FavAuthor

Privacy policy

As of: 17.10.2026

This policy explains which personal data FavAuthor processes when you use the website. Information for authors whose pages we publish is available at Information for authors.

1. Controller

Buuk Publishing GmbH & Co. KG
Hortensienstraße 26, 40474 Düsseldorf, Germany
Email: info@buchbuddy.de
Phone: 0211 53804066

Please send data protection questions to this address.

2. Without an account

Visiting the website

When you visit, our hosting provider Vercel processes technically necessary data (IP address, time, page requested, browser) in server logs to deliver the site and protect it against abuse (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). We do not use analytics or advertising cookies or any tracking.

Picking authors as a guest

If you pick authors without an account, we store your selection only in your browser (localStorage). It leaves your device only when you request suggestions (we then send the chosen authors to our server without any reference to you) or create an account.

Search

We store search terms without reference to you to identify missing authors. They are deleted after 90 days.

Photos from Wikimedia Commons

Your browser loads photos of authors directly from Wikimedia Commons (Wikimedia Foundation, USA), which receives your IP address. Their privacy policy applies.

Reports

If you report a reader comment or an error, we store your message and, if you are not signed in, your email address to process the report and inform you of our decision (Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR in conjunction with Art. 16 DSA, Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

3. With an account

Sign-in

An account requires your email address. Instead of a password we send you a six-digit code. We store your email address, a random profile name, your language, your settings and sign-in times (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). To keep you signed in we set strictly necessary cookies (Section 25(2) no. 2 TDDDG).

Likes, saved list, suggestions

We store which authors you like, save or dismiss, and which suggestions we showed you, and use this to calculate your suggestions (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). Aggregated and without reference to you, all readers’ likes feed into the similarity between authors (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). We delete the log of shown, liked and dismissed suggestions after 13 months.

Goodreads import

Your browser reads your Goodreads file. Only title, author, ISBN, rating, shelf and date read are transferred to us, no reviews or notes. We do not store the file itself. Matched rows are deleted after 30 days; unmatched rows are kept until we can match the author or you delete your account.

FavAuthor and reader comment

You can choose a FavAuthor and explain why. After a review, the comment appears on the author’s page without your name. For the automatic pre-check we send only the comment and the author’s name to Anthropic (Claude), never your email address or account data (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR: protection against illegal content). A human reviews all unclear cases. Only confirmed accounts older than one week count towards FavAuthor numbers (protection against manipulation).

Public reading profile

Only if you switch it on, a public page shows your profile name, your FavAuthor and the authors you like (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR). You can switch it off at any time.

Emails

We send sign-in codes, notices about reports and moderation decisions and, only if you explicitly subscribe, a weekly digest with new suggestions (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR). You can unsubscribe from the digest with one click in every email. We use Postmark for sending; bounces and spam complaints stop further digest emails.

Export and deletion

In your account you can download all your data as a file and delete your account immediately. This deletes all data related to your account, including FavAuthor, reader comments and reports about your comments. Reports you submitted yourself are kept without reference to you.

4. Service providers

We use processors under contracts pursuant to Art. 28 GDPR. Where data is transferred to the USA, we rely on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework if the provider is certified, otherwise on the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses.

  • Supabase Inc., USA: database and sign-in, servers in Frankfurt am Main
  • Vercel Inc., USA: website hosting, delivered from data centres in the EU
  • Postmark (ActiveCampaign, LLC), USA: sending emails
  • Anthropic: pre-check of reader comments and suggestions from catalogue data
  • Functional Software, Inc. (Sentry), USA: error reports, without user data or cookies

5. Retention

We keep account data until you delete your account. Shorter periods apply to some data: search terms 90 days, suggestion log 13 months, matched import rows 30 days, sent emails in the outbox 90 days, reports and moderation decisions 12 months after the decision.

6. Your rights

You have the right of access (Art. 15), rectification (Art. 16), erasure (Art. 17), restriction (Art. 18), data portability (Art. 20) and to object (Art. 21 GDPR). You can withdraw consent at any time with effect for the future. You may lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, for example the data protection authority of North Rhine-Westphalia (LDI NRW).

7. Minimum age

FavAuthor is intended for people aged 16 and over.