Privacy Policy

1. Introduction & Scope

This policy describes how Deep In Spec (operating at deepinspec.live) handles information collected from visitors. It covers what’s collected, why, how long it’s retained, and how you can request changes or deletion. It applies to the deepinspec.live website and any associated email communications.

This policy doesn’t cover third-party websites linked from our content, including product pages on Amazon or manufacturer sites. Those are governed by their own privacy policies, and clicking a link to Amazon means you’re subject to Amazon’s data practices from that point forward.

Deep In Spec doesn’t run a user account system, process payment information, or collect any personally identifiable information beyond what you voluntarily provide when signing up for the newsletter. If you have questions about how your data is handled, the contact details at the bottom of this page will reach the right person.

2. What We Collect

The information we collect falls into two categories: information you give us directly, and information collected automatically when you visit the site.

Information you provide directly:

• Your email address, if you subscribe to the newsletter. Nothing else is required for signup.
• Any message content if you contact us directly via email.

Information collected automatically:

• Analytics events via Google Analytics 4: pages viewed, approximate time on page, navigation paths between pages, browser type, device type (desktop/mobile/tablet), and operating system category. No individual user is tracked across sessions by default.
• Approximate location: city-level geographic data derived from your IP address by Google Analytics. We don’t receive your IP address directly — GA4 processes it and discards it after deriving the approximate location.
• Amazon Associates cookie data: if you click an affiliate link to Amazon, a tag= parameter in the URL starts a 24-hour attribution window on Amazon’s side. This is tracked by Amazon, not by us — we only see whether a commission was generated, not who generated it.
• Session cookies set by WordPress for basic site functionality — these don’t persist after you close the browser and contain no personal data.

3. How We Use It

Every use of the data we collect is named below. There are no other uses.

Newsletter email addresses are used for one purpose: sending Spec Gap findings and testing updates to subscribers who opted in. Frequency is irregular — usually one to three emails per month, triggered by testing completions rather than a fixed schedule. Addresses are stored in our email service provider’s system and are not shared with any third party for any purpose, including advertising. If you unsubscribe, your address is removed from active lists and is not used for any further communication.

Analytics data is used to understand which content is useful — which categories and review types get read and how long people spend with them. This shapes testing priorities (categories with high engagement get reviewed more frequently) and content structure decisions (review formats that generate longer read times get used more). Analytics data is never sold, never used for advertising targeting, and never shared with any party other than Google Analytics itself in its role as the analytics processor.

Amazon Associates commission data is aggregated financial reporting — we know commissions were generated from certain product categories in certain periods, but we have no access to individual purchase data or any identifying information about who bought what.

4. Cookies & Tracking

Three types of cookies are active on this site. Here’s exactly what each one does and how to turn it off.

Functional cookies set by WordPress: these maintain basic site behavior — remembering your preferences within a session, maintaining comment form state if applicable, and security nonce validation. They are session cookies and expire when you close your browser. They don’t track you across sites and contain no personally identifiable information. These cannot be disabled without breaking basic site functionality.

Analytics cookies set by Google Analytics 4: the _ga and _ga_[ID] cookies persist for up to 2 years and help GA4 distinguish between new and returning sessions. They don’t identify you personally — GA4 uses a random client ID, not your name or email. To opt out of GA4 tracking entirely, install the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Extension, or use a browser with tracking protection enabled.

Amazon Associates affiliate cookie: when you click a link to Amazon from this site, the URL contains our affiliate tag. Amazon sets its own cookies at that point, including a session cookie that tracks your purchases for up to 24 hours for commission attribution purposes. This is Amazon’s cookie, operating under Amazon’s privacy policy, not ours. If you arrive on Amazon through one of our links and then buy something within 24 hours — whether or not it’s what we linked to — we may receive a commission. The price you pay is identical to what you’d pay arriving at Amazon directly. To understand Amazon’s cookie behavior in full, refer to Amazon’s own privacy and cookie policies.

5. Amazon Associates Disclosure

Deep In Spec is a participant in the Amazon Associates program, which means some links on this site that point to Amazon product pages include a commission tracking tag. When you click one of these links and make a purchase within Amazon’s attribution window, Deep In Spec may earn a commission. Here’s what that means and what it doesn’t.

What a commission is: Amazon pays a percentage of the sale price to the referring site when a purchase is made through that site’s affiliate link. The rate varies by product category — typically between 1% and 4% for electronics.

What it isn’t: The commission doesn’t change the price you pay. Amazon’s prices are identical whether you arrive through an affiliate link or by typing amazon.com directly into your browser. Deep In Spec does not receive any payment from manufacturers, PR agencies, or Amazon for positive product coverage. Every product reviewed was purchased independently.

Does the commission structure influence verdicts? It can’t — because products are selected for testing before they’re bought, and the affiliate link is only added after a verdict has been written. A product that doesn’t make the recommendation threshold doesn’t get a published review, which means no affiliate link ever appears for it regardless of its commission rate.

Where disclosures appear: A disclosure statement appears at the top of every review page and in the site footer, per FTC guidelines. Individual product links are not each individually labeled — the page-level disclosure covers all links on that page, which is the standard accepted by the FTC for this disclosure model.

6. Third-Party Services

Three external services receive data in connection with your visit to this site. All three are named below with what data they receive.

Google Analytics 4 receives: anonymized session data including pages visited, approximate session duration, approximate geographic location (city-level), device type, browser type, and operating system. Google acts as a data processor under our direction. Data is retained in GA4 for 14 months by our configuration. Google’s privacy policy: policies.google.com/privacy.

Mailchimp / Kit (newsletter provider) receives: your email address when you subscribe through the newsletter form on this site. The provider stores your address on servers in the United States and uses it to send the newsletter emails you’ve opted into. No other data about your site visit is passed to the newsletter provider. Their privacy policy applies to their handling of your email address from the moment of submission. Mailchimp privacy policy: mailchimp.com/legal/privacy.

Amazon Associates receives: affiliate tag data when you click a product link, allowing Amazon to attribute qualifying purchases for commission purposes. Amazon’s data practices from that point are governed by Amazon’s privacy policy: Amazon Privacy Notice.

7. Data Security

The site is served over HTTPS, which encrypts data in transit between your browser and the server. The newsletter subscription form transmits your email over an encrypted connection to our email service provider.

We don’t store payment information, social security numbers, government IDs, or financial account details — because we don’t collect any of those. The most sensitive data we hold is a list of newsletter subscriber email addresses, which is stored in our email provider’s system rather than on our own server infrastructure.

What we can honestly say: the measures described above are standard and appropriate for the type of data collected. What we can’t honestly say: that a breach is impossible or that our systems are impenetrable. If a security incident occurs that affects subscriber data, affected subscribers will be notified by email within a reasonable timeframe following discovery.

8. GDPR — EU Visitors

If you’re visiting from the European Union or European Economic Area, GDPR applies to how your data is processed. Here’s the legal basis for each type of processing on this site.

• Newsletter communications: Legal basis is consent. You opted in by submitting the newsletter form. You can withdraw consent at any time by unsubscribing — every newsletter email contains an unsubscribe link, or you can contact us directly.
• Analytics: Legal basis is legitimate interests — understanding how content is used to improve it. GA4 analytics are configured to anonymize IP addresses before any data is processed. If you prefer to opt out, the GA4 opt-out browser extension provides a complete opt-out.
• Functional cookies: Legal basis is legitimate interests — these are required for basic site operation and cannot be disabled without affecting site functionality.

Deep In Spec is a small independent site and does not have a formal Data Protection Officer. Data processing decisions are made by the site owner, who can be reached at the contact address below. Requests for data access, correction, or deletion are processed within 30 days of receipt.

9. Your Rights

Depending on where you’re located, you have some or all of the following rights with respect to your personal data. Here’s what each one means in plain terms and how to exercise it.

• Access You can request a copy of any personal data we hold about you. For most visitors this is just your email address in the newsletter list. Email us and we’ll provide it within 30 days.
• Correction If the email address on your newsletter subscription is wrong, you can update it by unsubscribing and re-subscribing, or by contacting us directly.
• Deletion You can request deletion of your data at any time. For newsletter subscribers, this means removing your email address from all active and archived lists. We’ll confirm deletion within 30 days.
• Data Portability You can request a copy of your data in a machine-readable format. Given the limited scope of what we hold, this means your email address in CSV format.
• Objection to Processing If you object to how we process your data — including analytics tracking — you can opt out using the GA4 opt-out extension or contact us directly. Objections are reviewed and acted on within 30 days.

To exercise any of these rights, email privacy@deepinspec.live. All requests are handled within 30 days. If you’re located in the EU and believe your rights haven’t been respected, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your national data protection authority.

10. Children’s Privacy

Deep In Spec is not directed at children under the age of 13 and does not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. The site is a consumer electronics review resource written for adults making purchasing decisions.

If we become aware that a newsletter subscriber is under 13, the subscription will be removed immediately. If you believe a child under 13 has submitted their email address to our newsletter form, contact us at privacy@deepinspec.live and we’ll remove the information within 48 hours.

Beyond newsletter subscriptions, there’s no mechanism on this site for users of any age to submit personal information, so COPPA exposure is limited to the newsletter form described above.

11. Policy Updates

This policy will be updated when changes to site functionality, third-party services, or applicable law require it. The “Last Updated” date at the top of this page reflects when a meaningful change was last made — not routine formatting or link fixes.

When a change affects how subscriber data is used, newsletter subscribers will receive an email notification before the change takes effect, with enough time to unsubscribe if they object. Changes that affect only analytics or cookie behavior will be reflected in the updated policy but won’t trigger a notification email.

The previous version of this policy is not stored publicly, but if you need the version that applied on a specific date, email us and we’ll provide it. The current version at this URL is always the operative one.