Privacy policy

We collect as little as we can to run a technology explainer site. Here is exactly what that means.

Last updated

The short version

  • You can read every page without an account, and we do not have accounts or logins.
  • We use Google Analytics, which sets cookies. In the UK, EU, EEA and Switzerland it only loads after you say yes.
  • We show advertising through Google AdSense, which may set advertising cookies. In the UK, EU, EEA and Switzerland ads only load after you say yes.
  • If you use the newsletter sign-up or the contact form, we use your details for that purpose and nothing else.
  • We do not sell personal data.

Who we are

HowTechMoves (howtechmoves.com) is an independent site that explains how technology works through short videos and a daily tech news feed. We are responsible for the personal data described here. You can reach us through the contact form.

What we collect and why

When you browse

Like every website, our hosting provider receives technical details with each request: your IP address, browser and device type, the page you asked for, the referring page and the time. These request logs keep the site secure and working. We do not use them to build profiles of visitors.

To decide whether we need to ask for consent before loading analytics and advertising, the site sets a small cookie called htm_region. It holds only eu or other, based on the country our host detects from your connection. See the cookie policy for details.

Analytics

We use Google Analytics 4 (Google LLC), which sets cookies and processes your IP address to estimate your country; GA4 does not log or store full IP addresses. It gives us totals such as page views, referring sites, browser, device type and country, so we can see which explainers are useful. Visitors in the UK, EU, EEA and Switzerland are only counted after they accept. Everyone else can decline it on the cookie policy page.

Advertising

We show advertising through Google AdSense (Google LLC). Google and its partners use cookies — including the DoubleClick cookie, which is also used by some Google services such as Google Ads — to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website and to other websites. Google may use this information to show you personalised advertising, measure how ads perform, and tailor ads to your interests.

Users may opt out of personalised advertising at any time on Google's Ads Settings. You can also read how Google uses information from sites that use its services in Google's advertising policies and opt out with other providers at aboutads.info.

Visitors in the UK, EU, EEA and Switzerland only receive advertising after they accept on the consent banner, or by choosing “Accept” on the cookie policy page. Everyone else can decline advertising there too. See the cookie policy for the cookies AdSense may set.

Newsletter

If you sign up for the newsletter, we store your email address and the page you signed up on in our own database. We use it only to send you the newsletter. Every email includes an unsubscribe link, and you can ask us to remove you at any time. Your address is not shared with any third party for marketing.

Contact form

The contact form asks for your name, email address, the kind of enquiry (general, collaboration or sponsorship) and your message. Your message is stored in our database and read by the site owner in the admin area. We use it only to reply to you.

To stop spam, the newsletter and contact forms keep a short in-memory count of recent submissions per connection. This is held in server memory for a few minutes and is not written to disk or used for anything else.

Stored in your browser

Some preferences live only on your device: your theme and your consent choice. They never reach us. The cookie policy lists each one.

Services that process data for us

These providers process data on our behalf, only for the purposes above:

  • Railway hosts the site, keeps request logs and hosts our PostgreSQL database, which stores newsletter sign-ups and contact messages. Railway privacy policy
  • Google Analytics (Google LLC) measures how the site is used, after consent where required. Google privacy policy
  • Google AdSense (Google LLC) serves advertising, after consent where required, and may set advertising cookies. Google privacy policy

Some of these providers operate outside your country, so your data may be processed in other countries, including the United States.

When you follow a link to another website, or watch an embedded Instagram video, that site's own privacy policy applies. Embedded Instagram videos load from Instagram only after you press play.

What we do not do

  • We do not sell, rent or trade personal data.
  • We do not set advertising cookies ourselves; the advertising cookies described in our cookie policy are set by Google AdSense and its partners, and only load where consent allows.
  • We do not add you to the newsletter because you used the contact form.
  • We do not publish your email address.

How long we keep it

  • Contact messages: as long as we need them to reply or keep a record of a correction. Ask and we will delete them.
  • Newsletter subscriptions: until you unsubscribe.
  • Spam-check counts: a few minutes, in server memory only.
  • Hosting request logs: for the limited period set by our hosting provider.
  • Analytics: only aggregated totals are kept, with no personal identifiers.

Your rights

Wherever you live, you can ask us what personal data we hold about you, ask us to correct or delete it, or object to how we use it. Use the contact form. If you are in the UK, EU, EEA or Switzerland, our legal bases are your consent (analytics, advertising and the newsletter), steps you ask us to take (replying to your message) and our legitimate interest in keeping the site secure (request logs). You also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority.

If you are a California resident, you may request access to or deletion of your personal information, and we will not “sell” or “share” your personal information as those terms are defined in California law — we do not do so with anyone.

Children

This site is written for a general audience. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has sent us their details, contact us and we will delete them.

Changes to this policy

If what the site collects changes — for example if we change our advertising or analytics providers — we will update this page and the date at the top before the change goes live.

Contact

Questions about privacy go to the contact form.