Privacy in plain language
FindMyPerson needs personal information to operate a dating and matching service. We aim to collect information that is reasonably necessary for the service, use it for legitimate purposes connected with FindMyPerson, protect it appropriately and avoid keeping it longer than we need it.
Your profile is designed to be seen by other eligible members according to the visibility and privacy controls available on the service. Information such as your login credentials, private contact details and payment-security information is not intended to appear publicly on your dating profile.
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Who we are
FindMyPerson is operated by Alternative Brands NZ, NZBN 9429051545697, trading through findmyperson.co.nz. References in this policy to “FindMyPerson”, “we”, “us” or “our” refer to the operator of the FindMyPerson service.
For the purposes of the Privacy Act 2020, we are responsible for the personal information we collect and hold in connection with FindMyPerson.
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Information we may collect
The information we collect depends on the features you use. It may include:
- Account information: name, email address, date of birth, login and account-security information.
- Dating profile information: display name, age, general location or region, photographs, interests, lifestyle information, relationship preferences, personality information, family circumstances and other profile answers you choose or are required to provide.
- Matching and preference information: the characteristics, locations, age ranges, interests or other preferences you use to discover people.
- Member activity: profile views, favourites, blocks, searches, matches, messages and other interactions with service features.
- Safety and moderation information: reports, complaints, evidence supplied to us, moderation decisions, account warnings, restrictions and information relevant to fraud or safety investigations.
- Optional verification information: private live photographs, private five-second videos and, where you choose age verification, a live camera image of an accepted identity document. We also record verification status, document type, review date, reviewer and decision information.
- Technical information: IP address, device and browser information, login records, security events, cookies and similar technical data.
- Payment and subscription information: purchases, subscription status, transaction references and billing-related records. Card or payment credentials may be processed by a payment provider rather than stored directly by FindMyPerson.
- Communications with us: support requests, feedback and other correspondence.
Some profile information can be particularly personal in the context of dating. Please consider carefully what you choose to publish or send to another member.
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Where information comes from
We primarily collect information directly from you when you register, complete your profile, use FindMyPerson, communicate with other members, make a purchase or contact us.
We may also receive information about you from another source where permitted by law, including another member who makes a report, a payment or identity/service provider, a person you authorise, or a publicly available source where its use is appropriate.
Where the Privacy Act requires us to notify you that we have collected personal information indirectly, we will take reasonable steps to do so unless a statutory exception applies.
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Why we collect and use information
We may use personal information where reasonably necessary to:
- create, administer, secure and support your account;
- display your profile and provide the visibility controls you select;
- provide search, discovery, matching, messaging and other dating features;
- personalise and improve the relevance of introductions and service features;
- process subscriptions, payments and account entitlements;
- respond to support requests and communicate important service information;
- detect scams, spam, fake accounts, account takeovers and other misuse;
- operate reporting, blocking, moderation and our three-report account-lock process;
- investigate suspected breaches of our Terms or Community Guidelines;
- maintain, troubleshoot, measure, improve and develop the service;
- produce aggregated or de-identified analysis where individuals are not reasonably identifiable;
- meet legal, regulatory, accounting and security obligations; and
- establish, exercise or defend legal rights where appropriate.
We do not treat joining a dating service as permission to use your information for unrelated purposes.
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Your dating profile and visibility
The purpose of a FindMyPerson profile is to help other members discover and assess potential connections. Information you place on your profile may therefore be visible to other members, subject to the privacy, matching and visibility settings available to you.
We will clearly distinguish, where practical, between information intended for your visible profile and private account information used to administer the service.
Changing a privacy setting may affect who can see your profile, photographs, activity or other information. A privacy setting cannot control information another member has already seen, copied or received from you.
Do not place information such as your home address, passwords, banking details or other highly sensitive credentials in your public profile.
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Messages and member interactions
Messages sent through FindMyPerson are delivered to the intended member and are not public profile content. However, they are not beyond the operation of the service: message and interaction information may be processed or accessed where reasonably necessary for delivery, security, abuse prevention, responding to a report, enforcing our policies or complying with law.
Other members may save, copy, screenshot or disclose information you send them. We cannot control what another person does with information after you voluntarily share it with them, although misuse of another member's private information may breach our Terms and Community Guidelines.
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Safety, reports and moderation
Safety features necessarily involve personal information. If you report another member, we may collect the report, relevant communications, supporting material and information needed to assess the concern.
Under our Terms, reports from three different member accounts can trigger an automatic precautionary lock while the reported account is reviewed. We therefore retain enough information to operate that system, identify duplicate or potentially coordinated reports, investigate misuse and record relevant moderation outcomes.
We generally will not tell a reported member the identity of the reporting member merely because a report has been made. Information may nevertheless need to be disclosed where required by law, necessary for a lawful process, or otherwise permitted under the Privacy Act.
Serious safety concerns may also involve information supplied from outside FindMyPerson. We will assess the relevance and reliability of such information and handle it in accordance with applicable privacy law.
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Optional photo, video and age verification
All FindMyPerson verification options are voluntary. You may use FindMyPerson without submitting a private live photo, private video or identity document. We encourage verification because it can help other members feel more confident that a profile is genuine, but choosing not to verify does not prevent you from completing your profile.
For optional photo verification, we may collect a private live photograph or a five-second private video so authorised FindMyPerson administrators can compare your face with your public profile photographs. These private submissions are not displayed to other members.
Optional age verification is available only after your private verification video has been approved. It requires a live camera photograph of either the front of a New Zealand driver licence or the identity page of a passport issued by any country. We use the document only to check that its photograph matches the member shown in the approved private video and that its date of birth exactly matches the date of birth recorded on the member's profile.
Saved document files, screenshots, scans and photocopies cannot be submitted through the age-verification feature. The identity-document image is accessible only to authorised administrators and is never placed on the member's profile. We do not retain the passport number or driver-licence number as part of the verification result.
Once an age-verification submission is approved, we delete the identity-document image after completing the decision. If it is rejected, we may retain the image for up to seven days for review and troubleshooting before automatic deletion. We retain a limited audit record such as the verification outcome, accepted document type, decision date, reviewer and necessary moderation notes.
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Service providers and information outside New Zealand
FindMyPerson is a New Zealand-focused service, but some technology providers we use may process or store information outside New Zealand. These may include providers of hosting infrastructure, email delivery, security, analytics, customer support or payment services.
Where information is disclosed to an overseas person or organisation and New Zealand's cross-border privacy rules apply, we will take steps required by the Privacy Act 2020 to ensure the disclosure is permitted and appropriately protected.
Using an overseas provider solely as our agent for storage or processing can be treated differently under the Privacy Act from disclosing information to an overseas organisation for its own use. We remain responsible for choosing and managing service providers appropriately.
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How we protect information
We use administrative, technical and organisational safeguards that are reasonable for the nature of the information and the risks involved. These may include access controls, encrypted connections, account-security controls, logging, backups, software maintenance and restrictions on administrative access.
No internet service can promise absolute security. If we identify a privacy breach, we will assess and respond to it in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020, including applicable notification obligations.
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How long we keep information
We keep personal information only for as long as it is required for a purpose for which it may lawfully be used. Different types of information may therefore have different retention periods.
Closing or deleting your account does not necessarily mean every record is erased immediately. We may retain limited information where reasonably necessary for purposes such as:
- completing an account closure or resolving an outstanding transaction;
- financial, tax or accounting records;
- fraud, spam and account-security prevention;
- preserving reports or evidence needed for a current safety or moderation matter;
- enforcing a suspension or preventing a terminated member from evading restrictions;
- responding to a dispute or establishing, exercising or defending legal claims; or
- meeting another legal obligation.
Information retained for these purposes will not be kept indefinitely simply because you once had an account.
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Emails and other communications
We may send service communications necessary to operate your account, such as registration messages, security alerts, account actions, payment information, moderation notices and important changes to the service.
Marketing or promotional electronic messages are treated separately. Where required, we will send them only where we have an appropriate basis to do so, identify the sender and provide a functional way to unsubscribe. Opting out of marketing does not stop essential account or service communications.
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Accessing and correcting your information
You may ask us for access to personal information we hold about you and ask us to correct information you believe is wrong. These rights are subject to the Privacy Act 2020, including any lawful grounds on which access may be withheld.
Where account tools allow you to update profile or account information directly, you can use those tools. For other requests, contact us using the privacy contact details published on FindMyPerson. We may need to verify your identity before providing access to personal information.
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Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may update this policy as FindMyPerson develops, our information practices change or legal requirements change. The current version will be published here with its updated date.
If a change materially affects how existing member information is used, we will take reasonable steps to provide appropriate notice and obtain authorisation where required by law.
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Privacy questions and complaints
If you have a privacy question, want to request access or correction, or believe your personal information has been mishandled, please contact FindMyPerson using the contact details provided on the website and identify your request as a privacy matter.
We encourage you to contact us first so we can investigate and respond. You may also have the right to make a complaint to the New Zealand Office of the Privacy Commissioner.