Privacy
In short
Coloscopy.com collects as little information about its readers as is consistent with running the site. There are no advertising trackers, no third-party analytics that profile individual visitors, and no cookies that are not strictly necessary. The only personal data we hold is what people send us themselves — for instance, when reporting a correction or asking an editorial question.
What this page covers
Cookies and similar technologies, the analytics we do and do not use, what is recorded in routine server logs, what happens to messages sent to us, how long things are kept, your rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and equivalent regimes, and how to reach us with privacy questions.
Cookies
The site uses no advertising cookies and no cross-site tracking. We do not place cookies that identify you across other sites, and we do not allow third parties to do so on our pages.
If a cookie is set during your visit, it is strictly necessary — for example, to remember a preference such as your acceptance of a cookie notice itself, or a temporary session identifier required for the contact form to function. Strictly-necessary cookies under GDPR and the UK PECR regime do not require consent. We do not use marketing, advertising, or profiling cookies, and we do not use cookies that fingerprint your browser.
Analytics
We do not use Google Analytics, Meta Pixel, or any third-party analytics service that profiles individual visitors. Where we use analytics at all, the configuration is privacy-respecting: aggregate page-view counts derived from server-side data, with no individual user profiles, no cross-site identifiers, and no transfer of personal data to advertising networks. We do not use any tool that requires a cookie to function in its tracking mode.
If this approach changes — for instance, if a privacy-respecting, cookieless analytics tool is introduced — the change will be described on this page with the date, the tool used, and what it does and does not collect.
Server logs
Like virtually any website, the server that delivers Coloscopy.com records routine technical information about each request: the IP address making the request, the time, the URL requested, the HTTP status returned, the user-agent string of the browser, and the referrer if one is provided. These logs are used to operate the site, diagnose errors, and identify abuse (for example, automated scraping or attempted attacks).
Server logs are retained for no longer than is needed for these purposes, and in any case for no longer than 30 days, after which they are deleted or aggregated. We do not use server logs to build profiles of individual readers, and we do not share them with third parties except where required by law.
Contact-form and email data
When you write to [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], or any other address on the site, we receive the email address you sent from, the content of your message, and any attachments you choose to send.
We use this information solely to respond to you and, where applicable, to act on what you have raised — for example, to publish a correction or fix an accessibility issue. We do not add your address to any mailing list. We do not sell, rent, or share contact data with third parties.
Email correspondence is retained for as long as it is reasonably useful — typically up to 24 months for editorial correspondence and corrections records, after which it is deleted unless ongoing context (a still-open issue, a recurring source) makes that impractical. You can ask us to delete earlier.
Your rights
Under the GDPR (in the European Union and, as retained UK law, in the United Kingdom), and under broadly equivalent regimes elsewhere, you have rights in relation to personal data we hold about you. These include:
- Access — to ask what personal data, if any, we hold about you, and to receive a copy.
- Rectification — to ask us to correct inaccurate personal data.
- Erasure — to ask us to delete personal data we hold about you, where there is no overriding lawful basis to retain it.
- Restriction and objection — to limit or object to particular uses of your personal data.
- Portability — to receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used format.
- Complaint — to lodge a complaint with the data-protection authority in your country (in the EU, your national DPA; in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office).
To exercise any of these rights, write to [email protected] with the heading "Privacy request". We will respond within one calendar month, in line with the GDPR timetable.
Children
Coloscopy.com is a reference for adult patients and the people supporting them. It is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect data from children. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, write to us and we will delete it.
Third parties
The site uses a small number of essential third-party services to function: a hosting provider, a content-delivery network, and a web font service. These services receive technical request data (such as IP address) as a necessary part of delivering the page. We choose providers with documented data-protection practices and limit the data we send them to what is required.
The site does not embed advertising networks, social-media tracking pixels, or affiliate trackers.
International transfers
Where personal data is processed outside the country in which you are located — for example, because a hosting provider operates in another jurisdiction — appropriate safeguards (such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses) are used in line with applicable law.
Changes to this policy
If this policy is changed in any substantive way, the change will be recorded on this page with the date and a brief description of what has changed. Minor wording corrections are made silently in line with our corrections policy.
Common worries, briefly addressed
Will my email be shared if I write to you?
No. Email addresses sent to us are used only to respond to you and, where you have raised a correction, to follow up if needed. We do not share addresses with third parties, and we do not add them to any mailing list.
Do you know what I read on the site?
Not in any way that links pages to you as an individual. Server logs record IP addresses and URLs as a routine matter, but we do not build per-visitor profiles, and we do not link reading patterns to any contact you may have had with us.
Can I read the site anonymously?
Yes. Reading the site does not require any account, sign-in, or form submission. If you also use a privacy-respecting browser configuration or a VPN, the technical information available to us is even more limited.
Is my health information at risk if I read about coloscopy here?
We do not collect health information from readers. Reading a page about a procedure tells us no more than that the page was loaded; we do not ask about, store, or infer anything about your medical history.
Contact for privacy questions
For any privacy-related question, including a request to exercise your rights under data-protection law, write to [email protected] with "Privacy" in the subject line.