Privacy Policy

Effective date: January 1, 2025 | Last updated : 2026-10-09

Busan Where? (hereinafter the "Company" or the "Service") values users’ personal data and complies with the Personal Information Protection Act and the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection. This policy explains the information the Company collects, how it is used, and matters relating to cookies and advertising partners.

Publisher / Operator Information

Publication: Busan Where?
Website: https://busan-where.com
Operated by: 더블유 (더블유웹소프트 · W-Websoft) · Representative Jeong Won-gyun
Contact: 1668-5771 · wwebsoft@wwebsoft.co.kr
Data Protection Officer: Jeong Won-gyun / wwebsoft@wwebsoft.co.kr

1. Personal Data Items Collected and Collection Methods

① Items collected at sign-up

Category	Items collected	Purpose of collection	Retention period
Required	Email address, password (stored encrypted), nickname	Member identification and authentication, service use	30 days after account deletion
Optional (Newsletter)	Email address	Newsletter & marketing	Until unsubscribe
Optional (donation request)	Contact (email or mobile number), nickname, message, amount	Contacting you with payment/transfer instructions	Contact details are destroyed without delay (at the latest within 24 hours, through our periodic purge) after the request is marked completed, cancelled or failed; requests not marked completed are destroyed 90 days after receipt (5 years under the E-Commerce Act if payment was made)
Optional	Profile photo, bio, bank name, account number and account holder (when requesting a payout)	Profile display, revenue payout processing	Immediately after the relevant feature is discontinued

② Information collected automatically while using the Service

IP address (stored after hashing) — preventing duplicate views, blocking abuse
Browser type, OS, screen resolution — service optimization
Visit date and time, usage records — statistics and analytics
Cookies and similar technologies — see Article 5 below

③ Location information (only if you allow location access)

Items collected — The coordinates (latitude and longitude) of your device. They are read only when you use “Near me”, directions, the SOS emergency room/pharmacy finder or “start from my location” in the AI course, and you have allowed location permission in your browser or the app.
Purpose — Used only to find nearby places, emergency rooms and pharmacies and to show distance, travel time and directions. We do not use these coordinates for advertising or any other purpose.
Server transmission and retention — The coordinates are used only to compute the result of that request; they are not otherwise stored in our database or linked to member information. One exception: if you are logged in and choose “start from my location” when creating an AI course, that starting point is stored with the course settings and linked to your account (only you can see it; even if you share the course, the starting point is not shown to others). You can ask us to delete a saved course and its starting point through Contact. Some features (such as nearby restaurants and the emergency room/pharmacy finder) send the coordinates in the request address (URL), so they may remain in the web server’s ordinary access log (IP, time, requested address). That log is deleted after the access-log retention period in Section 7. Some features reduce the precision (3–4 decimal places) before sending.
Stored on your device — The location you obtained is kept only in this device’s browser tab (session storage) and disappears when you close the tab or app. A starting point you chose yourself stays on this device only if you select “Remember on this device”, and you can clear it in the location picker.
Third-party provision — We do not provide your location coordinates to third parties. However, maps are displayed with the NAVER Map service, so your device requests from NAVER the information needed to draw the map (such as the map center and zoom level). When you open the map app you chose for directions (Naver Map, KakaoMap, Google Maps or Apple Maps), the destination and, if you set one, the starting-point coordinates are passed to that map app.
How to refuse or withdraw — You can turn location off on your device at any time. In a browser, set Location to “Block” in the site settings next to the address bar; in the Android app, go to Settings → Apps → Busan Where? → Permissions → Location and choose “Don’t allow”. Even without location permission, you can choose a district or starting point yourself and use most features (SOS guides you from Busan City Hall).

2. Purposes of Using Personal Data

Member identification and identity verification
Providing community post and comment features
Revenue settlement and creator payout processing
Serving ads and measuring ad performance (Google AdSense, Kakao AdFit, and Google AdMob in the Android app)
Service improvement, fraud detection, and fulfilling legal obligations
Sending notices and important announcements

3. Provision of Personal Data to Third Parties

As a rule, the Company does not provide users’ personal data to outside parties. Exceptions apply only where the user has given prior consent or where required by applicable law.

4. Outsourcing of Personal Data Processing

Contractor	Outsourced task	Retention and use period
Google LLC	Analytics, advertising services (AdSense, AdMob)	Until termination of the outsourcing contract
Kakao Corp.	Kakao AdFit advertising service	Until termination of the outsourcing contract
Server hosting provider	Server and database infrastructure operation	Contract term

5. Cookie Policy

A cookie is a small text file used in operating the website; the server sends it to the user’s browser for storage. When the user revisits, the cookie is read to retain information.

① Cookies the Company uses directly

Cookie name	Purpose	Validity period
busanwhere_session	Login session	On browser close
bw_lang	Language preference	1 year
bw_consent	Cookie consent choice	365 days
bw_sid	First-party visit analytics (essential cookie — used regardless of your choice)	180 days
bw_app	Marks use of the Android app — stored only in the app and used only to adapt app screens (hiding ads and payment prompts) (essential cookie — independent of consent choices)	365 days

② Advertising (including third-party ad and analytics cookies)

This service shows ads from Google AdSense and Kakao AdFit (web, Korean-language pages only), and Google AdMob (when you use the Android app), to all visitors. The ad companies use their own cookies and advertising identifiers to deliver ads and measure their performance, and each company collects and manages that information itself. Ads are shown regardless of your cookie choice; your choice only decides whether Google personalized ads are used.

Google AdSense — Google uses cookies (for example __gads, __gpi and IDE) and advertising identifiers to show ads, limit how often the same ad appears, prevent invalid clicks and measure ad performance. If you choose “Accept all”, ads may be personalized based on interests such as your browsing history; if you choose “Necessary only”, only non-personalized ads are requested (ads are still shown). Google advertising policies
Kakao AdFit — Kakao uses ad cookies and similar technologies to show ads and measure performance, and may show personalized ads based on information such as your use of Kakao services. Choosing “Necessary only” does not change whether Kakao ads are personalized; to turn that off, use the Kakao setting in ③ below or your browser’s cookie settings. Kakao privacy policy
Google AdMob (when you use the Android app) — In the app, Google uses your device’s advertising ID (Android Advertising ID) to show ads and measure performance. You can delete or reset the advertising ID, or turn off ad personalization, in your device settings at any time. Consent and settings for app ads are explained separately inside the app.

③ How to choose or opt out of personalized ads

In the cookie notice, “Accept all” allows Google Analytics cookies and Google personalized ads, while “Necessary only” turns both off and shows only non-personalized ads. Your choice is stored for 365 days in a cookie (bw_consent); if you delete this site’s cookies, the notice appears again and you can choose again. Ads themselves are shown whichever you choose, and the essential visit-statistics cookie (bw_sid) is used either way.

Turn off Google personalized ads or manage your interests in Google Ads Settings.
Set whether Kakao ad cookies are allowed on the Kakao personalized ads page (clearing your browser cookies may reset this setting).
Android app: in your device settings, open the ads menu (Google → Ads) to delete or reset your advertising ID or turn off ad personalization.

Users can refuse cookie storage through their browser settings (Tools → Internet Options → Privacy). However, if cookies are refused, some service features (such as staying logged in) may be limited.

You can also opt out of personalized ads at www.aboutads.info/choices or www.youronlinechoices.eu.

④ Third-party ad cookies, identifiers and retention

Provider	Cookies / identifiers	Purpose	Retention
Google AdSense	__gads, __gpi, IDE …	Serving ads, frequency capping, invalid-click prevention, measurement (interest-based personalization if you chose “Accept all”)	Up to about 13 months (set by Google; may change)
Kakao AdFit	Kakao/Daum ad cookies (names set by Kakao)	Serving ads, measurement, personalized ads	Set by Kakao’s policy (you can refuse in the ad cookie setting)
Google AdMob	Android advertising ID (not a cookie; app)	Serving app ads, measurement, personalized ads	Until you delete or reset it on your device
Busan Where?	bw_sid, bw_consent	Counts of whether an ad slot was filled (to check ad operations; not used to personalize ads). If you are logged in, it may be stored with your member number	bw_sid cookie 180 days · bw_consent cookie 365 days

6. Google Analytics

This Service collects traffic statistics through Google Analytics. Google Analytics uses cookies, and the collected data is sent to Google’s servers. Users can opt out via the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

7. Retention and Destruction of Personal Data

Collected personal data is destroyed immediately once its purpose has been fulfilled. However, where retention for a certain period is required under applicable laws, it is stored as follows.

Basis for retention	Retention period
Records on contracts or withdrawal of offers (Act on Consumer Protection in E-Commerce)	5 years
Records on payment and supply of goods (Act on Consumer Protection in E-Commerce)	5 years
Records on consumer complaints or dispute handling (Act on Consumer Protection in E-Commerce)	3 years
Service access logs (Protection of Communications Secrets Act)	3 months

8. Users’ Rights

Users (or their legal representatives) may exercise the following rights at any time:

Request to access personal data
Request for correction in case of errors
Request for deletion (except where retained to fulfill legal obligations)
Request to suspend processing

To make a request, contact the Data Protection Officer below in writing, by email, or similar means. We will inform you of the outcome within 10 days of receiving the request.

9. Data Protection Officer

To protect users’ personal data and handle complaints related to personal data, the Company designates a Data Protection Officer as follows.

Affiliation / Name	Jeong Won-gyun / Data Protection Officer (concurrently CEO)
Position	Data Protection Officer
Email	wwebsoft@wwebsoft.co.kr
General email	admin@busan-where.com
In-service inquiry	1:1 inquiry page
Website	https://busan-where.com
Response time	Response within 10 days of receipt (business days)

If you need to report or seek advice about a personal-data infringement, you can contact the agencies below.
▸ Personal Information Protection Commission: www.pipc.go.kr / Tel. (no area code) 182
▸ Privacy Infringement Report Center (KISA): privacy.kisa.or.kr / Tel. (no area code) 118
▸ Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Cyber Investigation Division: www.spo.go.kr / Tel. 1301
▸ National Police Agency Cyber Investigation Bureau: ecrm.police.go.kr / Tel. (no area code) 182

10. Notice of Policy Changes

This Privacy Policy may be revised in line with changes in laws, policies, or security technologies. In the event of a revision, we will give notice at least 7 days in advance through the website notices. For significant changes, we will also notify you by email.

This policy takes effect from 2026-10-09.