Privacy Policy

What this site collects about you, why, who else sees it, and how to have it deleted.

Last updated

This is my personal website, astn.io. I’m Austin Hagel, an individual based in Washington State, USA, and “I” and “me” in this policy mean me. It covers astn.io and the comment system at comments.astn.io.

The short version:

  • There are no ads or tracking cookies on this site, and I don’t sell or share your information for advertising.
  • Reading the site sends basic technical information (like your IP address) to Cloudflare and my server, which every website receives.
  • I count visits with Umami, a privacy-friendly analytics tool that runs on my own server. It doesn’t use cookies or store your IP address.
  • If you comment, your name, profile picture and comments are stored on my server and shown publicly.
  • If you use the contact form, your message is delivered to me by email through a service called Formspark.
  • You can ask me to delete your data at any time through the contact page.

Reading the site

Cloudflare and server logs

Traffic to this site passes through Cloudflare, which protects it from attacks and helps it load quickly. To do that, Cloudflare processes technical information about each visit, such as your IP address, browser, and the pages you request. Cloudflare may also set cookies that are needed to tell people from bots. These aren’t used to track you. Cloudflare’s privacy policy explains how it handles this data.

Like most web servers, my server also keeps standard access logs: the IP address, time, page requested, browser, and the page that linked you here. I use these only to keep the site secure and working, and keep them only as long as needed for that.

Your preferences

If you pick a light or dark theme, that choice is saved in your browser’s local storage so the site remembers it. It stays on your device and is never sent to me.

Everything else

The site’s fonts, search, and 3D viewer are all served from my own server, so reading a page doesn’t load anything from other companies. The share menu only opens a link to the service you pick (like Bluesky or LinkedIn), and nothing is sent to it until you click.

Analytics

To see which pages people read and how they find the site, I use Umami, an open-source analytics tool that I run on my own server at analytics.astn.io. Nothing it collects is shared with Umami’s makers or anyone else.

When you load a page, Umami records:

  • the page’s address (without anything after a ? in it) and title
  • the page that linked you here, if any
  • your browser, operating system, device type, screen size and language
  • your approximate location (country, region and city), worked out from your IP address

Umami doesn’t use cookies or store your IP address. To count visitors, it combines your IP address and browser details into a one-way hash, which can’t be turned back into them. The hash changes every month, so your visits can’t be linked together over longer periods. These statistics are only ever shown to me in aggregate, and I keep them as long as they’re useful.

If your browser sends a Do Not Track signal, Umami doesn’t record your visits at all. Blocking scripts from analytics.astn.io works too, and doesn’t affect the rest of the site.

Comments

Comments on posts and projects are powered by Remark42, an open-source comment system that I run on my own server at comments.astn.io. It doesn’t show ads or include trackers.

What’s collected

You can comment anonymously, or sign in with an account from a provider like Google or GitHub. The sign-in screen shows the providers that are available.

  • If you sign in with an account: the provider shares your account ID, display name and profile picture with the comment system. Your account ID is stored in hashed form, and your profile picture is copied to my server so your browser doesn’t have to load it from the provider. Your email address, password and other account details aren’t stored.
  • If you comment anonymously: only the name you enter is stored.
  • With every comment: the text, the page it’s on, when it was posted or edited, votes, and a one-way hash of your IP address. The hash helps me deal with spam and abuse without storing the address itself.

Your name, profile picture and comments are public. Anyone visiting the site can see them.

Cookies

Signing in sets cookies on comments.astn.io. These keep you signed in and protect against forged requests. They’re required for commenting to work and aren’t used for tracking.

How long it’s kept, and deleting it

Comments and the account details above are kept until you or I delete them. I may edit or remove comments that break the Terms of Service.

To have your comments and account data deleted, use the data removal option in the comment system’s user menu, if it’s shown, or ask me through the contact page. You can also ask me for a copy of your data.

When you sign in with Google, GitHub or another provider, that provider knows you signed in to this site. Its own privacy policy covers that, for example Google’s or GitHub’s.

The contact form

The contact form sends your name, email address, the topic you pick, the subject (if you add one) and your message to Formspark, a form service that forwards it to my email. I use what you send only to read and reply to your message, and I don’t add you to any mailing list. Messages stay in my email for as long as they’re useful, and I’ll delete yours if you ask. Formspark’s privacy policy explains how it handles submissions.

Who else sees your data

I don’t sell your information, and I don’t share it with anyone for advertising. The only other parties that handle it are the services described above (Cloudflare, Formspark and whichever sign-in provider you choose), each for the purpose described. I’d also share information if the law required me to.

Your rights

Wherever you live, you can ask me to:

  • tell you what data I have about you
  • give you a copy of it
  • correct it
  • delete it

Send requests through the contact page, and I’ll respond within 30 days. Depending on where you live, for example in the EU or UK, you may have further rights under local privacy laws, including the right to complain to your data protection authority.

Children

This site isn’t aimed at children, and you need to be at least 13 to comment or use the contact form. I don’t knowingly collect information from children under 13. If you believe a child has, let me know and I’ll delete it.

Security

The site and comment system are only served over HTTPS, and I keep the software that runs them up to date. No system is perfectly secure, but I collect as little as I can so there’s less to protect.

Changes to this policy

If I change how the site handles your data, for example by adding a new service, I’ll update this page and the date at the top before the change takes effect.

Contact

Questions or requests about your data? Reach me through the contact page.

Back to top