Privacy Policy

What Granite State Report collects, why, and what you can do about it.

Granite State Report is a one-person newsroom, not a data business. This page explains what the site collects when you read it, comment on it, or sign up for anything, why that information exists, who else can see it, and how to get it removed. If a practice described here ever stops matching what the site does, the site is wrong and this page will be corrected.

What this covers

This policy applies to granitestatereport.com and to email you send to the addresses listed on the site. It does not cover other websites the site links to. Each of those runs its own operation and keeps its own records.

Information collected automatically

Like almost every website, the hosting platform records basic technical data when a page loads: the requesting IP address, browser and device type, the page you came from, and the date and time. This is standard server-log information used to keep the site running, guard against abuse, and understand aggregate traffic. It is not used to build a personal profile of individual readers.

The site runs on WordPress with built-in platform features and uses small cookies to keep the site working, remember basic preferences, and measure aggregate traffic through the hosting platform’s own statistics and Google Analytics (see Third-party services below). You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings; some conveniences may stop working if you do.

Information you choose to give

Some information exists only because you hand it over:

• Comments. If you comment, the comment form collects the name and email you enter and your IP address. Your name and comment are public once approved; your email is not published.
• Newsletter. If you sign up for email updates, the site stores the email address you provide so it can send them. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in any message.
• Polls and surveys. If the site runs a reader poll or survey, your responses are recorded, and depending on the tool your IP address may be logged to limit duplicate voting.
• Email and phone. When you email or call the newsroom, that message and your address or number stay with the editor until deleted.
• Forms and document uploads. The site’s contact and submission forms, including the document-upload form on the Granite State Archive page, are run by Jetpack (Automattic). What you type and any file you attach are stored on WordPress.com with the site’s form records and are also emailed to the newsroom’s Gmail account, which Google hosts under its own terms. A document you submit for the archive is meant for publication: it is read, checked, redacted as that page describes, then posted publicly and permanently, and the entry may say where it came from. If you want a document held in confidence or your name kept off it, say so in the message before you send it. The unredacted copy stays in the newsroom’s files until it is no longer needed for the story; ask if you want it deleted sooner.
• Supporter and sponsor names. A supporter’s or sponsor’s name appears on the site only with that person’s permission and comes off on request.
• Community Board. If you post a listing on the Community Board, the site keeps what you enter, the email and phone you give, any photos you upload, and a one-way code made from your internet address that is used only to limit spam. Your email is never shown. Messages readers send through a listing’s form are emailed to you with the sender’s name and email so you can reply; the site does not keep a copy. Your phone number appears only if you choose. Location data is stripped from photos when they upload, and listings and messages are checked by Akismet for spam. A listing comes down at the end of its run and stays stored, hidden, until it is deleted; ask, and the listing and its photos are deleted.
• Board weather, saved reports and topics. When you open the weather on the Community Board, your browser asks the National Weather Service (api.weather.gov) for the forecast for the town you picked; Granite State Report does not see that request. The town you pick, the reports you save, the topics you follow and any reading history you turn on stay in your own browser, not on this site, unless you sign in and choose to add your saved reports to your account.

Third-party services on the site

Some services on this site are run by other companies, and their scripts set or read their own cookies when a page loads. As of the date at the top of this page, they are:

• Google Analytics, through Google’s Site Kit plugin, measures aggregate traffic (pages viewed, rough location, device type). It sets _ga cookies, and on every page view it also sends a measurement request to Google’s doubleclick.net domain. That request is a Google Analytics default the newsroom has not turned off; the site runs no ad network, and the paid listings on the Community Board use no tracking. Google’s practices are described in its privacy policy; the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on blocks the measurement.
• WordPress.com and Jetpack host the site, run its own traffic statistics, deliver the newsletter, and provide the comment, sharing, subscription, and contact-form features, including file uploads. Akismet checks comments for spam, which means the text of a comment and the commenter’s IP address are sent to Akismet. Gravatar supplies commenter avatars.
• Sharing buttons and embeds. The share buttons load scripts from Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and X, and embedded videos load from YouTube. Each of those companies may set its own cookies when the script or embed loads, under its own privacy terms.
• Crowdsignal runs reader polls when one appears; responses and, to limit duplicate votes, an IP address are recorded there.

Who else sees it

The site does not sell reader information and does not trade it. The service providers named above handle some of it to make the site function, and they process the data under their own terms. Information may also be disclosed if the law requires it, for example a valid court order.

How long it is kept

Comments stay attached to their articles unless removed. Newsletter addresses are kept until you unsubscribe or ask to be deleted. Google Analytics event data is kept for the period set in this site’s Analytics account, which Google limits to 2 or 14 months; WordPress.com keeps server logs and Jetpack statistics on Automattic’s own schedule, described in its privacy policy. Email is kept until the editor clears it.

Your choices

You can unsubscribe from the newsletter, ask to have a comment removed, or ask what the site holds about you and request that it be deleted. Send the request from the email address involved so it can be matched. This site does not sell personal information and does not run a cookie-consent banner; it is published for a New Hampshire audience. Depending on where you live, local law such as the EU/UK GDPR or California’s privacy statutes may give you formal rights to access, correct, or delete your information; the newsroom will honor a reasonable request under those laws, and the Google Analytics opt-out add-on linked above blocks the analytics cookie.

Children

This site is intended for a general adult audience and is not directed to children under 13. The site does not knowingly collect information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided information, contact the editor and it will be deleted.

Security and changes

The site uses reasonable measures to protect the limited information it holds, but no website can promise perfect security. This policy may change as the site does; the date at the top of this page marks the current version, and material changes will be noted here.

Version log. July 7, 2026: first published. September 17, 2026: added the Third-party services section. The July 7 text described analytics as the hosting platform’s own and named only the hosting and email providers; Google Analytics, Google AdSense, Akismet, Gravatar, and the sharing and embed scripts were in use then and were not named. The September 17 revision names them, with opt-out links. Also: rebuilt in the site shell (no in-card masthead or title block), added the newsroom phone line, named phone contact alongside email. September 17, 2026, later the same day: Google AdSense was disconnected from this site, so its entry has been removed from Third-party services and the site no longer carries advertising; the Google Analytics entry now also notes the measurement request each page view sends to Google’s doubleclick.net domain. Google Analytics itself is unchanged, and so is what the newsroom collects and keeps. September 23, 2026: added contact forms and the archive document-upload form to what the site collects and where it goes; added supporter and sponsor names; corrected the description of the July 7 text in this log; stated the Analytics retention setting and that the doubleclick.net request is a default rather than an advertising feature in use; added a no-sale, no-consent-banner statement for readers outside New Hampshire. October 10, 2026: added the Community Board to what the site collects (listings, poster email and photos, the spam-limit code, and messages relayed to posters); the Analytics entry now says the site runs no ad network, since the Board sells labeled local listings. October 11, 2026: added what happens when a reader opens the Board’s weather, and that the town, saved reports, followed topics and any reading history stay in the reader’s browser.