Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

This Privacy Policy explains how fawanews.ink (“the website”, “we”, “us”) handles information when you visit the site or use the Image Metadata Viewer tool. It covers what is collected, why, how long it is kept and what choices you have.

The website is an independently operated online utility. Questions about this policy can be sent through the contact page.

By using the website you accept the practices described here. If you do not agree with them, please stop using the site.

2. Information you provide

Most of the website can be used without giving any personal information at all. You do not need an account, and the tool does not ask who you are.

Information reaches us only when you choose to send it, which in practice means the contact form. If you write to us, we receive the name, email address, subject and message you supply. That information is used to read and answer your message, and for nothing else. It is not sold, rented or used for marketing.

Where the contact form is handled by a third-party form service or plugin, that provider also receives your submission and may store it under its own privacy terms.

Please do not include passwords, identity documents, financial details or other sensitive information in a message to us.

3. Image files and metadata

When you use the Image Metadata Viewer, you select an image from your device so that its metadata can be read. This is the most sensitive category of information the site touches, so it is worth being precise about it.

Image files you select are not uploaded to this website. They are opened by your browser, read in your device’s memory, and discarded when you clear the result, load another file or leave the page. Neither the image nor the metadata extracted from it is transmitted to us, stored on a server, logged or shared.

This matters because photographs frequently contain more than they appear to. Depending on the device and settings used, an image may carry camera and lens details, capture timestamps, software history, author or copyright fields and GPS coordinates. Reading that data here does not change or remove it: it remains attached to your file, and it travels with the file if you send it to anyone else.

4. How image processing works

The tool is written in JavaScript that is delivered to your browser as part of the page. When you choose a file, the following happens on your device:

• The browser’s file interface reads the selected file into memory.
• The script inspects the file’s bytes to identify the format and locate any metadata blocks it contains, such as EXIF, IPTC, XMP or format-specific text fields.
• Recognised fields are translated into readable labels and grouped for display.
• The image itself is shown as a preview using a temporary reference that exists only within your browser session.

If you copy a value or download the results as TXT or JSON, that file is generated in your browser and saved directly by you. It does not pass through this website.

5. Browser-based processing

All metadata extraction described above happens locally, on the device you are using. The tool makes no network request carrying your image or its metadata, and it does not call any external metadata service.

You can verify this yourself: load the tool page, disconnect from the internet, and then select an image. The tool continues to work, because nothing about the process depends on a server.

One consequence worth understanding is that results depend on your browser and device. An older browser may display fewer details, and formats your browser cannot decode may not produce a preview even when their metadata can still be read.

6. Server processing

Whether a metadata tool sends your image anywhere depends entirely on how it is built, and many similar tools do upload files for server-side processing. For this reason we state our position explicitly rather than leaving it implied.

As currently implemented, the Image Metadata Viewer performs no server-side processing of your images. No image file, and no metadata extracted from an image, is sent to our hosting or to any third party as part of using the tool.

Serving the page itself is a separate matter. Loading any web page involves a request to a hosting provider, which is covered in the next section. If the tool is ever changed to include server-side processing — for a format that cannot be handled in the browser, for example — this policy will be updated before that change goes live, and the tool page will say so plainly.

7. Automatically collected technical information

Like virtually every website, fawanews.ink is delivered by a hosting provider that records standard technical information when a page is requested. This typically includes:

• IP address
• Browser type and version, and operating system
• The page requested and the time of the request
• The referring page, if any
• Basic error and performance information

This information is generated by the act of connecting to a server. It is used to deliver the site, keep it secure, diagnose faults and understand load. It is not used to build a profile of you, and it is not connected to any image you view in the tool, since images never reach the server in the first place.

Where a content delivery network or security service sits in front of the website, it processes the same kind of technical information for the same purposes, under its own privacy terms.

8. Cookies

Cookies are small files stored by your browser at a website’s request. They are used for things such as remembering preferences, keeping a session active, measuring traffic or supporting advertising.

The Image Metadata Viewer tool itself does not require cookies to function, and it does not set any cookie in order to read your images. Cookies that are present on the site come from the website platform and from any third-party services in use, such as security, caching, analytics or advertising providers.

Most browsers let you view, block or delete cookies through their settings, and offer a private browsing mode that discards them at the end of a session. Blocking cookies will not prevent the metadata tool from working. Further detail is set out in our Cookie Policy.

9. Analytics

Analytics tools tell a site owner how many people visit, which pages they use and roughly where they come from. This is aggregate information about usage, not inspection of individuals.

Where an analytics service is in use on this website, it collects the kind of technical and usage information described in section 7 and reports it in aggregate. Any such service processes that data under its own privacy policy, and any cookies it sets are covered by our Cookie Policy.

No analytics service receives your image files or the metadata read from them, because that information never leaves your browser.

10. Advertising

Where advertising is displayed on this website, it is delivered by a third-party advertising network rather than by us. Such networks commonly use cookies or similar technologies to serve ads, limit repetition and measure performance, and some use them for personalised advertising based on browsing activity across different websites.

Any advertising partner handles the information it collects under its own privacy policy, which we do not control. Most major networks provide their own controls for personalised advertising, and industry opt-out pages such as youradchoices.com and youronlinechoices.com let you manage preferences across participating networks. Browser settings can also block or delete advertising cookies.

No advertising partner receives image files or image metadata from the tool.

11. Third-party services

Running a website usually involves other companies: hosting, content delivery and security, form handling, and in some cases analytics or advertising. When your browser loads a resource from one of these providers, that provider receives the technical information described in section 7.

Each provider handles data under its own privacy policy, which we do not control. We use such services only to operate and maintain the website, and we do not share image files or image metadata with any of them, because that data stays in your browser.

One case deserves a specific mention. When an image contains GPS coordinates, the tool offers a link to view that position on an external mapping service. The link is only followed if you choose to click it, and doing so opens the mapping site with the coordinates from your image. If you would rather not share those coordinates with a third party, do not use the link.

12. Data retention

How long information is kept depends on what it is:

• Image files and their metadata: not retained at all. They exist only in your browser’s memory while you are using the tool, and are released when you clear the result or close the page.
• Contact form messages: kept for as long as needed to deal with your enquiry and any follow-up, then deleted. Where a form service stores submissions, its own retention rules also apply.
• Server logs: retained by the hosting provider for the period set out in its own policy, typically a short window for security and troubleshooting.
• Cookies: stored until they expire or you delete them, with lifetimes set by whichever service placed them.

13. Data security

The site is served over an encrypted HTTPS connection, and access to any administrative area is restricted. Keeping image processing inside your browser is itself a deliberate security measure: data that is never transmitted cannot be intercepted in transit or exposed in a server breach.

That said, no website or method of transmission over the internet can be guaranteed completely secure, and we do not claim otherwise. Information you send us through the contact form travels over the public internet, and you send it at your own discretion.

14. Children’s privacy

This website is a general-purpose utility and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13, or under the higher age of digital consent that applies in some countries.

If you believe a child has sent us personal information through the contact form, please tell us through the contact page and we will delete it.

15. International users

The website is available internationally and can be used from any country. The site and its supporting services may be hosted in, or accessed from, a country other than your own, which means the technical information described in section 7 may be processed outside your jurisdiction.

Data protection law differs from country to country. By using the site you understand that information handled as described in this policy may be processed in other countries, subject to the practices set out here.

Because image files are processed in your browser and never transmitted, no international transfer of your images takes place.

16. Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights over personal information relating to you — commonly the right to access it, correct it, have it deleted, restrict or object to its use, receive a copy of it, and withdraw consent you previously gave. Residents of the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and several other regions and US states have such rights under their local laws.

In practice, the only personal information this site holds is what you choose to send through the contact form, plus the technical logs kept by the hosting provider. If you want to know what we hold about you, or want it corrected or deleted, write to us through the contact page and we will respond as required by the law that applies to you.

You can also control cookies through your browser settings, and use browser privacy features and extensions as you see fit.

17. External links

Pages on this website may link to sites we do not operate — for example a mapping service for GPS coordinates, documentation about image formats, or a provider’s own privacy policy. Following such a link takes you somewhere governed by that site’s terms and privacy practices, not ours.

We have no control over the content or practices of external sites and accept no responsibility for them. It is worth reading the privacy policy of any site you visit that will handle your information.

18. Changes to this Privacy Policy

This policy may be updated to reflect changes to the tool, to the services the website uses, or to legal requirements. The “last updated” date at the top of the page always shows when the current version took effect.

Material changes — particularly any change to how image files are handled — will be made here before the change takes effect. Continuing to use the website after an update means you accept the revised policy, so it is worth checking this page from time to time.

19. Contact

For questions about this Privacy Policy, or to make a request about information relating to you, use the contact page and choose Privacy question as the subject.

Website: fawanews.ink
Contact: fawanews.ink/contact/

Related pages: Cookie Policy · Terms of Service · Disclaimer