Privacy Policy

Last updated: 20 December 2025

Serzi.com (“we”, “us”, “our”) publishes informative articles about various topics.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect and use personal data when you use our website. We follow the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. Where cookies and similar technologies are involved, we also follow UK e-privacy rules under PECR (Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations).

1) Privacy at a glance

What we may collect

Device/usage data (pages visited, device type, approximate location, etc.)
IP address (primarily for security and fraud prevention)
Cookie identifiers (depending on your cookie choices)
Information you provide (e.g., if you contact us)

Why do we use it

To deliver and secure the site (Cloudflare + security logging)
To measure readership and improve content (Google Analytics — only when allowed by your cookie choices)
To fund the site with advertising (Google AdSense — advertising cookies only when allowed by your cookie choices)

Your main controls

Use Manage Cookies / Privacy Settings (in the footer) to accept or reject non-essential cookies.
Use browser controls to block cookies, and platform controls (Google/YouTube) for ad personalisation and activity settings.

UK guidance is clear that non-essential cookies (including many analytics and advertising cookies) generally require consent and should not be set before the user has a real choice.

2) Who we are (Data Controller)

Website: Serzi.com
Data Controller: Available on request
Email: [email protected]
Address: Available on request

3) The personal data we collect

A) Data you provide

If you contact us (e.g., by email or contact form), we collect:

Your name (if provided)
Your email address
Your message content

B) Data collected automatically (when you browse)

When you load pages, we may collect:

IP address and request metadata (often for security, performance, fraud prevention)
Device and browser information (e.g., operating system, browser type)
Usage data such as pages viewed, time on page, and referring page

C) Data collected by third parties through our site

Because we use third-party services (Analytics, Ads, CDN/security, embedded content), those services may also collect data via cookies or similar technologies, depending on your settings and choices (details below).

4) Cookies and similar technologies (UK/PECR)

Cookies (and similar “storage and access” technologies) are used to:

Keep the site working,
Protect against malicious traffic,
Measure traffic and improve content,
Support advertising.

UK rules provide exemptions for cookies that are strictly necessary (for example, for security or for the cookie preference tool itself), but analytics and advertising cookies typically require consent.

Cookie categories (the common “publisher” model)

Strictly Necessary
Essential for security, load balancing, fraud prevention, and remembering your cookie choices.
Analytics / Performance
Helps us understand which pages are read and how the site is used (Google Analytics).
Advertising / Marketing
Used to display ads and measure ad performance, and (if enabled and you consent) help make ads more relevant (Google AdSense).
Embedded Content / Social Media
Embeds (like YouTube or social posts) may set cookies or access device identifiers when the embed loads.

Manage your cookie choices

Manage Cookies / Privacy Settings:

ICO guidance emphasises that information and choices should be easy to find and easy to use, and that non-essential cookies should not be dropped before consent.

5) Services we use and what they do

5.1 Cloudflare (security, performance, CDN)

We use Cloudflare to:

improve site performance (caching and content delivery),
protect against malicious traffic (DDoS mitigation and bot protection),
provide security and reliability.

Cloudflare may process personal data such as IP addresses and request metadata to deliver these protections and services. Cloudflare also documents the types of cookies it may set to manage traffic and protect sites.

Lawful basis: Legitimate interests (running a secure, reliable website).

5.2 Google Analytics (website analytics)

We use Google Analytics to understand how readers use Serzi.com (e.g., page popularity, navigation, engagement). Google describes customers as controllers and Google Analytics as acting as a processor for analytics services under its terms.

Important GA4 note: Google states that GA4 does not log or store IP addresses for EU users (and provides EU-focused privacy controls).

Cookie handling: Analytics usually involves cookies or similar identifiers. Where required, we will only run analytics after you consent to analytics cookies.

Lawful basis: Consent (for analytics cookies) and/or legitimate interests for aggregated measurement—depending on how your analytics is configured and your cookie choice. UK cookie rules generally require consent for analytics cookies.

5.3 Google AdSense (advertising)

We use Google AdSense to display advertising, which helps fund the website.

Google requires publishers in the UK (as well as EEA/Switzerland) to make certain disclosures and obtain consent where legally required for cookies/local storage and for data use for ad personalisation.

Personalised vs non-personalised ads

If you accept advertising cookies, ads may be personalised using cookies/identifiers.
If you reject advertising cookies, you may still see non-personalised ads (contextual ads), depending on configuration and available consent signals.

Lawful basis: Consent (for advertising cookies/ad personalisation where required). UK regulators have criticised setups that place non-essential advertising cookies before users can consent or that make rejecting harder than accepting.

5.4 Embedded YouTube and other social media content

Some pages may include embedded content (e.g., YouTube videos or embedded posts from social platforms). When an embed loads, the third party may:

set cookies or access device identifiers,
collect information about your interaction with the embedded player/post,
connect that data with your account if you are logged in to that platform.

Google explains that YouTube uses cookies for preferences and other purposes, and that visiting a page containing a YouTube video can involve Google cookies and data use (especially if you’re logged into Google/YouTube).

Practical control: If you prefer not to load third-party embeds automatically, you can reject “Embedded content” cookies (if your cookie tool separates them) and/or use browser settings and platform privacy controls.

5.5 LiteSpeed Cache

This site utilises caching to facilitate a faster response time and a better user experience. Caching potentially stores a duplicate copy of every web page displayed on this site. All cache files are temporary and are never accessed by any third party, except as necessary to obtain technical support from the cache plugin vendor. Cache files expire on a schedule set by the site administrator, but may easily be purged by the admin before their natural expiration, if necessary. We may use QUIC.cloud services to process & cache your data temporarily. Please see https://quic.cloud/privacy-policy/ for more details.

6) How we use your data (purposes)

We use personal data to:

Provide and maintain Serzi.com
Protect the site from spam, abuse, and attacks (Cloudflare/security logs)
Measure what content readers find useful (Analytics — where permitted)
Serve ads to fund the site (AdSense — where permitted)
Respond to enquiries you send us

7) Lawful bases for processing (UK GDPR)

Depending on the activity, we rely on:

Consent

Non-essential cookies (analytics, advertising, embedded content where required)
Email marketing/newsletter (if you add one later)

UK cookie rules require consent for non-essential cookies, and ICO guidance explains that consent must be real and informed.

Legitimate interests

Site security, anti-fraud measures, performance, and reliability (e.g., Cloudflare)
Basic operational logging is needed to run and protect the service

Legal obligation

Where we must comply with legal or regulatory requirements.

8) Sharing your data

We do not sell your personal data as a standalone product.

We may share data with these categories of recipients:

Cloudflare (security/performance infrastructure)
Google Analytics (site measurement)
Google AdSense (advertising delivery/measurement)
Social media / embedded content platforms (when embeds load)

These providers may act as processors or controllers depending on the service and context; their own privacy notices also apply.

9) International transfers

Some of the providers we use operate globally, which can involve processing outside the UK. Providers like Cloudflare describe safeguards for international transfers in their GDPR/DPA materials (for example, through standard contractual protections).

10) How long do we keep your data (retention)

We keep data only as long as needed for the purposes above:

Contact messages: typically kept for 24 months after the issue is resolved.
Security logs (e.g., server/CDN logs): typically 180 days unless needed longer for investigating abuse.
Analytics data: kept according to our Google Analytics settings and data minimisation practices.

(Choose real numbers that match your configuration and what you actually do.)

11) Your rights (UK GDPR)

You have rights, including:

Access to your personal data
Correction of inaccurate data
Deletion (in certain circumstances)
Restriction and objection (especially where we rely on legitimate interests)
Portability (in certain circumstances)
Withdrawal of consent (where we rely on consent)

To exercise these rights, email [email protected].

12) Complaints (ICO)

If you have a concern, please contact us first. You also have the right to complain to the UK regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

13) Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect personal data, including using security and performance services such as Cloudflare.

14) Children

Serzi.com is not specifically aimed at children. If you believe a child has submitted personal data to us, please contact us.

15) Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this policy to reflect changes in our services, technology, or legal requirements. The latest version will always be posted on this page with the updated date.