Privacy at turl.ca

What a short link stores

A turl.ca link is the destination URL you submit plus metadata — the short code, its trust tier, creation and expiry timestamps, and an aggregate click count. Citation mode can additionally store the evidence described below; ordinary redirect links do not copy destination page contents.

Destination screening (third-party services)

To keep the shared turl.ca domain off blocklists and protect people who click, turl.ca submits each destination URL — and any URLs it redirects to — to third-party reputation services:

• Google Safe Browsing — checks the destination against Google’s malware and social-engineering lists.
• Cloudflare URL Scanner — a second-opinion check against Cloudflare’s malicious-URL intelligence.

These checks run when a link is created and again on periodic re-scans (a previously-safe destination can turn malicious later). The provider receives the destination URL, not your identity. turl.ca uses no third-party advertising or analytics trackers.

Citation evidence (only if you opt in)

Citation mode can create two distinct records. Cloudflare URL Scanner may create an unlisted, link-accessible screenshot and report the effective final URL. turl.ca stores its own copy of that screenshot when available. URLs with query strings, credentials, noarchive, or detected login/challenge pages are not submitted to URL Scanner.

When source capture is enabled for a signed-in account, turl.ca may also fetch a bounded public HTML page, text document, PDF, raster image, or allowlisted Office document. It records the main response bytes, per-resource hashes and redirects, readable text when supported, and a scriptless text-first replay for static pages. Captures are owner-only by default. Public publication is a separate signed-in action and uses a query-redacted public manifest. Partial, blocked, failed, and unsupported results are labelled rather than represented as complete.

Citation evidence is not a guaranteed permanent archive or retention service. Retiring, expiring, or moderating the link immediately stops turl.ca from serving its copies; physical cleanup follows the applicable retention process. A separate URL Scanner record follows Cloudflare’s policies, and copies already downloaded or cached outside turl.ca cannot be recalled.

Clicks and demand logging

turl.ca records an aggregate visit count per link — not a per-visitor profile. It may also log the short codes that return “not found” to gauge demand for restoring historical links; that records the requested code, not personal data.

The full picture

For request logging, accounts, retention, your privacy rights, and everything else, see the governing policy on pastebin.ca:

pastebin.ca Privacy Policy → turl.ca terms addendum → Family terms ↗ Report abuse ↗