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Privacy Policy

Live Marine Radar & Vessel Situational Awareness

Effective Date: November 1, 2026 Last Updated: November 8, 2026 Application: com.hudsonwatch.app Official Website

1. Introduction and Core Principles

Hudson Watch ("we," "our," or "us") provides a real-time AIS vessel tracking and situational awareness service. This Privacy Policy governs your use of the Hudson Watch mobile application for Android (com.hudsonwatch.app) and associated cloud services.

We operate under strict privacy-first engineering standards:

  • Zero Background Location Tracking: We do not track your location in the background. Your physical location is never logged or stored on our servers.
  • No Sale or Brokerage of User Data: We do not sell, rent, monetize, or trade your personal information with third-party advertisers, data brokers, or marketing networks.
  • Minimal Data Retention: We only collect and store the absolute minimum data required to deliver real-time vessel crossing notifications for your custom-defined watch zones.
  • Real-Time Data Processing: We do not log, sell, or retain historical vessel movement tracks. Live vessel positions are processed in real time solely to evaluate active geofence crossings and are discarded once superseded.

2. Information We Collect and How We Use It

2.1 Foreground Location Data

  • What We Access: When you explicitly grant location permission (ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION or ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION), the app accesses your device's GPS and network location only while the application is actively displayed in the foreground.
  • How It Is Used: Foreground location is used exclusively by the local vector map engine to render your position marker (the "blue dot") and provide a one-tap shortcut to center the map on your waterfront vantage point.
  • Server Transmission: Used on-device to center the map. When filtering vessels by visible area, the current map viewport bounding box (approximate location area) is sent to our server for filtering vessel results. This bounding box is processed in real time and never stored, logged, or linked to your profile.

2.2 Account Identifiers (Authentication)

  • What We Collect: When you sign in (anonymously or via Google Sign-In), a unique Firebase Authentication User ID (UID) and, if provided, your associated email address are generated.
  • How It Is Used: This identifier authenticates your requests and associates your cloud-synced watch zones, notification rules, and preferences with your account.
  • Retention: Stored securely within our cloud infrastructure for as long as your account remains active.

2.3 Push Notification Tokens (Firebase Cloud Messaging)

  • What We Collect: An ephemeral Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) registration token generated by Google Play Services on your device.
  • How It Is Used: This token enables our secure cloud notification service to deliver instant push notifications to your device when a vessel enters one of your active watch zones.
  • Retention: Stored securely and linked to your account. Tokens are refreshed when Google Play Services rotates them and deleted when you sign out or delete your account.

2.4 User-Defined Watch Zones and Filter Preferences

  • What We Collect: Geographic boundary specifications (center latitude, longitude, and radius for circular zones; vertex coordinates for polygon zones), zone display names, vessel category filters (e.g., Cargo, Tanker, Tug, Passenger, Pleasure Craft), and notification cooldown thresholds.
  • How It Is Used: Our secure cloud infrastructure evaluates incoming live AIS vessel broadcasts against your saved zones to determine whether an alert should be triggered.
  • Retention: Retained within your account until you edit or delete the zone within the app.

3. Information We DO NOT Collect

To maintain full transparency, Hudson Watch explicitly does not collect, access, or process:

  • Background Location: We do not request or utilize ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION.
  • Personal Profile Data: We do not access your contacts, calendar, device storage files, camera, microphone, or sensor data.
  • Advertising Identifiers: We do not collect Google Advertising ID (AAID) or install third-party tracking SDKs.
  • Diagnostic & Behavioral Telemetry: We do not run third-party behavioral analytics (e.g., Amplitude, Mixpanel, Adjust) within the mobile application.

4. Third-Party Service Providers

To operate our service, Hudson Watch integrates with the following trusted infrastructure providers:

Provider Purpose Data Handled Privacy Documentation
Google Firebase (Alphabet Inc.) Authentication & Push Notifications (FCM) Firebase UID, device registration token Google Privacy Policy
Map Tile Providers (OpenStreetMap & CARTO) Vector map chart tiles Anonymous IP address for tile HTTP requests OpenStreetMap Privacy
AISStream (exactEarth / Spire / aisstream.io) Real-time vessel AIS position data None — feed is server-side only; no user data is shared with AISStream AISStream
Open Waters (openwaters.io) Aggregated community open vessel AIS telemetry None — feed is server-side only; no personal user data is shared with Open Waters Open Waters

We do not allow any third-party SDKs to scrape or harvest device data from our application.

Note: Hudson Watch aggregates live, publicly broadcast AIS vessel transponder signals from upstream providers, including AISStream and Open Waters (openwaters.io). Telemetry feeds are ingested strictly on the backend; no personal user data, accounts, tokens, or locations are shared with AIS data providers. This app is currently a personal prototype used solely for personal situational awareness and is not publicly redistributed.

5. Data Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell, rent, lease, or share your data with third parties, except in the following limited circumstances:

  1. Infrastructure Processors: With service providers (e.g., Firebase) strictly necessary to transmit push notifications and authenticate sessions, under standard enterprise terms.
  2. Legal Compliance: If required by applicable law, court order, or governmental authority, provided we are legally compelled to do so and will notify you where permitted by law.

6. Data Security and Storage

  • End-to-End Encrypted Transit (TLS 1.3): All network communication between the Android application and our cloud services is strictly encrypted using Transport Layer Security (HTTPS / TLS 1.3). Plaintext HTTP communication is prohibited.
  • Secure Cloud Infrastructure: User account records, cloud-synced zone configurations, and device tokens are protected using industry-standard encryption at rest and isolated cloud infrastructure with zero public database exposure.
  • Credential Protection: All infrastructure keys and service credentials reside exclusively within secure server environments and are never bundled into the mobile client or exposed to client devices.

7. User Rights and Data Deletion

You retain full ownership and control over your personal data:

7.1 In-App Zone Deletion

You can delete any individual watch zone or clear all configured zones directly from the Zones tab in the application at any time. Deleted zones are immediately purged from active alert evaluation and permanently deleted from our servers.

7.2 Complete Account and Data Deletion Process

You have the unconditional right to request permanent deletion of your account and all associated records through two direct mechanisms:

  • Option A — Instant In-App Deletion: Within the Hudson Watch Android app, navigate to Settings → Delete Account. Confirming deletion immediately and irreversibly deletes your Firebase Auth UID, account records, all custom watch zones, notification rules, and active FCM tokens.
  • Option B — Web / Email Deletion Request: If you uninstalled the app or do not have your device handy, visit our dedicated Data Deletion Request Page or send an email to hudsonwatch.support@gmail.com with the subject line "Account Deletion Request" specifying your account email or Firebase UID.
  • Deletion Scope: Upon request or in-app trigger, we permanently delete:
  1. Your user account record and Firebase Auth UID mapping.
    1. All associated FCM push notification tokens.
    2. All cloud-synced watch zones, custom boundaries, and filter preferences.
    3. Any stored notification event delivery logs linked to your installation.
  • Timeline: In-app deletions take effect immediately. Web and email requests are permanently executed within 30 days of verification.

8. Children's Privacy (COPPA Compliance)

Hudson Watch is intended for general audiences interested in maritime tracking and waterfront observation. The application is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal identifiable information from children under 13. If we discover that a user under 13 has provided personal data, we will immediately delete that information from our servers.

9. Maritime Safety and Primary Navigation Disclaimer

Hudson Watch is designed for situational awareness, waterfront observation, and recreational marine enthusiasm. Marine radar and AIS broadcasts can experience terrestrial VHF coverage dead zones, atmospheric propagation delays, or transponder dropouts.

HUDSON WATCH IS NOT INTENDED FOR OFFICIAL MARITIME COLLISION AVOIDANCE, SAFETY-OF-LIFE APPLICATIONS, OR PRIMARY VESSEL NAVIGATION. Always rely on official marine charts, radar, visual lookouts, and certified navigational instruments when operating a vessel.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect enhancements in app functionality, regulatory requirements, or provider policies. When updates occur, the "Last Updated" date at the top of this document will be revised. Material changes will be communicated via in-app notification or updated release notices.

11. Contact Information

For inquiries, privacy concerns, or data deletion requests regarding Hudson Watch, please reach out to:

Direct Contact & Resource Directory

For step-by-step account erasure instructions and self-service options, visit our dedicated Account & Data Deletion Page, or explore our store listing on Google Play.