New users now get an automatic notification with a link to this post, which exists to explain our stance on privacy and tracking, including 'cookie laws'.

According to the UK ICO website:

> You must tell people if you set cookies, and clearly explain what the cookies do and why. You must also get the user’s consent. Consent must be actively and clearly given.

and it is not just cookies:

> Although this guide focuses on cookies, regulation 6 actually applies to anyone who stores information on a user’s device or gains access to information on a user’s device, in either case by any method.

The spirit of these, and other, similar, regulations are about protecting your privacy. We support that aim and take it much further than other sites that pay lip-service with a pop up consent box. We…

* …store data on your device only for the purpose of making the website work better. Examples include **cookies to remember the position of the resizer, the number of posts to display per page** and whether to display the chat preview and soft keyboard. Another example is that we use **HTML5 Local Storage to help keep track of unread message counts when you participate in chat**.
* …do not harvest your email address (or anything else) as part of the sign up process.
* …avoid exposing you to 3rd party tracking as much as possible, for example by:
   * Self-hosting uploaded images
   * Self-hosting 3rd party libraries instead of using a CDN
   * Eschewing 3rd party proxies like CloudFlare, because they add cookies to your traffic, and 3rd party analytics providers
   * Locally hosting 'one-boxed' Youtube link preview images (if you click on them you expose yourself to tracking, of course, but you can't be tracked just by visiting TopAnswers)
* …do not use or store your IP address.
* …do not display any 3rd party adverts at all — they are a privacy and security disaster waiting to happen.

We are always looking to improve things further. Long-term aspirations include:

* strictly enforcing https-only (currently it is possible to link to http image urls)
* converting all image links to locally-hosted images automatically (which would also be one way of achieving the above)

Most importantly of all, [we will never treat you as 'the product'](/meta?q=1) — we will always be non-profit and will not face the pressures of for-profit companies with shareholders and VC partners putting pressure on us to use you or your data to produce a return on their investment.