Privacy Policy

1. Who Is the Data Controller?

The data controller for this Website is the operator of Optimistic Doomer, a private individual. For all data protection matters, including exercising your rights, please contact us via the contact page.

As a private individual operating a non-commercial informational website, the Publisher is not required to appoint a Data Protection Officer (DPO) under Article 37 of the GDPR. All data-related requests will be handled in full compliance with applicable GDPR and US state privacy law obligations.

2. What Data We Collect and Why

2.1 Data Collected Automatically

When you visit the Website, standard technical data may be collected automatically by analytics or hosting infrastructure, including:

• IP address (anonymised where possible);
• Browser type and version;
• Pages visited and time spent;
• Referring URL;
• Device type and operating system.

Legal basis: Legitimate interest (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR) - to understand how the Website is used and to improve it. This data is not used to identify individual users. Analytics only fire after cookie consent is granted.

2.2 Data You Provide Voluntarily - Contact Form

When you submit a message via the contact form, we collect your name, email address, and the content of your message.

Legal basis: Your consent and performance of a service (Article 6(1)(a) and (b) GDPR) - your data is processed solely to respond to your query.

Retention: Contact form submissions are retained for a maximum of 90 days from the date of response, after which they are permanently deleted.

2.3 Cookies

We use the following categories of cookies:

• Strictly necessary cookies: Required for the Website to function (e.g. your dark/light mode preference stored in localStorage). No consent required.
• Analytics cookies: Used to understand traffic patterns. These will only be set with your explicit consent via our cookie consent banner.

You may manage cookies through your browser settings at any time. Refusing non-essential cookies will not affect your ability to use the Website.

3. Data We Do Not Collect

We do not collect, process, or store:

• Payment or financial information;
• Special categories of personal data (health, biometric, religious, political, etc.);
• Data from children under the age of 16 (see Section 7).

4. How We Share Your Data

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data to any third party.

We may share data with trusted third-party service providers acting as data processors on our behalf, solely to operate the Website. These may include:

• Web hosting and CDN providers (e.g. Cloudflare);
• Analytics services (privacy-first analytics with IP anonymisation);
• Email delivery services (for responding to submitted queries).

All processors are contractually bound to process data only on our instructions and in compliance with the GDPR. Where processors are located outside the EEA, appropriate safeguards (Standard Contractual Clauses) are in place.

5. Your Rights Under the GDPR

As a data subject located in the EU/EEA, you have the following rights, which you may exercise free of charge by contacting us via the contact page:

• Right of access (Article 15): to obtain a copy of the personal data we hold about you;
• Right to rectification (Article 16): to correct inaccurate personal data;
• Right to erasure (Article 17): to request deletion of your personal data;
• Right to restriction (Article 18): to restrict processing in certain circumstances;
• Right to data portability (Article 20): to receive your data in a machine-readable format;
• Right to object (Article 21): to object to processing based on legitimate interest;
• Right to withdraw consent (Article 7(3)): at any time where processing is based on consent.

We will respond to all verified requests within 30 days. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your national data protection supervisory authority.

6. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. However, no transmission over the internet is entirely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

7. Children's Privacy

This Website is not directed at children under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has submitted data to us, please contact us immediately and we will delete it promptly.

8. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be announced on the Website. The date of the most recent revision is shown at the top of this document. Continued use of the Website after changes constitutes acceptance of the revised Policy.