Privacy
What this site measures
This is a plain description of what actually happens, not a legal document. The whole point of the site is that claims should be checkable, which would be a poor look if this page were the exception.
We use Google Analytics Visits are counted with Google Analytics so we can see which pages are read and where readers come from. It uses cookies. In the EU, the EEA, the UK and Switzerland it stores nothing unless you say yes. It never runs if your browser asks not to be tracked, and its advertising features are off everywhere.
What is counted
- Which page was viewed
- Counted by Google Analytics, along with the page title, how long the page was open and roughly how far you scrolled.
- Which site sent you
- The referring site and page, without anything after a "?" in its address, so we can see whether visitors came from a search engine, a link or a share.
- Rough location and device type
- Google Analytics works out country or city, browser, screen size and language from the request. It does not give us your IP address.
- Whether you have been before
- Where cookies are allowed, Google Analytics can tell a returning browser from a new one, so we can count readers rather than just page views.
- A few clicks
- Comparing two jobs, pressing a share button, following a link to one of the new jobs, and the article feed. Which button, on which page, and nothing you typed.
We only look at it in aggregate: totals per page, per source, per country. Google processes the data under its own terms, described in how Google uses information from sites that use its services.
Cookies, and where you are
In the EU, the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, the site asks you first, and doesn't load Google Analytics at all until you answer yes. To know whether to ask, the site's own server looks up which country your IP address belongs to, using a free database from DB-IP (CC BY 4.0) that lives on the same server. Nothing is sent anywhere to do it, and the address isn't kept: the server's logs record only whether the answer was "ask" or "don't". As a second lock, Google also refuses to store anything for visits it places there itself.
Everywhere else, Google Analytics sets its cookies when the page loads. You can say no at any time with "Cookie choices" at the foot of every page, and the cookies are removed.
| Name | Set by | What it's for | Kept for |
|---|---|---|---|
| _ga | Google Analytics | Tells one browser from another, so visits can be counted as readers. | 13 months |
| _ga_EQCE8ZZVJ3 | Google Analytics | Keeps track of the current visit. | 13 months |
| mvb-analytics (local storage) | This site | Remembers your answer to "can we count your visit?", so a no stays a no. | Until you clear it |
What is never collected
- Advertising cookies, ad data or ad personalisation. They are switched off for everyone, everywhere.
- Your email address. Nothing on the site asks for one.
- Anything you type, including the job search. Search text never leaves your browser, and addresses are reported without their query strings.
- Advertising or social media scripts. Google Analytics is the only third-party script.
- Job adverts, social media or anyone’s personal data, mined to make a score.
Turning it off
, here or at the foot of any page, lets you say no. From then on Google Analytics isn't loaded at all, and its cookies are deleted. Your answer is kept in your browser's local storage so it sticks.
If your browser sends Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track, Google Analytics is never loaded. It isn't loaded and then told to stop; it simply isn't fetched, and nothing is asked of you. A content blocker that blocks Google Analytics works too.
Where the site is hosted
On a single server rented by the site's author, behind its own reverse proxy. Fonts and every other asset are served from that same machine, with no content delivery network and no font provider. The one other host a page contacts is Google, to load and send Google Analytics.