This page explains what AO Network collects when you read the site, what we do with it, and the choices you have. It is written from how the site is actually built, so nothing here describes a feature we do not have.
The site is read-only. There is no sign-up, no account, no comment box and no newsletter form. The only personal data that reaches us is what you choose to put in an email.
What we collect
When you load a page, Google Analytics 4 records the page URL, a rough location (country and region, worked out from your IP address by Google), your browser and device type, the referring site, and how long you stayed. We load it with IP anonymization on, Google Signals off and ad personalization off, so Google does not link your visit to your Google account or use it for ads on our behalf. We do not load it at all if your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal or you have switched it off below.
Vercel, which hosts the site, sees your IP address and the pages you request in order to serve them and keeps short-lived request logs. Sanity serves our images from its CDN and sees the same request data for those files.
If you email us, we keep the email. That is the only personal data we hold directly.
Cookies
The site itself sets no cookies. Google Analytics sets its own (named _ga and _ga_*) when it loads, to tell repeat visits apart; they last up to two years. Vercel may set short-lived cookies for security. If analytics is off for you, no analytics cookies are set.
We do not run advertising cookies, retargeting pixels or any cross-site tracking.
Switching analytics off
Three ways, any one of which works. Turn on Global Privacy Control in your browser or a browser extension; we check for it before loading Google Analytics. Use the switch below, which is remembered in this browser only. Or install Google's Analytics opt-out add-on.
We do not respond to the older Do Not Track header. Browsers send it inconsistently and there is no agreed meaning for it, so we honour Global Privacy Control instead, which does have one.
Affiliate links
Some posts contain affiliate links to software we cover, marked with a sponsored attribute and disclosed in the post. If you click one and buy, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. The link tells the vendor you came from aonetwork.com; it does not tell us who you are, and we get no personal data back from the vendor.
Commissions do not change what we recommend. We cover products we think are worth your time and skip the ones we do not.
Third parties
The services that touch visitor data are:
- Vercel (hosting and request logs)
- Google Analytics 4 (measurement, unless you have opted out)
- Sanity (content and image delivery)
Each has its own privacy policy. We do not sell visitor data to anyone.
How long we keep things
- Google Analytics: event-level data is kept for the retention window set on our property, which Google caps at 14 months; after that only aggregate reports remain.
- Hosting logs: held by Vercel for a short period under its own retention, not by us.
- Emails you send us: kept while the conversation is useful, deleted on request.
California residents
If you live in California, the California Consumer Privacy Act gives you rights over personal information. Here is how they apply to this site.
What we collected in the last 12 months
- Identifiers: IP address (hosting logs), analytics cookie IDs, and your email address if you write to us. Sources: your browser, you.
- Internet activity: pages viewed, referrer, time on page, browser and device type. Source: your browser, via Google Analytics.
- Geolocation: country and region inferred by Google from your IP. Nothing more precise.
- Commercial information, inferences, sensitive personal information, account or contact details beyond an email you send: none.
Why
To serve the pages, keep the site secure, see which articles get read so we can plan what to write next, and reply to you if you email us.
Sale or sharing
We have not sold personal information and have not shared it for cross-context behavioral advertising in the last 12 months. The analytics configuration described above turns off the Google features that would count as sharing. We do not sell or share the personal information of anyone, including consumers under 16.
Your rights
- To know what personal information we have about you and to get a copy.
- To have it deleted.
- To have it corrected.
- To opt out of sale or sharing. There is none, and Global Privacy Control is honoured anyway.
- To limit the use of sensitive personal information. We collect none.
- Not to be treated differently for exercising any of these.
Most of what Google Analytics records is not tied to you in a way we can look up, so for those records the practical answer is the opt-out above. For emails, we can find and delete them.
How to make a request
Email hello@aonetwork.com, or use the contact page, which gives the same address. Say what you are asking for. We reply within 45 days. To verify a request about emails you sent us, we check that it comes from the same address, or we reply there to confirm. An authorized agent can submit a request for you with your written permission; we may still confirm with you directly.
Shine the Light
California Civil Code section 1798.83 lets residents ask which personal information a business shared with third parties for their own direct marketing. We share none for that purpose.
Children
AO Network is written for adults working in marketing. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If you believe a child has emailed us personal information, tell us and we will delete it.
Changes
When our practices change we update this page and the date at the top. There is no mailing list, so this page is where changes are posted.
Contact
Questions about this policy, or a request to access, correct or delete your data: email hello@aonetwork.com or visit the contact page.