Privacy Policy
Last updated 22 October 2026
This policy explains what personal data we hold when you use citizenofnowhere.org and Global Metro Power Rankings (rankings.citizenofnowhere.org), why we hold it, who sees it, how long we keep it, and what you can do about it. The short version: the sites are free, carry no advertising, and we never sell your data.
Who we are and how to contact us
The controller is Ashwin Desikan, a sole trader in London, trading as Citizen of Nowhere. This policy covers both sites. For any question about your data, and for every request described below, write to [email protected].
citizenofnowhere.org itself has no sign-in, no cookies and no analytics. Like any website it is served by a host (Vercel) that keeps standard request logs, and it loads fonts from Google. Everything else below concerns the rankings site.
What we collect and why
Each activity below has one lawful basis under UK GDPR and EU GDPR. Where the basis is legitimate interests, the interest is stated, and you have the right to object (see Your rights).
| Activity | What we hold | Why | Lawful basis | How long |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Account and sign-in | Google account id, email, name and picture, from Google sign-in | To give you an account and the features that need one | Contract | Until your account is deleted |
| Follows | Which metros, teams and places you follow | To show and sync your list across devices | Contract | Until you unfollow or your account is deleted |
| Picks and leaderboard name | Your picks, confidence, and a display name | To run the Picks game and its public leaderboard | Contract | Until removed or your account is deleted |
| Feedback | Your message, the page, the category, and your Google name and email | To fix what you report and to reply to you | Contract | Until resolved, or earlier if you ask |
| Ask the index questions | The question you type, your user id and the time | Questions asked in Ask the index are stored with the account to improve the site | Legitimate interests: improving the answers | 12 months, then deleted |
| Free-view meter and session cookies | A signed view count in your browser; for signed-in readers, your user id in a cookie | To apply the free allowance and keep you signed in | Legitimate interests: running a metered site | 30 days |
| Page record for signed-in accounts | Your user id, the page path and the time | To show you your own activity and to understand what signed-in readers use | Contract, with legitimate interests for the 90-day window | 90 days, then deleted |
| Anonymous page counts | Page path and day only, with no identifier | To know what is read | Legitimate interests | Kept as aggregate counts |
| Security and rate limiting | Your IP address inside a counter key, and your user id on feedback | To prevent abuse and keep the site available | Legitimate interests: security | At most 24 hours |
| Google Analytics and Vercel Web Analytics | Usage and device data, as each provider defines it | To understand how the site is used | Consent | Held by the provider under its own schedule |
| Banter beta chat | Your messages; a hashed caller id, message sizes and timing in logs | To run the beta for invited testers | Consent of the tester | Logs follow the hosting provider’s schedule |
| Studio demo | A random per-tab id and the demo events you create; fan records are synthetic | To show the product demo working | Legitimate interests: a demo on synthetic data | 7 days |
| Datasets about public figures | Names, roles and public attributes from named public sources | To publish rankings and reference lists | Legitimate interests, with a correction route | While the list is published |
Sign-in and the free-view meter
The homepage, this page, the release log, the About page, the sign-in page and the learning games under /play (the hub, the arcade and the how-it-works page) are open to everyone. Elsewhere you get 3 free page views, counted in a cookie in your browser, and then the site asks you to sign in with Google. Google shares your name, email address and profile picture with us. We do not receive your Google password and we do not access anything else in your Google account. Signing in sets cookies so you are not asked again for 30 days.
Analytics and consent
We keep a first-party count of page views: outside /play, for every visitor, only the page path and the day are recorded, with no identifier. For a signed-in reader we also record which pages that account viewed and when, for 90 days, as set out in the table.
Two further analytics services load only after you press Accept on the banner: Google Analytics (Google LLC, measurement ID G-8BQVX0NFZZ), which sets its own cookies and processes usage and device data under Google’s Privacy Policy, and Vercel Web Analytics (Vercel Inc.). Until you accept, neither is loaded, and neither is ever loaded on /play. If you decline, nothing changes about how the site works. Your choice is stored in the con_consent cookie for 12 months, and you can withdraw consent at any time. To change it, use this button or clear the cookie: .
Cookies and browser storage
Cookies: site_session (a signed session when you are signed in), site_uid (your user id, readable by the page-count script) and site_views (the free-view meter), each for 30 days; and con_consent (your analytics choice) for 12 months. Google Analytics sets its own cookies only after you press Accept.
Browser storage: when you sign in, a Supabase session is kept in your browser’s local storage so you stay signed in. Signed-out follows and picks are kept there too, under con-following-v1 and con-picks-v1, and never reach our servers until you sign in. “Start here” keeps the topics you pick and whether you closed its home-page strip under con-start-v1, on your device only. A guided trail keeps your place (which trail, which stop) under con-trail-v1, also on your device only. Metrodle keeps your guesses, results and streak under con-metrodle-v1, on your device only. Learning-game scores and daily results stay on your device. Clearing your browser data removes all of this.
Public leaderboard names
If you play Picks while signed in, your display name on the leaderboard is your Google name, or the part of your email address before the @ if Google gives no name. It is visible to other players. To change or remove it, email [email protected] and we will update it, or delete your Picks profile.
Feedback
If you use the “Spot an error?” control in the footer, we store what you wrote, the page you were on, the category you picked, and the name and email address attached to your Google sign-in. Sending feedback requires signing in. We use it to fix the site and to reply to you. It is never published and never shown to other readers. We keep it until the report is resolved, or earlier if you ask us to delete it.
Banter beta
Banter is a beta for invited testers only, and uses your consent as a tester. The messages you type are sent to OpenRouter and the model host behind it, so that a reply can be produced. Our own logs hold a hashed caller id, message sizes and timing. Please do not type anything into Banter that you would not want a model provider to see.
People named in our datasets
Some boards list people who hold public roles: the Nowhere 100 power ranking, billionaires, heads of state and other leaders, prize laureates and chess players, and team owners. We did not collect this data from the people concerned (Article 14). It comes from public lists named on each board, such as the Forbes real-time list for billionaires, the FIDE rating list for chess, and Nobel and other prize records, and from curated public sources. It covers names, roles, and attributes such as net worth, rating, office or stake. Our basis is legitimate interests: publishing information that is already public about people in public roles. If you are named and want something corrected, or object to being listed, email [email protected] and we will review it promptly.
Who receives data
We use a small set of processors acting on our instructions: Supabase (sign-in and database, hosted in Zurich, Switzerland), Google (sign-in and, with consent, Analytics), Vercel (hosting and, with consent, Web Analytics), Cloudflare (network and caching), Upstash (rate-limit counters), and OpenRouter for Banter only. Your browser also contacts Google for fonts and your profile picture, and a Cloudflare service for map tiles, so those hosts see your IP address. Substack (our newsletter) and Spotify (our podcast) are separate controllers: we hold no subscriber or listener list, and link out to them. We do not sell or rent your data.
International transfers
Google, Vercel, Cloudflare, Upstash and OpenRouter may process data in the United States or elsewhere outside the UK. Those transfers rely on the provider’s safeguards, such as the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework where the provider is certified, or standard contractual clauses with the UK Addendum. Supabase hosts our database in Switzerland. You can ask us at [email protected] which safeguard applies to a provider.
How long we keep data
The table above gives the period for each activity. In short: follows and picks are kept until you remove them or delete your account; the per-account page record is deleted after 90 days; an account with no sign-in for 24 months is reviewed and anonymised; feedback is kept until resolved or until you ask; rate-limit keys last at most 24 hours; and anonymous page counts are kept as aggregates. Copies held in provider backups and logs age out on the provider’s own schedule.
Your rights
You can ask us for access to your data, to correct it, to erase it, to restrict its use, to move it (data portability), and you can object to processing based on legitimate interests. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time, without affecting what we did before. To make a request, email [email protected] from the Google address you sign in with, so we can find your account. We may ask one question to confirm it is you. We reply within one month. For complex or numerous requests we may extend that by up to two further months, and we will tell you why within the first month. For a copy we send you your account record, follows, picks, feedback and page record. For erasure we remove those and your account, and confirm when it is done.
Complaints
You have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk or, if you live in the EU, to your local data protection supervisory authority. We would welcome the chance to put things right first, at [email protected].
YouTube API Services
The Fan Attention Index uses YouTube API Services to read public statistics (view, subscriber and video counts) for the official YouTube channels of the teams it covers. We read only public channel data with an API key. We do not ask you to sign in with YouTube, we do not access your YouTube account or any data about you through YouTube, and the YouTube API sets no cookies through our pages.
By using the parts of the site that show YouTube data, you agree to be bound by the YouTube Terms of Service. Google’s handling of data is described in the Google Privacy Policy.
We store YouTube statistics for at most 30 days and delete older data automatically, unless YouTube has approved longer storage for our use. We store no YouTube video titles, descriptions or comments beyond 30 days. Figures we calculate from YouTube statistics are labelled as our own calculation and attributed to YouTube. Because we hold no YouTube data about you, there is nothing to revoke, but you can always manage third-party access to your Google account at myaccount.google.com/connections. Questions go to [email protected].
Automated decisions and advertising
We make no automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you. We do not sell data and we do not show advertising.
Whether you have to give us data
You can read the open pages without giving us anything. Beyond the free views you need to sign in, and sending feedback and saving picks also require sign-in. Nothing else is required.
Children
The sites are not aimed at children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect their personal data. The learning games under /play need no sign-in, load no analytics and show no consent banner, and our own page count does not run there, so we record nothing about a visit beyond the host’s standard request logs. The one sign-in on /play is for Picks. If a child under 16 has signed in there, tell us at [email protected] and we will delete the account.
Changes
If this policy changes, we will update the date above and, for a material change, say so on the site.