Privacy

Steam Hardware Review is designed to publish source-labeled Steam hardware coverage and community tracker estimates without turning readers into accounts.

The site does not operate user accounts, newsletters, preorder alerts, notify-me forms, waitlists, gated downloads, affiliate attribution, or advertising profiles. Tracker submissions are built around product, model, region, and milestone dates, not personal identity.

Information we collect

Steam Hardware Review may process the following limited information:

• Public page requests and basic technical delivery data needed to operate the site.
• Aggregate analytics data when production analytics are configured.
• Tracker report fields submitted by readers: product, model / SKU, country, optional U.S. state, and milestone dates.
• Random public tracker report IDs and private update-token hashes.
• Local browser shortcuts saved by the reader's browser for their own tracker reports.
• Direct email correspondence if a reader chooses to contact us.
• Short-window hashed request signals used for tracker abuse prevention.

Information we do not collect

Steam Hardware Review does not ask tracker users for usernames, emails, order numbers, tracking numbers, street addresses, ZIP codes, screenshots, documents, account handles, payment data, or government identifiers.

Do not submit those details through the tracker or send them with tracker issues. If a message or source tip includes unnecessary personal information, we may delete, ignore, or redact it.

How we use information

Steam Hardware Review uses limited site and tracker information to:

• Publish pages and keep the site available.
• Build aggregate queue, shipment, and confidence summaries.
• Let readers reopen or update their own tracker reports.
• Prevent spam, abuse, and automated tracker flooding.
• Understand which pages and features are useful.
• Respond to direct email, corrections, source tips, and tracker issues.

Analytics, tracker reports, and local shortcuts do not control editorial placement, confidence labels, review verdicts, tracker methodology, or source labels.

Tracker reports

Tracker reports are designed around product, model, region, and milestone dates. Public tracker summaries may show aggregated report counts, queue movement, shipment timing, confidence levels, and recent public milestone context.

Submitted tracker reports use random public report IDs and private update links. The private update token is kept in the URL hash and a hashed token is stored server-side. Treat the full private update link as sensitive because anyone with that link may be able to update the report.

Steam Hardware Review cannot recover private update links because the tracker does not use accounts, emails, usernames, or Reddit handles as recovery identifiers.

Local browser storage

The My reports view may save local shortcuts in your browser storage so you can reopen your own report links later. These shortcuts can include report labels, locations, timestamps, report IDs, and private update links.

Local browser shortcuts stay on the device and browser where they were saved. You can remove them from the My reports interface or clear the site's browser storage. Clearing browser storage may remove your local shortcut to a private update link.

Analytics

Steam Hardware Review may use privacy-light aggregate analytics when the production analytics environment is configured. Analytics may record page views, referrers, device/browser category, country-level or coarse location context, and basic interaction events such as opening navigation, expanding FAQ items, clicking source cards, or using tracker surfaces.

Steam Hardware Review does not use analytics for advertising, affiliate attribution, sale tracking, personalized content, or user accounts.

Abuse prevention

Tracker API routes use rate limits to reduce spam and automated abuse. Rate limiting may use a hashed client signal derived from request headers such as IP-related forwarding headers. The hash is used for short-window throttling and is not intended to identify a reader across editorial pages.

Direct email

If you email us directly, your message is handled as correspondence for the purpose you sent it. We do not use email as a growth channel, newsletter list, tracker identifier, gated-download requirement, or advertising audience.

Service providers

Steam Hardware Review depends on service providers for hosting, database storage, analytics, static assets, DNS, security, and email delivery. Those providers may process technical data needed to provide their services.

Tracker report storage is separate from local browser shortcuts. Local shortcuts live in your browser; tracker report data lives in the site database.

Retention and deletion

Published pages, source trails, and public tracker summaries may remain available while they are useful to readers. Tracker reports may be retained to support queue and shipment estimates unless they are removed as inaccurate, abusive, unnecessary, or upon a verified removal request.

Use your private update link to correct tracker milestone dates. For removal requests, contact admin@steamhardware.io with the public report ID and enough context to identify the report without sending order numbers, tracking numbers, addresses, screenshots, or account details.

Regional privacy requests

Steam Hardware Review is a U.S.-based independent publication. We do not sell personal information, operate advertising profiles, or run user accounts. If you are in a region with privacy rights, you can contact admin@steamhardware.io to ask about access, correction, deletion, or removal of tracker data associated with a public report ID.

We may need enough information to verify the request without collecting order numbers, tracking numbers, addresses, screenshots, or account details.

Updates

For site updates, use the homepage, article index, reviews index, device hubs, tracker pages, and public article updates. Steam Hardware Review does not currently operate newsletters, preorder alerts, or user accounts.

Contact

For privacy, corrections, source tips, and tracker issues, email admin@steamhardware.io.