Privacy notice

Last updated: 1 November 2026

Ratings by Sealzi (ratings.sealzi.com) is run by Sealzi. This notice lists everything the site keeps and everyone it talks to. If something is not listed here, we do not collect it.

If you only browse

You can read every title and review without an account. We set no cookie and keep nothing about your visit. A draft you start before signing in stays in your browser’s storage on that device and is never sent to us unless you sign in.

Your account

• Your email address, stored encrypted, with a one-way code so we can find your account when you ask for a link. It is used only to join, to help you back in if you lose your passkeys, and for the few account emails described below. It is never shown to anyone.
• A username, picked at random when you join (for example silver_screen_4821), and a display name if you choose one. Your reviews show your display name, or your username if you have not set one. You can change both on your profile.
• The date you created the account, and which version of the Terms you accepted and when. No IP address or browser details are recorded with it.
• There is no password.

Passkeys

• For each passkey: its public key, the identifier your device gave it, a counter used to spot a copied passkey, and a nickname if you give it one (stored encrypted). The private key never leaves your device, and we never see it.
• Whether it syncs to your other devices, how it was added (directly, or with an emailed link), when you added it and when it was last used. The last-used time is a single value, overwritten each time, not a history. We do not record which make or model of device it is.
• For each device you are signed in on: a one-way fingerprint of its sign-in token, which passkey opened it, when you signed in, when it expires (30 days later) and, for five minutes after you confirm it is you, that you did. It holds no IP address, browser details or location, and there is no log of your sign-ins.

Joining and emailed links

• When you ask to join, we hold your address, encrypted, only while the link we send is valid (72 hours). Your account is created when you open the link and create a passkey; otherwise the address is deleted when the link expires.
• If you lose your passkeys, an emailed link (valid 15 minutes) lets you add a new one. For your security, a passkey added that way cannot delete your account, remove other passkeys, change your email or moderate for its first 24 hours, and we email you when one is added.
• Links carry their code after a #, so it never reaches our server’s logs. We store only a one-way fingerprint of each link, and each works once.
• If you ask for a link for an address with no account, we send that address one email saying so. Nothing about it is kept beyond the few-minute email allowance described below.
• Other account emails: a note when someone tries to join with your address, a notice when your email address changes (sent to the old one), and a confirmation when you delete your account.

What you add

• Published reviews are public. They show your display name (or your username, if you have not set one), the date, your ratings and words, notes, extras, Parents Guide, performer ratings, the audio language you watched in, and where you watched it if you chose to say (from a fixed list, such as a cinema or a streaming service). They appear on the title’s page (a season or episode review on its series’ page too), and the first words of a review’s notes may be quoted on the home page with your name and the title. Each review carries a key that is different for every title, so your reviews cannot be linked to one another by an account number.
• Drafts are private. They are saved to your account so they follow you to your other devices, and kept in your browser as a backup until you sign out.
• Your Want to watch list and library choices (titles you saved or removed) are private. One thing shows without saying who: a film from one of our franchise collections joins the public catalog the first time anyone rates, saves or adds it to Want to watch.
• Collections you make keep their name, description, the titles in them and when each was added, and who can see them, which you choose for each one: everyone, your friends, or only you. A collection for everyone is listed on the Collections page with your display name (or your username); one for friends is shown only to people you are friends with; a private one only to you.
• Friends. When you ask someone by their username, we keep the request, who made it, and when it was made and accepted. The person you asked sees your display name and username, while you see only their username until they accept. Once they accept, you are friends and each of you can see the collections the other shares with friends. Your friends list is shown only to you. Either of you can end it at any time. If you decline a request we keep it, marked declined, so the same person can’t keep asking; they aren’t told, and it goes when either of you deletes your account.
• Titles you add become part of the public catalog, not yours: we don’t record who added them, and only moderators can remove them. Removing a title from your library deletes your own ratings of it, not the title.

Short-lived counters

To slow down abuse, the server briefly counts some actions: requests, searches and artwork per minute; email requests, link checks, passkey requests and failed sign-ins for 15 minutes, by network and, for failed sign-ins, by passkey; added titles for an hour; and unverified titles for a day. Each counter is keyed by a one-way code made with a secret that exists only in the server’s memory, never by your IP address, email address or account itself. These counters disappear when their time is up or the server restarts, and are never written to disk or logged. A successful sign-in removes its count, so successful sign-ins leave no record.

So that our forms cannot be used to flood someone’s inbox, each inbox or account can be sent five emails at once and then one every five minutes. This allowance is stored as a one-way code and a time, and deleted as soon as it runs out.

Cookies and browser storage

One cookie, sealzi_session, is set only when you sign in, to keep you signed in. It is sent only to this site and cannot be read by page scripts. There are no analytics, no advertising, no tracking cookies and no third-party scripts.

Your browser also stores, on your device only, your drafts with their sync state and your preferred view and sort order for My ratings. Signing out removes them for your account.

Who else is involved

• TMDB (themoviedb.org) supplies film and series details, cast and crew, artwork, and the public profiles of the people who make them (name, photo, a short biography and their filmography). Our server fetches them and keeps its own copies, so your browser never contacts TMDB. Following TMDB’s terms, the copies are refreshed regularly and never kept longer than six months. They hold no personal data and no record of who looked at what. When you search for a title or a person, our server sends TMDB the words you typed, without your address or account.
• Fonts, styles, scripts and images all come from ratings.sealzi.com. Nothing about how a page looks is fetched from anyone else.
• YouTube: “Watch trailer” on a film or series opens its trailer on youtube.com in a new tab. Nothing loads from YouTube until you choose to go there, and we don’t tell YouTube who you are. Once you’re on YouTube, Google’s privacy policy applies.
• Our hosting provider’s web server records requests in the ordinary way, which includes IP addresses.
• Account emails are sent by our own mail server. As with any email, its delivery log records the address each one went to.

We do not sell your information or share it with anyone, except where the law requires it.

How long we keep it

• Account information, passkeys, reviews, drafts and lists: until you delete them or your account.
• Sign-in records: until they expire or you sign out. You can sign out your other devices from your profile, and removing a passkey signs out the devices it opened.
• Pending sign-up addresses and unused links: until the link expires.
• Copies of TMDB artwork and film details: refreshed within three to five months and removed before six. Profiles of the people who make them: refreshed monthly, removed before six months.
• Database backups are kept privately on our host and replaced over time. Something you deleted can remain in an older backup until that backup is replaced.

Moderation

Moderators can remove titles, reviews, public collections and accounts that break the Terms. Removing something deletes it.

Your choices and rights

• A copy of your data: choose Download my data in the account menu. The file contains everything listed above, including each passkey’s identifier and counter and the details of each signed-in device, except passkeys’ public keys and sign-in tokens.
• Corrections: edit or delete any review or collection, end any friendship, and change your display name, username or email on your profile, at any time.
• Deletion: choose Delete account on your profile and confirm with your passkey. Your account, passkeys, reviews, drafts, lists, collections and friendships are removed straight away; one email confirms it, and then your address is gone. Titles you added stay in the catalog without any link to you.

For any other question or request, write to support@sealzi.com.

Changes

When this notice changes, the date at the top changes with it.