Privacy policy
The short version: reading The Disclosure Age doesn’t require an account, and our own pages don’t track you. A few optional services — described under “Optional services and your choices” — load only after you choose. We only keep personal data ourselves if you send us a message.
Who we are
This site is operated by The Disclosure Age (“we”, “us”), which is the controller of the personal data described here. For anything in this policy, contact us using the form — it’s the quickest way to reach us.
What we do not do
- Our own pages set no cookies. We load no analytics, advertising or other third-party services unless you allow them — see “Optional services and your choices”.
- We don’t load fonts, scripts or widgets from third parties, and we don’t have reader accounts or comments, or a newsletter list.
- We don’t sell personal data. Where optional services are used, the provider — not us — collects the data described under “Optional services and your choices”.
What we collect, and why
| When | What | Why, and for how long |
|---|---|---|
| You visit any page | Our web server records the standard technical details of the request — your IP address, the page requested (including any search terms in the address), the time, and your browser’s user-agent — in server logs. | To deliver the site, keep it secure and diagnose problems. Logs are rotated and deleted automatically, normally within 30 days, and aren’t used to profile readers. |
| You use the search box | The search term is used to look up articles. We don’t store it in our database (it may appear in the server logs above). | To show results. |
| You use the optional services below (or allow them) | The providers may set or read cookies and similar identifiers and collect your IP address, browser and device details, the pages you view and how you interact. We don’t receive this data (we see only aggregated reports). | For the purposes described under “Optional services and your choices”. Legal basis: your consent, which you can withdraw at any time. Nothing is sent to these providers unless you allow it. |
| You submit the contact form (or an editor signs in) | To limit spam and abuse, we count attempts per IP address for a few minutes. The address is stored only as a hash, and the counter expires automatically (about 10 minutes). | To stop one address flooding the form or guessing passwords. |
| You send a message through the contact form | Your message, email address, optional name, the article you mention (if any), a keyed hash of your IP address (not the address itself) and a shortened browser user-agent. | To read and answer your message, fix errors you report, and limit spam and abuse. We keep it until an editor deletes it, which we do once it has been dealt with and any correction has been made. You can ask us to delete it sooner. |
Your message is read by our editors.
On your device
This site uses your browser’s local storage (not cookies) to remember your colour theme, the reports you choose to save, how far you got in recent reports (for “Continue reading”), when you last visited (to mark new reports) and whether you dismissed our newsletter suggestion. None of it is sent to us or anyone else; clear it any time on the Saved & recent page or by clearing your browser data.
Our legal bases
If the UK or EU data-protection rules apply to you: we process server logs and anti-abuse counters under our legitimate interests in running a secure, working website; we process contact-form messages under our legitimate interests in answering readers and correcting our reporting (or, where you ask us to do something, to take steps at your request). Optional services (analytics, external images and other third-party scripts) are used only with your consent, which you can withdraw at any time. Advertising helps fund the site and is always shown; personalisation of ads, and the use of non-essential cookies for advertising, rests on your consent. You can object to processing based on legitimate interests at any time — see “Your rights”.
Advertising
We show ads from Google AdSense to pay for our reporting. Ads are always part of the site; they are labelled “Advertisement” and kept apart from our articles, and advertisers cannot buy coverage or influence what we publish.
Nothing is requested from Google until you have made a choice in the privacy banner. Your choice only decides whether ads may be personalised: personalised ads may use your browsing history and interests; non-personalised ads are based on the page you are reading and general information, though they can still use cookies and details such as your IP address and approximate location to deliver and measure ads. You can change this at any time with “Privacy choices” in the page footer. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, we treat it as a request for non-personalised ads.
Google and its advertising partners may use cookies and similar technologies and process data such as your IP address, browser, the page you view and your interaction with ads. For visitors in the EEA, UK and Switzerland the controller for this ad data is Google Ireland Limited; elsewhere it is Google LLC. See how Google uses information from sites that use its services, manage your Google ad settings, or opt out of personalised advertising via optout.aboutads.info or youronlinechoices.com. We show no ads on our About, Standards, Contact, Search, Privacy or Terms pages.
Optional services and your choices
When you first visit, a privacy banner asks about the optional services below. Nothing optional loads until you choose, “Reject all” is as easy as “Accept all”, and “Manage choices” lets you decide category by category. You can review or withdraw your choices at any time with Privacy choices in the page footer. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, we treat it as “Reject all” and don’t show the banner.
- Advertising — Shows Google ads that fund our reporting. Google may set cookies and use your IP address and browsing data to deliver and measure ads. You can allow non-personalised ads only.
We remember your choice in your browser’s local storage on this device — not in a cookie, and we receive no copy of it. It is stored with a date and version number and expires after 180 days, or sooner if we change what we ask about, and then we ask you again. Clearing your browser data also resets it.
Links and images from other sites
Many pages link to articles on other publishers’ sites (The Wire, the Reading List, “Further reading” and article sources). Those links open in a new tab and are marked nofollow; when you click one, the destination site will see that you arrived from ours. Some thumbnails on those pages are loaded directly from the publisher’s servers: when your browser fetches one, that publisher can see your IP address and browser details — and may set its own cookies — just as if you had visited their site. For these image requests we ask your browser not to send a referrer. We don’t control other sites; see their own privacy policies.
Staff area
The password-protected admin area, used only by our editors, sets a session cookie so editors stay signed in and to protect forms against forgery. Readers never need it.
Who else handles data
Our hosting provider stores the site and its logs on our behalf, and the optional service providers named above act as described there, and may be located outside your country, in which case the transfer is covered by the safeguards that apply to that provider. We may disclose information if the law requires it. We don’t transfer your data to anyone for their own marketing.
Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to ask what personal data we hold about you, to have it corrected or deleted, to object to or restrict how we use it, to receive a copy of it, and to complain to your local data-protection authority. To exercise these rights, send us a message from the email address you want us to look up. Because we hold so little, most requests are answered by deleting a single message. We’ll respond within one month.
Security
We keep the amount of personal data we hold small on purpose, use HTTPS, store the IP addresses you send us only as keyed hashes, and limit access to the contact messages to our editors. No system is perfectly secure, so please don’t send us anything highly sensitive through the contact form.
Children
This site is a general news publication and isn’t directed at children under 13. We don’t knowingly collect their personal data.
Changes
If we change how we handle data, we’ll update this page and the “last updated” date at the top. Please check back occasionally.