This policy describes what Semi-Functional Tech collects and what happens to it. It describes what the site actually does; when the site changes, this page changes with it. The block at the end of the page is generated from the site's live settings, so it cannot drift from them.
If you only read
Page views are counted without a cookie and without storing your address: a one-way digest of your address, your browser and the page, with a secret that changes every day, so one day's visits cannot be linked to the next. Raw view records are deleted after 45 days; after that only daily totals per page remain.
Searches typed into the site's search box are stored with the number of results they found, so we can see what readers look for and do not find. They are not linked to you.
Server logs record each request, including the address it came from, for security and fault-finding. They are kept for 30 days.
If you comment
A comment stores the name you give, the words you write, and your email address. The address is encrypted, never published and never shown to other readers; a one-way keyed digest of it lets us recognize you next time so your later comments do not wait for moderation. A digest of your network address and your browser's user agent are kept for spam defense. There is no website field, and nothing is sent to Gravatar or any other avatar service.
If you use the contact form
Your name, address, subject and message are stored first and then emailed to us, so a mail outage never loses a message. They are kept while the inquiry is open and archived afterwards.
If you write for the site
Contributors' accounts hold a name, an email address, a password stored only as a strong one-way hash, and optional profile details. Sign-ins and editorial actions are recorded in an audit log kept for one year; addresses in it are hashed.
Other companies involved
Microsoft Azure hosts the site, its database and its images, in the
United States, and sends the site's email.
Cloudflare Turnstile may check that a comment or contact form is being
sent by a person. Cloudflare receives technical information about your browser to do that.
Google AdSense serves advertising and Google Analytics measures
visits, when each is switched on. Both set cookies of their own (see the cookie policy). Where the law requires consent, neither loads until you give it, and by default neither loads at all.
YouTube and Vimeo videos are shown as a still image until you click
one. Nothing is requested from them before that click.
Nothing on this site sells personal data.
Your rights
You can ask what is held about you, ask for it to be corrected, or ask for it to be deleted: support@semifunctional.tech. Deleting a comment's personal data removes your name and address and keeps the words, because a comment is half of somebody else's conversation. Because page views and searches are not tied to an identity, there is usually nothing of those to return — which is the point of collecting them that way.