Privacy Policy

Who we are

Exciton Research operates excitonresearch.com. Questions: contact us or [email protected].

What we collect

• Account. If you create an account: email, display name, and a password hash or your Google sign-in id. We send verification and password-reset mail.
• Contact form. Name, email, message, and a short puzzle token to block bots.
• Chapter emails. If you sign up for new-chapter emails: your email address, the book, and when you confirmed. Nothing is sent until you click the confirmation link, and every email has an unsubscribe link.
• Reading progress. The chapters you opened and finished, and the section you last stopped in, are kept in your browser's local storage. If you are signed in, this is also saved to your account so it follows you to other devices.
• Chapter feedback and counts. If you answer “Was this chapter helpful?”, we store the answer and any note you write, without your name or email. We also count how many times each chapter is opened and finished, per day. If you are signed in, your opens, finishes, and knowledge-check answers are also part of the usage records described below.
• Technical. IP address and user-agent in ordinary server logs, for security and abuse prevention.
• Usage records. To see how the site is used, we record the pages you view, how long each page is on screen, how far you scroll, the site that sent you, campaign tags in the link, your country (worked out from your IP address), your browser language, browser, operating system, and device type, and actions such as searching, downloading the e-book, signing up, and copying code. We do this without cookies or local storage and without third-party analytics. We do not store your IP address for this. To count visitors we keep a code made from your IP address and browser together with a secret that changes every day, so while you are signed out, a visit today cannot be linked to a visit tomorrow. If you are signed in, these records are linked to your account, along with what the same browser did earlier that day. If your browser sends Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control, we record none of this.

What we do not do

We do not sell your data. We do not use advertising or analytics cookies, and we do not load third-party tracking scripts. We do not build marketing profiles, and usage records are only used to improve the site and the courses. We do not process special-category data on purpose.

Legal bases (GDPR)

• Contract: creating an account, signing in, and giving you access to a book you bought.
• Legitimate interests: answering messages, keeping the site running, stopping abuse, and usage records that show which pages and chapters work for readers. You can object at any time by turning on Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control in your browser, or by contacting us.
• Consent: optional email notifications and new-chapter emails. You can withdraw consent by turning notifications off or using the unsubscribe link.
• Legal obligation: if we must keep a record (for example a lawful request).

Who we share with

Hosting and database providers that run the site. Google, if you sign in with Google. An email delivery provider for account and chapter emails. We do not share with advertisers. We may disclose information if the law requires it.

How long we keep it

Account data and reading progress until you delete your account. Chapter-email subscriptions until you unsubscribe. Server logs for a short rolling window. Usage records for 13 months, after which only daily totals with nothing about any person remain. If you delete your account, the usage records linked to it are deleted too. Contact messages until we have answered them.

Your rights

Depending on where you live you may ask to access, correct, delete, or export your data, or object to processing. Signed-in users can edit their name and delete their account under Account. For anything else, contact us. You may also complain to your local data-protection authority.

Children

You need to be 13 or older to create an account. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 13. If you think we have, write to us and we will delete it.

Cookies

See the Cookie Policy. The consent banner also covers optional email notifications and the Disclaimer.

Changes

If this policy changes in a material way we will update the date above and, if you have an account, we may email you.