Privacy and data protection

What data we collect and why

• Public Square submissions: name (optional), email, and the content you submit. The email is used by the editorial team to contact you in case of doubt and, in the marketplace, to forward the interest of those who reply to the ad. The email is never published. Basis: consent, given at the time of submission.
• Comments and replies: name (optional) and comment text. All undergo prior moderation before becoming visible. Basis: consent.
• Contact with marketplace sellers: name, email, and telephone (optional) of the interested party, plus the message sent. This data is transmitted to the person who published the ad so they can respond. Basis: performance of measures requested by you.
• Advertiser requests: name of the responsible person, email, telephone, company, and campaign details. Basis: pre-contractual steps.
• Technical data: a cryptographic hash of the IP address, used exclusively to stop spam and abusive submissions. The original address is not stored. Basis: legitimate interest in service security.
• Administration account: name, email, and encrypted password of management panel users. Basis: contract performance.

Cookies and local storage

• Session cookie (omc_session): strictly necessary to keep your session active while participating or using the panel. Expires when the browser is closed.
• Browser local storage: stores your theme preference (light/dark), language, chosen radio station, player volume, and the brand of articles you have already liked, to avoid double-counting. It stays on your device and is never sent to the server.
• Upon entering the portal, we display a cookie banner and reader consent notice. The choice is saved in the browser and can be changed by clearing site data.
• Google Analytics: is only loaded after accepting the cookie consent, to measure aggregated audience and navigation statistics.
• Google AdSense: Google's advertising network and its partners may store and read cookies in your browser to serve and measure ads and to limit the repetition of the same ad. With your consent, these ads are personalized; without consent, they are generic (non-personalized), which is the default state of this portal. You can check how Google uses this data at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites and change your preferences at myadcenter.google.com.
• Advertising and statistics consent: your choice is communicated to Google via the consent mechanism (Consent Mode) and is saved in your browser. You can change it at any time by clearing site data, which will make the banner reappear.
• We do not use social media cookies or third-party tracking buttons.
• Typography: fonts are loaded from Google Fonts, which may record your browser's request. If you prefer to avoid this, you can block the fonts.googleapis.com domain — the portal remains readable.

How long we keep data

• Published submissions and comments: as long as they remain published, or until removal is requested.
• Rejected submissions: deleted within a maximum of 90 days after the decision.
• Marketplace contact messages: 12 months, to allow the resolution of any disputes between the parties.
• Advertiser requests and campaigns: during the business relationship and for the legal retention period of supporting documents.
• Anti-spam IP hash: 6 months.

Your rights

• Access: know what data we hold about you and obtain a copy.
• Rectification: correct incorrect or incomplete data.
• Erasure: request the removal of your submission, comment, or ad.
• Restriction and objection: request that we suspend certain processing.
• Portability: receive the data you provided to us in a readable format.
• Withdrawal of consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing already carried out.
• Complaint to the National Data Protection Commission (CNPD), if you believe your rights have not been respected.

How to exercise your rights

• Send an email to geral@omeuconcelho.pt with the subject "GDPR" and indicate what you want. We will respond within a maximum of 30 days.
• To request the removal of a submission or comment, provide the link (URL) of the publication — this is enough for us to identify it.
• We may ask you for an element that confirms the request comes from you, so we do not remove content at the request of third parties.

Security and subcontractors

• The portal is served over an encrypted connection (HTTPS) and passwords are stored using a secure derivation algorithm, never in plain text.
• Hosting is provided by a web hosting service provider, who acts as a subcontractor and processes data only according to our instructions.
• Public content data — news, agenda, contracts, tenders, civil protection, and weather — comes from official sources and does not constitute personal data processed by us, except when the source itself includes them.

Third-party content

• Local guide photographs may be obtained from Wikimedia Commons, with author and license information indicated next to each image.
• Links to external sites (city councils, official sources, maps) follow the privacy policies of those sites, which we do not control.

Android application «O Meu Concelho»

• Reading news, alerts, and agendas in the app does not require an account or collect personal data. The municipalities you follow and your preferences are stored only on your phone.
• Account (optional, only for participating): name, email, and encrypted password, or your Google account ID if you choose that login method; municipality and profile picture, if provided. The name and photo appear next to what you publish; the email is never shown. Basis: consent.
• Content you publish through the app: topics and ads in the Public Square, comments, likes, reports, messages to sellers, and the photos you attach. New topics are reviewed by the editorial team before becoming visible.
• Incident reports: municipality, location, description, and optional photo; name, email, and telephone only if you authorize contact from the editorial team.
• Notifications: the app uses Google's Firebase Cloud Messaging, which assigns the device a technical identifier to deliver notifications for the municipalities you chose. You can turn them off in the app or in your phone settings.
• Advertising: the app may show ads from the Google AdMob network, which is a third party and may use the device's advertising identifier. On first use, your consent is requested; you can review it in Account › Ad Privacy and reset the identifier in Android settings.
• Deleting the account: in the app, under Account › Delete my account, or at /apagar-conta.php. The profile, photo, likes, and marketplace ads are deleted; topics and comments remain without your name. Sessions end immediately.
• Security: data circulates over an encrypted connection (HTTPS) and app sessions are stored on the server only as a cryptographic hash.

Minors

• The portal is not directed at children under 16 and does not knowingly collect their data. If you become aware of a submission sent by a minor without authorization, contact us and we will remove the content.

Changes to this policy

• Any relevant change is published on this page, indicating the date of the last update at the end of the text.

Última atualização desta política: 14/11/2026.