Last updated: 9 October 2026
Techdows (“Techdows”, “we”, “us” or “our”) publishes the website techdows.com (the “Site”). This Privacy Policy explains what personal data we collect when you visit the Site, why we collect it, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and the rights you have over it. It is written to meet the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the ePrivacy rules on cookies, and comparable laws such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA/CPRA).
If you have any question about this policy or about your data, email [email protected].
1. Who is responsible for your data
Techdows is the data controller for personal data processed through the Site. Contact: [email protected], or use our Contact page. Techdows is an independent online publication and is not required to appoint a Data Protection Officer; the email above reaches the person responsible for privacy.
2. What we collect and why
2.1 Information you give us
- Comments. When you leave a comment we collect the name, email address and optional website you enter, the comment text, your IP address and your browser user-agent string. The IP address and user-agent help us detect spam. Your name, website and comment are published; your email address is never published.
- Email you send us. If you write to [email protected] or [email protected] we keep your email address, name and the content of your message so we can reply and, for news tips, credit you if the tip leads to a story.
Legal basis: our legitimate interest in running a commenting system and answering correspondence (GDPR Art. 6(1)(f)); for publishing a comment under your name, your consent given by submitting it (Art. 6(1)(a)).
2.2 Information collected automatically
- Server logs. Our web server records the IP address, requested URL, date and time, referring URL, browser type and operating system of each request. We use these logs to keep the Site secure, block abusive traffic and diagnose faults.
- Analytics. We use Google Analytics 4 to understand which articles are read, how visitors arrive and how the Site performs. See section 4.
- Advertising. Advertising on the Site is managed by Mediavine. Mediavine and its advertising partners collect data to serve, measure and, where you consent, personalise ads. See section 5.
- Cookies and similar technologies. See section 3.
Legal basis: security and fault diagnosis rely on our legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)). Analytics and advertising cookies that are not strictly necessary are set only with your consent (Art. 6(1)(a)) where the law requires it, including in the EEA, the United Kingdom and Switzerland.
2.3 What we do not collect
You do not need an account to read Techdows, and we do not ask for payment details, government identifiers or special-category data. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 16; if you believe a child has given us personal data, email us and we will delete it.
3. Cookies and similar technologies
Cookies are small text files placed on your device by a website. We also use similar technologies such as local storage, pixels and advertising identifiers. The cookies used on the Site fall into three groups:
| Type | Purpose | Set by | Needs your consent? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strictly necessary | Remembering your details in the comment form if you ask us to, keeping the Site secure, recording your cookie choices | Techdows, our consent tool | No |
| Analytics | Counting visits and page views, measuring reading time and site speed | Google Analytics | Yes (EEA, UK, Switzerland and where required) |
| Advertising | Serving ads, limiting how often you see an ad, measuring ad performance and, with consent, showing ads based on your interests | Mediavine and its advertising partners | Yes for personalised advertising |
Managing cookies. Visitors from the EEA, UK and Switzerland see a consent banner before any non-essential cookie is set and can change or withdraw their choices at any time through the privacy settings link shown on every page. Everyone can delete or block cookies in their browser settings; the Site keeps working without them, although you may need to re-enter your details when commenting.
4. Analytics
We use Google Analytics 4, provided by Google Ireland Limited (for EEA, UK and Swiss visitors) and Google LLC (elsewhere). It records page views, approximate location derived from your IP address, device and browser type, referring site and how you move through the Site. Google Analytics 4 does not store full IP addresses and we have not enabled Google Signals or advertising features for it. Reports we see are aggregated and do not identify you. Google’s own practices are described in its Privacy Policy and you can block Analytics in any browser with the Google Analytics opt-out add-on.
5. Advertising (Mediavine)
The Site works with Mediavine (Mediavine, Inc.) to manage the interest-based and contextual advertising that funds our writing. Mediavine serves content and advertisements when you visit the Site, which may use first- and third-party cookies and similar technologies.
The data Mediavine and its partners may collect includes: your IP address and approximate location; browser and device type, operating system and screen size; the pages you visit on the Site and the ads you see or click; the URL of the page that linked you here; and identifiers stored in cookies or assigned to your device. First-party cookies set by Mediavine are used, for example, to remember your consent choices, to limit how often you see the same ad, and to measure how ads perform.
Mediavine’s advertising partners (the demand partners, ad exchanges and measurement vendors it works with) may combine this data with information they have collected elsewhere, such as advertising IDs or pixels on other sites and apps, to build audience segments and show you ads that match your interests across devices, browsers and apps. That combined data can include usage data, cookie and device information, interactions with ads and websites, geolocation and traffic data, and referral sources.
Consent and choices. In the EEA, UK and Switzerland, Mediavine’s consent management platform asks for your permission under the IAB Europe Transparency and Consent Framework before personalised advertising runs, and you can change your decision at any time from the privacy settings link on every page. Wherever you are, you can also:
- opt out of interest-based advertising from participating companies at the Network Advertising Initiative and the Digital Advertising Alliance, or in Europe at Your Online Choices;
- download the Digital Advertising Alliance’s AppChoices app, or use the “limit ad tracking” or “delete advertising ID” controls in your phone’s settings, to opt out in mobile apps;
- review the list of Mediavine’s advertising partners, the data each collects and their privacy policies at mediavine.com/partners, and Mediavine’s own Privacy Policy.
Opting out does not remove ads; it means the ads you see are no longer selected using your interests.
6. Embedded content and links
Some articles embed videos, posts or other content from third parties, most often YouTube (Google) and X (formerly Twitter). An embed behaves exactly as if you had visited that service: it can set its own cookies, record your interaction with the embed and, if you are signed in to that service, link the visit to your account.
Comments on the Site show an avatar provided by Gravatar (Automattic Inc.). To fetch it, a hashed version of the commenter’s email address is sent to Gravatar; its privacy policy explains what it does with that.
Our download guides link to the software publisher’s official site. Once you follow a link to any other website, that site’s privacy policy applies, not ours.
7. Who we share data with
We do not sell your personal data in the ordinary sense, and we do not give it to anyone for their own marketing. Data is shared only with:
- Service providers who process it on our instructions: our hosting provider (DigitalOcean, LLC, servers in the United States), Google (analytics, embeds), Mediavine and its advertising partners (advertising), and Automattic (Gravatar avatars).
- Authorities, where the law requires it, or to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
- A successor if Techdows is ever sold or merged, in which case this policy continues to apply to the data transferred.
Under the CCPA/CPRA, allowing advertising partners to use cookies for cross-context behavioural advertising can count as “sharing”. California residents can opt out through the “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” option in the privacy settings link at the bottom of every page, or by emailing us. We honour Global Privacy Control signals sent by your browser.
8. International transfers
Techdows is hosted in the United States and most of the providers above are US companies. When data about visitors in the EEA, UK or Switzerland leaves those regions it is protected by the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses, the UK International Data Transfer Addendum, or the provider’s certification under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, as applicable.
9. How long we keep data
| Data | Retention |
|---|---|
| Web server logs | Rotated daily and deleted after 14 days |
| Comments and the metadata collected with them | Kept for as long as the article is published, so that follow-up comments remain in context, unless you ask us to delete yours |
| Email correspondence | Up to 2 years after the last message, unless a longer period is needed for a legal claim |
| Google Analytics event data | 14 months, after which only aggregated reports remain |
| Advertising cookies | Set by Mediavine and its partners for periods ranging from one session to 13 months; details are in the consent tool |
| Consent records | 12 months, then you are asked again |
10. Your rights
If you are in the EEA, UK or Switzerland you have the right to:
- access the personal data we hold about you and receive a copy;
- rectify data that is inaccurate or incomplete;
- erase your data (“right to be forgotten”), for example to have a comment and its metadata deleted;
- restrict or object to processing based on our legitimate interests;
- data portability: receive the data you gave us in a machine-readable format;
- withdraw consent at any time, without affecting processing that happened before you withdrew it, for example by changing your cookie choices;
- lodge a complaint with your national data protection authority (in the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office; in Ireland, the Data Protection Commission).
Residents of California and other US states with privacy laws have similar rights to know, delete, correct and opt out of sale or sharing, and the right not to be discriminated against for using them.
To exercise any right, email [email protected] from the address you used on the Site, or tell us which comment or message is yours. We answer within one month (45 days for CCPA requests) and may ask you to confirm your identity first. Exercising your rights is free.
11. Security
The Site is served only over HTTPS. Access to the server and to WordPress is limited to the people who run Techdows, protected by key-based and strong-password authentication, and the server blocks abusive traffic automatically. No internet service can be perfectly secure, so if you believe your data has been compromised through the Site, contact us immediately.
12. Changes to this policy
We update this policy when our practices or the law change. The date at the top shows the latest revision; material changes are also noted on the Site. Continuing to use the Site after a change means the revised policy applies.
13. Contact
Techdows
Email: [email protected]
Web: techdows.com/contact