Privacy Policy

This policy explains how Chris Chalmers (“I”, “me”) handles data in connection with cbchalmers.com. I am the data controller for this site, and I am committed to protecting your privacy and complying with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

What this site collects

This is a personal portfolio and blog. It has no contact forms, sign-ups, or accounts, so the site collects nothing you type into it. If you want to get in touch, you do so by email or LinkedIn - contact you initiate yourself, using your own email client or account.

Two things are collected automatically when you visit, as with almost any website:

• Technical request data. Like any site, this one receives technical information from your browser on each visit - including your IP address, the pages you view, and general device and browser details - so the hosting platform can serve the page to you.
• Usage analytics. A privacy-friendly analytics tool records page views and a few interaction events – for example which blog post or topic was opened, which project was expanded, or that a contact button was used. These note what was clicked, not who clicked. See Analytics below.

Analytics

I use Vercel Analytics to understand how the site is used and to improve it. It is cookieless and privacy-friendly: it stores nothing on your device, does not track you across other websites, and does not build a personal profile of you. Vercel records each page view and event with an identifier it generates itself, rather than your name, a cookie, or an account, and I only ever see totals – never individual visitors. Before anything is sent, the site trims the page address to the page itself and any campaign (utm_) tags, so tracking IDs that other sites add to links are not passed on. My lawful basis for this is my legitimate interest in understanding and improving how the site performs. No other analytics services, tracking scripts, advertising networks, or social-media pixels are used on this site.

Cookies and local storage

This site sets no analytics or advertising cookies, so there is no cookie banner. The only thing stored is your light / dark theme preference, so the site can remember it. It is held in your browser’s local storage and – so your choice carries across both the main site and the blog subdomain – in a single functional cookie. Like any cookie, that value is sent to the server with each request, but it holds nothing more than “light”, “dark”, or “system” – no identifier, and nothing that identifies you.

Sharing and processors

I do not sell your data, and I do not share it for marketing. The site itself runs on a single service provider:

• Vercel - hosting and analytics. Receives the technical request data described above on every visit, and provides the analytics, which I see only as totals.

Each blog post links to my Buy Me a Coffee page, in case you would like to support the writing. It is a plain link: nothing from Buy Me a Coffee loads on this site. If you choose to buy a coffee, that happens on their site under their own privacy policy. Your card details go to their payment provider and never reach me. Buy Me a Coffee does show me the name you enter, your email address, any message you write, and the amount and date of your support. I use these only to see who supported the writing and to thank you, and I never share them. Your name and message also appear on my public Buy Me a Coffee page by default; you can turn that off in your Buy Me a Coffee settings.

If you email me, your message is handled by my email provider, Apple (iCloud Mail), in the ordinary way, so that I can read and reply to it.

International transfers

Vercel, which hosts the site, and Apple, which handles my email, are both headquartered in the United States and may process data outside the UK. Where data is processed outside the UK, it is protected by appropriate safeguards, such as Standard Contractual Clauses.

Retention

Vercel keeps the technical request data and the analytics data for up to 30 days, and then deletes it. I see the analytics only as totals and cannot link it to you as an individual. If you email me, I keep our correspondence for up to 12 months after our last contact about it - long enough to pick the conversation back up if you get in touch again - and then delete it.

Your rights

You have the right to access, correct, or delete any personal data I hold about you, to object to or restrict its processing, and to data portability. To exercise any of these rights, email me at contact@cbchalmers.com. You also have the right to complain to the UK’s data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Contact

For any privacy question, reach me by email or via LinkedIn.