Privacy policy

Effective October 16, 2026

Plain-language summary: Dickens & Rumi uses the information needed to run accounts, reader profiles, shelves, reviews, corrections, search and privacy-respecting site analytics. We do not sell personal information. The service is intended for adults choosing books and films for their families, not for children to create accounts themselves.

Information we collect

• Account information: email address, authentication records and, if you choose Google sign-in, the account information Google and our authentication provider supply for sign-in.
• Reader profiles: a name or nickname, age and content preferences entered by the adult account holder.
• Activity you save: shelves, reading or viewing status, reviews, ratings, content-note submissions and correction reports.
• Search demand: daily aggregate counts for search terms and title views. Our application does not attach these counts to an account or intentionally store an IP address with them. We skip this counting when the browser sends Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control.
• Review requests: when you explicitly request a title review, we store the title and a random identifier created in your browser so one browser cannot repeatedly inflate the request count. The identifier is not your name, email address, account ID or IP address.
• Site analytics: Google Analytics may collect page views, interactions, referral information, approximate location, and device or browser information using cookies or similar technologies. We disable Google Signals and advertising personalization in our configuration, and do not load Google Analytics when the browser sends Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control.
• Technical information: hosting, database and security providers may process ordinary connection information, device/browser data and logs needed to deliver and protect the service.

How we use information

We use information to authenticate users, save reader profiles and shelves, display reviews, prioritize catalogue work, understand site usage, investigate corrections, prevent abuse, troubleshoot errors and improve search quality.

Analytics

We use Google Analytics to understand aggregate traffic and how visitors use the site. We do not intentionally send account email addresses, reader-profile names or content preferences to Google Analytics. Google may process analytics data under its own privacy terms. You can also limit analytics through browser privacy settings, cookie controls or Google’s Analytics opt-out tools.

Artificial intelligence

Search terms, a reader’s age and selected content preferences, and book or film metadata may be sent to configured AI providers to rank results or prepare catalogue assessments. We do not intentionally send account email addresses or reader-profile names in those prompts. Catalogue automation may use OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and DeepSeek services. Their processing is governed by their contracts and privacy terms.

Service providers and external links

We use service providers for authentication, database hosting and analytics, and may retrieve metadata from Open Library, Google Books, Project Gutenberg, Wikipedia and TMDB. Links to libraries, retailers and streaming-search services take you to third-party sites with their own privacy practices.

Affiliate links

Some retailer links are affiliate links. If you follow one and make a qualifying purchase, Dickens & Rumi may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. The retailer may use cookies or similar technologies after you visit its site.

Children’s privacy

Dickens & Rumi is designed for parents, guardians, educators and other adults. Children under 13 should not create accounts or submit reviews. Adults should use a nickname—not a child’s full legal name—when creating a reader profile. If you believe a child submitted personal information without appropriate permission, contact us so we can investigate and delete it.

Retention and deletion

We retain account and saved-content information while an account is active and as reasonably needed for security, dispute resolution and legal obligations. Aggregate demand counts may be retained without account identifiers. You may request account or profile deletion through the contact page. Some public reviews or catalogue contributions may be retained in de-identified form when reasonably necessary to preserve catalogue integrity, unless applicable law requires deletion.

Your choices

You may avoid creating an account and still use public search. You can edit reader preferences, remove shelf items, use browser privacy controls, and request access, correction or deletion of personal information through Contact & corrections.

Security

We use access controls and server-side secrets intended to protect stored data. No online service can guarantee absolute security. Do not submit confidential information in reviews, reader names or correction messages.

Changes

We may update this policy as the service changes. The effective date above will be updated when material changes are published.

Contact

Privacy questions and requests can be submitted through Contact & corrections.

Email newsletter

If you subscribe to the Dickens & Rumi newsletter, MailerLite processes your email address to manage confirmation, delivery, unsubscribe requests and mailing-list records. Subscriptions use double opt-in, and every marketing email includes an unsubscribe option. Dickens & Rumi records an aggregate analytics event when a subscription succeeds, but the event sent to Google Analytics does not include your email address. See MailerLite’s privacy policy for information about its processing practices.