Privacy policy
Last updated
This is a brochure site. It has no accounts, no forms, no newsletter and no payments, so it never asks you for your name, your email address or any other personal detail — and it has none to give away.
What it does collect is usage measurement, through two tools: Google Analytics and Cloudflare Web Analytics. This page says what each one records, where it goes, and what you can switch off.
What is collected
Google Analytics 4, on every page you view. It records:
- the page you looked at, and the page or search that sent you here
- approximate location, worked out from your IP address and resolved no more precisely than your city
- your device type, screen size, browser and operating system
- how long you stayed and which links you followed
Google uses your IP address to derive that approximate location and does not store it in the analytics data. Nothing collected here identifies you by name.
Cloudflare Web Analytics, also on every page. It is a small script that measures how the site performs for real visitors:
- the page you looked at, and the page that sent you here
- your country, device type, browser and operating system
- how quickly the page loaded and settled — which element was largest, how long it took to appear, and whether the layout shifted
It sets no cookies, stores nothing in your browser, and does not build a profile of you from your IP address or browser details. Its reports are sent back to this site's own address and processed by Cloudflare.
Cookies
Google Analytics sets two first-party cookies, _ga and _ga_SPSK9PHNHZ, which let it tell a returning browser from a new one. By default they expire two years after your last visit. They are the only cookies this site sets — Cloudflare Web Analytics uses none.
There is no advertising here, and no cross-site or remarketing tracking: ad storage, ad user data and ad personalisation are refused for every visitor, in every country, without exception.
Where it goes
To Google, which processes analytics data on servers outside Canada, including in the United States. Information held in another country is subject to that country's laws and may be reachable by its courts and authorities. Google's own handling is described in the Google privacy policy.
The site itself is hosted on Cloudflare, which keeps ordinary web server logs — IP address, timestamp, the URL requested, the browser's user agent — for a short period in order to serve and protect the site. That is standard hosting, and this site neither controls nor reads those logs.
Cloudflare Web Analytics data goes to Cloudflare, which also operates outside Canada, including in the United States. Its handling is described in the Cloudflare privacy policy.
Where analytics never runs
Some places expect measurement to be off until you say otherwise, and this site has no consent banner to ask with. So Google Analytics never measures visitors from the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, Switzerland or Quebec. No banner, no Google Analytics data — that is the trade, and it is made deliberately rather than by omission.
Cloudflare Web Analytics is not limited this way: it runs for visitors everywhere. It is the cookieless, profile-free measurement described above, which is why it is treated differently.
Turning analytics off
Anywhere else, you can switch Google Analytics off here. It takes effect straight away and on every future visit.
The switch needs JavaScript. With JavaScript turned off neither analytics script runs either, so nothing is measured.
Your choice is stored only in this browser, under ssp:analytics-opt-out. It holds until you clear your site data, and it does not follow you to another browser or another device. Because it lives on your machine rather than on a server, no record is kept that you opted out — there is nothing about you to keep.
This switch does not turn off Cloudflare Web Analytics. Cloudflare adds that script to the page as it is served, and it offers no per-visitor switch. A content blocker that blocks static.cloudflareinsights.com will stop it, and so will turning JavaScript off.
Your rights
Under Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, and under Quebec's Law 25 where it applies, you may ask what personal information is held about you, ask for it to be corrected, and withdraw consent to its collection. The switch above is that withdrawal, available without asking anyone. To make one of these requests directly, or if you are not satisfied with how one was handled, write to privacy@spencersmithpark.ca.
You can also complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
Changes
If what the site collects changes, this page changes with it and the date at the top moves. There is no mailing list to notify, by design.