Privacy Policy

Last updated 2 August 2026

The Viewing Room is a private gallery service for photographers and other creators. This page explains what information we collect, why, and what we do with it. It's written to be read, not to be impressive.

Who this covers

There are two kinds of people using this service, and the difference matters:

Studios — photographers and creators who sign up for an account and share work with their own clients.
Clients — people a studio invites, who sign in to view and download the work shared with them.

If you're a client, your account was created by the studio you're working with. They decide what's shared with you and for how long. Questions about your photos are best directed to them; questions about the platform itself can come to us.

What we collect

Account details. Your name, email address, and a password. Passwords are stored only as a one-way hash — we can't read yours, and neither can anyone who obtains the file.
Content. Photos, video, and other files studios upload, plus album names, notes, favourites, and comments left on them.
Purchase records. If a studio sells work through the platform, we keep a record of what was bought, when, and for how much. We never receive or store card numbers — those go directly to Stripe or Square.
Technical and usage data. IP address, browser type, and pages visited, via Google Analytics. Sign-in attempts are also rate-limited, which involves briefly holding your IP address in memory.

Why we use it

To run the service: authenticating you, showing you the right galleries, delivering downloads, processing purchases, and sending the emails the service depends on (sign-in details, receipts, password resets, notifications). We also use aggregate analytics to understand how the site is used and improve it. We do not sell your information, and we do not use your photos for anything other than showing them to the people they were shared with.

Cookies and analytics

We use a cookie to keep you signed in. If you tick "remember me", that cookie lasts 90 days instead of ending when you close your browser. If you enable two-factor sign-in and choose to trust a device, we store a token to remember it. Your browser also stores small preferences locally, such as your light/dark theme choice and the contents of your cart.

We use Google Analytics to measure site traffic, which sets its own cookies and shares data with Google. You can opt out with Google's browser add-on, or by blocking analytics in your browser or an extension — the service works normally either way.

Who else sees your data

We keep this list short on purpose. Data is shared only with:

Stripe and Square — payment processing, when a studio has enabled paid galleries. Card details go straight to them and never reach us.
Google — analytics, and delivery of the service's outgoing email.
Your studio — if you're a client, the studio that invited you can see your name, email, what you've downloaded, and any favourites or comments you leave.

Studios can only ever see their own clients. One studio cannot see another's clients, galleries, or sales. We may also disclose information if legally required to.

Where your data lives

The service is self-hosted on our own hardware in Canada, not on a third-party cloud. Uploaded files stay on that hardware. The third parties listed above may process data outside Canada under their own policies.

How long we keep it

Account information is kept for as long as the account exists. Uploaded content is kept until the studio deletes it — studios can also set a folder to delete itself automatically on a date, or a set time after a client's first download. Purchase records are kept longer, as business records. Deleting a client account permanently deletes their files.

Security

Traffic is encrypted with HTTPS. Passwords are hashed. Studios' saved payment and email credentials are encrypted at rest. Two-factor sign-in is available on studio accounts, and we'd encourage using it. No system is perfectly secure, but we don't store what we don't need — most notably, card numbers.

Your rights

You can ask us for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. Under Canadian privacy law (PIPEDA) — and, if you're in the UK or EU, under the UK GDPR and GDPR — you also have the right to object to certain processing and to complain to your local data protection authority. Get in touch and we'll help.

If you're a client, note that your galleries belong to your studio, so some requests are best made to them directly. We'll point you the right way if you're not sure.

Children

This service isn't intended for children under 16, and we don't knowingly collect their information. Photographs of children may of course be uploaded by a studio as part of their work; those are handled like any other content, and the studio controls who can see them.

Changes

If we change this policy we'll update the date at the top, and we'll tell account holders directly if the change is significant.

Contact

Use the Contact Us link at the bottom of our homepage and we'll get back to you.