Overview
Making a website (such as this one) successful and professional while upholding high standards of data protection and privacy measures is not a simple job.
To help you understand how this website processes your data, this document was created.
The information is organized into sections with explanations of how a topic works in a broader sense (Theory) and how this topic is handled specifically by this website (Practice).
Additional explanations are provided where applicable (Further reading).
General terms
There are no attempts being made to identify you as an individual. This site has no legitimate interest to collect such data at this stage.
By using this website you are agreeing to this Policy. If you don’t agree, you have to stop using the site.
Essential functions
Theory
There is a set of critical technologies that are at play when building a website. Those are not optional: declining them would mean not using the Internet at all. Those are most commonly (but not limited to) HTTPS, TCP/IP and DNS.
Said technologies play a role in transferring information, including information that may be considered private or even sensitive.
Further reading
- How the Web works by Mozilla
Practice
This website collects certain information from your device in order to function properly at the most basic level. Specifically, the IP address of your network. This is required to send the contents of the site to your device.
The browser type, browser version, operating system type and version are also noted.
Service providers
Theory
A website cannot exist in a vacuum. The elements that make the site (files) have to be stored somewhere and made available via well known means (protocols). There always are providers that handle those operations, esp. hosting.
Practice
The site is hosted on GitLab with the Pages service and therefore is affected by their privacy policy.
Third party links and embeds
Theory
Most websites link to other websites, for the purpose of ex. hosting content or simply sharing information. Keep in mind, that those sites are almost never under the control of whoever controls the site you are currently on. Those external (third party) sites most likely have different business practices and privacy policies than the site you’re visiting.
Content posted on those external sites is something those sites are responsible for. Some sites also allow to take a piece of content and link it outside in a rich, sometimes interactive way (embedding).
Practice
Various pages, sections and posts on this site contain or may contain links to third party websites and embedded content from such websites.
Although those links and embeds are always provided in good faith and without malicious intent, you are solely responsible for using them. In case of any issues, you have to talk to the third party website owners directly about your concerns.
Analytics
Theory
A controversial topic is analytics technology. The aim of website analytics is to discover how users are interacting with webpages they are on and how they got there. Such tools tend to invade privacy of visitors, esp. Google Analytics, which aims to gather as much information as possible without any care or consideration for damages being done.
- The case against Google Analytics
Practice
After doing research I’ve decided to implement Plausible Analytics: a solution that promises to strike a balance between privacy-invading practices of the likes of Google Analytics and flying blind. I’m not 100% satisfied by the mere fact, that I had to add a script to the site. There exist other alternatives, but none of them were as easy to setup and cost effective as Plausible. Plausible can be setup to feed data to a private instance, but that would require a major overhaul of the entire website.
I’ll be keeping an eye on possible improvements in this area. But for now, please familiarise yourself with the following documents:
- Plausible Privacy Policy
- Plausible Data Policy
Advertisements
Theory
One of the way website owners generate money is by offering “free” content and adding ads into the site. Such content isn’t truly free, however. The ads that are being displayed try gathering information from your device in order to target more communication in your way.
This leads to a situation where your online habits become a resource for companies to exploit. As an insult added to injury, ad networks have been compromised in the past by cyber-criminals to propagate malware.
This has prompted millions of people to start using ad-blockers to protect their privacy.
Further reading
- Brave, the browser that protects your privacy: Brave vs. Chrome
Practice
This site does NOT have ads. There are no plans to include them.
Cookies
Theory
Cookies are pieces of text that are stored in your web browser. They allow to exchange information between the browser and the server and to customize how the page behaves specifically for you.
They allow modern websites to be much more advanced and provide you with features that today we take for granted (login sessions). Many pages would break completely without them, which is why they’re often called essential cookies.
This technology has however been abused to provide privacy-invading features (tracking cookies). Those are separate from essential cookies.
Further reading
- About cookies, in plain English: internetcookies.org
Practice
This site does NOT use cookies in any form, either essential or tracking ones.
People below the age of 13
Theory
Some jurisdictions have decided to put a special emphasis on protecting the data of persons below the age of 13.
This is especially important, since young individuals are much more impressionable than adults and may not understand the full ramifications of their actions.
Practice
This site is NOT targeting people below the age of 13 and does not aim to process any data of such persons.
Because of how the site is constructed, it’s impossible for persons under the age of 13 to inject any information into the site.
Posting content
Theory
Whenever a website allows users for posting their own content, this opens up the possibility of abuse from malicious actors. This includes, but isn’t limited to various types of hate speech, defamation, harassment and abuse. Spamming is also not uncommon.
As a result, a separate code of conduct is usually published.
Practice
There is no way you can post any content of your own by using this site. If a method like this ever becomes available, this policy shall be updated to reflect this change.
User accounts
Theory
Most websites allow users to create accounts in order to unlock additional features and customize the user experience. Some sites require registration to be used in a meaningful way at all.
The user account possesses a varying degree of personal data, sometimes considered PII (Personally Identifiable Information) or even medical records. Such account is subject to risk of data loss and exposure and has to be protected by both sides (the end user and the website administrators).
Practice
This site does NOT have user accounts. Your email address is not required to access additional content. There is no registration form or any other way to “register”. This website is read-only and there are no ways for you to input your data, even if some elements of the site are interactive.
Final words
This Policy becomes applicable upon posting. You are encouraged to review it regularly to read any updates.
Document version: 2020-12-05