What we collect

  • Email — only if you subscribe to the newsletter or send a contact message. Stored in our database, used to send the email content you asked for.
  • Comment data — name + email + the comment itself if you post one. Email isn't shown publicly.
  • Hashed IP address — we store a one-way SHA-256 hash of your IP with each comment, contact submission, and pageview. This lets us spot abuse patterns without keeping your real IP.
  • Pageview counters — we count one view per article per IP-hash per day. No personal identifiers are stored alongside the count.
  • Cookies — see "Cookies" below.

What we don't collect

  • We don't sell user lists.
  • We don't use behavioural-tracking pixels from advertising networks beyond the ad-server we run ourselves at banners.adsclk.com.
  • We don't share email addresses with third parties.

Cookies

This site sets a small number of cookies:

  • Session cookie — required for CSRF protection on forms. Deleted when you close the browser.
  • Cookie-banner acknowledgement — a single key in localStorage so the banner doesn't reappear on every visit.
  • Sticky-ad dismissal — per-session, removed when you close the tab.
  • Google Analytics 4 — IP-anonymised, used only for traffic analysis. You can opt out by enabling Do-Not-Track in your browser or installing the Google Analytics opt-out add-on.
  • Advertising cookies — set by banners served via our self-hosted ad server (banners.adsclk.com) for frequency-capping. We do not share these with third-party ad exchanges.

Third-party services

The following third-party services may receive data when you visit this site:

  • Cloudflare — CDN, DDoS protection. Sees IP addresses and request metadata.
  • Google Analytics (if enabled) — aggregated pageview statistics, IP-anonymised.
  • Google Fonts — loaded from fonts.gstatic.com for typography.

Your rights

You can ask us to delete any personal data we hold by emailing the address on the contact page. We'll process the request within 30 days.

Data retention

  • Newsletter subscribers: until you unsubscribe.
  • Comments: until you ask us to delete, or until the article is removed.
  • Contact form submissions: 12 months from receipt.
  • Pageview counters: indefinite (no personal identifier attached).

Changes

If we change this policy, we'll update the "Last updated" date at the top and post a notice on the homepage for at least 14 days.

Contact

Questions, complaints, or data-deletion requests: contact us.