This page describes what synthbid does with information about its visitors. It is written for this site as it is today, and I will update it before anything it describes changes.
Information I receive
- Messages you send. If you use the contact form, I receive the name, email address and message you type. They are stored in the site database so I can reply, and I keep them while the conversation is open and for a reasonable time afterwards. You can ask me to delete them at any time.
- Server logs. The web server records standard request details such as IP address, browser type and the page requested. The logs are used to keep the site running and to spot abuse.
- Visit statistics. I use Google Analytics to count visits. It records which pages are viewed, roughly where in the world a visit comes from, the kind of device and browser used, and how the visitor arrived, for example from a search result or from another site. The details are under Cookies and tracking below.
Cookies and tracking
synthbid uses Google Analytics 4 to see how many people read the site and which pages they read. When you visit, it sets first-party cookies in your browser (their names start with _ga) and sends Google the page you viewed, a random identifier kept in those cookies, your approximate location (country and city, worked out from your IP address), your device, browser and screen size, the page you came from, and how long you stayed. Google states that Analytics 4 does not log or store individual IP addresses.
I use the numbers only to learn which articles are useful. I have not turned on Google’s advertising features or Google signals, I do not use this data to target ads, and synthbid runs no advertising scripts or social media trackers. Analytics data is kept for 14 months. When I am signed in to the site myself, my own visits are not counted.
To stop Google Analytics from recording your visits, you can install Google’s Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on, or block and delete cookies in your browser settings. The site reads the same without them. Google explains how it uses data from sites that use its services at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
Cloudflare
Traffic to synthbid passes through Cloudflare, a network and security provider. Cloudflare processes connection information such as IP addresses to deliver the site and block abuse, and it may set its own security cookies for that purpose.
Links to other sites
When you click a link to a software company, you leave synthbid. That company’s own privacy policy applies from then on. If the link is an affiliate link, the company may record that you came from synthbid. See the Affiliate Disclosure.
Comments
Comments are switched off on all pages, so synthbid does not collect comment data.
Your choices
You can ask what information I hold about you, ask me to correct it, or ask me to delete it, through the contact page.
Children
synthbid is written for adults and does not knowingly collect information from children.
Changes to this page
The Last updated date at the top shows when this page last changed.