Close Second

Privacy

What we collect, why, and what we do not do. Last updated 26 October 2026.

Who we are

Close Second is operated by [OPERATOR NAME], [GEOGRAPHIC ADDRESS]. For data protection law, that is the controller. You can contact us at [EMAIL].

The short version

  • No accounts, no comments and no newsletter.
  • No cookies and no advertising trackers on this site.
  • No affiliate links, no ads and no sponsored content.
  • Cookieless analytics, and YouTube embeds on some pages.
  • We do not sell personal data.

Analytics

We use PostHog, hosted in the EU, to count page views and clicks. It is configured to store nothing on your device, not to record sessions, not to create person profiles and to respect Do Not Track. It receives the page you visit, the page you came from, your device and browser type, standard request information which may include your IP address, and the event — for example a buy click, with the entry's slug and the part of the page it came from. We use this to understand which entries are read and which links are used.

The lawful basis is our legitimate interest in understanding and improving the site. We do not use it for advertising or profiling. We keep event data for up to 12 months.

Cookies

We do not set cookies on this site. PostHog keeps its state in memory for the page view only, so there is nothing stored on your device and no consent banner is needed. If that changes, we will ask first.

YouTube

Some entries embed YouTube videos in privacy-enhanced mode. The player is loaded from youtube-nocookie.com. When you press play, YouTube (Google) may set cookies on your device and receive your IP address and the page you came from. We do not control that. If you would rather not, do not press play; the video title links to YouTube instead.

Server logs

Our host and database provider process standard technical logs, including IP addresses, for security and to run the site. They act as processors for us.

Processors

PostHog (EU), Vercel and Neon. Each processes data on our behalf under its standard data processing terms. Some providers may process data outside the UK; where they do, they use standard contractual clauses or an equivalent safeguard.

Your rights

You can ask for a copy of your data, correction, deletion, restriction, or object to our legitimate-interest processing. Email [EMAIL]. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.

Changes

We will date any change to this notice.