Privacy Policy

1Who we are

PlateShield is operated by Automated Reality LLC ("PlateShield", "we", "us"). This policy covers plateshield.automatedrealityllc.com, the Rental Watch pages, your watch pages and the emails we send.

Questions about your data go to alerts@automatedrealityllc.com.

2What we collect

We collect as little as we can. We never ask for your driver's license, registration card, ID, home address or date of birth, and there is no account or password.

• When you start a watch: the license plate, the plate's state, the email address for alerts and a discount code if you enter one. For a Rental Watch, also the pickup and return dates.
• When you run a past check: the plate, the state and the two dates you enter.
• When you use the free lookup: the plate and state, to run the lookup. We keep only a scrambled (hashed) version of the plate, the state and how many tickets were found, not the plate itself.
• When you send the fleet form: your name, company (optional), email, phone (optional), number of plates and anything you write in the note.
• If we set up a watch for you by hand: the name you give us.
• Tickets we find: for each ticket on a watched plate, the summons number, date and time, violation, amounts and status, as shown in the city's public ticket records, plus a record of which alerts we emailed you.
• Payments, once billing is on: payment is handled by Stripe. Your card details go straight to Stripe and never reach us. We keep the Stripe customer and subscription references, the amount and whether the payment went through. PlateShield is in a free beta right now, so nothing is being charged.
• Technical information: like any website, our servers receive your IP address and browser details when you visit. We store a scrambled (hashed) version of your IP address with your watch, check or request, and use it to stop abuse, for example to limit how many lookups one address can run in an hour.
• Analytics and ad pixels, once we turn them on: see Cookies, analytics and ad pixels.

3How we use it

• To check the city's ticket records for your plate every day and email you when a ticket shows up, changes or is shown as paid.
• To send the emails that run your watch: the welcome email, ticket alerts and notices about your watch or billing.
• To run your watch page, discount codes, the Missed Ticket Guarantee and support.
• To bill you through Stripe, once paid plans are on.
• To answer fleet requests.
• To prevent abuse and keep the service working.
• To measure site visits and ads, if analytics or ad pixels are on.

We only email you about your watch, your request or your payments. If we ever send anything else, it will include a way to opt out.

4How alerts work

Once a day we look up each watched plate in the city's public ticket records. When a new ticket appears, or a ticket's amount or status changes, we email the address on the watch with the details and a link to the city's official page to pay or dispute it. New tickets usually take one to three weeks to show up in the city's records after they are written.

Every email includes a private link to your watch page, where you can see every ticket and check and stop the watch. Anyone with that link can see your watch and stop it, so keep it to yourself.

When we look up a plate, we send the city's records only the plate and state. We never send the city your email or anything else about you.

5Who we share it with

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not rent or trade it. We share it only with:

• Service providers that run PlateShield for us: our hosting and database provider, our email delivery provider, and Stripe for payments. They may use it only to provide their service to us.
• Meta and Google, only if their ad pixels or analytics are turned on, as described below.
• Authorities, when the law requires it, for example a valid subpoena or court order, or to protect someone's safety or our legal rights.
• A buyer or successor, if PlateShield is sold or merged. This policy would continue to apply to your information.

6Cookies, analytics and ad pixels

Today: our public pages set no cookies of our own. Our pages load fonts from Google Fonts, so your browser contacts Google's servers to fetch them, and Google receives your IP address and browser details when it does. The admin area uses one sign in cookie, for the site owner only.

When ads and analytics are on: we may add the Meta Pixel and Google Analytics to measure visits and how our ads perform. When they are on, they set cookies and send Meta and Google information about your visit, such as the pages you view, your device and browser, and actions like running a free lookup, sending the fleet form, starting a watch or starting checkout. We do not add your plate or email to these events. Meta and Google handle this information under their own privacy policies.

Your choices: you can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, use Google's opt out add on at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout, and manage Meta ad settings at facebook.com/adpreferences. The service works without these cookies.

7How long we keep it

• Active watches: for as long as the watch runs.
• Stopped or finished watches: we keep the watch, the tickets found and the alert history so we can answer questions, honor the guarantee and keep billing records, until you ask us to delete them or we no longer need them for those reasons.
• Fleet requests: until we have dealt with the request and deleted it, or you ask us to delete it.
• Payment records: Stripe keeps its own records of payments for as long as financial rules require.

8Seeing or deleting your data

Email alerts@automatedrealityllc.com from the address on your watch and tell us the plate. We will delete the watch, the tickets found and the alert history. We may keep a payment record when the law requires it.

You can also ask us for a copy of what we hold about you, or to correct it. Stopping a watch from your watch page ends the checks and emails right away, but does not delete the record; ask us if you want that too.

Some states give residents specific privacy rights. We honor these requests for everyone, wherever you live, and we will not treat you differently for making one.

9Security

The whole site runs over HTTPS, card details stay with Stripe, and the admin area is password protected. No system is perfectly secure. If we learn of a breach that affects your information, we will tell you as the law requires.

10Children

PlateShield is for vehicle owners, renters and businesses. It is not meant for children, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 13. If you think a child has given us information, email us and we will delete it.

11Changes to this policy

If we change this policy we will update this page and the effective date at the top. If a change is significant, we will also email people with an active watch before it takes effect.

12Contact

PlateShield, operated by Automated Reality LLC
Email: alerts@automatedrealityllc.com

See also our Terms of Service.