PencilDB
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Privacy notice

Privacy notice

Last updated 11 August 2026

This is a reference translation for convenience. The Japanese version is the only binding text; if the two differ, the Japanese prevails.

PencilDB (“this site”) is a database of writing-instrument information contributed by the people who use it. It is run by an individual. This page explains how the information collected is handled.

What is collected

When you sign up, you provide the following six items.

Nickname
The name shown on the site
Password
Stored encrypted and cannot be recovered
Full name
Not displayed
Date of birth
Not displayed
Gender
Not displayed
Country and region
Not displayed

In addition, whatever you enter yourself is stored: pens you own, pens you want, purchase prices, photos, and corrections to variants.

We ask for your email address. It is used for two things only: confirming your account at sign-up, and resetting your password if you forget it. We do not send promotions. It is never shown on the site and other members cannot see it. Phone numbers are not collected.

What it is used for

It is not used for advertising and it is not sold. Your name, date of birth, gender, place of residence and purchase prices are never passed to any outside service. To count how pages are viewed, page-view records and, while you are signed in, an identifier standing for you are sent to Google. That identifier leads to no name and no contact details. See “Transmission to third parties” below.

Who can see what

Only your nickname appears on the site. Records of variant corrections also show nothing but the nickname.

What you paid is visible only to you. Purchase prices are used solely as material for the used-price figures. A variant page shows only the low, median and high, and there is no way to tell which report is whose. Where there is only one report, no amount is shown at all — that figure would simply be what that one person paid.

The pens you own and the pens you want are public. They are listed on your page (/users/…). No amounts are shown.

Your name, date of birth, gender and place of residence are visible only to you and the operator. You can check what you have registered at any time under “Your details” on your account page.

Where it is kept

The database and files are held on servers at Railway (Railway Corp., USA), which means they are stored outside Japan. All traffic is encrypted.

Transmission to third parties

To see which pages are read most, this site uses Google Analytics 4 (Google LLC, USA). When you open the site, the following is sent from your device directly to Google.

Recipient
Google LLC (USA)
What is sent
The URL and title of the page viewed, the page you came from, browser and device type, screen size, date, time and number of visits, approximate region, a randomly assigned identifier for this device (cookie), what you searched for on the site together with the number of results, the fact that an item was added to a collection or wishlist, and the fact that a sign-up or a login happened (never which item)
While you are signed in
In addition to the above, one identifier standing for you is sent, so that the same person arriving from a computer and from a phone is not counted as two people. It is not your member ID but a string derived from it in a way that cannot be reversed, and it cannot be used to reach your page, your nickname or your email address. Nothing is sent while you are signed out.
Purpose
Counting which pages are read, in order to improve the site. Not used for advertising
What is not sent
Name, date of birth, gender, place of residence, purchase prices, nickname, email address, password
Other people's pages are not measured. Another member's collection page (/users/…) carries an identifier for that person in the URL itself. No data is sent to Google from those pages or from the admin screens (/admin).

To opt out. Disable cookies in your browser, or use Google's opt-out add-on. Opting out leaves every feature of this site working. For Google's own handling, see the Google privacy policy.

What cookies are used for

There is no advertising machinery on this site.

How long it is kept

Until you close your account. When you do, your details, holdings, purchase prices and photos are deleted. Variant details and sources already published remain in the database, but the link showing who added them is removed, so nothing traces back to you.

Deleting your data

You can delete it yourself from “Close account” on your account page. There is no need to wait for the operator.

If you would like to check, correct, or stop the use of what you have registered, please write to the address below.

Contact

Please write to the operator of this site at sato-s@ideo.co.jp.

Changes

When this notice changes, this page is updated and the date at the top is changed. If more items are to be collected, you will be told separately.

See also the terms of use.