Privacy Policy
What this site collects, what it does not, and how advertising and cookies work here.
This policy explains what the Pikkola Journal collects, why, and what you can do about it. The short version: this site has no accounts, no comments and no forms, and we do not ask you for personal information.
Who we are
The Pikkola Journal is published by Pikkola, an independent software studio. For any question about this policy or about data held in connection with this site, write to hello@pikkola.com.
What we collect
Information you give us
None, unless you send it. There is no signup, no comment system, no contact form and no newsletter. If you email us, we receive your address and whatever you write, and we keep it only as long as needed to answer you.
Information collected automatically
Like every website, this one is served by infrastructure that records requests. Our host, Cloudflare, processes standard technical data on our behalf: the requested URL, the time, the response status, the referring page if your browser sends one, an approximate location derived from your IP address, and a user-agent string. These logs are used to keep the site available and to understand aggregate traffic; we do not use them to identify individual readers, and we do not combine them with any other data.
Storage on your device
The site stores one thing in your browser's local storage: your theme preference (light or dark), under the key pikkola.journal.theme. It never leaves your device and is not readable by us. Clearing site data removes it.
Cookies
This site does not set cookies of its own. Cookies may be set by third parties in two situations: advertising (described below) and any embedded content, though we do not currently embed third-party widgets, videos or fonts. All fonts and scripts are served from this domain.
Advertising and Google AdSense
This site may display advertising served by Google. Google and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this and other websites.
- Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to this website or other websites.
- Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to users based on their visits to this site and/or other sites on the internet.
- Users may opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings.
- You can also opt out of some third-party vendors' use of cookies for personalised advertising at aboutads.info or youronlinechoices.eu in the EU.
Where required by law, including in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, a consent message is shown before non-essential cookies are set, and you can change or withdraw your choice at any time through the link in the site footer of the consent message. Visitors who decline personalised advertising may still see ads, but they will not be based on your browsing history.
Google's own practices are described in the Google Privacy & Terms page. We do not receive the data those cookies contain, and we cannot associate an ad impression with a person.
Analytics
We look at aggregate traffic data provided by our host: page views, referrer domains, countries and device types. It is not used to build profiles, is not sold, and is not shared for advertising purposes. We do not run third-party behavioural analytics scripts on this site.
Legal bases (EEA, UK, Switzerland)
Where the GDPR or UK GDPR applies, we rely on: legitimate interests for serving the site and keeping it secure; consent for advertising cookies and any personalised advertising; and, for correspondence, the legitimate interest in answering you. You may object to processing based on legitimate interests at any time by writing to us.
Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to the processing of your personal data, to data portability, and to withdraw consent. Under the CCPA/CPRA, California residents have the right to know what is collected, to delete it, to correct it, to opt out of sale or sharing, and not to be discriminated against for exercising those rights. We do not sell personal information.
To exercise any of these rights, write to hello@pikkola.com with enough detail for us to identify the request. Because we hold almost no reader data, the most likely outcome is that we confirm we hold nothing about you. We respond within 30 days.
Children
This site is written for a professional audience and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.
Retention
Server logs are retained for a short period by our host for security and diagnostic purposes, in line with its default retention. Email correspondence is kept while the matter is open and for a reasonable period afterwards, then deleted.
Security
The site is served over HTTPS with strict transport security, is entirely static, and has no database, login or user-generated content to compromise. Security headers restrict what the browser may load and execute. No system is perfect, but there is very little here to breach.
International transfers
Our host and advertising partners may process data in countries other than yours, including the United States. Where required, transfers rely on standard contractual clauses or an equivalent mechanism provided by the processor.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes materially, the date at the top of the page changes with it and the previous version remains available on request. Continuing to use the site after a change means you accept the updated policy.
Contact
hello@pikkola.com — for privacy requests, please put “Privacy” in the subject line.