It seems like a mark of success in the world of Big Tech when their CEOs get called to Congress to share their exciting ideas for making obscene riches off your data. Now, I'm by no means a member of the evil technocratic elite, but hey, dress for the job you want, right?
Here's the TL;DR: this website is as vanilla as it gets. There are no trackers, cookies, or even ads. If you choose to send me something, it's only ever used for the purpose you intend. Just like every other website out there, I rely on a few third-party services to keep things running; they're set up to collect as little info as possible. And of course, I don't make any money off your data — I honestly don't know how.
what info is collected
Certainly nothing I make money off of. All the info my website collects is listed out here; it's the bare minimum I need to keep everything running.
What I definitely don't collect is stuff like your browsing habits and advertising metrics. There are no ads, no cookies, no third-party trackers, and no sleazy "what kind of potato are you?" quizzes that secretly sell your private potato personality to Big Potato.
forms and messages
When you get in touch through the contact form, the info you fill in is sent to me (duh), along with a timestamp. No other metadata, like IP addresses or locations, is sent to me through forms. As a general rule in life, you shouldn't send sensitive info to a rando on the Internet, but if you wanna send me your credit card number, expiry date, and security code, I can't really stop you.
Your messages are stored in a dedicated account with strong security, including encryption in transit and on the server. Forms on this website use Formspree, a secure third-party service, to collect and store responses, which does collect metadata like IP addresses and other info with form submissions — you can read more about this below.
When you reach out to me on social media, your messages and info are governed by the policies of the platform.
browser storage
Some pages have display settings, like the dark mode toggle at the bottom of the page (I worked really hard on that, you should try it). When you change these settings, your choices are saved locally in your browser, so every page can be displayed to your liking. That info never leaves your browser and is only visible to you. If you want to delete these settings, just clear your history (I know you do it all the time anyway).
analytics and security
To keep my website running smoothly, I use privacy-focused tools from Cloudflare for analytics and security. These allow me to get a rough idea of my web traffic, guard against cyberattacks, and keep my pages loading quickly. To help with this, Cloudflare collects some info like IP addresses, browser types, countries of origin, pages visited, visit durations, and referrers, among others. This info is securely collected and stored by Cloudflare.
Cloudflare shows me a summary of statistics and trends containing aggregated info; they don't contain anything that could identify you personally. On some occasions, such as when Cloudflare suspects a cyberattack, I get reports on a small sample of individual requests. No analytics or security info is ever shared with third parties.
I use this info to learn about my site's performance. I don't share or make any money from this data, it's just nice to know people appreciate what I'm doing. Cloudflare analyzes this info to prevent bots and illegitimate users from taking down my site — I'm sure you'll agree that's a pretty noble cause.
The way this website collects analytics info is in line with industry norms and laws (in fact, it's a lot less than what some other websites get away with). You can read more about my use of Cloudflare's services below.
how info is managed
All the info I collect is stored securely in dedicated accounts, with encryption in transit and on the server, and up-to-date cybersecurity practices, to keep everything safe. No sensitive data, like your personal info, is ever shared with third parties, and definitely not sold for profit (I don't even know who I could sell it to). When you reach out to me directly, such as via the contact form, my socials, or my email, your message may be stored indefinitely unless you ask me to delete it. Other info, like website analytics, are retained according to the policies of their providers.
I'll never use your email address or other details to send you ads or spam, nor will I share your info with others without your permission — I've got better things to do.
Some info is stored and handled by third-party services provided by established and trusted companies. These services are never given access to your personal information for advertising or tracking. All the third-party services I use, and their privacy policies, are detailed below.
If you wish, you can see what info about you has been collected, correct any mistakes, or delete your info entirely — just let me know.
third-party services
My website uses some third-party services to keep it running and provide content you'll find meaningful. There aren't, however, any ads or trackers.
This website contains links to other websites and embedded third-party content. Visiting pages containing third-party content may allow their providers to see info about you; this is governed by their own policies. Links to external websites are marked with a ↗ symbol. I'll always flag out embedded content in writing, and if available, I'll leave a link to the policies of its provider.
This website uses some third-party services to provide essential functionality, which is described here. These tools are always used in line with industry standards and applicable privacy laws. Third-party services are governed by their own privacy policies, which I've linked to here.
Cloudflare
I use Cloudflare as my domain registrar, DNS (Domain Name System) server, CDN (content delivery network), web analytics provider, and cloud cybersecurity provider. When you visit my website, your request is routed through Cloudflare's servers, which speeds up load times, protects me from cyberattacks, and helps me monitor my website's performance. To help with this, Cloudflare may collect some info like IP addresses, browser types, countries of origin, pages visited, visit durations, and referrers, among others; it does not use this info for advertising or tracking. Cloudflare is based in the United States. You can learn more from the Privacy & data protection page of Cloudflare's Trust Hub and Cloudflare's Privacy Policy.
Formspree
When you submit a form on this website, your response is sent to Formspree, a web form backend service, which stores and notifies me of submissions. Formspree may collect some info like IP addresses, among others, to provide form analytics; it does not use this info for advertising or tracking. Formspree is based in the United States. You can learn more from Formspree's Security page and Formspree's Privacy Policy.
GitHub Pages
I use GitHub Pages to host my website. This means the source code is written by me, and GitHub stores the files on its servers for visitors. To help with this, GitHub may collect some info like IP addresses, among others, for security; it does not use this info for advertising or tracking. GitHub is based in the United States and owned by Microsoft. You can learn more from the Data collection section of the GitHub Pages documentation and GitHub's Privacy Statement.
Google Fonts
My website uses fonts provided by Google Fonts. When you visit this website, Google may collect some info like IP addresses, among others, to send the font files to your browser and run its service; it does not use this info for advertising or tracking. Google is based in the United States. You can learn more from Google's blog post about Google Fonts and privacy and Google's Privacy Policy.
See the Acknowledgments to find out which fonts are provided by Google Fonts.
jsDelivr
My website uses some JavaScript libraries served by jsDelivr. When you visit this website, some code scripts are fetched from CDN (content delivery network) servers operated by jsDelivr to help improve load times. jsDelivr may collect some info like IP addresses, among others, to run their service; it does not use this info for advertising or tracking. jsDelivr is based in the United Kingdom. You can learn more from jsDelivr's Privacy Policy.
See the Acknowledgments to find out which JavaScript libraries are served by jsDelivr.
contact
If you'd like to reach out to me regarding this Privacy Policy, get in touch using this form.