Privacy Policy

About this policy

This policy explains which information this website handles, for which purposes, and which choices you have while reading. It applies to every page and every article published here. References to "we" mean the operator of this website; nothing else hides behind that word. By opening a page of this website you accept the practices described below. If you disagree with any part of this policy, please stop using the website.

Information this website collects

You can read every article on this website without creating an account and without telling us who you are. There is no registration, no newsletter, and no comment form, so there is nothing to sign and nothing to fill in. What remains is technical information that browsers and servers exchange by themselves:

  • Technical data such as the browser type and version, the operating system, the device category, and the screen size used to open a page.
  • Connection data such as the internet protocol address, the referrer address, and the time and date of each request.
  • Usage data such as the pages opened, the order in which they are opened, and how long a page stayed open.
  • Browser-storage entries that remember a preference you set, for example a light or dark color scheme.

This website does not use that information to identify who you are, does not try to, and does not combine it with information about you from other sources.

Cookies and similar technologies

A cookie is a small text file that a website stores in your browser, and comparable entries can sit in the browser's own storage. This website uses only a small number of them, and each one has a concrete job:

  • A preference entry remembers whether you chose the light or the dark color scheme, so the next page does not flash in the other scheme.
  • Technical entries keep the site reachable and evenly fast while many people read at once.

There are no advertising cookies, no cross-site trackers, and no attempts to build a profile of you that follows you to other websites. You can block or delete cookies and storage entries in your browser settings at any time. The website keeps working if you do; you would only lose the preference that was remembered for you.

How the information is used

The information described above is used for a short list of purposes, and for nothing else:

  • To deliver the page you asked for and to render it correctly on your device.
  • To understand aggregate usage, such as which topics are read most, so editorial work goes where readers actually are.
  • To keep the website secure and available, for example by spotting error rates or abusive request patterns.
  • To remember the preferences you set, such as the color scheme.

This information is not sold, not rented, and not handed to advertising networks. Nobody buys a list here, because no such list exists.

Third-party content and links

Articles on this website sometimes link to other websites. This policy stops at the edge of this website: once you follow a link, the other site's own privacy practices apply, and we have no control over them and take no responsibility for them. A link is a recommendation to read, not a statement that another site handles data the way this one does.

Retention and security

Information is kept no longer than the purpose requires. Server logs are pruned on a short schedule, and aggregate usage numbers are kept only in summarized form that no longer points at a single visit. We apply reasonable technical measures to protect what is stored, keep the software this website runs on current, and limit access to the systems behind it. No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure, but the small footprint described above also keeps the possible damage small.

Your rights

You keep control over your own information, and the following rights describe that control:

  • The right to ask which information about you is being handled.
  • The right to ask for correction of information that is wrong.
  • The right to ask for deletion of information.
  • The right to restrict or object to processing.
  • The right to receive stored information in a portable form.
  • The right to withdraw consent, for example by clearing stored preferences in your browser.

Because this website has no accounts, most of these requests resolve in your own hands: clearing your browser storage removes everything this website stored there, and the rest was never attached to your name in the first place.

Children

This website is written for adults and is not directed at children. No data is knowingly collected from children, and none would be of any use here even if it were offered.

Changes to this policy

This policy may change as the website changes. The version published on this page is always the one in force, and material changes will be noticeable on this page. Reading an article after a change takes effect means you accept the changed policy, so it is worth returning to this page now and then.