Privacy Policy

RoommateAds.com ("RoommateAds," "we," "us," or "our") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, share, store, and delete information when you visit our website at roommateads.com (the "Site"). By using the Site, you consent to the practices described here.

If you have additional questions, contact us at webmaster@roommateads.com.

1. Information We Collect

1.1 Information You Provide

When you create an account, post a listing, contact a poster, or submit an ID verification, you may provide:

• Display name and (during ID verification only) legal first name, legal last name, and date of birth
• Email address
• Phone number (optional)
• Listing details including location, rent amount, photos, descriptions, and roommate preferences
• Bio and profile information
• Messages sent through the Site
• ID verification submissions (handled separately — see Section 4)

1.2 Information Collected Automatically (Log Files)

Like nearly every website, RoommateAds uses standard web server log files. These logs may include your IP address, browser type, Internet Service Provider, referring/exit pages, the date and time of your visit, the pages you viewed, and approximate geographic location derived from your IP. This information is used to analyze trends, administer the Site, prevent abuse, and gather aggregate demographic information. It is not linked to any personally identifiable information unless required for fraud prevention or legal compliance.

1.3 Cookies and Web Beacons

We use cookies and similar technologies to keep you signed in, remember preferences, and protect against fraud. See our Cookie Policy for details.

1.4 Google DoubleClick DART Cookie & Advertising

If RoommateAds displays third-party advertising, Google may use cookies (including the DoubleClick DART cookie) to serve ads based on your visits to this Site and other sites on the Internet. You may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google's Ads Settings. Third-party ad servers may use cookies, JavaScript, or web beacons in advertisements that appear on RoommateAds. RoommateAds has no access to or control over cookies set by third-party advertisers.

2. How We Use Your Information

• Operate, maintain, and improve the Site
• Display your listings to other users
• Facilitate communication between users
• Verify identities of users who choose to participate in ID verification
• Send service-related notifications (e.g., new messages, listing expirations)
• Detect and prevent fraud, abuse, spam, and security incidents
• Comply with legal obligations

We do not sell your personal information to third parties.

3. How We Share Your Information

• Public listings: Information you include in a listing is publicly visible to all visitors.
• Messages: When you message a poster, your display name and email are shared with the recipient so they can reply.
• Service providers: We may share information with vendors who help us operate the Site (email delivery, hosting, fraud prevention).
• Legal compliance: We may disclose information if required by law, court order, subpoena, or governmental request.
• Safety: We may share information to protect the rights, property, or safety of RoommateAds, our users, or the public.

4. ID Verification Data — Special Handling

RoommateAds offers an optional identity verification feature to help users earn a "Verified" badge on their profile. This section governs how we handle the data submitted through that feature, which is treated more strictly than other data on the Site.

4.1 What we collect during verification

• An image of your government-issued photo ID (driver's license, state ID, or passport)
• A live selfie captured through your device's camera
• Your legal first name, last name, and date of birth (as you enter them in the form)
• Match scores generated automatically by our verification software
• The IP address and browser used during the submission, for fraud prevention

4.2 How verification works

The verification check runs in your browser using free, open-source libraries (face-api.js and Tesseract.js). Your ID image is OCR'd to extract text, and a mathematical face descriptor is computed from both the ID photo and the selfie to compare them. The images, descriptors, and OCR text are then sent to our server, which records the decision.

4.3 Retention — we do not keep your ID

RoommateAds does not retain ID images or selfies after the verification is complete.

• Automatic decisions (the typical path): If our software is confident, the verification is auto-approved within seconds and your ID image, selfie, and OCR'd text are deleted from our server immediately.
• Borderline cases requiring human review: If the automated check is inconclusive, your ID image and selfie are temporarily retained so a staff member can review. As soon as the staff member makes a decision, the images and OCR text are deleted.
• Failed automatic decisions: If the automated check fails outright, the images and OCR text are deleted immediately and you are invited to try again.

What we retain is a record of the verification outcome: the timestamp, the match scores, whether your name and date of birth matched the ID, the legal name and date of birth you entered yourself, and the final decision. You may request deletion of this record by contacting us.

4.4 Biometric data notice (Illinois BIPA and similar laws)

The mathematical face descriptors used to compare your ID photo to your selfie may qualify as biometric identifiers under laws such as the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act. RoommateAds:

• obtains your written consent (the consent checkbox on the verification page) before generating these descriptors;
• uses the descriptors only for the purpose of comparing your ID photo to your selfie;
• does not sell, lease, or otherwise profit from this data;
• discards the descriptors at the same time the underlying images are discarded.

4.5 Verification is optional

You are not required to complete ID verification to use RoommateAds. It is offered solely as a way for users to demonstrate trust to other members of the community.

5. Data Retention

We retain account information for as long as your account is active. Listings are retained for the listing's active period plus a reasonable period afterward. Messages are retained as long as both senders and recipients have active accounts. ID verification records (without the underlying images) are retained as described in Section 4.3.

You may request deletion of your account at any time by emailing webmaster@roommateads.com.

6. Data Security

We implement reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your information, including encrypted password storage, HTTPS encryption in transit, restricted access to sensitive data such as verification submissions, and prompt deletion of ID images upon verification completion. However, no method of transmission or storage is 100% secure.

7. Your Privacy Rights

• Access the personal data we hold about you
• Request correction of inaccurate data
• Request deletion of your data
• Object to or restrict certain processing
• Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent
• Data portability
• Lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority

If you are a resident of the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, additional rights apply — see our GDPR Privacy Notice. To exercise rights, contact webmaster@roommateads.com.

8. Children's Privacy

The Site is restricted to adults age 18 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a person under 18 has provided information to RoommateAds, please contact us immediately and we will take steps to remove it and terminate the account.

9. Third-Party Links and Services

The Site may contain links to third-party websites. This Privacy Policy does not apply to those sites. Please review the privacy policies of any sites you visit through links from RoommateAds.

10. International Users

RoommateAds is operated from the United States. If you access the Site from outside the U.S., your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be highlighted by updating the "Last updated" date.

12. Contact

RoommateAds.com
Email: webmaster@roommateads.com

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