Privacy Policy

2. Hosting and Server Logs

This website is operated on an external server at Hostinger International Ltd., 61 Lordou Vironos Street, 6023 Larnaca, Cyprus. When a page is accessed, the server processes technically necessary data. This may include IP address, timestamp, address accessed, amount of data transferred, referrer, as well as browser and operating system information.

Processing is carried out on the basis of Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR. The legitimate interest lies in the secure, stable, and abuse-free operation of the website. Server logs are not used for advertising or profiling and are deleted regularly.

3. Cookies and Analysis

Retro-Modern does not use cookies itself, with two exceptions: if you log in to SID JAM, a session cookie keeps you logged in (see section 11), and the form “Report a problem” sets a technically necessary session cookie for two hours (see section 9). The website does not use Google Analytics or comparable analysis or marketing services. Preview images and media are initially delivered locally from this server. No connection to YouTube takes place before the activation of an external player.

4. YouTube Two-Click Player

The videos shown on Retro-Modern can be played directly on the website. The players are implemented as a two-click solution: during a normal page call, only locally stored preview images appear. Only when you activate the playback of a video via its preview image is a player from youtube-nocookie.com embedded.

The provider is Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland. After activation, YouTube receives technically necessary connection data, in particular your IP address as well as browser and device information. The provider may also store or read information in the browser and process data in third countries.

The embedding only takes place after your consent according to Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a GDPR and, insofar as information is stored or read on your end device, § 25 Para. 1 TDDDG. The consent applies only to the player activated by you and is not permanently stored by Retro-Modern. If you reload the page, the player remains deactivated. Transfers that have already occurred cannot be undone by this.

Further information can be found in the Google Privacy Policy.

5. External Links

A connection to YouTube, itch.io or other external services is established when you actively open a corresponding link. From that point on, the privacy policy of the respective provider applies. When simply visiting Retro-Modern, no data is transmitted to these services via such links.

6. Contacting Us

If you contact us by email or telephone, your details will be processed to handle the request. The legal basis is, depending on the content, Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. b or lit. f GDPR. The data will be deleted as soon as the request has been finally clarified and no statutory retention obligations stand in the way.

7. Downloads

Future direct downloads – such as the free game "SENDESCHLUSS" – will be provided by this server. In doing so, no additional user accounts or tracking profiles are created other than the technically necessary server logs.

8. Forum (forum.retro-modern.net)

At forum.retro-modern.net we run a forum using the open-source software Discourse. It runs on a separate server, also at Hostinger International Ltd. (address in section 2). No data is passed to the makers of Discourse.

Reading without an account: Reading only creates the technically necessary server logs described in section 2. The IP address is also used briefly to protect against overload and abuse.

With an account: When you register, we store your email address, username, optionally a name, and your password (only as a hash). In addition, we store your posts, messages, uploaded files, profile details and settings, as well as the IP address at registration and at your last login. The forum also counts which topics you have read and for how long. This determines the trust levels that, for example, unlock file attachments. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (use of the forum) and, for IP addresses, Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (protection against spam and abuse).

Signing in with Google, GitHub or Discord: Instead of an email address and password, you can also sign in with an existing Google, GitHub or Discord account. The buttons for this do not load anything from these services. Only when you click one does your browser redirect you to that provider, where you sign in and confirm the transfer. The provider learns that you are signing in to this forum and sends us an identifier of your account, your email address, your name or username and your profile picture, which the forum server downloads once. Discord also sends the list of your Discord servers. We do not use it and delete it by the following night at the latest. We store the link (provider, identifier, transferred details and an access token from the provider) with your account until you disconnect it in your profile settings or delete your account. The provider's own privacy policy applies to signing in with them. The providers are Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland; GitHub B.V., Prins Bernhardplein 200, 1097 JB Amsterdam, Netherlands; Discord Netherlands BV, Schiphol Boulevard 195, 1118 BG Schiphol, Netherlands. They may also process data in the USA. Their parent companies Google LLC, GitHub, Inc. and Discord Inc. are certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR. Signing in through a provider is optional.

Publicly visible are your username, profile picture, profile details and posts. They can be found by search engines. Your email address is not public.

Emails: Confirmations, notifications and summaries are sent through our mail provider ALL-INKL.COM – Neue Medien Münnich, Hauptstraße 68, 02742 Friedersdorf, Germany. You can choose which emails you receive in your profile.

Cookies: The forum only sets technically necessary cookies to keep you logged in and to secure forms (Section 25(2) No. 2 TDDDG). Drafts and display settings are kept in your browser's storage. There are no analytics or advertising services and no Gravatar lookups. Images and link previews in posts are fetched by the forum server itself. YouTube videos embedded in posts only load a player from YouTube once you start them (see section 4).

Deletion: As long as you have written at most one post, you can delete your account yourself in your profile settings. Otherwise, an email to kontakt@retro-modern.net is enough. We will then delete your account. Posts that others have replied to are anonymised rather than removed, so that discussions stay readable. The forum is backed up daily. Daily backups are overwritten after seven days; in addition, one backup per month is kept for one year. Copies are stored on the server of this website and at Hetzner Online GmbH, Industriestr. 25, 91710 Gunzenhausen, Germany, whose storage we use for backups.

Reports: You can report illegal content using the flag below each post or by email to kontakt@retro-modern.net.

9. Report a Problem (Support Form)

With the form Report a problem you can send us a bug, a question or a wish without an account. It runs on our own server (for the hosting provider see section 2).

What is stored: what you enter – type of report, project, subject, description and name or nickname, and if you like also version, area, system, steps to reproduce, a screenshot and your email address – plus the time. To prevent abuse we derive a check value (hash) from your IP address and the form session and use it to count reports per hour. We do not store the IP address itself, and requests to the form's interface are not logged.

What for: to handle your request, to reproduce and fix bugs and to reply if you gave an email address. None of it is published. An AI assistant helps us sort the reports and look for bugs (Claude by Anthropic PBC, 548 Market Street, San Francisco, USA). It receives the content of the report and, where needed to find a bug, the screenshot – it does not receive your email address. So please do not put anything into a report that does not belong there.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR where a product bought from us is concerned, otherwise Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (our legitimate interest in answering requests and improving our software); for preventing abuse also Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR.

Cookies: When you open the form, the server sets two technically necessary cookies – a session ID and its signature. They only make sure that a report comes from a real visit to the form, expire after two hours and cannot be read by scripts (Section 25(2) No. 2 TDDDG).

Retention: Reports including screenshots are deleted automatically 90 days after they arrive at the latest, earlier on request. Replies by email go through our mailbox as described in section 6.

10. TIEFGANG Leaderboard

The MERIDIAN game TIEFGANG can submit the result of a run to a public daily leaderboard shown on this website. This only happens when you trigger it in the game. The request is sent by the network service on your MiSTer to the server of this website (Hostinger, see section 2).

For each entry we store only the name tag you choose (up to eight characters), the points, whether the goal was reached, the playing time and the time of the entry. Name tag and result are visible to everyone, so choose a name tag that reveals nothing about you. For the leaderboard we keep no access log and store no IP addresses, cookies or other identifiers.

Entries are deleted after twelve months. On request we delete your entry earlier; an email with your name tag and the day to kontakt@retro-modern.net is enough. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (taking part in the leaderboard).

11. SID JAM

SID JAM at retro-modern.net/en/jam.html is a shared C64 jukebox: everybody hears the same tune at the same time, in the browser or on the MERIDIAN. The service runs on the server of this website at Hostinger (see section 2). No other providers are involved: music, sound and data come from this server.

Listening without an account: Your page keeps asking the server for the time, the current tune, the chat and the vote. While you have switched on, it sends along a random listener ID that your browser keeps in its local storage (localStorage). It is only used to count listeners. The server holds it in memory for 45 seconds and does not store it. Your local storage also holds your sound choice and volume. These settings never leave your browser. For /api/sidjam/ we keep no access log and store no IP addresses.

Logging in via the forum: To chat, request, vote and rate, you log in with your account from our forum (section 8). SID JAM sends you to the forum, where you confirm that SID JAM may receive a key limited to the scope session_info (Discourse User API Key). SID JAM uses it exactly once to read your forum user name and hands the key back right away. SID JAM does not receive your email address, posts or any other forum data. The server then sets a session cookie jam_sitzung containing a random token. It only applies to /api/sidjam/, cannot be read by scripts and expires after 180 days. It is technically necessary to keep you logged in (Section 25(2) No. 2 TDDDG). “Log out” deletes the session.

What is stored: your forum name and your session (deleted 180 days after last use), your star ratings for tunes (until you change them or ask us to delete them), your requests while they are on the request list, and your chat messages with their time (deleted after 30 days). Anyone disrupting the chat can be muted; for this we store the forum name until the mute is lifted. Votes on the next tune and skip votes are only held in the server's memory until the vote ends. The server records which tunes were played without any names, so that nothing repeats too soon.

Chat and forum: The SID JAM chat is connected to the chat channel “SID JAM” in our forum (section 8). Your messages are additionally published there with your forum name as posts of the forum user “system” and are stored according to the rules of the forum. The 30-day period only applies to SID JAM. In turn, messages from the forum channel appear in the SID JAM chat with the writer's name and the suffix “(Forum)”.

Visible to everybody, including on MERIDIAN devices: your forum name with your chat messages, your requests and your quiz points. Star ratings only appear added up in the hit parade.

Linking a MERIDIAN: The JAM app on the MERIDIAN gets a random device token from the server and shows a short code. When you enter it on the SID JAM page, the server links this token to your forum name. It is stored and deleted like a browser session.

The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (using SID JAM). The listener ID in local storage is necessary for listening together (Section 25(2) No. 2 TDDDG). On request we delete your sessions, star ratings and chat messages right away; an email with your forum name to kontakt@retro-modern.net is enough.

12. Support via PayPal

The MERIDIAN page has a link you can use to support the project voluntarily. It leads to PayPal (PayPal (Europe) S.à r.l. et Cie, S.C.A., 22–24 Boulevard Royal, L-2449 Luxembourg). The payment is handled by PayPal alone, and PayPal's privacy policy applies there. This website stores no payment data. Only when you pay do we learn from PayPal what belongs to the payment – usually your name, email address, the amount and a message if you write one. We keep this information for as long as statutory retention obligations require. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (handling your payment) and, for keeping it, Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR.

The link is not a call for charitable donations; there is no donation receipt. The support goes towards the running costs of the projects on this website.

13. Your Rights

Within the framework of legal requirements, you have the right to information, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, data portability and objection. Consents given can be revoked at any time with effect for the future.

Furthermore, there is a right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority. For Bavaria, this is in particular the Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision (Bayerisches Landesamt für Datenschutzaufsicht).

14. Current Version

Status of this privacy policy: October 22, 2026.