Privacy, explained without the legal fog

ChoiceSpin is personally operated by Γεωργιος Συκιωτης / GEORGIOS SYKIOTIS, based in Greece. He is the data controller for personal data processed by ChoiceSpin, responsible for deciding why and how it is used. Contact details are in the privacy contact section.

This policy covers the public ChoiceSpin website, the wheel running in your browser, locally saved wheels, private Share links, Spin With Friends rooms, result exports, optional journal comments, and contact through the form or email fallback.

Private Share, public Gallery publishing and live rooms are optional hosted features. Their controls depend on the matching service being available. There are no accounts and no cloud sync. ChoiceSpin has applied to show ads through Google AdSense, and no ads are shown yet; the Advertising section explains what changes when they run. Vercel Web Analytics provides limited cookie-free page counts; Vercel Speed Insights measures page performance. Google Analytics can run on published public pages, such as the tool pages and the wheel library, under the consent rules below. It never runs on this page or the Cookies page, which keep only the Analytics choices control, or on the Gallery. Google measurement is excluded from individual shared-wheel viewers, imports, rooms, embeds, drafts and previews.

The current wheel uses browser storage so it can remember your work without an account.

• Wheel entries, advanced entry settings, visible-entry limits, and editing state
• Saved wheels in My Wheels, including names, appearance, options, and local images
• Uploaded wheel, center, background, and option images stored as local browser data
• Result history, including winner labels, timestamps, and sometimes slice colors
• Theme, colors, sound, spin duration, after-spin behavior, and other preferences
• Short-lived session recovery data used inside one browser-tab session

This data is not automatically uploaded to a ChoiceSpin account because the current site does not provide accounts or cloud sync.

Using any website creates ordinary network requests. ChoiceSpin is no exception.

• Website delivery: the hosting and content-delivery service can receive IP address, browser or user-agent information, requested URL, timing, and security-related request data.
• Browser error reporting: Sentry receives limited technical error reports to help ChoiceSpin find and fix website faults. Loading its error-reporting code and sending a report also gives Sentry the connecting IP address and browser user-agent. See the report contents and limits below.
• Anonymous site measurement: on the public pages listed on the Cookies page, when the address has no fragment and no query string other than the campaign or click tags listed there, and on a shared wheel opened through a /w/ or /p/ link, ChoiceSpin loads Vercel Web Analytics. Those tag values are removed before the view is recorded. Vercel records an anonymous page view for aggregated statistics, including the page URL, event time, the origin of the website you came from or the Google app's fixed Android identifier when the browser supplies one, approximate location, device type, operating system, and browser. On a shared wheel that page URL is the share route itself, so it carries the share identifier that was already in the link you opened, with the query string and fragment dropped before the view is recorded. An empty referrer is also accepted. Other app identifiers, and app referrers containing a path, query string or fragment, are refused. It uses no analytics cookies. ChoiceSpin does not send wheel entries, wheel titles, or custom events through this integration. It does not load if the browser reports the address you came from with a path, query string or fragment, and it does not load on legal pages, drafts, previews or any other page not listed on the Cookies page.
• Consent-controlled Google Analytics: the Google tag can load on eligible public pages with Google consent mode. In the EEA, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, Google Analytics does not load until you choose Accept analytics in ChoiceSpin's own prompt, described under your Analytics choice. Google's consent and advertising loader does not load there, even after you accept. That loader is the Google script that shows Google's privacy message and would also load ads; this page also calls it Google's privacy message service. Outside those regions, analytics storage is granted by default, and a refusal stops measurement. One page view per load uses the canonical page URL, campaign tags supplied in the link, an empty or origin-only referrer, and ordinary browser, device, network and approximate-location information. Google's tag also marks a first visit and the start of a session on that page view, and sends a separate engagement-time event (user_engagement) while the page is open; none of these carries wheel content. When a spin of the main wheel that you started on a wheel page finishes, ChoiceSpin sends one fixed event named wheel_spin, at most three per page load. It is sent only where Google Analytics runs without ChoiceSpin's own prompt: outside the EEA, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the other areas listed under your Analytics choice, and only while you have not saved a choice in that prompt. The prompt asks about page views and how you arrived, not about spins, so after an Accept in it Google Analytics measures page views but not spins. Spins of extra wheels on their own are not counted. The event contains the public page address, the static page title and the same empty or origin-only referrer, not wheel titles, entries, results or the number of entries, and a spin that started before Google Analytics was allowed is not sent later. Fixed events for public publishing attempts and outcomes and for copying a public link follow a stricter rule: ChoiceSpin sends them on wheel pages only when Google explicitly reports Analytics granted or not applicable. The Gallery page no longer loads Google Analytics, so it sends no Gallery loading, search or Use wheel events. An Accept in ChoiceSpin's own prompt does not count for these events. These events contain the public page address and static page title, not wheel titles, entries, descriptions, results, search text, Share or room identifiers, or raw errors. Unknown consent is not enough for these events; actions are not saved for later replay. Automatic enhanced measurement is off. ChoiceSpin disables Google Signals and ads-personalization signals in its tag configuration. Public campaign and section links are eligible; individual wheel viewers, rooms, imports, pages kept out of search results and previews are excluded. Google explains how Google uses information from sites that use its services.
• Public Gallery: choosing Public gallery and publishing sends the wheel, title and description to ChoiceSpin and Google Firebase. Accepted public wheels can be found, read, spun and copied by anyone. Publishing uses automated content checks, rate limits and a Cloudflare Turnstile security check, which can receive browser and request information. Do not publish personal, confidential or sensitive student information. Use the report link or contact ChoiceSpin about removal; removal cannot take back copies already made.
• Private Share: when you create a link, ChoiceSpin sends the supported wheel project and your spin-or-copy choice to Google Firebase. The link is unlisted, not end-to-end encrypted, and works for anyone who has it for up to 24 hours.
• Spin With Friends: when you create or join a room, ChoiceSpin sends the room entries, settings, synchronized spins, optional chat messages, and short-lived presence information to Google Firebase. A room lasts for up to 6 hours and accepts no more than 32 active participants.
• Abuse protection: Share and live rooms use a session-only anonymous Firebase identity, Firebase App Check with reCAPTCHA Enterprise, request limits, and security logs. These are infrastructure identities, not public ChoiceSpin accounts.
• Contact form: when you press Send, the email address and description you entered go directly to FormSubmit with fixed delivery metadata (subject, template, page URL, and the anti-spam honeypot value) plus ordinary request and security data. FormSubmit forwards the message to ChoiceSpin's email inbox, applies its own spam checks, and may require a CAPTCHA. If you use the direct-email fallback instead, your email provider and ChoiceSpin's email provider handle the message.
• External share actions: if you click a social-share link, your browser connects to that chosen service under its own privacy terms.
• Static files: loading fonts, sounds, images, CSS, and JavaScript from ChoiceSpin creates normal same-origin website requests.

Opening or saving a local .wheel file uses the browser’s file tools. The file is not uploaded to ChoiceSpin by that action.

ChoiceSpin has applied to show ads through Google AdSense, Google's advertising service. No ads are shown yet. When ads run, the following applies:

• Prior visits: third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to ChoiceSpin or other websites.
• Google and its partners: Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visits to ChoiceSpin and/or other sites on the internet.
• What third parties collect: as a result of ad serving, third parties, including Google, may place and read cookies in your browser, or use web beacons or IP addresses to collect information. When Google's advertising code or an ad loads, Google may receive your IP address, browser and device details, and the address of the page you are viewing.
• Other ad companies: companies that Google allows to serve ads through AdSense may also use their own cookies. Google publishes the list of these companies, its ad technology partners, with a link to how each one uses data. Through those links you can visit a company's site to opt out of its use of cookies for personalized advertising, where it offers this, or you can use the opt-out pages below. If ChoiceSpin adds another ad network itself, this page will name it and link to its opt-out.

Google explains how it uses this information in How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services. The Cookies page lists the main advertising cookies Google may set and how long Google says they last.

Opting out of personalized ads: use Google's Ads Settings. You can also opt out of some third-party vendors' use of cookies for personalized advertising at www.aboutads.info/choices in the United States, or at www.youronlinechoices.eu in Europe.

In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, and the other areas listed under your Analytics choice, ChoiceSpin will not show ads that rely on cookies without the consent required there. Today Google's consent and advertising loader does not load for visitors there, when ChoiceSpin cannot tell where you are, or when your browser holds a saved ChoiceSpin Analytics choice. ChoiceSpin's own prompt asks only about Google Analytics, so accepting analytics does not allow advertising. Before ads that use cookies are shown there, ChoiceSpin will ask for that consent separately, through a consent message certified by Google, and will update this page first.

Elsewhere, Google's consent and advertising loader already runs on eligible public pages with ad requests paused, as described under Hosted choices, measurement and consent, so it requests no ads. Loading it lets Google receive the information described under What third parties collect above, such as your IP address and browser and device details.

This table groups the information by what a person actually experiences.

Local browser data is used to provide the wheel features you request: restoring entries, keeping saved wheels, showing result history, and remembering settings.

Limited browser error reporting through Sentry supports the troubleshooting purpose and legitimate interests described below: finding and fixing website faults. You may object to this processing through the contact page.

Ordinary request data is handled to deliver, secure, troubleshoot, and maintain the website. Anonymous Vercel Web Analytics data is handled to understand aggregate visits, page popularity, and traffic sources without creating a cross-site profile. If enabled and allowed, the limited Google Analytics page view, the fixed wheel_spin event and the fixed publishing and link-copy events are handled to understand use of eligible public pages, including how often a visit leads to a spin. Private Share and live-room data are handled to provide the hosted action you asked for and to prevent abuse. Contact-form or email data is handled to deliver and respond to the message you chose to send.

• Requested services: processing needed to provide a Share link, live room, or other hosted action you choose supports performance of the service agreement or steps you request before it, under Article 6(1)(b) of the GDPR.
• Security and support: necessary abuse prevention, troubleshooting, replies to general enquiries, comment moderation, and aggregate website-use analysis support legitimate interests in running a safe, useful service, under Article 6(1)(f). You may object to processing based on legitimate interests.
• Optional measurement: in the EEA, the UK, Switzerland and the other areas listed above, your consent under Article 6(1)(a) is the basis for Google Analytics. ChoiceSpin chooses to ask everyone there before Google Analytics runs, and you can withdraw consent at any time with Analytics choices. Where Google's own message applies outside that region, ChoiceSpin checks its Analytics-specific status. Before advertising cookies are used in the EEA, the UK, Switzerland and the other areas listed above, ChoiceSpin will ask for your separate consent, as described under Advertising.
• Legal duties: Article 6(1)(c) applies when processing is necessary to meet a specific legal obligation, such as responding to a valid rights request.

When journal comments are enabled, submitting sends your text and optional display name to ChoiceSpin through Vercel for storage in Google Firestore. No signup or email address is required. Comments are reviewed before they appear publicly. Pending comments expire after 30 days; approval starts a 365-day public lifetime, and rejection hides a comment immediately and sets a 30-day retention period. Physical deletion follows the database cleanup schedule. Retry records expire after 7 days, moderation records after 365 days, and abuse-limit records after their daily window plus a one-day cleanup buffer. We use a keyed hash of the network address for these limits; the comments database does not store the raw address. Hosting providers still process connection information. Avoid personal or student details. To request removal, contact ChoiceSpin with the article and enough information to identify the comment.

Local storage has no timer that automatically deletes it. It remains until ChoiceSpin replaces it, you use an in-app delete or clear action, or the browser clears site data. Session storage normally ends with the tab session.

A private Share link stops returning its wheel after 24 hours. Approved public wheels have no automatic 24-hour expiry; contact ChoiceSpin to request removal. A live room stops working after at most 6 hours. Google Firestore TTL deletion is not immediate and normally removes an expired document within about 24 hours after expiry. ChoiceSpin continues to enforce the shorter logical expiry while physical cleanup is pending. Share quota and retry records can remain for up to about 72 hours where a daily limit window and its cleanup buffer overlap. Public Gallery removal protection uses one separate persistent, fixed-size record per hashed Firebase owner identity. It stores no raw Firebase UID, is overwritten in place, and has no automatic TTL while that protection is retained.

Vercel: provides hosting, server functions, and the limited Web Analytics service described above. The analytics visitor hash resets daily. ChoiceSpin uses Vercel Pro. Vercel documents a 12-month analytics reporting window and one day of available runtime logs under its standard Pro limits; optional add-ons can extend these periods. Reporting availability is not a promise that every backup or security record is erased at the same time. See Vercel's analytics reporting periods, log retention, and privacy notice for its other retention criteria.

Sentry: error events received during ChoiceSpin's initial trial have a 90-day retention period. New events received on the free Developer plan have a 30-day retention period; an earlier event keeps the period assigned when it arrived. These are event-retention periods, not a deadline for every provider connection or security record. Sentry deletes backups separately, 90 days after each backup is created. See Sentry's data retention periods and security and privacy information.

Google Firebase: provides authentication, App Check, Firestore, and Realtime Database for optional hosted features. The current Firestore databases use Google's eur3 Europe multi-region. Google documents authentication IP logs lasting a few weeks and other authentication information lasting until the associated user is deleted, followed by deletion from live and backup systems within 180 days. Closing a tab clears the local session; it does not itself request deletion of the server-side authentication record. Firebase's privacy and retention information describes these records and App Check's token handling.

Contact messages: FormSubmit states that it retains form submissions for 30 days in its submission archive. A message delivered to the contact inbox is a separate copy with no automatic expiry set by this website. Its continued retention depends on the enquiry, any unresolved dispute, or an applicable legal duty. Contact the operator to request deletion or ask how long a particular message needs to be kept.

Optional Google Analytics: when Google Analytics runs, Google receives the limited page view, the wheel_spin event and the permitted publishing events described above. ChoiceSpin's Google Analytics retention settings are 2 months for event data and 14 months for user data, and new activity restarts the 14 months. ChoiceSpin does not override Google's default cookie settings, so Google's default lifetime applies: Google lists the _ga and _ga_<identifier> cookies at 2 years. By default Google renews that expiry on each visit, so the 2 years count from your most recent visit.

International processing: hosting, security, optional analytics, and email providers may process information outside Greece or the EEA. Vercel's data processing addendum includes Standard Contractual Clauses for applicable transfers. For Firebase, Google publishes its Firebase data processing terms. For Google Analytics, Google publishes the Google Ads Data Processing Terms, which list Google Analytics among the services they can cover. Google also publishes its privacy policy. FormSubmit may process contact-form messages outside the EEA, and its privacy terms do not name a transfer safeguard. If you prefer, email choicespin@gmail.com directly instead of using the form. For Vercel and Google, the documents above name the safeguards; contact the operator with any question about transfers.

You control the local wheel data directly. You can edit entries, clear results, delete saved wheels, export a wheel file, reset preferences, or clear ChoiceSpin site data in your browser.

Use Analytics choices at the bottom of this page or of most other ChoiceSpin pages to review or change your Google Analytics choice. Choosing Reject analytics stops new measurement, deletes Google Analytics cookies on this site, and is remembered for six months. Where Google's own message applies, ChoiceSpin also pauses new Google Analytics measurement while that message is open and keeps it off when Google reports denial; cookies set before such a refusal may remain until they expire or you clear site data. Withdrawal cannot recall data already sent to Google. Browser tracking protection or a content blocker can also prevent Analytics from loading. ChoiceSpin's Analytics choice does not automatically treat Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signals as Reject analytics; use Analytics choices to refuse Google Analytics.

Depending on the law that applies to you, you may also have rights to ask for access, correction, deletion, restriction, portability, or an objection to certain processing. You may withdraw consent where consent is the basis.

Send a request through the contact page. We may need enough information to understand and verify the request, but do not send passwords, identity documents, or unrelated sensitive data unless they are genuinely required.

You may complain to the Hellenic Data Protection Authority in Greece. You may also complain to the data-protection authority in the country or region where you live if that right applies.

ChoiceSpin is a general-audience wheel, not a student account platform. The current site does not ask students to create accounts.

A teacher can type student names into a local wheel and keep them on that device by using only local features. Choosing Share or Spin With Friends uploads the supported wheel content for the stated limited period. Adults should use placeholders where practical, follow school or organization policy, and never put confidential or sensitive student details in a hosted link or room.

A child who is not legally able to make privacy choices should use the service only with a responsible adult’s guidance.

Keeping wheel data local reduces the amount sent to ChoiceSpin, but it does not make the device itself private. Anyone with access to the browser profile may be able to see saved wheels or history.

• Lock shared devices and avoid saving sensitive wheels in a public browser profile.
• Keep a careful backup before clearing browser data.
• Do not send private data through the contact form or in a support email unless it is needed.
• Treat every Share or room URL as a bearer link: anyone who receives or forwards it can use it until it is disabled, deleted, or expires.
• Private links are unlisted but not end-to-end encrypted. Do not include confidential, medical, financial, or sensitive student information.
• Remember that downloaded wheel files and editable shared copies can be kept or forwarded by their recipients.

ChoiceSpin may update this page when the product, providers, or legal requirements change. A meaningful change should update the date at the top and explain the new behavior plainly.

Enabling accounts, ads that use cookies in the EEA, the UK, Switzerland and the other areas listed above, another ad network chosen by ChoiceSpin, additional analytics events, broader measurement, or materially different Share or live-room behavior requires an update to these disclosures. So does handing the European Analytics choice back to Google's own message.

Send privacy questions or rights requests to the operator, Γεωργιος Συκιωτης / GEORGIOS SYKIOTIS, at choicespin@gmail.com or use the contact page.

ChoiceSpin is run by one person in Greece and has no public postal address.