Last updated: July 31, 2026
Who is responsible
This site is published by AdsCompass, which operates it as an editorial resource comparing advertising networks for website owners. We are the data controller for anything collected here. This site is an information resource and not an advertising network in its own right: we do not serve ads on these pages, we do not host an ad server, and we do not place advertising tags on any other website. Questions about anything in this policy go to [email protected] and are answered by a person rather than a form.
This site operates on a United Kingdom domain, so the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018 apply to it. We act as controller under Article 4(7) and this policy is our Article 13 notice. Where you are in the European Union, Regulation (EU) 2016/679 gives you materially the same rights and we honour them identically. Where you are a resident of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia or another US state with comprehensive privacy legislation, the rights described below are available to you as well, because it is simpler to give everybody the same rights than to run three separate regimes.
What we collect
Information you send us. If you email one of the addresses on the contact page, we hold your address, your message and any attachments for as long as it takes to answer and, where the message reported an error, for as long as we keep the record of that correction. We do not ask for and do not want your account credentials with any advertising network, your payment details, your tax information or copies of identity documents. If you send them anyway we delete them and tell you we have.
Information collected automatically. Our host records standard server logs for every request. These contain your IP address, which is needed to route the response to you and to identify abusive traffic; the date and time of the request, which is how availability problems are diagnosed after the fact; the URL requested, which shows which pages are actually read; your user agent string, which identifies the browser and operating system and is how we know whether a rendering bug affects real visitors; and the referring URL where your browser sends one. These logs are not combined into a profile, not sold, and not shared with advertisers.
What we do not collect. There are no user accounts on this site, no newsletter, no comment system and no login. We do not fingerprint devices, do not run session recording or heatmap tools, and do not embed social media widgets that report your visit back to a platform.
Cookies and analytics
These pages set no advertising cookies and carry no third-party advertising tags. We do run Google Analytics 4, measurement ID G-W2D45MJ04K, which is loaded from googletagmanager.com on every page. It records which pages are opened, how long a visit lasts, the approximate location derived from a truncated IP address, and the device and browser in use. It sets first-party cookies beginning with _ga, which persist for up to two years and hold a randomly generated identifier rather than anything you have told us. Google acts as our processor for this data. Nothing on this site depends on those cookies: blocking them in your browser or with an extension leaves every page fully readable.
We do not use Analytics to build advertising audiences, we have not enabled Google signals or ads personalisation, and we do not export the data to any advertising product.
Outbound links to advertising networks are ordinary links. Once you follow one you are on that company's property, their privacy terms apply instead of ours, and they may set their own cookies to attribute the visit. We have no visibility into what happens there beyond knowing a click occurred. If that matters to you, the practical answer is to open those links in a private window.
Why we process it, and on what basis
To answer you. When you write to us, processing your message rests on legitimate interests under Article 6(1)(f) — you contacted us and expect a reply — or on the steps taken at your request under Article 6(1)(b) where a contractual relationship is in view.
To keep the site available and free of abuse. Server logs are processed on legitimate interests under Article 6(1)(f). The interest is operating a website without it being taken down, and the processing is limited to what a web server records by default.
To understand which research is read. Google Analytics rests on your consent under Article 6(1)(a), and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations treat an analytics cookie as non-essential, so it requires consent rather than legitimate interests. You can withdraw at any time by clearing the _ga cookies, blocking them in your browser, or installing Google's opt-out extension.
To meet legal obligations. Where a law requires us to retain or produce something, Article 6(1)(c) applies. In practice this has never happened on this site.
How long we keep it
Server logs are kept for the period our host retains them, which is measured in weeks rather than years, and are then overwritten. Email correspondence is kept while the conversation is live and for a reasonable period afterwards so that a correction can be traced back to whoever reported it; correspondence that raised no issue is deleted once answered. Aggregated analytics figures, which cannot be traced to an individual, may be kept indefinitely because they are no longer personal data.
If you ask us to delete correspondence sooner, we will, and no explanation is required.
Who else sees it
Our hosting provider processes data on our behalf as a processor and can technically access server logs and files as an incident of running the servers. Our email provider processes correspondence on the same basis. We do not sell personal information, we do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising, and we do not disclose it to any advertising network, including the one that publishes this site.
Where a provider processes data outside the country you are in, transfers rely on the safeguards available to that provider, which for major hosting and email services generally means standard contractual clauses or an adequacy decision. If you need to know the specific provider before deciding whether to write to us, ask and we will tell you.
Your rights
You can ask what we hold about you and receive a copy; ask for it to be corrected if it is wrong; ask for it to be deleted; ask us to restrict what we do with it while a dispute is resolved; object to processing that rests on legitimate interests; and receive what you gave us in a portable format. Under GDPR these are Articles 15 to 21. Under US state law the equivalents are usually framed as access, correction, deletion and opt-out rights, and we honour them the same way.
Requests go to [email protected]. There is no charge, we do not require you to prove your identity beyond writing from the address concerned, and because we hold very little most requests are answered within days rather than the month the regulations permit. If you are unhappy with how we handled a request, the supervisory authority for this site is the Information Commissioner's Office, which takes complaints at ico.org.uk and on 0303 123 1113. If you are in the European Union you may instead complain to the authority for the country where you live or work.
Children
This site is written for people who own and monetize websites, which is an adult commercial audience. We do not knowingly collect information from children, and there is nothing here directed at them. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, write to the privacy address and we will delete it.
Changes
If this policy changes in a way that affects you, the revised version is published here with a new date rather than applied quietly. It was last reviewed on July 31, 2026. The research this policy covers is on Ad Network, conditions attached to using the site are in the terms of use, how the research is produced is in the editorial policy, and the commercial relationship behind the site is disclosed on about us.