Privacy policy

An account holds only your email address and a display name.
Your location never leaves your phone, and our public pages set no cookies until you sign in.
We never sell what we hold, and no AI tool reads what you send us.
Visitor counts come from Cloudflare's cookieless Web Analytics, not from Google.
To see, fix or delete what we hold, write to [email protected].

Last updated October 30, 2026.

Why we hold so little

Using a Muslim community site can say something about a person's faith. Several states on this coast treat religious belief as sensitive information, and this community has its own reasons to care. So the site was built to keep as little as it can, for as short a time as it can.

Who runs the site

East Coast Muslim is run by Ameen Systems LLC, a South Carolina company. "East Coast Muslim" is the name it uses for this site.

Email: [email protected]. It reaches the owner's own inbox, and it is also the address for privacy questions. Put "Privacy" in the subject line.
Mail: East Coast Muslim, PO Box 2, Darlington, SC 29540

The same owner runs the Halal Community Council (HCC). The section "Who else receives it" explains what passes between the two sites.

What we collect, and how it arrives

When you browse

While you are not signed in, our public pages set no cookies and keep no record of who you are.
If you choose light or dark mode, that choice is saved in your own browser, not on our server.
Every request passes through Cloudflare and reaches our host's server, and both see your IP address, as with any website. The site's own code uses your IP address for one thing: to make a rate-limit key that stops floods of requests. That key is scrambled with a random value that changes every day and is deleted after two days, so it cannot be traced back later. East Coast Muslim's own records never store the address itself.
The one exception is the staff sign-in page. Loginizer, the program that guards it, records the IP address of each failed sign-in and each lockout there, to stop password guessing, and keeps those records for 24 hours. Members sign in by emailed link and never need that page.
Our host's web server keeps a log of every page and map request, with the IP address it came from. Because the "near me" map asks for the map square around a point (about 30 km wide), a line in that log can pair an IP address with that square. The host keeps each month's log until the end of the following month, then deletes it.
Visitor counts come from Cloudflare Web Analytics. Cloudflare adds its small counting script to our pages. It sets no cookies and stores nothing on your device, so we do not ask for consent first. "Cookies and storage in your browser" says how to opt out.

When you use the map or "near me"

A visitor's location never leaves their own phone. When you tap "near me", your phone works out which square of the map it is in, about 30 km across, and asks our server for the places in that square and the squares around it. Your phone then sorts them by distance. The site learns only which square was asked for, which is about what visiting a city page tells it. Like any request, that one passes through Cloudflare and our host as described under "When you browse".
Search accepts the name of a city, a ZIP code or a highway exit, never map coordinates. What you type into search is never sent to an outside map or address service.
The trip planner sends us only the two places you pick from our list (a city or an I-95 exit), the time you leave and your pace, never your location. The same trip gives everyone the same plan, so we keep no record of who asked.
The map itself is one file we host at maps.eastcoastmuslim.com, in Cloudflare's storage. No map company sees which parts of the map you look at.
A city you save for offline use is stored on your phone by your browser. Nothing about it reaches our server.

When you make an account

Your email address and the display name you choose. That is all.
You sign in with a link we email you. The link works once, for 15 minutes, and we store only a scrambled fingerprint of it, which is deleted 30 days after the link is used or expires. There is no password to lose.
After you sign in, your browser keeps WordPress's sign-in cookies for up to 30 days; "Cookies and storage in your browser" lists each one. Our record of that session holds no IP address and no browser details.
We do not use Gravatar or any other profile picture service, so your email address is never sent anywhere to fetch a picture.

When you post or report something

Reviews: your rating, your words and your display name. Your display name is the only thing about you that shows.
New places, corrections, events, halal reports and tips: what you sent, linked to your account, so we can ask you a question if we need to.
Addresses: when you add a place, or change the address of a listing you run, the street address you type is sent to the US Census Bureau's geocoder to put it on the map: the street, town, state and ZIP code, and nothing else about you. If the geocoder cannot find a place you add, you can drag the pin yourself, and a person at the Desk checks every pin before the place goes on the map. If it cannot find a listing's new address, you can place the pin on our map yourself. A person checks the new address before the map changes when it, or your pin, is more than 6 miles from the listing's pin.
Answers to our questions: when we ask about something you sent or a listing you run, we keep your answer as its own record for 24 months.
Quick reports such as "Wrong hours" or "Closed": the report and the day, linked to your account. Without an account you can tap only "Still here", and that tap is not linked to any account.
Photos: we re-save every photo when it arrives, which removes the hidden details cameras add, including the GPS location.
Classifieds: your ad. Replies reach you through our relay, so your email address and phone number are never published.
Replying to a classified: your message goes through our relay to the person who posted the ad, and passes through our mail records like any email we send. You need a free account to reply. The poster sees your email address only if you choose to share it, and nobody ever sees the poster's. We keep the message only in our outgoing mail queue, and its text is deleted after 14 days.
Claims: the listing you claimed, the role you gave (such as owner, manager or imam), and the checks we ran, such as whether a code reached the place's own published email address. We keep only a scrambled fingerprint of that address.
Edits to a listing you run, from the owner dashboard or the masjid desk: each change with its date and your account number, so a change can be undone.
Inviting a co-editor to a listing you run: the email address you give us for that person, so we can email them a link to accept. It passes through our mail records like any email we send.
Asking for the nonprofit price: your request, linked to your account and the listing, for a person to check.

When you buy a placement

You pay on Stripe's own checkout page. Your card details go to Stripe, not to us.
We create your customer record at Stripe with your account email and our own account number for you, nothing else.
We keep the subscription, its invoices, the rules you accepted at checkout, and the basis for any halal claim you keep on file with us. That basis is never shown on the site.

When you subscribe to the Friday edition

Your email address, the metro editions you chose, the dates you signed up, confirmed and left, and a link to your account if the sign-up is tied to one. Nothing else.
You confirm by email before anything is sent, and every edition has a one-click unsubscribe link.

When you write to us

Mail to [email protected] is delivered to the owner's inbox, which is hosted by Namecheap.

When you send a copyright notice or counter-notice

A copyright notice: your name, postal address, phone number, email address and signature, the work you believe was copied, where the copy appears on the site, and the statements the law asks for. Our terms list each one.
A counter-notice: your name, postal address, phone number and signature, the material that was removed and where it appeared, and the statements the law asks for.
If you send a counter-notice, we send a copy of it, with your name and contact details, to the person who sent the notice, as the law requires.
When we remove something because of a copyright notice, we send the person who posted it the full notice, including the name and contact details of the person who sent it.
We keep notices and counter-notices for 3 years.

Forms

The sign-in form, and the "Still here" tap, the one form you can use without an account, are checked by Cloudflare Turnstile, which confirms that a person, not a bot, is sending them. Every other form needs a signed-in account and is limited by rate.

What we use it for, and what we never do

We use what we hold to:

run your account and sign you in;
publish what you send, after the checks in our community guidelines;
send the email you asked for or need: sign-in links, questions about what you sent, a twice-yearly "Is this still right?" check if you run a listing, the Friday edition, receipts and renewal notices;
run paid placements;
act on copyright notices and counter-notices;
keep the site safe from spam and abuse.

We never:

sell or rent what we hold, or trade it for anything;
use it to build advertising profiles, or let advertisers reach you through it;
publish a member list, or record where you have been (there are no check-ins);
send what you write to an AI service;
show a masjid's private phone number, or store the name of a person found in a tax filing.

Who else receives it

These are the outside organizations that receive information from this site, and what each one gets.

Namecheap hosts our server, our database and our mail. Everything the site stores lives there, and mail from [email protected] is sent through it.
Cloudflare sits in front of the site and carries every request, so it sees your IP address and the pages you ask for. It also runs our visitor counts (Web Analytics), the Turnstile check on the sign-in form and the "Still here" tap, and the storage that holds the map file.
Stripe processes payments for placements: your card details, your email address and your billing records.
Google stores our backups in Google Drive. A backup is a full copy of the site, so it holds what the site holds. We use no other Google service: no Google Maps, Google Fonts or Google Analytics.
The US Census Bureau's geocoder receives the street address you type when you add a place or change the address of a listing you run (the street, town, state and ZIP code), to put it on the map. Our server sends it, once, so the geocoder never sees your IP address, and it receives nothing else about you.
Namecheap hosts the owner's inbox, where mail to [email protected] and the weekly review email arrive.

These programs run on our own server: WordPress; FluentSMTP, which sends our mail through our host and keeps a log of sent mail for 14 days; Loginizer, which guards the staff sign-in page and records the IP address of failed attempts there; and WPvivid, which makes the backups.

Copyright complaints are the one case where another person receives your details. "When you send a copyright notice or counter-notice" above says who receives what.

Two sites we work with:

Halal Community Council (HCC): we read which places HCC has verified. We send HCC nothing about you. If you raise a concern about an HCC Verified place, you do it on HCC's own site, under HCC's own privacy policy, and nothing about that concern is kept here.
Muslim Myrtle Beach: its listings flow one way into our Myrtle Beach guide. Muslim Myrtle Beach receives nothing from us.

Following a link to either site, such as an HCC Verified badge, "Raise a concern with HCC" or a listing's link back to Muslim Myrtle Beach, takes you to that site. It may record the click, under its own privacy policy.

Our fonts are stored on our own server, so loading a page reports nothing to a font service.

How AI is used, and where it is not

Writing

City introductions are drafted with AI and reviewed. Some other site text, including pages like this one, is drafted with AI help and reviewed by a person before it is published. Quran and hadith text only ever comes from named sources. The site has no bylines: it signs its own pages and emails, and it invents no people.

Images

Some illustrations may be made with AI. Photos on listings are uploaded by the people who run those places, or come from the place's listing on Muslim Myrtle Beach.

What you send us

No AI reads what visitors submit. The review queue is sorted by plain rules, and search reads what you type by rules, not AI. The site's code cannot call an AI service: the build fails if one is named in it, and the server blocks those addresses. The weekly review email, which can quote up to 280 characters of what you wrote so a decision can be made, goes to an inbox kept outside every AI tool we use.

Public pages

When we confirm a masjid's details, AI tools may read public web pages, such as the masjid's own website. They read only public pages, never anything you send us. Our health monitor reads only counts, such as how many items are waiting or how old the last backup is, never your words, your name or your email address. The owner's Command Center reads only a regular signal that the site is up, and those same counts. It has no access to accounts, logs or anything you send us.

Cookies and storage in your browser

Not signed in: our public pages set no cookies, so there is no cookie banner.
Not signed in, on a form: ecm_b is a random security cookie, set only on the sign-in, confirm and form pages and only for that page's address. It ends when your browser closes, holds nothing about you, and stops a form from being sent from another site.
Signed in: wordpress_logged_in_ and wordpress_sec_, each followed by a code, are WordPress's own sign-in cookies. They keep you signed in for up to 30 days.
Signed in: ecm_vary makes sure you are shown pages made for signed-in people instead of the shared copy. It holds no details about you and lasts as long as your sign-in: 30 days, or until you sign out.
Signing out removes every sign-in cookie listed here.
The staff sign-in page: opening it sets wordpress_test_cookie, which only checks that your browser accepts cookies. Your browser deletes it when it closes. Staff who sign in there also get ecm_staff_pending, which ties the code screen to the password you just entered (10 minutes, deleted once your code is accepted); ecm_staff_remember, only if you tick "Remember this browser for 30 days" (30 days, and it stops working at once if it is revoked or your password changes); WordPress's two sign-in cookies, wordpress_logged_in_ and wordpress_sec_ followed by a site code (30 days with "Remember Me", otherwise until the browser closes); ecm_vary, which keeps signed-in pages out of the shared cache (as long as the sign-in); and, after using the admin screens, wp-settings- and wp-settings-time- followed by the account number (screen preferences, one year).
Your browser's own storage holds your light or dark choice and any city you save for offline use. These stay on your device. Clearing this site's data in your browser removes them.
Cloudflare Web Analytics sets no cookies and stores nothing on your device, so there is no consent prompt for it. To opt out of being counted, use a content blocker that blocks cloudflareinsights.com. That stops the counting script, and every page works the same without it.

How long we keep it

Your account: until you delete it. It is then sealed in an encrypted archive for 90 days, where it can be restored if the deletion was a mistake, and then erased. Backups keep a copy for up to 30 days more, so it is gone from the site and its backups within 120 days. A scrambled fingerprint of your email address stays, so we never email you again, with a note that an account number existed and no details. Some records outlive the account, each on its own clock: billing records (7 years, for taxes), Stripe's own records, mail you sent to [email protected] (24 months), weekly review emails that quote you (deleted from the owner's inbox after 24 months), and the changes, photos and owner replies you made on a listing you ran, which stay with the place.
Sign-in links: each link works for 15 minutes. Our scrambled record of it, like the record of every link we email, is deleted 30 days after the link is used or expires.
Sign-in cookies: up to 30 days, or until you sign out.
Reviews: while they are published. A review the Desk removes or declines stays 7 days, so the decision can be undone, then is sealed for 90 days and erased.
New places, corrections, events, halal reports and tips: 180 days after we decide on them, then sealed for 90 days, then erased. What we published from them stays part of the place's record.
Quick reports: 90 days.
Addresses sent to the Census geocoder: its answer, a point on the map and never the address, is kept up to 90 days, so the same street is not sent twice. It is not linked to any account. The street you typed stays with your suggestion, on that suggestion's own clock, or with the listing whose address you changed.
Claims: 24 months after we decide on them.
Nonprofit price requests and answers to our questions: 24 months.
Photos: while they are on a listing. Removed photos are sealed for 90 days, then deleted.
Classifieds, deals and job posts: they come down on their end date (a deal runs at most 366 days), stay sealed in our archive for 90 days, and are then deleted.
Friday edition: until you unsubscribe. Your address is then deleted at once, and a scrambled fingerprint of it stays so we never mail you again. A sign-up that is never confirmed is deleted after 7 days.
Email we send: the message text is deleted after 14 days, and your address is removed from our mail records after 30 days. FluentSMTP's log of sent mail keeps 14 days.
Payment records: Stripe event records that carry your email address are cleared after 30 days. Subscription and invoice records: 7 years, for taxes. Stripe keeps its own records under its own policy.
The log of who changed what: 24 months. It holds account numbers and changes to public facts, never an IP address, an email address or the words you wrote. After an account is deleted, its entries point to a number that no longer belongs to anyone.
Rate-limit keys: the daily random value is deleted after two days.
Failed staff sign-ins: Loginizer keeps the IP address of each one for 24 hours.
Blocks for abuse: a scrambled fingerprint of an email address or domain, until the block is lifted or ends.
Copyright notices and counter-notices: 3 years.
Backups: 30 days.
Mail you send to [email protected]: kept in the owner's inbox for 24 months. Before an email is deleted, anything that matters about a listing, such as what was agreed or a promise made, may be copied as a short, dated note onto that listing's record. Only our staff can see these notes, no AI reads them, and they are erased with the listing.
Weekly review emails that quote what you wrote: the owner deletes them from the inbox after 24 months.
Cloudflare's visitor counts: Cloudflare keeps the full counts for 7 days, then a sample of about one visit in ten, and the counts can be viewed for six months.

What you can ask for, and how

See it. Your account page shows your email address and display name. For a copy of everything linked to your account, write to [email protected].
Fix it. Change your email address or display name on your account page.
Delete it. Use "Delete my account" on your account page. Your reviews, claims, submissions and reports go with it. If you want it erased at once instead of after 90 days, write to [email protected] and we will erase it now; backups still hold a copy for up to 30 days. Some records stay after you delete your account, each on its own clock: billing records for 7 years, for taxes; Stripe's own records, under Stripe's policy; mail you sent to [email protected], in the owner's inbox for 24 months; weekly review emails that quote you, which the owner deletes after 24 months; and the changes, photos and owner replies you made on a listing you ran, which stay with the place.
Stop email. One click in any Friday edition. It takes effect at once, and always within 2 days.
A listing about your business or masjid. Claim it to manage it, or use "Suggest a correction" on its page.

We answer privacy requests within 30 days.

Wherever you live, you have the same rights with us: to see the personal information we hold about you, to correct it, to delete it, and to get a copy you can take elsewhere. We never sell it or use it for targeted advertising, and we make no automated decisions about you that have legal effects, so there is nothing to opt out of. Ask at [email protected]. If we turn a request down, reply to say so and a person will review it again; if you still disagree, you can complain to your state's attorney general.

Children

East Coast Muslim is a guide for the general public. It is not aimed at children under 13, and you must be 13 or older to make an account. You must be 18 or older to pay for anything on the site or to post a job or a classified.

If we learn that an account belongs to a child under 13, we delete it. If you think one does, write to [email protected].

Reviews and endorsements are real

Every review on the site was written by a signed-in person on this site. We did not bring in reviews or star ratings from anywhere else.
A first review is held for a check whatever its stars, and no review is hidden for being negative.
The site invents no people: no made-up staff, testimonials or bylines.
Wherever we explain the HCC Verified badge, we say that the same owner runs HCC and East Coast Muslim. See HCC Verified, explained.

Nothing renews without telling you

Paid placements renew once a year. Before you buy, you see the price, the renewal date and how to cancel. We email you 38 days before each renewal and again about a week before. Canceling takes one click. Cancel before the charge date and you are not charged. Cancel within 7 days after a charge and we refund it in full. The details are in How placement works.

How we protect it

Every page is served over an encrypted connection.
Members sign in by emailed link. Staff accounts also need a second factor.
The archive is encrypted, and every sealed item is checked before the original is removed.
Sign-in and the "Still here" tap are checked by Turnstile, and every form is limited by rate.

Changes to this page

When this page changes, the date at the top changes too. If a change affects what we collect or who receives it, we say so on this page and explain what changed.

Questions about this page: [email protected].