Privacy policy

Geek Pride is a volunteer-run website about geek culture, based in the United Kingdom. We collect very little about the people who read it, and this page sets out exactly what, why, and what you can do about it. Where this policy says “we”, it means Geek Pride, the data controller for this site. You can reach us at [email protected].

Reading the site

You do not need an account to read Geek Pride, and we do not ask you to register. When you visit, our hosting provider and Cloudflare, which sits in front of the site to keep it fast and protect it from attacks, record standard technical details in their logs: your IP address, the pages you request, the time, and your browser type. We use those logs only to keep the site running and secure, and they are cleared automatically.

Analytics

We would like to know which stories people read, so we use Google Analytics. It only runs if you say yes when the site asks. If you say no, or say nothing, nothing from Google loads and nothing is sent. When you do accept, Google Analytics sets cookies to tell repeat visits apart and sends Google the pages you view, a rough location worked out from your IP address, and details of your device and browser. We do not send Google your name or anything else that identifies you. You can change your mind at any time through the cookie choices link in the footer whenever analytics is switched on.

Cookies and local storage

These are the only things the site stores in your browser.

• geek-pride-session and XSRF-TOKEN. Set on every visit so the site can tell one request from the next and protect forms from forgery. They are essential, hold no personal information, and expire when you close your browser or after two hours.
• gp_consent. Remembers whether you accepted or declined analytics, so we do not ask again. It lasts 180 days.
• gp-theme. Remembers whether you chose light or dark mode. It is kept in your browser’s local storage, never sent to us, and stays until you clear your browser data.
• Google Analytics cookies (_ga and _ga_…). Set only after you accept analytics. They last up to two years.

Getting in touch

If you email us, we keep your message and address for as long as we need to deal with it and for a reasonable time afterwards in case the conversation picks up again. We send email through Postmark, a transactional email service, which processes it on our behalf. We do not add you to any mailing list, because we do not have one.

Contributing

If you write for Geek Pride or send us something to publish, we hold your name, contact details and the byline information you give us, and we publish what you ask us to publish, for example a short biography and links to your own sites. Our writers sign in to a private editorial area, which uses the essential cookies above and, where they choose it, two-factor authentication. The disclaimer sets out the terms for material you send us.

Embedded content

Some stories include videos, posts and players from other services. We show social media posts as plain text that we fetch ourselves, so those networks do not see you unless you click through. Videos from YouTube and similar services only load from that service when you press play, at which point its own privacy policy applies. Our podcast audio is served by our podcast host, Libsyn, which sees the usual technical details of your download.

Sharing a story

The share buttons on each story are plain links that open the network you chose, or your device’s share sheet, with the headline and link filled in. Nothing happens, and nothing is sent anywhere, until you choose one.

Who else sees your data

Only the services named on this page: our hosting provider and Cloudflare for serving the site, Google for analytics if you accept it, Postmark for email, Libsyn for podcast audio, and any embedded service you choose to play. We do not sell or share your data with anyone else, and we do not use it for advertising. Some of these services process data outside the United Kingdom, under the standard safeguards UK data protection law requires.

Our legal basis

Under UK data protection law we rely on our legitimate interest in running a secure, working website for the technical logs and essential cookies, on your consent for analytics, and on our legitimate interest in replying to you when you get in touch.

Your rights

You can ask us what personal data we hold about you, ask us to correct or delete it, object to how we use it, or withdraw your consent to analytics at any time. Email [email protected] and we will reply within a month. If you are unhappy with our answer, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk.

Children

The site is written for a general audience and we do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 13. If you think a child has sent us something, tell us and we will remove it.

Changes

If we change what we collect or who handles it, we will update this page and the date at the top. We will not apply any significant change to data we already hold without telling you.