Plain language, no boilerplate I don’t understand. This page describes what actually happens when you load bytejournal.org.

Last updated: 28 September 2026.

What I collect myself

Nothing on the page does any collecting. There is no analytics script, no fingerprinting, no session recording, and no cookie set by this site.

The web server, which I run myself, writes an access log for every request: your IP address, the time, which page you asked for, and your browser’s user-agent string. That is how every web server works, and I use it to see what breaks and what is popular. I don’t build profiles from it, and I don’t share it.

Advertising

This site shows display ads through Google AdSense.

  • Google and its advertising partners may set cookies in your browser, including the DoubleClick cookie, to serve ads based on your visits to this and other sites.
  • Ads may be personalised. You can turn that off, and review or delete the cookies involved, at Google Ads Settings.
  • Google explains how it uses information from partner sites at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
  • Visitors in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland get a consent prompt before any personalised advertising cookie is set, as Google requires.
  • If you run an ad blocker or a content blocker, the page still works exactly the same. Nothing about the site depends on the ads.

The email list

If you subscribe, your address is stored by Buttondown, who send the emails on my behalf.

  • One email per post. No schedule promises, no drip sequence.
  • I don’t add tracking pixels or per-recipient click tracking to the emails. I can see how many people opened a message and not which ones.
  • I never sell, rent or share the list. There is no sponsor content in the emails.
  • Every email carries a one-click unsubscribe, and it works immediately.

What isn’t here

No comments section, no accounts, no uploads, no user-generated content, no third-party embeds, no social media buttons, and no contact form. If you want to reach me, email works.

If this changes

Ads are the only third party currently involved, and only Google. If that ever grows, this page changes first — and the date at the top changes with it.