Privacy
Privacy notice
What we collect, why, who can see it and how to have it deleted, in plain language.
Draft for review. This is a plain-language notice prepared ahead of launch. It will be reviewed before the network launches and is not legal advice. Last updated October 2026.
Who is responsible
UAP Finder is an open-source project. Its maintainers operate the server and database described here. You can reach them through the project repository.
The interest form
The form on Get involved stores only what you type in or choose:
| Field | Required? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Email address | Required | To contact you about the project. A repeat submission with the same address updates your entry instead of creating a new one. |
| Name | Optional | To address you by name. |
| Country | Required | To plan coverage at the largest scale. |
| State or region, city or town, postal code | Optional | To find areas that need nodes and possible stereo partners 5–40 miles apart. |
| Approximate coordinates | Optional | Only if you press “Use my approximate location”. Rounded to two decimal places (about 1 km) in your browser before sending, and rounded again by the server before storing. |
| Site type, hardware status, interests, notes | Optional | To understand what kind of help you can offer. |
| Consent | Required | A record that you agreed to this notice. |
| Hidden “website” field | — | A spam trap that people never see. Submissions that fill it in are discarded. |
We never ask for a street address, phone number or precise location. Please don't put them in the notes. The record also holds the dates it was created and last updated.
When you submit, the server sees your IP address in order to limit submissions to a few per hour from each connection; it is not part of your sign-up record. Like most websites, our hosting provider may keep standard request logs, including IP addresses, for operation and security.
Approximate location only
The "Use my approximate location" button asks your browser for your position only when you press it. The result is rounded to two decimal places on your device straight away: about 1.1 km north–south and less east–west away from the equator. The rounded value is sent only if you submit the form, and the server rounds it to two decimals again before storing it.
How it is stored and who can see it
- Entries are stored in the project's server database.
- Only project administrators holding the server's administrator credentials can list or export them, to coordinate where nodes are deployed and to contact volunteers.
- Publicly, volunteers appear only as a total count and as counts per 1° × 1° area (roughly 100 km across), and areas with fewer than 3 volunteers are left out so that individuals cannot be located.
- We do not sell your details or use them for advertising.
- We keep an entry until you ask us to delete it or the project no longer needs it. A specific retention period will be set before launch.
Updating or deleting your details
To update your entry, submit the form again with the same email address. To have it deleted, open an issue in the project repository asking a maintainer to contact you. Please don't post your email address or other personal details in the public issue. We will verify the request and delete the entry. Depending on where you live, you may also have legal rights to access, correct or delete your data, or to complain to a data-protection authority.
If you host a node
A node analyses its video on the device. It sends the server small metadata packets about unidentified moving objects (time, the node's GPS position, camera pointing and the direction to the object) and a heartbeat every 10 seconds with its health and camera geometry. Continuous video is never uploaded.
- Positions are rounded in public. The server uses your node's exact position for triangulation. The public map and API round node positions to two decimal places, about 1 km.
- Rounding is a safeguard, not a guarantee. Published sight lines combined with triangulated positions could, in principle, narrow a node's location further. This is under review before launch.
- Node labels are public. If you give your node a label, don't include your address or name.
- Clips are public. After two or more nodes confirm a match, each may be asked for a 10-second clip of its full camera frame, which is then linked from the public track record. Aim the camera so it sees only sky, and mask anything else.
- Local clips stay local. By default the node keeps short clips of its own detections on its own disk for up to 14 days and uploads them only on request.
- Online ADS-B feeds. If you use an online aircraft feed rather than a local receiver, the node shares its location with that provider to ask for nearby aircraft.
More detail: what is and isn't published.
This website
This site sets no cookies and uses no analytics, advertising, third-party scripts or web fonts. The live figures on the home page are fetched by your browser from the project's own API. The location button uses your browser's built-in location service, only when you press it.
Changes
We will update this page as the project develops, and the history of every change is visible in the project repository.