Privacy policy

What is stored on your device

Key pp_consent, in the browser’s local storage (not a cross-site cookie): a small record with your choice (granted or denied), an expiry, and the ad and analytics state. Retention: 180 days, after which the record is ignored and a new visit writes a fresh one. Purpose: remember Accept or Reject. Legal basis: consent for the optional signals, and legitimate interest in remembering that you already chose. The first visit with no record writes granted and then shows the banner, so the default path is recorded rather than silent. Reject replaces it with denied.

Keys pp_ads_closed and pp_ads_closed_at, also in local storage: they remember that you closed the fixed Adsterra Social Bar and when, so it does not come back on the next page view. Retention: 180 days. Purpose: honour the dismissal you asked for. Cookie settings in the footer reopens the banner at any time, and Accept clears the dismissal.

If the browser sends Global Privacy Control (navigator.globalPrivacyControl) or Do Not Track, the page writes denied and treats that as Reject, and the third parties are not loaded. Server logs, if the host keeps them, are routine security logs and are not a profile we build.

Google Analytics 4

We use Google Analytics 4 through gtag.js (measurement ID G-KFSS1BZTKG) to count page views and see which pages are read. Its tag loads from www.googletagmanager.com and sends measurement requests to www.google-analytics.com (including Google’s regional analytics endpoints). It loads by default with Consent Mode v2: analytics_storage is granted, while ad_storage, ad_user_data and ad_personalization stay denied for this site’s Google tag; Accept keeps the default analytics measurement enabled. Cookies: _ga and _ga_KFSS1BZTKG, set by Google, retention up to 2 years. Purpose: aggregate traffic measurement. Legal basis: legitimate interest in understanding readership, with the opt-out below. Google acts as our processor for this measurement; its own ad products are covered by Google’s privacy policy.

You can refuse measurement with the Google Analytics opt-out add-on (linked below) or by pressing Reject here, which turns the tag off for 180 days.

Microsoft Clarity

Microsoft Clarity (project 3j9kkblzoj) records sessions and builds heatmaps so we can see where a page is hard to use. It loads by default. Microsoft’s cookie documentation lists first-party _clck and _clsk and third-party CLID, ANONCHK, MR, MUID and SM. Their expiry is controlled by Microsoft and browser settings; the linked current documentation does not provide a single verified retention period. Clarity applies its configured masking rules to page content. Purpose: usability analysis. Legal basis: legitimate interest in fixing broken layouts and confusing navigation. Pressing Reject reloads the page with recording disabled and remembers that choice for 180 days.

Clarity requests its loader from www.clarity.ms, the recorder from scripts.clarity.ms, and sends recording data to collection subdomains under clarity.ms such as a.clarity.ms. Microsoft’s privacy statement, linked below, describes what Microsoft does with that data.

Adsterra advertising

We show advertising sold by Adsterra (publisher 3403020): a Native Banner inside the article and a Social Bar fixed to the bottom of the viewport. Adult ads are switched off on this site. The two configured placement scripts load from bicea.org; creatives may request Adsterra demand-partner hosts from those scripts. Both load by default; the ad scripts are created by our own page script, not written into the HTML, so they never block the first paint. Adsterra and its demand partners may set cookies and read device signals to choose, cap and measure ads. Purpose: fund the site. Legal basis: legitimate interest in advertising revenue, with the opt-outs below. Retention varies by Adsterra and its demand partners; we have no independently verified single retention period to report.

The fixed Social Bar can be closed with its Close ad button; that choice is stored in pp_ads_closed for 180 days. Pressing Reject stops the active scripts and reloads the page with advertising disabled for this visit and later visits for 180 days. Personalized advertising can also be turned off at the Google ad settings, NAI and Your Online Choices links below, and through your browser’s Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signal, which we honour as Reject.

YouTube, and how a video is requested

Videos use a picture and a button. Nothing is requested from YouTube until you press play. The player then loads from youtube-nocookie.com inside a frame. Google may set its own cookies at that moment under its policy. We do not control those cookies. Purpose: show the video you asked for. Retention: Google’s, not ours.

No other third party runs on these pages: there is no AdSense, no popunder, no smartlink and no tag beyond the three named above plus YouTube after a play click. If a later build adds one, this policy will name it before it ships.

Rights and changes

You can ask for access, correction, deletion, or a copy of any message you sent us, and you can object to a legitimate-interest use. Email [email protected]. We reply from that address. This policy changes by editing this page and moving the modified date. Continued use after that date is how the new text applies.