if we collect more or keep things longer, we'll tell you ahead of time (by email if you have an account). GeoSnoop will also ask you to agree again before your next upload. We will never start using uploads you've already sent to train models.

16. Contact

Privacy: privacy@geosnoop.com · misuse: abuse@geosnoop.com · security: security@geosnoop.com · legal: legal@geosnoop.com · help: support@geosnoop.com