Privacy Policy

What We Collect (Mostly: Nothing)

TechDefused doesn't collect your personal information. No registration. No email capture. No contact forms asking for your details. You read, you leave, we never knew you were here.

Specifically, we don't collect:

• Names
• Email addresses
• Phone numbers
• Physical addresses
• Payment information
• Account credentials

Browse freely. Read what you want. No personal data required.

What Google Collects (Through Advertising)

We run Google AdSense to keep the lights on. When ads are running, Google collects certain information to show them — not from us, but through their own systems embedded in our pages.

What Google may collect:

• Your browser type and settings
• Your approximate location (city / region level)
• Pages you visit on our site
• Your browsing history across other sites (if you're logged into Google services)
• Device information and IP address

What this enables:

• Ads somewhat related to your interests rather than completely random
• Google's ability to measure whether ads work
• Our ability to generate revenue without charging you

Important: Google doesn't share your personally identifiable information with us. They serve ads, collect data about ad performance, and pay us. We never see who you are.

Learn more: Google's complete explanation — How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services .

Cookies and Tracking

We don't set cookies. Google does (when ads are running).

What are cookies? Small text files stored in your browser that remember information between visits. Think of them as website Post-it notes that stick to your browser instead of your monitor.

How Google uses them:

• Recognising you've visited before (not you specifically — your browser)
• Showing ads based on your browsing patterns
• Measuring ad performance
• Preventing ad fraud

Your control: you control cookie settings. Actually control them — not the fake control where clicking "Reject All" still accepts some.

Manage Google ad cookies:

• Google Ads Settings — opt out of personalised advertising
• Your Online Choices (EU) — broader ad network controls
• NAI Opt-Out (US) — Network Advertising Initiative controls

Browser-level control: most browsers let you block all cookies or delete existing ones. This breaks some websites but gives you maximum privacy. Your choice.

When ads aren't running, the cookie surface drops accordingly. We don't run any first-party cookies of our own at the moment.

Analytics and Performance

We use Fathom Analytics as our primary tool for understanding what people read and how the site performs. Fathom is a privacy-respecting analytics service: it doesn't use cookies, it doesn't track individuals across sites, and it doesn't build profiles. It tells us aggregated things like which articles get read and roughly where readers come from — not who you are.

We may also retain Google Analytics 4 (GA4) as a fallback or supplementary signal, particularly for traffic patterns and AdSense-related performance. GA4 does collect more granular data than Fathom, and you can opt out at the browser level (most script-blockers handle this) or via Google's own opt-out tooling.

What we see (aggregated, in either tool):

• Page views and visitor counts
• Traffic sources (how you found us)
• Device types and browser versions (for technical optimisation)
• Which articles get read

What we don't see:

• Individual user journeys tied to any real-world identity
• Personal reading habits attributable to a named person
• Detailed behavioural profiles we use to target individual readers

If you block analytics scripts, the site still works fine. We'd rather you read with a script-blocker than not read at all.

Third-Party Links

Our articles link to sources, companies, vendor pages, GitHub repositories, security advisories, regulatory filings, and other websites. Clicking those links takes you somewhere we don't control.

What this means:

• We're not responsible for their content
• We're not responsible for their privacy practices
• We're not responsible for their security
• We're not endorsing them (even if the article is positive)

If you're concerned about privacy, check their policies before sharing information on external sites. We can't protect you there.

Data Security

We don't collect your personal data, which means we can't lose it in a breach, sell it to third parties, or accidentally expose it.

What we do:

• Use standard HTTPS encryption for the website
• Work with reputable hosting providers
• Keep software and systems updated
• Follow basic security hygiene

What we don't do:

• Store user databases (none exist)
• Handle payment information (no payments accepted)
• Maintain user accounts (no login system)

The less data we have, the less can go wrong. This is intentional.

Children's Privacy

We don't knowingly collect information from anyone, including children under 13. If we don't collect data from adults, we're certainly not collecting it from children.

That said, internet content isn't age-gated by default. Parents and guardians should supervise children's internet use according to their own judgment.

International Visitors

TechDefused is operated from Europe. If you're visiting from outside Europe, the practical position is the same: we don't collect your personal data, so most cross-border data-transfer questions are moot.

Your rights:

Privacy laws vary by jurisdiction. EU visitors have GDPR rights. California residents have CCPA rights. Since we don't collect personal data, most rights about access, deletion, and correction are moot — there's nothing to access, delete, or correct.

Changes to This Policy

We'll update this Privacy Policy if our practices change or if laws require it.

When we update:

• We'll post the new version on this page
• We'll update the effective date at the top
• We'll make changes reasonably obvious (not buried in legal language)

We won't:

• Email you about changes (we don't have your email)
• Notify you through pop-ups (annoying)
• Change fundamental principles without clear explanation

Occasional review of this page is sufficient. If we suddenly start collecting personal data (we won't, by default), it will be obvious and clearly stated.

Your Choices

You have options for protecting your privacy at the browser level:

• Enable "Do Not Track" (though many sites ignore it)
• Use private / incognito mode
• Block third-party cookies (TechDefused doesn't set any anyway)
• Install privacy-focused browser extensions
• Use a VPN for IP-address masking
• Use privacy-focused DNS services

None of these break the site. We've built it to work without your browser surrendering anything.

What We Actually Care About

Transparency: we tell you what's happening rather than hiding behind legal language.

Minimal collection: we run a news site, not a data harvesting operation. Less is more.

Your control: you decide your privacy level through browser and network settings, not through our permission.

No dark patterns: no pre-checked boxes, buried opt-outs, or deliberately confusing interfaces.

Questions or Concerns

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy:

Email: privacy@newsdefused.com

Response time: we'll respond to legitimate privacy inquiries within one week.

What we can help with:

• Clarification of our practices
• Concerns about the site's privacy approach

What we can't help with:

• Questions about data we don't collect
• Third-party website privacy practices
• Legal advice about privacy laws
• Technical support for browser privacy settings

Legal Compliance

This Privacy Policy complies with applicable data protection laws, including GDPR and CCPA, primarily by not collecting the personal data those laws are designed to protect.

Our position: we're compliant largely by not doing things rather than by doing them correctly. This is intentional architecture, not convenient accident.

Summary

We don't collect your personal information. Google collects some information for advertising when ads are running. We use Fathom as our primary analytics; GA4 may sit alongside as a fallback. You control your privacy through browser and account settings. Questions? privacy@newsdefused.com.