This policy explains what personal information ipaddress.co.nz (“we”) collects when you use the website, why, how long we keep it and what your rights are. It is written with the Information Privacy Principles of the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020 in mind and reflects how the software behind this site actually works; see also How it works.
Information we collect and why
IP address and request headers. To show you your IP address, network and approximate location, our server reads the IP address of the incoming connection and the headers your browser sends (such as the user agent and preferred languages). We use them only to answer your request and to protect the site from abuse.
- The application does not store your IP address. For rate limiting it keeps a keyed hash in memory that is rotated every day.
- Network, routing, location and Tor data for your address come from datasets stored on our own server. Your address is not sent to any IP intelligence service.
- To show reverse DNS and registration data, your IP address is included in a DNS query to a recursive resolver and in an RDAP request to the regional internet registry responsible for it. The site operator can switch these live lookups off for visitors’ own addresses.
Lookups you perform. IP addresses, domain names and AS numbers you enter are answered from our own datasets where possible; DNS and registration lookups are sent to the name servers and registries that hold the answer (for .nz domains, the Domain Name Commission’s WHOIS service). We do not keep a history of your lookups. Results are cached in memory for a limited time without any link to you.
Tools that contact other servers. The TLS, HTTP header, security header and redirect tools connect from our server to the public address you enter. The WebRTC leak test asks Cloudflare’s public STUN server for your address from your browser — only when you start the test — so Cloudflare sees your IP address. The latency test only sends requests to our own server. Addresses in a bulk lookup are processed in memory and not stored.
Aggregate statistics. We count page views per page and per day, with lookup values removed from the path. No IP address, cookie or identifier is stored. Counting is skipped when your browser sends Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control.
Contact form. If you write to us, we store your name, email address, subject and message so we can reply. Messages are deleted at the latest 12 months after receipt. The form may use Cloudflare Turnstile to prevent spam; in that case Cloudflare processes technical data about your browser.
Server logs. Our hosting infrastructure may keep short-lived technical access logs (including IP addresses) for security and troubleshooting.
Cookies and third-party services
We set no tracking cookies. If you switch language, a cookie remembers your choice. If the site operator enables Google Analytics or Google AdSense, these services are loaded only after you consent in the banner, and you can change your choice at any time. Google’s processing is described in Google’s privacy policy.
Storage, security and overseas disclosure
The information we keep (contact-form messages and anonymous counters) is stored on our own server and protected by access controls. Lookup values, including your IP address when you look it up, can reach DNS resolvers and internet registries that answer RDAP and WHOIS queries; some of them are outside New Zealand. They receive only what is needed to answer the query. If the site operator connects optional commercial data providers, they are listed with their status on How it works.
Your rights
Under the Privacy Act 2020 you can ask for access to the personal information we hold about you and ask us to correct it. Because we do not store visitor IP addresses or lookup histories, in most cases there is no personal information we could provide or correct; contact-form messages are the exception. Use the contact form for any privacy request.
If you are not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (privacy.org.nz). If you are in the European Union or the United Kingdom, you may also have rights under the GDPR, including the right to complain to your local data protection authority.
Changes
We will update this page when the way the site processes information changes. The date at the top shows the latest revision.