Privacy

What this site collects, and what it does not

This is a free, non-commercial site run by one person. It has no accounts, no advertising, no tracking cookies, and nothing to sell. Here is the whole picture in plain language.

Analytics is on for this browser. Turn it off

What is collected

• Anonymous visit counts. When you open a page, the site records the page path, the site that referred you, your screen width, and a one-way hash made from a daily secret, your network address and your browser type. The hash cannot be turned back into you and changes every day, so the same person on two days looks like two different visitors. Your network address itself is not stored.
• Handbook downloads are counted the same way.
• Matomo analytics. The site also uses Matomo, an open-source analytics tool, on a server we operate (not Google Analytics). It runs in cookieless mode, honors Do Not Track, and reports page views, country, device type and referrers in aggregate.
• The poll. Your answers are stored with a separate one-way hash so that one person can answer once. Your own browser keeps a copy of your answer so the widget can show you your result again.
• The contact form. What you type, the topic, and an email address only if you choose to give one so we can reply.

What is not collected

No cookies for tracking. No accounts or passwords. No advertising identifiers. No selling, renting or sharing of data with anyone. No cross-site tracking. No fingerprinting beyond the hashes described above.

Your choices

• Turn analytics off with the button at the top of this page or the banner on your first visit. The choice is remembered in your own browser. In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, analytics is off until you allow it.
• Browser signals. If your browser sends Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track, analytics is off automatically.
• Clear your browser's site data for datacenterdebate.com to erase your poll answer and your analytics choice from your device.

Third parties that see your network address

Fonts, icons and the map software are served from this site itself, so loading a page contacts no one else. Two exceptions: the map loads its background tiles from Esri, and analytics requests go to the Matomo server we operate at analytics.beswifty.com. Like any web server, those see your network address when your browser asks them for a file. Links to outside sources open those sites under their own policies.

How long data is kept

Raw visit and download records are deleted automatically after about 13 months; only totals survive. Poll answers are kept as long as the poll runs. Contact messages are deleted once handled.

Legal basis and your rights

Where a legal basis is required, anonymous counting rests on our legitimate interest in knowing whether the site is useful, and analytics in Europe runs only with your consent. Because nothing we hold identifies you, we cannot look up or export "your" records; the practical way to exercise your rights is to opt out and clear your site data as described above. If you believe something here identifies you, write to us below and we will delete it.

Contact, corrections and privacy requests

Messages go into a private queue read by a person. Corrections to a source, a number or a map entry are especially welcome; say what is wrong and, if you can, link the document that shows it.