Privacy Policy

Who runs this site

usamify.com is the personal website of me, Usama Ali, a freelance web developer. I am responsible for the personal data collected here. If you have any question about this policy or your data, email me at hello@usamify.com.

Information you give me

Contact form

When you send a message through the contact form I receive your name, your email address and your message. To stop spam and limit abuse, the site also stores your IP address and your browser's user agent string with the message. The message is saved in the site's database and a copy is emailed to my own mailbox so I can reply.

I use this only to answer you and, if we end up working together, to keep a record of what we discussed. I do not add you to any mailing list because you used the contact form. I keep messages for as long as they are useful for that conversation or project, and I delete them sooner if you ask.

Newsletter

If you subscribe to the newsletter in the footer, I store your email address, the date and the IP address you signed up from. I use it only to send occasional notes about web development and new work. To stop receiving them, reply to any of those emails or write to hello@usamify.com and I will remove your address.

Information collected automatically

Like almost every website, the hosting server keeps standard access logs (IP address, date and time, page requested, browser type, referring page). My hosting provider uses these for security and to keep the server running. I do not use them to identify visitors.

Cookies

A cookie is a small text file a website stores in your browser. This site uses:

• usamify_form: a random security token that protects the contact and newsletter forms from forged submissions. It contains no personal information and expires after 30 days. The forms need it, so it is set without asking.
• Admin session cookie: only set when I log in to manage the site. Visitors never receive it.
• Analytics cookies (only when analytics is switched on, see below).
• Advertising cookies from Google and its partners on blog post pages (see below).

You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. If you block the form cookie, the forms still work in most browsers.

Analytics

I may use Google Analytics 4 to understand which pages people read and how they find the site. When it is active, Google sets cookies such as _ga and _ga_* and receives information about your visit (pages viewed, approximate location, device and browser). Google Analytics 4 does not log or store full IP addresses. I only see aggregated reports, not individual people. You can opt out on any site with the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.

Advertising (Google AdSense)

Blog posts on this site may show ads served by Google AdSense. Ads are not shown on my portfolio, services, contact or other pages. To serve and measure these ads:

• Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website or other websites.
• Google's use of advertising cookies, including the DoubleClick cookie, enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visits to this site and/or other sites on the internet.
• Other third-party vendors or ad networks may also use cookies, web beacons or similar technologies to serve and measure ads on this site.

You can control this:

• Opt out of personalised advertising from Google in Google Ads Settings. You will still see ads, but they will not be based on your interests.
• Opt out of other third-party vendors' use of cookies for personalised advertising at www.aboutads.info (in the EU you can also use youronlinechoices.eu).
• Read how Google uses information from sites that use its services and how Google uses cookies in advertising.

If you visit from the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, you will be asked for your consent through a Google-certified consent message before cookies are used for personalised ads. If you do not consent, Google may show non-personalised ads, which use cookies only for things like frequency capping, fraud prevention and aggregated reporting. You can change your choice at any time from the privacy settings link that the consent message adds to the page.

Who else receives data

• Hostinger hosts the website, its database and my email, so form messages and newsletter addresses are stored on their servers.
• Google receives data as described above when ads or analytics are active.

I do not sell, rent or trade your personal information. Links to other sites (for example Fiverr, GitHub, X or WhatsApp) take you to services with their own privacy policies.

Your rights

Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR in the EU or the UK GDPR), you can ask me for a copy of the personal data I hold about you, ask me to correct or delete it, object to how I use it, or withdraw consent you gave earlier. Email hello@usamify.com and I will reply within 30 days. You also have the right to complain to the data protection authority in your country.

Security

The site runs over HTTPS, the admin area is password protected, and form data is stored in a private database. No website is perfectly secure, but I take reasonable care to protect what you send me.

Children

This site is meant for business owners and other adults. It is not directed at children under 16 and I do not knowingly collect their data. If you think a child has sent me personal information, email me and I will delete it.

Changes to this policy

If I change how the site handles data, I will update this page and the "Last updated" date at the top.