Privacy Policy

This policy describes what this website collects, why, and who else is involved. It reflects how the site is actually built rather than a generic template.

Server logs and content delivery

The site runs on WordPress behind Cloudflare, which acts as a content-delivery network and proxy. Ordinary web-server logs record IP address, browser user-agent, requested page, referring page and timestamp. Cloudflare processes the same request data and sets its own cookies for security and traffic management under its own policy. These records exist to keep the site running and to defend it from abuse.

Mailing list signup

The signup form on the front page collects first name, last name, email address and phone number, and stores them in a Mautic instance we operate at mautic.romanian.gop. We use them to send updates and, occasionally, to check a detail with a reader. We do not sell this list. You can ask to be removed at any time by texting (561) 702-9200, and every mailing carries an unsubscribe link.

Weather and approximate location

The front page shows local weather, which requires some idea of where you are. In order of preference the site uses:

• A ro_loc cookie holding a coarse location from your previous visit.
• Country and region headers supplied by Cloudflare with the request.
• An IP-based lookup through ipapi.co, cached on our server for 24 hours against a hash of the IP address.
• Washington, DC, as a fallback when none of the above resolves.

If you grant your browser’s location permission, the page will use that more precise position instead and reverse-geocode it through BigDataCloud; forecasts come from Open-Meteo. Your precise coordinates are held in your own browser’s local storage, not sent to us. Declining the permission is remembered locally so you are not asked again, and the site works normally without it.

Tipline link taps

When someone taps a text-us link on this site, the site records the event — timestamp, IP address, browser user-agent, referring page and which link was tapped — so we can tell how the tipline is being found. This records the tap on the website. The content of any message you then send arrives by SMS through your mobile carrier, outside this website entirely.

Preferences stored in your browser

Your light or dark theme choice is stored in your browser’s local storage under rg-theme, along with the cached weather location described above. These stay on your device.

Video

Video thumbnails and links on the front page point to YouTube. Following one takes you to Google’s service, where Google’s own privacy policy governs what happens next.

What we do not do

We do not sell personal information. We do not run third-party advertising trackers. We do not require an account to read anything on this site.

Your choices

You can browse without granting location permission, block or clear cookies and local storage in your browser, and unsubscribe from the mailing list at any time. To ask what we hold about you, or to have it deleted, text (561) 702-9200.

Children

This site is intended for adults and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from them.

Changes

If this policy changes materially we will update this page. Because the site’s behavior is what the policy describes, changes here follow changes to the site rather than the other way around.