Privacy Policy

Scope of this policy

This policy describes what Riverdale Standard collects when you read riverdalestandard.com, why, who else sees it, and what you can do about it. It covers the website and any newsletter or alert we send from it, and not the sites we link to. We publish for readers in many countries, so it is written to work wherever you happen to be, without assuming you live in any one of them.

What we collect when you read

Reading the site produces the server records any website produces: your IP address, the page requested, the time, the referring page, and the browser and device type your software reports. These logs exist so the site can be served, defended against abuse and debugged. They are kept for a short, fixed period and then discarded, and they are not joined to any identity.

We use an analytics tool to count visits and see which stories are read, for how long, and on what kind of device. It is configured to truncate IP addresses and not to build profiles of individual readers. The result is aggregate, and we use it to decide what to cover and to describe our audience to advertisers in aggregate only.

What we collect when you write to us

When you email support@riverdalestandard.com we receive whatever you send: your address, your name if you sign it, and the content of the message. Mail is kept as long as it is useful for the purpose you sent it; a correction request stays with the correction record, a tip until the story is done or abandoned. A confidential source’s messages are handled under the stricter rules on our contact page and are not stored in shared systems. If you subscribe to a newsletter or alert, we store the address and a record of the subscription, and every message carries an unsubscribe link.

Cookies and advertising

We set a small number of cookies ourselves, to remember preferences and to keep the analytics count honest. The cookie policy lists the categories, explains what each does, and describes how to refuse them. Where the law where you live requires consent for non-essential cookies, they are not set until you give it.

Riverdale Standard is funded by display advertising served through an advertising network. That network receives technical information about each ad request, such as the page URL, device type, approximate location derived from your IP address and a cookie identifier, so it can choose a banner and count that it was shown. It may use that information to build interest profiles across the many sites it serves. We do not send it your name, your email or the content of your messages. You can limit interest-based advertising through the consent controls, your browser settings and the industry opt-out mechanisms in your region; doing so does not remove ads, it makes them less targeted.

How we use what we hold

We use reader data to serve the site, measure it, keep it secure, answer your mail, send messages you asked for, and comply with law. We do not sell reader data, we do not use it to make automated decisions about individuals, and we do not use it for any purpose unrelated to publishing this site.

The GDPR and UK GDPR

Readers in the European Economic Area are protected by the General Data Protection Regulation, and readers in the United Kingdom by the UK GDPR, wherever the publisher happens to be. Both require a lawful basis for each use of personal data. Ours are: our legitimate interest in operating, securing and measuring the site in aggregate; your consent for non-essential cookies and newsletters; the need to respond when you write to us; and legal obligation for the narrow remainder. You can withdraw consent at any time.

If those laws apply to you, you have the right to access the personal data we hold about you, to have it corrected or erased, to restrict or object to its processing, to receive a copy in a portable format, and to complain to the supervisory authority in your country. We honour these rights for readers everywhere, because the same request deserves the same answer wherever it comes from.

Rights under the CCPA and CPRA

Residents of California are protected by the California Consumer Privacy Act as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act, and several other US states have similar laws. In plain terms, these give you the right to know what personal information is collected and how it is used, to delete it, to correct it, and to opt out of its sale or sharing for cross-context behavioural advertising. We do not sell personal information. Advertising cookies may count as sharing, and you can opt out through the consent controls and the Global Privacy Control signal. We will not treat you differently for exercising a right.

How to exercise a right

Write to support@riverdalestandard.com with PRIVACY in the subject line and say what you are asking for. We confirm receipt within two business days and answer within the period the applicable law allows, usually much sooner. We may need to verify that you are the person the data concerns, and we will ask for no more than that requires. An authorised agent may act for you if they can show they are authorised.

International transfers

Because our readers and our providers are in more than one country, data we hold may be processed outside the country you live in. Where a transfer is subject to rules such as those in the European Union or the United Kingdom, we rely on the safeguards those rules recognise, including standard contractual terms and adequacy decisions where they exist.

Who else receives data

Our hosting, email and analytics providers and the advertising network each process some data on our behalf or, in the network’s case, for its own purposes as described above, under processing agreements where applicable. We disclose data to law enforcement or courts only when legally compelled, we challenge requests that seek to identify sources or appear overbroad, and we tell you about a request for your data unless prohibited from doing so.

Global Privacy Control and Do Not Track

We honour the Global Privacy Control signal as an opt-out of sale or sharing where the law recognises it, and as a request to disable non-essential cookies everywhere. The older Do Not Track header is treated the same way where our tools can act on it.

Children, retention, security and changes

This site is written for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13, or under the higher age that applies where you live; if you believe a child has sent us personal information, write to us and it will be deleted. Server logs are kept for weeks, not years; analytics data is retained in aggregate; mail is kept as long as its purpose lasts; subscriber addresses are kept until you unsubscribe.

We use encryption in transit, restrict access to reader data to the people who need it, and review those permissions periodically. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach affects your data, we will notify you as the law requires and, in practice, sooner. Material changes to this policy are dated at the top of the page and announced before they take effect.