Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

Information Collected Automatically

When you visit PULSE News, certain information is automatically collected by our servers and third-party services:

• Log Data: IP address, browser type and version, pages visited, time and date of visit, time spent on pages, and referring URL
• Device Information: Device type, operating system, screen resolution, and language settings
• Usage Data: Articles read, tabs clicked, links followed, and general browsing behavior on our site

Information You Provide

We do not currently require account registration or collect personal information such as your name or email address directly. If you contact us via email, we will receive your email address and the content of your message.

2. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

PULSE News and our advertising partners use cookies and similar tracking technologies to enhance your experience and serve relevant advertisements.

Types of Cookies We Use

• Essential Cookies: Required for the website to function properly, including caching news content for faster loading
• Analytics Cookies: Help us understand how visitors interact with our website (e.g. Google Analytics)
• Advertising Cookies: Used by Google AdSense to serve personalised advertisements based on your interests and browsing history
• Performance Cookies: Used to improve site speed and user experience

You can control cookie settings through your browser preferences. Note that disabling certain cookies may affect website functionality.

3. Google AdSense & Advertising

We use Google AdSense to display advertisements on PULSE News. Google AdSense uses cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to our website and other sites on the internet.

• Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads based on your visit to our site and other sites on the Internet
• You may opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings
• You can also opt out via the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page
• For more information on how Google uses data, visit Google's Privacy & Terms

Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to our website or other websites. Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads based on visits to our site and other sites on the Internet.

4. How We Use Your Information

The information we collect is used for the following purposes:

• To provide, operate, and maintain our news website
• To improve, personalise, and expand our website content
• To understand and analyse how you use our website
• To serve relevant advertisements through Google AdSense
• To detect and prevent fraud, abuse, or technical issues
• To comply with legal obligations

5. Third-Party Services

PULSE News integrates the following third-party services that may collect data independently:

• BBC News RSS / NY Times RSS: We fetch publicly available news feeds. No personal data is shared with these providers.
• Google AdSense: Advertising network that uses cookies for ad targeting. See Section 3 above.
• Google Fonts: Web fonts loaded from Google servers, which may log your IP address.
• Picsum Photos: Stock images served from picsum.photos. Basic request data is logged by their servers.
• Anthropic Claude AI: We use Anthropic's API to generate enhanced article summaries. Article headlines and summaries (no personal user data) are sent to Anthropic's API.

These third-party services have their own privacy policies. We encourage you to review them.

6. Data Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to third parties. We may share information in the following limited circumstances:

• Legal Requirements: If required by law, court order, or government authority
• Safety: To protect the rights, property, or safety of PULSE News, our users, or the public
• Business Transfer: In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets

7. Data Retention

We retain automatically collected data (such as server logs) for a maximum of 90 days, after which it is deleted or anonymised. We do not store personal user accounts or user-generated content.

8. Your Rights (GDPR & CCPA)

Depending on your location, you may have the following rights regarding your data:

• Right to Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Right to Erasure: Request deletion of your personal data ("right to be forgotten")
• Right to Rectification: Request correction of inaccurate personal data
• Right to Object: Object to our processing of your personal data
• Right to Data Portability: Request transfer of your data to another service
• Right to Opt-Out of Sale: California residents (CCPA) have the right to opt out of the sale of personal information. We do not sell personal information.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at the email address provided in Section 11.

9. Children's Privacy

PULSE News is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe we have inadvertently collected information from a child under 13, please contact us immediately and we will take steps to delete such information.

10. Security

We implement reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your information against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. However, no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any significant changes by updating the "Last Updated" date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically. Your continued use of PULSE News after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.

12. Contact Us