Your privacy, in plain words.

see table of contents

1. who we are
2. what this page is
3. what we collect
4. why we collect it
5. messages we send to your phone
6. how we store your email address and phone number
7. how long we keep it
8. your badge and the name on it
9. your country
10. when someone shares a card
11. cookies and tracking
12. keeping your information safe
13. who else sees your information
14. where your information is stored
15. age
16. what you can ask us to do
17. links to other sites
18. changes

who we are

Orkut, Inc., 2 Mint Plaza #1004, San Francisco, CA 94103. For anything in this policy, write to privacy@orkut.com — we strive to answer within 30 days. Through your engagement with us, you agree that your personal information will be handled as described in this privacy policy.

what this page is

You can add your name to say you want Orkut to create a new social network focused on authentic people, real connection, and genuine belonging. It isn’t a petition and it isn’t addressed to anyone but us. Adding your name doesn’t reserve you a username, an account, or a place in line.

what we collect

Your age range. Your email address. The country you pick. A name, but only if you choose to type one for your badge. A phone number — the country code and the number itself — if you choose to give one. Whether you asked us to email you news, and whether you asked us to message your phone. The language of the page you were on. The date.

Only the age range, the email address and the country are required — everything else you can leave blank and still be counted. We don’t ask for your date of birth, and we don’t ask for anything after you’ve added your name.

We also see the IP address your entry arrives from, as any website does.

why we collect it

To see who wants Orkut. We’re counting the people who sign up so we can gauge interest before we launch. The age range tells us whether you’re old enough to participate. Your email address lets us count you once and find your entry if you ask us to remove it. Your country shows us where interest is coming from. A name, if you gave one, is printed on your badge. A phone number, if you gave one, lets us check your code. We record the language of the page you signed up on, so we can always show you exactly what you agreed to.

To email you news about Orkut, if you asked us to. If you ticked the box under the email field, we may send you occasional updates about Orkut and its launch. We only do this if you ticked that box, and you can stop at any time using the unsubscribe link in any email.

To message you about Orkut, if you asked us to. If you ticked the box under the phone field, we may send you marketing messages about Orkut by SMS, WhatsApp or a similar messaging service. We only do this if you ticked that box. Opting in to messages is not required to add your name or get your code, and you can opt out at any time.

To mitigate spam. We use IP addresses to stop bulk and automated submissions, which protects both your code and the honesty of the count. That check happens as your entry arrives, and we don’t store the address with your entry. Like any web server, ours records the address in its access log, and those logs are deleted after 30 days. The only other use we make of it is counting which countries visits come from, described below under cookies and tracking.

To run our business and follow the law. We also use your information to keep our records, do our accounts and audits, meet our legal obligations, and look into fraud, abuse, or security problems. And if we ever plan or complete a business deal, such as a merger, sale, investment, or reorganization (or, if it ever came to it, a bankruptcy), we may use it to assess and complete that deal.

We rely on our business interest in running this campaign. When the law requires us to keep or use your information, for example for tax records or a court order, we do it because we have to. Sending you news by email or messages is different. We only do that if you opt in, and only until you tell us to stop. You can withdraw your consent to such communications at any time, and it’s no harder than giving it was: use the unsubscribe link in any email, or write to us.

messages we send to your phone

We use a third-party messaging provider to deliver SMS and WhatsApp messages when you opt in. To send you a message we have to give that provider your phone number and the text of the message. They may only use it to deliver our messages to you, and for nothing else. We do not give them your name, your email address or anything else about you.

Your mobile network also carries the message, in the same way it carries any text you receive. Message and data rates may apply, depending on your plan.

To stop the messages, reply STOP to any of them, or write to privacy@orkut.com. We keep a record that you asked us to stop, so that we do not message you again by mistake. That record is the only reason we keep your number after you opt out.

how we store your email address and phone number

We don’t keep your email address the way most sites do.

If you didn’t ask to hear from us, we don’t keep the address at all. We keep only a scrambled code made from it, like a fingerprint. We can’t turn it back into your address, but it lets us recognize the address if it comes up again. That code exists so we can count you once and not count the same person twice. We can’t use it to write to you.

If you did ask to hear from us, we keep the address itself, encrypted, because otherwise we’d have no way to send you anything. It stays encrypted where it’s stored, and the key that unlocks it is held separately from the data.

Either way we work the fingerprint out the same way, so if you change your mind later — in either direction — we can find your existing entry rather than creating a second one.

Your phone number works the same way. If you asked us to message you, we keep the number itself, encrypted, and only the systems that send messages can read it. If you didn’t, we keep only the fingerprint — enough to check your code and to avoid counting you twice, and not enough to message you.

This is not the same as being deidentified. A fingerprint still points at one person, so it’s still your personal data, and we still treat it that way.

Asking us to delete you from our list. Storing a fingerprint doesn’t stop us acting on a request. You give us the address, we work out the fingerprint the same way, and we remove whatever matches. That’s also how we can tell you whether you’re on the list at all.

how long we keep it

Your entry lasts as long as the campaign does. Codes expire six months after an Orkut product launches, or on 31 December 2027, whichever comes first, and we delete the entries afterwards. If you asked for news, we keep your address until you unsubscribe or ask us to remove it.

We keep your phone number for as long as we keep the rest of your signup. If you ask us to stop messaging you, we keep only what is needed to honor that request, and nothing else about the number.

your badge and the name on it

The name field is optional. If you fill it in, that name is printed on the badge you download, and it may also appear on this site — in the rolling feed of recent entries, next to your country. If you leave it blank you’re still counted, and nothing identifying you is shown anywhere.

We check names against a blocked list before they’re shown, and they have a length limit, but we can’t promise every name will read the way you intended. If a name doesn’t pass, it isn’t printed and isn’t shown on the site, and the entry isn’t added to the published count. If we can, we’ll tell you at the time so you can try again with a different name. Badges people have already downloaded can’t be recalled — once an image is out in the world it’s out, and that’s worth knowing before you type anything.

The QR code on your badge points at orkut.com and carries a short code that identifies your badge. What that’s for is explained below.

your country

You tell us your country by choosing it from a list, and that’s the only country attached to your entry: we don’t look it up from your IP address or work it out from your connection. Your browser’s language setting is a different thing, and we use that to pick which translation to show you, but it tells us nothing about where you are.

We use your country information in two places. It’s counted into the map on the home page, which shows the top countries by share of names added — totals only, never a list of people. The map doesn’t appear at all until enough countries are represented for a ranking to mean anything, and it updates in batches rather than live. And if you choose to show a name, your country appears next to it in the rolling feed of recent entries. We ask everyone, because the map is one of the main things people come back to look at.

when someone shares a card

Supporter cards carry a short code identifying the person who shared them. If you arrive here by scanning or opening someone’s card, we record that your entry came from that card.

We use this only to understand how word about Orkut spreads — how far a shared card travels and which countries it reaches. It earns nobody a reward, a better position, or anything else, and we never publish who referred whom. We keep the connection for the same period we keep your other information.

We rely on our business interest in understanding how the campaign spreads. You can object at privacy@orkut.com, and we’ll remove the connection without removing your entry.

cookies and tracking

No advertising cookies, no advertising pixels, no third-party scripts. Nothing on this site reports your visit to another company. If we ever need a cookie to keep the site working or secure, it won’t be used to advertise to you.

We do count visits, so we know whether the campaign is reaching anyone: which pages are opened, how often, which sites people follow a link from, and which country a visit comes from. That counting is done by software we run ourselves, on our own servers — it puts nothing in your browser, and what it records goes nowhere else. It isn’t tied to your entry: nothing joins a visit to the name, email address or phone number you gave us.

To tell which country a visit comes from, the software first shortens your IP address, removing the part that could point to your home or street, then looks the shortened address up in a list, kept on our own server, of which countries use which address ranges. It records the country and nothing more precise, and it never stores your full address. Records of individual visits are deleted after 30 days; after that only totals remain, such as the number of visits from each country in a week. We rely on our business interest in knowing whether the campaign reaches people.

The only thing we put in your browser is a short-lived note recording that you’ve answered the age question and that you’ve already submitted, and it’s gone when you close the tab.

We also check the language your browser reports, so we can show you the site in your own language if we have it. That check happens in your browser and isn’t recorded. You can change language at any time with the picker at the top of the page.

keeping your information safe

Addresses and phone numbers are never stored as plain text, the keys that protect them are held apart from the data itself, and access is limited to the people who need it. We can’t promise nothing will ever go wrong — nobody honestly can — but we’ve designed our systems to limit what any breach would expose.

When you tick a box, we record the date, which wording you were shown, and in which language. We do not record your IP address, the page address or your browser details with it.

who else sees your information

Nobody, for their own purposes. We don’t sell your phone number or email address and we don’t share such information with anyone to use for themselves. We do use a small number of service providers, such as companies that host our website, send our emails, and keep our systems secure. They handle your information only on our instructions and for nothing else. We may share overall numbers, like how many people signed up in each country, but never in a way that identifies you.

There are a few times we may need to share your information with others:

• When the law requires it, for example to respond to a court order or a valid request from the authorities.
• To keep people and our site safe, for example to investigate fraud, abuse, or security threats.
• To protect our rights, or the rights of others, for example if there’s a legal dispute.
• To run our business properly. This includes sharing it with our accountants, auditors, lawyers, and other advisers who help us keep good records and follow the rules.
• If our business changes hands or raises money. For example, we may share it with a potential buyer, investor, or lender while they consider a deal, or as part of a merger, sale, reorganization, or bankruptcy. If that happens, anyone who takes over your information has to respect this privacy policy.

We only share what’s needed for these purposes.

where your information is stored

In the United States. Orkut, Inc. is a US company and this is a US website: when you add your name, your information is collected and stored in the United States and handled as described here. We don’t move it anywhere else, and we don’t send it to anyone else.

age

You must be 18 or older to add your name. If you tell us you’re under 18 we store nothing about you and no code is issued. If we find out later that an entry was made by someone under 18, we delete it and cancel the code.

what you can ask us to do

Email privacy@orkut.com from the address you used and we’ll delete your entry upon request. You don’t need your code — it’s quicker if you have it, but it isn’t required. You can also ask for a copy of what we hold or to correct the information we have on file about you. We strive to answer requests within 30 days. If you asked for news, every email we send has an unsubscribe link.

Stop the messages. Reply STOP to any message from us, or email privacy@orkut.com. This is separate from email — stopping texts does not stop emails, and stopping emails does not stop texts.

Browser privacy settings. Our site doesn’t currently respond to “Do Not Track” signals, but we don’t track you to begin with.

links to other sites

Sometimes we link to other websites or use services run by other companies. Once you leave our site or use one of those services, this policy no longer applies, and we can’t control what those companies do with your information. Take a look at their privacy policies before you share anything with them.

changes

If we change this policy we’ll update the date below. If a change materially affects what we do with your information, we’ll say so on the page where you added your name, and we’ll try to give you a heads-up first by sending you an email if we have an email address on record for you.

Last updated Oct 6, 2026.