Privacy Policy

When you visit KpopScore, our servers automatically receive standard technical information from your browser, including your IP address, an approximate geographic location derived from that IP (typically city or region), the pages you visit, the referring URL, and your browser type and version. We use this information solely to operate and secure the site (for example, to rate-limit abuse and debug errors). We do not sell this information.

KpopScore uses cookies and similar technologies for two purposes:

• Essential. A small preference (for example, "kpop_theme") is stored in your browser's local storage so the site remembers your theme choice. A first-party cookie also records whether you have responded to our cookie banner, and your choice if you have. These never leave your device beyond what is described in Section 3.
• Analytics (optional, off by default). If you accept analytics on the cookie banner, Google Analytics 4 sets its standard cookies (typically _ga and _ga_*) to help us understand which pages are useful and how visitors move through the site. See Section 3 for full details.

No cookies in the Analytics category are set, and no analytics requests leave your browser, until you explicitly accept them. You can change your decision at any time using the Cookie settings link, also available in the footer of every page.

When (and only when) you accept analytics, we use Google Analytics 4 to understand site usage in aggregate. This processing relies on your consent as the legal basis under GDPR / UK GDPR. You can withdraw consent at any time by reopening the cookie banner from the footer.

What we collect via Google Analytics 4:

• Pageviews and the path of pages visited within the site
• Referrer (the URL that led you to us)
• Approximate geographic location derived from IP (typically city or region; IP itself is not stored by GA4)
• Device, operating system, and browser identifiers (type and version)
• Time on page and basic interaction events (clicks, navigation between pages)
• An anonymous client identifier stored in the _ga cookie so we can recognize repeat visits without identifying you personally

Why:

We use this data to understand which features are useful, where visitors drop off, and how to improve KpopScore. We do not currently link Google Analytics 4 data to advertising platforms, build advertising profiles from it, or use it to make automated decisions about individual visitors. If this changes, we will update this policy and surface a fresh consent prompt before turning on any new processing.

Retention:

Our Google Analytics 4 property is configured to retain user-level and event-level data for 14 months from collection. After that period, the underlying detail is deleted automatically by Google; only aggregated reporting remains.

Your rights and how to opt out:

• Decline analytics on the banner the first time you visit, or reopen the banner at any time using the Cookie settings link in the footer.
• Use a browser-level "Do Not Track" or content-blocking extension.
• Install Google's official opt-out browser add-on at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
• To exercise your rights to access, correct, or delete the limited information we hold, email contact@kpopscore.io.

Google's processing of analytics data is governed by Google's own privacy practices. See policies.google.com/privacy.

We do not require accounts, logins, or any form of registration. We do not knowingly collect names, email addresses, phone numbers, payment information, or other personally identifying information from visitors. KpopScore has no user-facing forms.

KpopScore displays statistics, scores, rankings, and images relating to musical artists. The underlying data subjects we work with include chart positions, streaming counts, video view counts, music-show wins, album sales figures, and award history. This content is derived from a combination of public and licensed sources and is processed by our scoring methodology before being shown to you. The collection of this artist-related content does not involve information about you and is unrelated to the cookies and analytics described above.

KpopScore is a statistics and analytics product not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has interacted with our site in a way that would require us to have collected their information, please contact us at contact@kpopscore.io and we will investigate and, where appropriate, delete the information.

If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or another jurisdiction with similar law, you have the following rights with respect to personal information about you:

• Access: request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Rectification: ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete personal information.
• Erasure ("right to be forgotten"): ask us to delete personal information we no longer have a lawful basis to hold.
• Restriction: ask us to pause processing while a dispute is being resolved.
• Portability: request the personal information you provided to us in a structured, machine-readable format.
• Objection: object to processing carried out on the basis of legitimate interests, or to direct marketing.
• Withdraw consent: where processing is based on consent (such as our analytics cookies), withdraw consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.
• Lodge a complaint with your local data-protection authority.

The legal basis for our processing of analytics data is your consent. The legal basis for processing the basic technical information described in Section 1 is our legitimate interest in operating and securing the site.

To exercise any of these rights, email contact@kpopscore.io. We will respond within the timeframe required by law.

If you are a California resident, you have the following rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act:

• Right to know: request the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you, the categories of sources, the purposes for collection, and the categories of third parties with whom we share it.
• Right to delete: request deletion of personal information we have collected about you, subject to legal exceptions.
• Right to correct inaccurate personal information.
• Right to opt out of the "sale" or "sharing" of personal information. We do not sell personal information for money. Some analytics activity could be considered "sharing" under California law if used for cross-context behavioral advertising; we do not currently use analytics in that way, but you can opt out either by declining analytics on the cookie banner or by clicking the "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information" link in the footer.
• Right to limit the use of sensitive personal information.
• Right to non-discrimination for exercising any of these rights.

To exercise these rights, email contact@kpopscore.io. We will verify your request using reasonable identifiers given the limited information we hold.

Server logs are retained for up to 90 days for security and operational purposes, then deleted or anonymized. Analytics data, when collected with consent, is retained for 14 months as described in Section 3. We take reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect the information we hold, but no online service is perfectly secure.

KpopScore is operated from Pennsylvania, United States. If you access the site from outside that jurisdiction, your information will be processed in Pennsylvania, United States, which may have data-protection laws different from those in your location. Where analytics data is processed by Google, transfers are governed by Google's own safeguards (including standard contractual clauses where applicable).

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be indicated by updating the "Last updated" date above. Continued use of the site after an update constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

KpopScore does not currently display third-party advertising. If we add advertising vendors (such as Google AdSense) in the future, we will update this policy beforehand to describe the cookies they may set, the categories of data they collect, the legal bases that apply, and your opt-out choices. Where consent is the legal basis (for example, in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or California), we will surface a consent prompt before any third-party advertising cookies or identifiers are set on your device.

Questions about this policy or requests to exercise your rights: contact@kpopscore.io.