Reddit has just announced that they have completely rewritten their privacy policy “from the ground up,” to be clearer and more accessible to the average user.
“For some time now, the reddit privacy policy has been a bit of legal boilerplate. While it did its job, it does not give a clear picture on how we actually approach user privacy. I’m happy to announce that this is changing. The reddit privacy policy has been rewritten from the ground-up. This new policy is a clear and direct description of how we handle your data on reddit, and the steps we take to ensure your privacy.”
The new policy will go into effect on May 15th.
The main difference (other the clarity) in reddit’s new privacy policy, as opposed to the older policy, is that this one is more specific to reddit. The previous privacy policy was overbroad, having been written by Conde Nast (who owns reddit).
“The old policy was written very broad. It was a generic one written by Conde Nast. This was written specifically to apply to reddit. The goal was to be clear and specific. Especially about data retention. Some things were added like reddit Gold and specific information about the new advertising providers,” says legal strategist Lauren Gelman, who helped write the new policy.
For one, the new policy expresses exactly what information reddit collects from its users. One new additon involves posts and comments, and how long they stay accessible (hint: forever):
The posts and comments you make on reddit are not private, even if made to a subreddit not readily accessible to the public. This means that, by default, they are not deleted from our servers– ever– and will still be accessible after your account is deleted. However, we only save the most recent version of comments and posts, so your previous edits, once overwritten, are no longer available.
Reddit clarifies that if you truly want a comment gone for good, it’s best to simply edit it.
Another involves IP addresses:
reddit stores the IP addresses associated with specific posts, comments, and private messages for 90 days after they are made or sent.
On a site like reddit, privacy is paramount. Just spend any time on there, and you’ll see what I mean. If you want to read the (incredibly readable) new privacy policy, check here.