Privacy Policy

This policy explains, in plain English, what information www.test-junkie.com collects when you visit, why, who else sees it, how long it's kept, and what you can do about it. The short answer: very little. There are no accounts, no forms, no ads and nothing for sale.

1. Who we are

The website www.test-junkie.com (the "site") is run by Artur Spirin, an individual based in New Mexico, USA, who maintains the open-source Test Junkie™ project. "We", "us" and "our" mean the operator of the site. For the purposes of European and UK data-protection law, we are the "controller" of the personal information described here, meaning we decide why and how it is used.

This policy covers the site and our official social media accounts. It does not cover the Test Junkie or Test Junkie HQ software. That software runs on your own computers; it doesn't send us anything, and what it does with your data is up to you and your setup. Your use of the site is also governed by our Terms of Use.

2. The short version

• We use Google Analytics to count visits and see which pages are useful. Visitors in the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland are asked first. If your browser sends Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control, we don't load Google Analytics at all.
• Our web host keeps short-lived server logs, including IP addresses, for about a week, to keep the site running and secure.
• If you email us or open a GitHub issue, we see what you send.
• If you donate, PayPal or Patreon tell us your name, email and the amount.
• We don't sell your information, don't use it for advertising, and don't build profiles of you.

3. What we collect and why

3.1 Google Analytics

When it is allowed to run (see section 5), Google Analytics 4 collects information about your visit: the pages you view and for how long, the page you came from, your approximate location (city or region, worked out from your IP address), your browser, device type, screen size and language, and a random identifier stored in a cookie so repeat visits can be counted.

We use this only to understand, in aggregate, how many people visit, which pages help them, and what to improve.

Google Analytics does not give us your name, email or IP address. According to Google, it does not log or store IP addresses of visitors in the EU, UK or Switzerland. We have turned off Google's advertising features (Google Signals, advertising personalization and links to Google Ads), and we don't send Google any information that identifies you.

Google processes this data under its own terms. You can read how Google uses information from sites that use its services at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites. Google also offers a browser add-on to opt out of Google Analytics on all websites.

3.2 Server logs

The site is hosted on Heroku (a Salesforce company) in the United States. Like any web server, it records technical details of each request: your IP address, the page requested, the date and time, the response code and how long it took. If something goes wrong, the site also records error details, which may include the page you were on.

We use these logs only to keep the site working, find bugs, and detect abuse such as attacks. We don't use them to identify or track visitors.

3.3 Settings stored in your browser

If you switch the site between light and dark mode, your choice is saved in your own browser so the site remembers it. Your choice about Google Analytics (accept or reject) is saved the same way. This information stays on your device and is not sent to us.

3.4 When you contact us

If you email us, we receive your email address, your name if you include it, and whatever you write. We use it only to reply and to deal with what you asked about.

If you open an issue or comment on GitHub, that happens on GitHub, is usually public, and is governed by GitHub's privacy statement. We read and answer it there.

3.5 Donations

If you choose to support the project through PayPal or Patreon, the payment happens on their site, under their own terms and privacy policies. We never see or store your card or bank details. The platform tells us what it normally tells a recipient, such as your name, email address, the amount and the date. We use that to thank you, to deal with any question about your donation, and to keep the records tax law requires.

3.6 Google Search Console

We use Google Search Console to see how the site appears in Google Search: which search terms led to it, how many times pages were shown and clicked, and whether Google found technical problems. These reports are aggregated by Google and don't tell us anything about individual visitors.

3.7 Our social media accounts

The project's official accounts are the Facebook Page "Test Junkie", Instagram @_testjunkie, the GitHub repository ArturSpirin/test_junkie, and a LinkedIn page for Test Junkie. When you follow, like, comment on or message these accounts, the platform (Meta, LinkedIn or GitHub) processes your information under its own privacy policy. We can see what the platform shows any account owner: your public profile name and what you post or send us.

We publish posts to these accounts with a scheduling tool that only posts our own content and reads aggregate numbers about our own posts (such as views and likes). It does not collect comments, messages or lists of followers.

For our Facebook Page, Meta provides us with "Page Insights", statistics about how people use the Page. Meta and we are jointly responsible for that processing under EU law, and Meta has agreed to take primary responsibility for it, including for answering requests about it. See Meta's Page Insights Controller Addendum and Meta's Privacy Policy. You can send such a request to us too, and we will pass it on to Meta.

4. Cookies and browser storage

The site itself sets no cookies except those of Google Analytics, and only when Google Analytics is allowed to run.

You can delete cookies and site data at any time in your browser settings. If you do, the site will forget your theme and ask about Google Analytics again where that applies.

5. Your choices: consent, Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control

• If you are in the European Economic Area, the UK or Switzerland, Google Analytics does not load and sets no cookies until you click Accept in the banner. If you click Reject or close the banner, it stays off.
• Elsewhere, Google Analytics loads by default. You can turn it off at any time.
• Changing your mind. Use the Cookie settings link at the bottom of every page to accept or reject, or to withdraw consent you gave earlier. Withdrawing doesn't affect what was collected before, but we stop Google Analytics from that point and remove its cookies.
• Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control. If your browser sends a Do Not Track ("DNT") signal or a Global Privacy Control ("GPC") signal, we treat it as a refusal: Google Analytics is not loaded, wherever you are.
• Tracking across other websites. We don't allow anyone to use this site to track you across other websites over time. Google Analytics, when it runs, is set up for our own statistics only, with Google's advertising features turned off. Sites you reach through our links (for example GitHub, PayPal, Patreon or social media) may track you under their own policies once you are there.

6. Who else receives information

We share information only with the service providers needed to run the site, each for the purpose described above:

• Google (Google Analytics and Google Search Console), for site statistics;
• Heroku / Salesforce, which hosts the site and its server logs;
• our email provider, which stores emails you send us;
• GitHub, Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and LinkedIn, when you interact with us on their platforms;
• PayPal and Patreon, when you donate.

We may also disclose information if the law requires it (for example, a valid court order), to protect the site or other people from fraud or abuse, or to a successor if the project is transferred, for example to a company formed to run it. A successor would have to respect this policy for information collected under it.

7. What we don't do

• We don't sell personal information, and we don't share it for targeted or cross-context behavioral advertising.
• We don't show ads, and we don't use advertising or remarketing cookies.
• We don't have user accounts, newsletters or sign-up forms.
• We don't build profiles of visitors, and we don't make automated decisions about anyone.
• We don't give personal information to other companies for their own marketing.

8. How long we keep it

9. Legal bases (EEA, UK and Switzerland)

If European or UK data-protection law applies to you, we rely on these legal bases:

• Consent for Google Analytics. You can withdraw it at any time (see section 5).
• Legitimate interests for server logs (keeping the site running and secure), for answering your messages, and for running our social media accounts. We keep this to what is needed, and you can object (see section 11).
• Legal obligation for keeping donation records.

10. International transfers

We are based in the United States, and our service providers process information in the United States and other countries. When information about people in the EEA, the UK or Switzerland is transferred to the US, it is protected by the safeguards the law provides, such as the provider's certification under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (and its UK and Swiss extensions) or standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission.

11. Your rights and how to use them

You can ask us to:

• tell you whether we hold personal information about you and give you a copy;
• correct it if it's wrong;
• delete it;
• stop or limit using it, or object to how we use it;
• give it to you, or to someone else, in a common electronic format;
• withdraw consent you gave (for Google Analytics, use Cookie settings).

How to ask: email us at hello [at] test-junkie [dot] com. Tell us what you want and, if it helps, how you contacted us (for example, the email address you wrote from). We only ask for the information we need to make sure we're dealing with the right person, and we use it for nothing else. We will reply within one month, and tell you if we need longer (the law allows up to two more months for complicated requests). It's free.

Please note that Google Analytics data is linked only to a random cookie ID, not to your name or email, so we usually can't find "your" records in it. Deleting the _ga cookies in your browser, or withdrawing consent, cuts the link, and the data expires after 2 months anyway.

We honor these requests from anyone, wherever you live, even where the law doesn't require it. We won't treat you differently for using any of these rights.

Complaints. If you are in the EEA, the UK or Switzerland, you can also complain to your data-protection authority, for example the UK's Information Commissioner's Office or the authority in your EU country (list). We'd appreciate the chance to put things right first, so please contact us.

12. California residents

• The information we collect is described in section 3, the companies that receive it in section 6, and how we respond to Do Not Track signals and whether others can track you across sites in section 5.
• To review, correct or delete your information, follow section 11.
• We don't sell or share personal information, and we don't disclose it to third parties for their direct marketing.
• We'll tell you about material changes to this policy as described in section 16.

13. Children

The site is a technical resource for software developers and is not directed to children. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children under 13, or under 16 where European or UK law sets that age. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, email us and we'll delete it.

14. Security

We keep what we collect to a minimum, which is the best protection there is. The site is served only over encrypted HTTPS connections, and access to our hosting, analytics and email accounts is restricted to us. No website can be perfectly secure, but if a security breach affects your personal information, we will tell you and the authorities where the law requires it.

15. Links to other websites

The site links to other websites, including GitHub, PyPI, Patreon, PayPal and social media platforms. Nothing from those sites loads until you click a link. Once you're there, their own privacy policies apply, not this one.

16. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy, for example if the site adds a feature that collects new information. We'll post the new version on this page and change the effective date at the top. If a change is significant, such as a new kind of information collected or a new use of it, we'll also show a notice on the site, and where the law requires consent we'll ask for it again before the change applies to you.

17. Contact

• Privacy questions and requests: hello [at] test-junkie [dot] com
• General questions, bugs and feature requests: GitHub issues (public; please don't post personal details there)

Artur Spirin, operator of www.test-junkie.com, New Mexico, USA.