Privacy Policy

Last updated April 21, 2026

Summary

In essence, Independent Reviews functions as a content publisher rather than a data service. We do not require user accounts, we do not operate a newsletter that necessitates email registration, and we do not sell, distribute, or monetize data from our readers. The comprehensive policy is provided below.

What we collect by default

When you visit independent-reviews.org, our hosting provider (Amazon Web Services / CloudFront) automatically records request metadata as part of site operations. This logging is customary for any web property and encompasses:

• The URL of the requested page.
• The HTTP method (typically GET).
• A timestamp of the request.
• The HTTP referrer (when applicable).
• A user-agent string that identifies your browser and operating system.
• An IP address from the request, which AWS utilizes for routing and abuse detection.

These logs are preserved by our hosting provider in accordance with their standard retention policy and are used exclusively for site operations (debugging, traffic analysis, and abuse detection). We do not merge these logs with any other identifiable information about you. We do not sell or share these logs.

What we do not collect

• No accounts. Independent Reviews does not provide accounts for readers. There is no registration, no login, and no associated account profile.
• No newsletter. We do not currently have an email newsletter. If we introduce one in the future, participation will be voluntary and the privacy policy will be revised to indicate what information is collected.
• No comments. We do not have a comment system, hence we do not gather personal data related to comments.
• No third-party trackers. The site does not utilize Facebook Pixel, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Mixpanel, or any similar third-party tracking technologies.

Cookies

Independent Reviews does not implement tracking cookies. The site may utilize strictly necessary cookies for caching and CDN functions (for example, AWS CloudFront session cookies for cache management); these cookies do not retain personal data and are not used for advertising or cross-site tracking.

Optional analytics

We may incorporate a privacy-conscious first-party analytics tool (such as a self-hosted Plausible or a similar cookieless analytics solution) to gain insights into which pages are accessed and which are not. Should we implement such analytics, the setup will be de-identified (no IP addresses saved, no user identifiers, no cross-site tracking) and will be disclosed on this page. Currently, we do not use any analytics.

External links

We provide links to other websites, vendor pages, peer-reviewed research, and hotline resources. Once you navigate to an external site, that site's privacy policy takes effect, not ours. We do not control the data practices of external publishers.

Email correspondence

If you send an email to any of our published addresses (editor@, corrections@, press@, tips@), the content of your email will be reviewed by a human contributor at Independent Reviews. We keep reader emails indefinitely for editorial-record purposes (for instance, to verify a reported correction). We do not share reader emails with third parties. We do not add email addresses to any marketing lists.

Children's privacy

Independent Reviews is not intended for children under the age of 13. We do not intentionally collect personal information from children under 13. If you suspect that a child under 13 has provided personal information through our site (which would be unusual, as we do not solicit such data), please reach out to editor@.

Your rights

Since we do not gather personally identifiable information by default, most data-subject rights (GDPR, CCPA) do not apply to us, as there is nothing to access, amend, or remove. If you have contacted us via email and wish for your correspondence to be deleted from our records, please email editor@ with the subject "DELETE" and we will eliminate the thread within 30 days.

Changes to this policy

If we make modifications to this privacy policy, we will update the "last updated" date at the top of the page and document the change in our update log. Significant changes (new categories of data collection, new third-party processors) will be clearly indicated in the change log.

Contact

For privacy inquiries: editor@independent-reviews.org.