Privacy and local storage

Your World Story calculations happen in your browser. Optional Google Analytics 4 (G-5MH4QVCEC5) is restricted to the input-free About and Sources & methods pages, after explicit opt-in. The homepage, Watch, birthday calculator, story, life atlas, sixty-second experience, embeds and all other routes do not load analytics. No live AI service, checkout or accounts are used.

What stays on this device

• Story choices are saved only when you select “Remember these choices”.
• Story event counts are optional, local-only and contain actions—not countries, birth years or identifiers.
• The birthday calculator has a separate opt-in remember control.
• Existing map preferences, data caches and game/quiz scores use local storage. “No cookies” does not mean “no storage”.

Optional analytics and your choice

Google Analytics is off by default. Until you explicitly choose Allow analytics, this implementation makes no Google analytics request, creates no Google analytics queue and sends no cookieless consent ping. Reject analytics is equally accessible. Privacy choices remains available in the page footer for changing or withdrawing consent. All features work without analytics. Global Privacy Control (GPC) and Do Not Track (DNT) strictly override an earlier opt-in and keep analytics off.

The necessary local-storage key wa_privacy_consent_v1 stores only granted or denied, not a visitor identifier. No preference is stored just for viewing the prompt. If storage is unavailable, analytics stays off. A choice is remembered on this browser and origin; private browsing or clearing site data may reset it.

Only the reviewed, input-free /about/ and /methodology/ documents qualify. Query strings, URL fragments, changed documents, forms, inputs and embedded frames disable eligibility. One manual page-view command per eligible document load uses only its origin and static pathname, an empty referrer and a fixed editorial title. The custom event collector is disabled: no birth dates or years, countries, photos, memories, reactions, input values, interaction events, user-derived titles or personal URL fields are sent by our analytics code. Homepage and personal pages do not load the Google library, even after consent elsewhere. Reloads can count as new page views.

If you opt in on an eligible page, Google receives a normal network connection (including IP address and browser/device information) and may process location estimates, identifiers and engagement data. GA4 does not log or store individual IP addresses; that is not an anonymity guarantee or a substitute for consent. The tag may set first-party _ga and _ga_5MH4QVCEC5 cookies identifying a browser/session. This implementation requests host-only cookies at path /, a 30-day lifetime and no rolling cookie update; browser controls and Google behavior can affect persistence. Google Signals and ad-personalization signals are disabled, and ad storage, ad user data and ad personalization remain denied. Google is a third-party processor; see Google partner-site information.

We have not verified the owner's Google Analytics console settings. Enhanced Measurement and automatic events must be reviewed and disabled there, including form interactions and history-based page views; local configuration alone cannot certify all Google-side behavior. Limiting analytics to two static, input-free pages avoids loading that library beside personal experiences, but does not prove Google collects only our manual page-view command. No personal-experience funnel or homepage engagement is measured.

Withdrawal and deletion limits

Choose Reject analytics from Privacy choices to withdraw. The page immediately disables measurement, clears its pending analytics queue, attempts to expire accessible _ga cookies on current/parent domain and root/current-path variants, then reloads if a tag was attempted so downloaded Google code is no longer running. Another tab observes storage changes; returning from a hidden or cached page rechecks the preference and privacy signals. Requests already in flight cannot be recalled. There is no new consent-update ping on withdrawal.

Cookie cleanup is best effort: JavaScript cannot erase HttpOnly, other-origin, unknown-path or all partitioned cookies. Use browser site-data controls for fuller local deletion. Rejecting, resetting or deleting local cookies does not delete data Google already received or any Google account history.

Advertising is not enabled

No AdSense or advertising tags are introduced. This local analytics preference UI is not a Google-certified CMP and is not sufficient for AdSense advertising consent. Advertising must stay off until the owner implements an appropriate Google-certified CMP, configures the account and consent requirements, and verifies the resulting behavior. Analytics consent is not advertising consent.

Network requests

Loading the site requests files from its host; infrastructure can receive connection information such as IP address and user agent. The main map can request public World Bank data. The new story uses bundled first-party datasets and makes no AI requests; it does not load Google Analytics. Your birth year, country and reactions are never sent to Analytics. Hosting-provider logs have not been independently audited, so we do not promise that no server records a visit.

Sharing and exports

Story links include birth year and country only when explicitly created. Review before sharing. Story cards omit birth year and exact date, but historical context can still reveal information. Full printouts and fact JSON contain historical years. Birthday links now point to a year-based story instead of including an exact date.

Email and payments

Email links open your email application; only you decide to send. Your email provider processes that communication. This version takes no payment and does not activate subscriptions. A future checkout or remote AI service requires updated disclosure before activation.

Erase local information

Use “Reset & forget” in the story or clear this site's storage in your browser. The button below clears known World Alive preferences, birthday selections, quiz/game scores and caches. It keeps a denied analytics preference, attempts local analytics-cookie cleanup, and does not delete downloaded files, previously shared links or data already held by Google.

Questions

theworldalivecom@gmail.com