Privacy policy
We count visits with our own cookieless analytics in an anonymous way. Google Analytics and its cookies are used outside the US only with your consent; in the US it loads without asking, and you can switch it off at any time. The site works exactly the same whatever you choose.
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Who is responsible
This site is operated by Hurricanes Mapped, the controller of the personal data described here. Questions about privacy or your data? Email info@hurricanesmapped.com.
Our own analytics
We use an open-source analytics tool that we host ourselves to count website visits in a privacy-focused way. It does not set cookies. The result is pseudonymous: we can't identify who you are, and no personally identifiable information is stored on our server. The data is used only to understand how the site is used and what to improve. It is never sold or shared with any third party. We keep it for 12 months.
Our legal basis is our legitimate interest in understanding how the site is used so we can improve it (GDPR Article 6(1)(f)). Because the data is minimal and pseudonymous, we believe this doesn't override your interests, but you have the right to object (GDPR Article 21).
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Google Analytics
If you visit from outside the United States, the first time you visit we ask whether we may use Google Analytics. Until you say yes, nothing from Google is loaded and no Google cookies are set. If you say no, it stays that way. If you visit from the United States, we don't ask: Google Analytics loads and sets its cookies, and you can switch it off with the controls below.
To decide which of these applies, our server reads your country using Cloudflare's country data when the page loads. We use this data only to decide which legal regime applies to you. We store nothing about it.
We use Google Analytics to measure how many people visit. Where it is loaded, it records the pages you view, the page that referred you, your browser, operating system, device type and language, and basic engagement such as scrolling and clicks on outside links. It also records your country and region, which Google estimates from your IP address before discarding it. We have switched off city-level location. It sets cookies which hold a random identifier used to tell visitors and sessions apart and last up to two years. Google Analytics does not store your IP address. We have switched off its advertising features: Google signals, ad personalization and advertising cookies.
Outside the United States, our legal basis is your consent (GDPR Article 6(1)(a)). In the United States, we rely on our legitimate interest in measuring how the site is used. You can switch Google Analytics off anytime with the button below, "Google Analytics consent" at the bottom of any page, or "Manage consent" in the settings cog at the top right of the page. Withdrawing stops Google Analytics at once and deletes its cookies from this browser. We keep Google Analytics data that is tied to a cookie identifier for 14 months; totals that identify no one are kept longer.
This control needs JavaScript. Without JavaScript, Google Analytics doesn't run.
What is stored in your browser
The site keeps a few small settings in your browser's local storage:
- whether you opted out of analytics;
- your choices of units and time zone;
- when you last opened the activity log, so new events can be marked as unread.
These settings stay on your device. The exceptions are that, unless you opted out, the number of unread updates shown on the Activity link is included in our own analytics when you click it, and each change to units or time zone records only the setting and its new value. Clearing your browser's site data removes them.
The site sets no cookies of its own. If Google Analytics is loaded for you, its cookies are stored as well, and they are deleted when you switch it off.
Hosting
The site is hosted on Cloudflare Pages. Like any web host, Cloudflare processes standard request information, such as your IP address and browser, to deliver pages and protect the site from abuse. Our legal basis is our legitimate interest in running a secure, working website (GDPR Article 6(1)(f)). Cloudflare's own analytics and tag tools are switched off for this site. See Cloudflare's privacy policy for how long it keeps these logs.
If you email us, we receive your address and message through our email provider and use them only to reply, based on our legitimate interest in answering you (GDPR Article 6(1)(f)). We keep emails only as long as needed to handle your message.
Who receives your data
- Cloudflare, which hosts the website;
- Google Ireland Limited, which provides Google Analytics, as described above;
- our email provider, for messages you send us.
Cloudflare and Google's parent company, Google LLC, are based in the United States, so data they process may be transferred outside the EU. Those transfers are protected by the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and the European Commission's standard contractual clauses. See Google's privacy policy for how Google handles data.
Your rights
You have the usual GDPR rights: to access, correct or delete your data, to restrict or object to its use, and to get a portable copy. For emails you send us, we can act on all of these. Our own analytics data can't be linked to any individual, so we can't find, show or delete those records for any one person (GDPR Article 11). Guessing which records are yours could mean showing you, or deleting, someone else's data. Google Analytics records are tied to the identifier in your _ga cookie; send us that value before switching it off and we can delete the records linked to it.
You can always object to our own analytics by opting out, and switch off Google Analytics, as described above. You can also complain to the Finnish Data Protection Ombudsman. Just email us if you want to use any of your rights.