Privacy Policy

Next Panel collects as little personal data as a working website allows. This page lists everything we collect, why, and what control you have over it.

Analytics

We measure traffic to understand what readers find useful. Analytics data is aggregate — page views and referrers — and is not used to identify individuals or to build a profile of you.

Our own view counts. When you open an article we record that a view happened, the referring site, and a short one-way hash derived from your IP address and browser user-agent. That hash exists only to stop the same visitor being counted many times over, and to blunt automated inflation. Your IP address is never stored — only the hash, which is salted with a secret we hold, cannot be reversed back into an IP, and is not linked to anything else about you. No cookies are used for this. So that reopening an article in the same tab isn't counted twice, your browser keeps a small note that you have already viewed it (session storage). It contains only the article's ID, is never sent to us, and is cleared when you close the tab.

Vercel Web Analytics. Our host, Vercel, provides aggregate visitor and page-view statistics. It is cookieless and does not track visitors across other websites. See Vercel's analytics privacy statement.

Vercel Speed Insights. We also measure how quickly pages load and respond, using Vercel Speed Insights. It records performance timings only, is aggregate and cookieless, and is not used to identify you.

We don't use Google Analytics or any other analytics that sets cookies. If that ever changes, this page will say so first and those tools will only load after you agree.

Cookies

The public site sets no cookies. It uses only functional browser storage: your dark/light theme preference, and the per-tab viewed-article note described above. The admin area (used solely by the site owner) uses authentication cookies. We do not run third-party tracking cookies; if advertising is introduced later, this policy and any required consent tooling will be updated first.

If you subscribe, we store your email address and subscription status. We use it to send the newsletter and nothing else — no resale, no sharing. Every email includes an unsubscribe option, and you can request deletion at any time via the contact form.

Contact forms and title submissions

Messages and title suggestions you submit are stored so we can read and act on them. Name and email are optional on submissions; provide them only if you want a reply. We delete form data on request. To stop spam floods, each form submission also records a salted one-way hash of your IP address (never the address itself); those records are deleted after seven days.

Affiliate links

Affiliate links take you to third-party platforms which may set their own cookies under their own privacy policies. We receive aggregate commission reports, not your personal purchase data.

Advertising (future)

If ads are introduced, ad partners and any consent requirements will be documented here before going live.

Your rights

You can request a copy or deletion of any personal data we hold about you (newsletter address, contact messages) via the contact form. We respond to all such requests.

Data location

Site data is stored with our hosting and database providers (Vercel and Supabase), and newsletter emails are delivered through Resend. Access to stored form data is restricted to the site owner.

Last updated: October 2026. This page is provided for transparency and is not legal advice.