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    GOVSPENDING.ORG
    Privacy

    Privacy Policy

    Effective September 8, 2026.

    GOVSPENDING.ORG (“the site”) is an independent, nonpartisan public-finance tracker. We do not run user accounts, do not collect personally identifying information at registration (there is no registration), do not process payments, and do not accept comments. Visitor measurement is limited to web analytics and session replay, described below. Optional Google Analytics and Ahrefs run only after you opt in; Microsoft Clarity loads without the cookie banner.

    What we collect

    Three third-party measurement services can record how the site is used. They are not equivalent: Microsoft Clarity loads without the cookie banner; Google Analytics 4 and Ahrefs run only after you accept.

    • Microsoft Clarity (project ID yf9ilqdifn) — session replay and heatmaps. Clarity records how you interact with a page — pointer movement, clicks, and scrolling — and can play that back as a reconstruction of a visit, and aggregates those interactions into heatmaps. That is more than page counts. Clarity is not cookieless: it may set first-party cookies on this site (typically _clck and _clsk) and may also set cookies on Microsoft domains (for example CLID). The script loads in the site <head> without the cookie banner. Microsoft describes Clarity as masking sensitive text by default; we do not use it to collect names, emails, or payment details (this site has none).
    • Google Analytics 4 (measurement ID G-7M9S1VNLGF) — page views, referrer, approximate geographic region, device type, browser, session duration. IP addresses are anonymized at the network edge (anonymize_ip enabled). Google’s Consent Mode v2 is used, so no GA cookies are dropped before consent.
    • Ahrefs Web Analytics — same general data (page views, referrer, device, browser). The Ahrefs script is loaded dynamically only after you accept the banner; it is not present on the page at all if you reject or have not chosen.

    What we do NOT collect at any point: name, email, phone number, mailing address, payment information, government identifiers, account credentials. The site has no account system.

    Why we collect it

    Analytics and session replay tell us which pages are useful, which queries our SEO is actually serving, and where users get stuck (including pointer, click, and scroll patterns). We use that data to decide which series to add to the catalog, which dashboards to improve, and which long-tail topics deserve their own pages. It is read-only data that informs editorial and product decisions.

    Who we share it with

    Measurement data is held by Microsoft, Google, and Ahrefs respectively, under their own privacy policies (Microsoft, Google, Ahrefs). We do not sell, rent, or trade any data with any third party. We do not run advertising on the site, and we do not embed advertising trackers, retargeting pixels, or social-network share widgets. The third-party scripts that receive visitor data are Microsoft Clarity (always), plus Google Analytics 4 and Ahrefs Web Analytics when you accept the banner.

    How long we keep it

    Google Analytics user-level and event-level data retention is set to 14 months (the maximum GA4 offers is 14 months for the standard property). This is the retention window for the analytics data itself. Note this is a separate concept from the lifetime of the GA cookies in your browser (the _ga cookies last up to 2 years by Google’s default — see the cookie list); deleting your cookies or withdrawing consent stops GA collection regardless. Ahrefs retention follows their policy. Microsoft Clarity stores session recordings and heatmap data on Microsoft’s systems for the retention period set by that service; rejecting the banner does not stop Clarity. We do not store any visitor data on our own servers — there is no “our servers” component in this regard, since GOVSPENDING.ORG is served as static files from GitHub Pages.

    Your rights

    Legal basis. Under the GDPR and UK GDPR, our legal basis for optional Google Analytics and Ahrefs is your consent (Art. 6(1)(a)), given through the cookie banner; those two tools do not run until you opt in. For Microsoft Clarity session replay and basic, secure delivery of the site, our basis is our legitimate interest in understanding how the site is used and keeping it available. Clarity loads without the banner; you can still block or delete its cookies in your browser settings.

    Depending on your jurisdiction (GDPR, UK GDPR, California’s CCPA as amended by the CPRA, and similar US state laws), you have the right to:

    • Withdraw your consent to optional GA4 / Ahrefs analytics at any time (controls below).
    • Request a copy of the data Microsoft / Google / Ahrefs hold via their dashboards.
    • Request deletion of that data via the same dashboards.
    • Object to specific processing. Withdrawing banner consent stops optional GA4 and Ahrefs. It does not stop Microsoft Clarity; use browser cookie controls for those cookies.

    Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information

    We do not sell or share your personal information as those terms are defined under the CCPA/CPRA, and we never have. We run no advertising, no cross-context behavioral advertising, and no data brokering — there is nothing to opt out of being sold.

    We honor the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal. If your browser or an extension sends a GPC signal, we treat it as a binding opt-out for optional analytics: Google Analytics stays denied and the Ahrefs script is never loaded, even if you click “Accept” on the banner. That override does not apply to Microsoft Clarity, which is not gated by the banner. The banner will tell you when a GPC signal is detected.

    Your current consent

    Status: Not yet decided — the banner will reappear for optional analytics. Microsoft Clarity already loads.

    Your choice is stored in this browser’s localStorage under the key gs_consent_v1. Clearing site data in your browser resets it.

    Changes to this policy

    We update the effective date at the top of this page whenever the policy materially changes. Material changes — new data flows, new third parties, retention changes — trigger a fresh consent request via the banner.