Privacy Notice

Last updated: October 2026

Ethiopian Diaspora Connect (“we”) is an independent community website. We collect as little personal information as possible, we never sell it, and we never publish it.

What we collect, and why

• Free membership: your first name, email address, city, state/region and country, the optional interests you choose, and the consents you give (with the date). We use this only to confirm your membership and send the community emails you asked for, such as holiday reminders, nearby events and new directory listings.
• Optional interests: some interests relate to faith communities (for example “Orthodox events”). Choosing them is entirely optional, you never need to state a religion to join, and these choices are visible only to our administrators — never to the public or to other members.
• AfriSort announcements: a separate, optional consent. We send AfriSort: Lost Kingdoms game news only if you tick that box, and you can withdraw it at any time.
• Directory and event submissions: the organization or event details you submit, plus your name, role and email so we can verify them. Your contact details are never published.
• Authors and publishers: your name or pen name, email, country, biography, optional website, your book details and any cover image you upload. Your biography, website and books are published only after our review. Your email is never published unless you tick “show my email”. To protect authors from impersonation, we email a confirmation link to the registered address before any submission or change request is acted on. Uploaded covers are kept privately until approved, and are re-processed into a fresh image file for safety.
• Security data: to stop spam and abuse we store a one-way scrambled (hashed) form of your IP address with submissions and short-lived rate-limit records. A temporary security cookie protects forms and is deleted when you close your browser.

We do not use advertising trackers, analytics cookies or social-media pixels.

Email confirmation and unsubscribing

Membership uses double opt-in: you are added only after you open the confirmation link we email you. Every email includes an unsubscribe link, and you can also unsubscribe at our unsubscribe page. When you unsubscribe we delete your name, location and interests and keep only your email address, marked “unsubscribed”, so that we never email you again.

How long we keep information

• Signups that are never confirmed are deleted automatically (normally after 60 days).
• Rejected directory or event submissions are deleted after about 90 days.
• Past events are removed about a year after they end.
• Cover images from rejected or removed book listings are deleted after about 90 days; you can ask us to delete your author profile at any time.
• Confirmed membership data is kept until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete it.

Where it is stored and who can see it

Information is stored in a private database on our web host (ICDSoft), outside the public part of the website, and is reached only through password-protected administration over an encrypted (HTTPS) connection. Emails are sent through our hosting provider's mail service. We do not share your information with anyone else unless the law requires it.

Your choices and rights

You can ask to see, correct or delete your information, or withdraw any consent, at any time. Depending on where you live (for example in the EU, the UK or California) you may have additional legal rights, and you may complain to your data-protection authority.

Children

Membership is intended for adults and parents. Children under 16 should ask a parent or guardian to sign up for family resources on their behalf.

Links to other websites

Directory listings, maps, Amazon book pages and the AfriSort game are separate websites with their own privacy policies.

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