Privacy Policy

Short version: this site is me, one person, running on a basic hosting stack with one analytics tool. The list below is what actually happens when you load a page. If anything is unclear, the email at the bottom is the one I read every day.

What I collect

When you load a page on brightkettle.com, the hosting provider records the request — IP address, browser, the page itself, a timestamp, and the referring URL. That is the same baseline log file almost every website creates, and is required for the server to function. I do not run signup forms, comment sections, or user accounts. No email, name, or password is stored anywhere on my side.

Cookies

One cookie type: a visitor/session identifier used by the analytics tool described below. No advertising cookies. No remarketing pixels. No cross-site tracking. Blocking cookies in your browser does not break anything on the site.

Analytics

I use an analytics service to collect anonymized usage data (page views, browser type, country code, referrer). No personally identifiable information is collected. The service does not pass any of this to advertisers, and I do not use it to build a profile of you as an individual visitor. I open the dashboard maybe once a week, to see which articles people actually read and which ones disappeared into the void.

Affiliate links

Some outbound links here are affiliate links — meaning I earn a commission when you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. I don't collect or store any data about which links you click; that's strictly between you and the merchant. Commission does not change which products end up reviewed or how I write about them. For more on how the editorial side handles affiliate relationships, see my Editorial Policy.

Data retention

Server logs: 30 days, then deleted. Individual analytics session data: purged within 30 days. Only the aggregate (page-view counts per article per month) is kept beyond that window, and the aggregate contains nothing tied back to a specific visitor.

Your rights

If you are in the EU/EEA, the UK, or California, you have specific rights over personal data that might relate to your visit here. I extend the same handling to anyone else who asks. Under GDPR Articles 15-22:

• Access (Art. 15) — request a copy of any personal data I hold about you.
• Rectification (Art. 16) — request correction of inaccurate data.
• Erasure (Art. 17) — request deletion of your data ("right to be forgotten").
• Data portability (Art. 20) — request your data in a machine-readable format.
• Objection (Art. 21) — object to processing of your data for analytics or other purposes.

In practice, because I do not run accounts and the analytics is already anonymized, there is usually nothing personal on my side to access or erase. The email below is still the channel if you want to confirm that.

Contact about privacy

Email me at ryan@brightkettle.com with the word "privacy" anywhere in the subject. I read this inbox daily and usually reply within a couple of days. There is no separate privacy team — it is me, on a laptop, in Portland.