thechronicles.live
Privacy Policy
Last updated 5 November 2026
In short: there are no accounts, no sign-up forms and no advertising. The site counts visits in two ways: its own anonymous visit counter, which uses no cookies, and Google Analytics, which uses cookies. Visitors in the UK and Europe are asked first. You can change your choice at any time.
Who runs this site
THE CHRONICLES is written and run by Chaudhry Muhammad Rayyan Shahid, Islamabad, Pakistan. For any question about this policy or your data, email rayyanchaudhry03@outlook.com.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics tells me how many people read the site, which pages they open, how they arrived (for example from a search or a shared link), roughly where they are, and what kind of device they use. It does not tell me who you are.
- Visitors in the UK and Europe (detected from your device’s time zone, and by Google from your location) see a panel asking for permission, and Google Analytics sets no cookies unless you choose Accept.
- Visitors elsewhere are counted from the first visit. You can switch it off with Cookie settings below or in any page’s footer.
- Google says Google Analytics 4 does not log or store IP addresses. Visit data is kept for up to 14 months and is processed by Google, which may handle it outside your country, including in the United States.
- Nothing is used for advertising: advertising features are switched off.
Cookies set by Google Analytics:
| Cookie | What it does | Kept for |
|---|---|---|
_ga | Tells one visitor from another, without identifying you | Up to 2 years |
_ga_BKRDH90677 | Keeps track of the current visit | Up to 2 years |
More about how Google uses this information: How Google uses information from sites that use its services.
The site’s own visit counter
The Engagement Tracker in the header shows live readership. Each time a page opens it adds one to a set of public counts. It records only:
- the hour, day, week, month and year of the visit;
- the country, read from your connection by the site’s own host, Netlify, and by GeoJS and country.is (which see your IP address to answer, and nothing is kept), or, if none answers, from your device’s time zone or language setting;
- which page was opened, the kind of place you came from (search, social media, direct), whether you used a phone, tablet or computer, and whether you used the installed app.
It uses no cookies and no identifier, and stores no IP address. The counts are held in a Firebase database run by Google.
Helping run The Chronicles
Memberships are taken by Patreon. If you choose a tier, you leave this site for patreon.com, and Patreon handles your account, your payment and your card or PayPal details under its own privacy policy (privacy.patreon.com). This site never sees your payment details. Patreon tells me your name and the tier you chose, so I can thank you; your name appears on the Founding Supporters list only if you agree.
One-time gifts are taken by Gumroad. If you choose an amount, you leave this site for gumroad.com, and Gumroad handles your payment and your card or PayPal details under its own privacy policy (gumroad.com/privacy). This site never sees your payment details. Gumroad tells me your email address and the amount, and your name if you give it, so I can thank you; your name is shown on the site only if you write and ask.
Readers in Pakistan can instead pay directly to a NayaPay account, by scanning its QR code or with the account details shown in the panel when asked for. That payment is handled by NayaPay and your own bank; this site never sees it. If you email a screenshot of the transfer to be added to a tier, your name and the screenshot are used only to thank you and, with your agreement, to list you.
The Help me run The Chronicles panel keeps two small notes in your browser’s storage: when its invitation was last shown, and whether you opened Patreon or Gumroad from it, so that the invitation is not repeated.
What is stored on your device
- Small settings in your browser’s storage: your cookie choice, the language you picked, whether you installed the app or dismissed its invitation, when the invitation to help run The Chronicles was last shown and whether you opened Patreon or Gumroad from it, and visits made offline that are waiting to be counted.
- If you install the app, copies of the pages are saved so they open without a connection.
You can remove all of these by clearing this site’s data in your browser settings.
Other services your browser contacts
- Netlify hosts the site. Like any web host, its servers receive your IP address when they send you a page.
- Google Fonts supplies the typefaces, so your browser fetches them from Google.
- Google Translate is used only if you choose a language from the globe in the header. The page is then shown through Google’s translation service, which processes it and your connection.
- Links to other websites, such as LinkedIn, follow those sites’ own policies once you open them.
Your choices and rights
- Change your cookie choice at any time with Cookie settings. Declining stops Google Analytics and deletes its cookies.
- Your browser can also block cookies, or block Google Analytics altogether.
- If you are in the UK or the European Economic Area, data protection law gives you rights to access, correct, delete and object to the use of personal data. Email me to use them. Because Analytics data is not linked to your name, I usually cannot find a particular person’s visits, but I will help where I can.
- You can complain to a data protection authority: in the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk); in the EU, the authority in your country.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version will be posted here with a new date.