Privacy and data retention
The National Puzzlers’ League collects data from members for various purposes. We strive to be transparent about the data we collect and retain, to retain as little data as possible, and to allow members control over what data we share in
- The Enigma
- the printed directory
- the online directory
We do not sell or share any information about our members to outside parties.
Information we collect
| Kind of data | Why we collect it / what we use it for | Retention policy | Rationale |
| Old Enigma issues and annual directories | Our institutional archive | Forever | Too difficult to redact, even though they contain names, addresses, emails, and phone numbers. See note below. |
| Membership database – noms and real names, join dates and expiration dates | Critical for long-term recordkeeping and to make sure noms remain unambiguous. | Forever | This information is minimally personal and poses little privacy risk, and is necessary for the continuity of our records. |
| Membership database – Email addresses, phone numbers, physical addresses | To contact our members and send them copies of The Enigma, ballots, and other critical materials. | 18 months after membership expires | We want to make it easy to reactivate lapsed members, and balance that with not keeping data around once it is no longer useful to the organization. |
| Dietary restrictions | To ensure that all Con attendees have food they can eat. | Until one month after the relevant Con or other event | This can leak medical info or religious affiliation, and is sensitive. Once it is no longer needed, we delete it. |
| Online directory | Allows members to contact one another socially. | No independent dataset – derived from the membership database in accordance with the “opt in” preference described below | Users are in control of the exposure of their data. “Inactive” entries are not available. |
Restricting information for the directory
Members may opt in at any level of data transparency in the directory.
- Identity
- None
- Nom only
- Previous noms
- IRL name
- Physical location
- None
- Country
- State
- City
- ZIP/Postal Code
- Full street address
- Email address
- Yes/No
Bylines in The Enigma generally provide city and state. A member who has not opted in at the state/city level would have The Enigma bylines at the most granular level they have opted into, with an option for no location information at all.
Members may choose to change to a more restricted posture at any time, but that will not take retroactive effect – old directories and Enigma issues will not be redacted.
These choices do not limit what information the officers of the organization use to perform their duties. For an obvious example, someone who asks to not have their street address shared with other members will still get a mailing label that the treasurer can see.