Privacy Policy

Indian Opinion keeps data collection to a minimum. This notice describes what we actually collect, why, and what you can do about it.

Data controller

The data controller for the personal data described in this notice is Great Indian Company, Royal Avenue, Gowri Krishna, Shettahalli, Jalahalli West, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560015, India. Phone +91-7559041299. Email [email protected]. Website www.greatindiancompany.com. GST 29AAWFG7015K1ZQ.

For a privacy question or request, use [email protected], the address answered directly by the person responsible for the site (see the Masthead).

Reading the site

You do not need an account to read anything here. We do not run advertising or social media tracking tags. We do use two third-party analytics tools, described under Analytics below.

Our web server and Cloudflare, our content delivery network, keep standard technical logs, IP address, browser and device type, pages requested, and timestamps. These are used to keep the site available and secure, and to diagnose faults. The lawful basis is our legitimate interest in operating a secure service.

Analytics

We use two third-party analytics tools on every public page of the site: Google Analytics 4, provided by Google LLC, and Microsoft Clarity, provided by Microsoft Corporation. We use them to see which pages are read, how the site behaves on different devices, and where it is hard to use. Both are switched on for all visitors, and both load in your browser.

What Google Analytics collects. The pages you view, your approximate location (derived from your IP address), your device and browser type, and how you interact with pages. Google states that Google Analytics does not log or store IP addresses.

What Microsoft Clarity collects. The pages you view, your approximate location (derived from your IP address), your device and browser type, and interactions such as clicks, scrolls and mouse movements. Clarity also records session replays, which reconstruct what happened on a page during your visit, and builds heatmaps from the same interactions. Text you type into form fields and drop-down menus is always masked and is not sent to Clarity, and Clarity masks other sensitive content. The public text of the page you are reading can appear in a replay.

Server-side transfer to Clarity. Separately from the browser tag, our web server sends Microsoft Clarity the IP address, browser user agent and address of the page requested, for page requests that are not served from our cache. This happens on our server and sets no cookie, so the browser settings and opt-outs below do not affect it. To object to it, email [email protected].

Cookies set by these tools.

• _ga and _ga_ followed by an identifier for our Google Analytics property (Google Analytics, first party): tell browsers apart and keep session state. Google’s default lifetime for both is 2 years.
• _clck (Microsoft Clarity, first party): stores the Clarity user ID and preferences. Lasts 1 year.
• _clsk (Microsoft Clarity, first party): joins your page views into one session recording. Lasts 1 day.
• CLID (Microsoft Clarity, third party): records when Clarity first saw your browser on any site that uses Clarity.
• ANONCHK, MR, SM and MUID (Microsoft, third party): may also be set. They relate to MUID, Microsoft’s browser identifier, which Microsoft says is used for advertising, site analytics and other operational purposes. Microsoft states that Clarity does not use the related advertising cookie.

Microsoft sets the lifetimes of the third-party cookies. If you disable cookies in your browser, Clarity does not set them.

How long the data is kept. Google Analytics keeps user-level and event-level data for either 2 or 14 months, as set on our property, and no longer. Microsoft Clarity keeps recordings for 30 days, except recordings we mark as favourites and a randomly selected sample, which it keeps for up to 9 months. For how Google and Microsoft use the data on their side, see how Google uses information from sites that use its services and the Microsoft Privacy Statement.

Lawful basis. The lawful basis is our legitimate interest in understanding how the site is used and keeping it working.

How to opt out.

• Google Analytics: install Google’s opt-out browser add-on, available for Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Microsoft Edge.
• Microsoft Clarity: Microsoft states that Clarity supports the Global Privacy Control signal, so you can turn it on in a browser or extension that offers it. You can also opt out through the Digital Advertising Alliance tool at optout.aboutads.info by selecting Microsoft.
• Do Not Track: Microsoft states that Clarity does not respond to the browser’s Do Not Track setting, and we have not set up Google Analytics to respond to it. Do not rely on Do Not Track to stop either tool.
• Browser controls: you can block or delete cookies, or use a content blocker, and the site still works.

Comments

If you leave a comment, we collect the name and email address you enter, the content of your comment, and, recorded automatically by WordPress, your IP address and browser user agent. Your name and comment are published; your email address and IP address are not.

This information is used to publish and moderate the comment and to detect spam. The lawful basis is our legitimate interest in running a moderated discussion free of abuse and spam. Comments are held for moderation before appearing.

Comments and their associated data are retained while the article remains published. You can ask us to delete your comment and the data attached to it at any time.

Cookies

Our analytics tools set the cookies listed under Analytics above. If you leave a comment, WordPress may set cookies remembering your name and email so you do not have to retype them. Cloudflare may set a strictly necessary cookie for security. If you sign in, we set cookies that keep you signed in for up to 30 days, a short-lived cookie that links the sign-in page to the code we emailed you (it lasts 15 minutes), and a device cookie holding a random identifier, kept for up to 400 days, so we can tell you when a new device signs in to your account.

Accounts

You can create a free account. Reading the site never needs one. Your account brings you the daily digest by email, described below.

How sign-in works. There are no passwords. You enter your email address, or your username once you have one, and we email you a 6-digit code to type in. A code works once and expires after 10 minutes. The first time, you then choose a username and give your name. The account is created only after you have entered the code, which confirms that the email address is yours. You never create a password, so there is none of yours for us to store. The code is stored only in scrambled (hashed) form, and the record of each code request is deleted within two days. To keep out automated abuse, the sign-in page runs Cloudflare Turnstile, a check that works in your browser; Cloudflare receives technical information about your browser and your IP address to run it.

What we hold for your account.

• Account details: your email address, username and name, any earlier usernames, when the account was created, when you last signed in, and which version of this notice was in force when you signed up.
• Sign-in and security records: for each sign-in, the time, your browser’s user agent (which names the browser and type of device), the approximate location (country) and the IP address it came from, and a random identifier for the device, kept in the device cookie described under Cookies. We use these to show you where you are signed in, to let you sign out other devices, and to email you when a new device signs in.
• Email preferences: whether your daily digest is on, when and how that last changed, and, if a digest to you bounced or was reported as spam, that fact. If you use email alerts, your alert settings are kept here too: your topics and how often you get each one, the times of your roundups, your time zone and quiet hours, whether your alerts are on, paused or stopped and why, and the record of your consent to alerts described under Email alerts below.
• Digest delivery records: for each digest sent to you, the date, the address it went to and what happened to it (sent, bounced or reported as spam).
• Email records: for each email we send you, which kind of email it was, when it was sent, which service sent it and the delivery, bounce and spam reports that came back for it, with the open and click records described under Email open and click tracking below.

We use this data only to run your account, keep it secure and send you the emails described here.

Account email. We email you sign-in codes, a welcome message, security notices (for example a sign-in from a new device, or a change to your email address, username or name) and replies to requests you make, such as a data export. These emails have no unsubscribe option, because you need them to use and protect your account. Account email is sent by Cloudflare’s email sending service, provided by Cloudflare, Inc., from user.indianopinion.org. If that service fails, we send the same email through Amazon Simple Email Service (Amazon SES), provided by Amazon Web Services, Inc., as a backup. For each email, the service that sends it receives your email address, the content of the email (a sign-in email includes the code and the time, browser, device type and approximate location of the request) and the delivery, bounce and spam reports that come back, which it passes on to us. Account emails contain open and click tracking, described below.

The daily digest. The daily digest is part of your account: one email each morning, India time, with that day’s top stories. It is switched on when you create your account, and the sign-up page tells you so before the account is created. You can switch it off at any time with the switch on your account page, and every digest has an unsubscribe link that switches it off in one click, as well as the standard unsubscribe option that email apps show. If a digest to you bounces permanently or is reported as spam, we switch your digest off and record why. The digest is sent from daily.indianopinion.org by Cloudflare’s email sending service, with Amazon SES as the backup if that service fails. For each digest, the service that sends it receives your email address, your name (for the greeting), the content of your copy of the digest (including your personal unsubscribe link and the tracked links described below), and the delivery, bounce and spam reports that come back, which it passes on to us. The digest contains open and click tracking, described below. Links to our site also carry a label saying they came from the digest; that label on its own does not identify you.

Email open and click tracking. Every email we send contains open and click tracking: account emails (including sign-in codes and profile reminders), the daily digest, email alerts and Breaking News emails. The HTML version of each email includes a tracking image, a single transparent pixel loaded from our site. When your email app loads it, we record that the email was opened, with the time, your IP address and the user agent of your email app or browser (which names the app or browser and the type of device). Links in the HTML version go through our site before taking you to the page you chose: when you click one, we record which link it was, the time, your IP address and your user agent, and then send you on. Links to unsubscribe, to sign in or to manage your account do not go through our site this way, and the plain-text version of our emails contains no tracking. Each email carries a random identifier that ties these records to your account or, for an address without an account (for example a sign-up code), to a scrambled (hashed) form of the address. We also record which kind of email it was, when it was sent and which service sent it. We use these records to see which emails are opened and which stories are read, to improve the digest and our other emails, and to spot delivery problems. The tracking image sets no cookie. Some email apps load images automatically, for example Apple Mail with Mail Privacy Protection turned on, so a recorded open does not always mean you read the email; if your email app blocks images, no open is recorded. We keep these records for 24 months.

Objecting to email tracking. To object to this tracking, email [email protected]. We do not offer a way to receive our emails without tracking: there is no setting that switches the tracking off on its own, separately from unsubscribing. Switching the digest off, or unsubscribing from it, stops the digest and its tracking. Account emails such as sign-in codes are tracked too and cannot be switched off while you have an account; they stop when your account is deleted. You can also stop open tracking yourself by setting your email app not to load images automatically.

Email alerts. With an account you can also get email alerts about topics you choose. You pick the topics yourself: in a step after you create your account, which you can skip, with the Track button on an article, or on your account page. Nothing is chosen for you. If you type a subject we do not cover yet, we set it up as a new topic and record that your account asked for it. For each topic you choose how often you hear about it: an instant email when there is confirmed news, a daily roundup at the time you choose (only on days with news), or a weekly roundup. Alerts are sent from news.indianopinion.org by Cloudflare’s email sending service, with Amazon SES as the backup if that service fails. For each alert, the service that sends it receives your email address, the content of your copy of the alert (including your personal links to stop or change your alerts) and the delivery, bounce and spam reports that come back, which it passes on to us. We use your topics only to choose what to send you. We never use them for advertising and never share them. Alerts contain the open and click tracking described above.

Stopping alerts. Every alert has links to stop alerts about that topic and to stop all alerts, each working in one click without signing in, and a link to change how often you get them. Email apps also show a standard unsubscribe option, which stops all alerts. On your account page you can pause or stop a topic, change how often you get it, or switch all alerts off. When you stop alerts, we keep your list of topics so that you can turn them back on in one step. Stopping alerts does not change the daily digest. If an alert to you bounces permanently or is reported as spam, we pause your alerts and record why.

Feedback on alerts. Each story in an alert has a “Not about this topic?” link, which shows the name of the topic, and on your account page you can mark a story in the same way or ask for a story we left out to be added. We store your answer, and the reason if you give one, with your account, the story, the topic, the time and, when you answer from an email, the alert it came from. You can undo it. We use these answers to change what we send you and to improve how we match stories to topics for all readers.

Your consent to alerts. Before your first alert topic is saved, we show you a short notice about alerts and ask you to confirm that you are 18 or older. When you agree, we record your consent: the version of that notice, the time, where you gave it (for example the topic step after sign-up or an article’s Track button), the topics you chose and how often you get each one, your confirmation that you are 18 or older, a shortened form of your IP address (with its last part removed) and the name of your browser. When you later add or stop topics, switch instant emails on or off, or stop or restart alerts on the site, we add the change to the same record.

Your data and deleting your account. On your account page, Export my data emails you a link to a file of the personal data held with your account. The link works only while you are signed in, and the file is deleted after 3 days. Delete my account asks you to confirm by email; once you confirm, we erase the account and the personal data held with it. You can also ask for an export or for deletion, or ask about anything the export file does not include, by emailing [email protected].

How long we keep it. Account details, email preferences and digest delivery records are kept while your account exists. Sign-in and security records are kept for up to 90 days. Email records, with their open and click records, are kept for 24 months. Our database backups also contain account data; after an account is erased, it drops out of the backups as older ones are replaced.

Breaking News and profile reminders

Breaking News. With an account you can get a Breaking News email when a story that matters to India as a whole has just broken, such as a major disaster or attack, or a national verdict or election result. It is rare: our system checks every story we publish and sends one only for a truly breaking India story, ideally never and at most about once a week. Breaking News is switched on by default for every account. Each email is about one story and links to it.

What is sent, and from where. Breaking News emails come from Indian Opinion Breaking News at [email protected], sent by Cloudflare’s email sending service, with Amazon SES as the backup if that service fails. For each email, the service that sends it receives your email address, the content of your copy (including your personal link to turn Breaking News off and the tracked links described above) and the delivery, bounce and spam reports that come back, which it passes on to us.

Turning Breaking News off. Use the Breaking news switch on your account page. Every Breaking News email also has a link that turns it off in one click without signing in, and email apps show their standard unsubscribe option, which does the same. Turning it off changes nothing else: the daily digest and your alerts carry on as you set them. If a Breaking News email to you bounces permanently or is reported as spam, we switch Breaking News off for you and record why.

Profile reminders. If you create an account with a sign-in code and your profile is still incomplete, we send up to five short reminder emails over your first 45 days, on about days 2, 7, 14, 28 and 45. Your profile counts as incomplete while you have not given a name, or have not yet chosen anything in your settings (a time for the daily digest, a change to the digest, or an alert topic). The reminders stop for good once you have a name and have chosen at least one setting. They come from [email protected], like our other account emails, with the same sending services. Reminders are on by default. Each one has a link that stops them in one click, and you can also ask us to stop them at [email protected]. Stopping them changes nothing else about your account.

Measuring opens and clicks. Breaking News emails and profile reminders contain the open and click tracking described under Email open and click tracking above: we record when an email is opened and which links are clicked, with the time, your IP address and your email app’s user agent, and keep those records for 24 months. How to object is described under Objecting to email tracking.

Agent accounts

Agent accounts. An AI agent can create an account at indianopinion.org/agents/ with an email address and the 6-digit code we send to it. For an agent account we keep, besides what any account keeps: what the agent told us about itself when it signed up (a name, its operator’s web address and its purpose, exactly as supplied), the account’s settings (the daily digest format and time, its own Breaking News rule and daily limit), and for each API token a keyed fingerprint of the token (never the token itself), its label, when it was created and last used, and a keyed fingerprint of the network address that last used it. Agent accounts receive Breaking News on their own rule now; the scores we compute for each story are the same for everyone. Tokens can be revoked at any time through the API, and the rights described in this notice, including export and erasure, apply to agent accounts in the same way.

Email

If you email us, we use your address only to reply, and keep the correspondence only as long as needed to deal with it.

Sharing

We do not sell personal data and we do not share it for marketing. These providers process personal data on our behalf:

• Amazon Web Services, Inc. hosts the site, its database and our server logs in the United States, and is the backup sender of our emails (Amazon SES): it sends account email, the daily digest, email alerts and Breaking News only when Cloudflare’s email sending service fails.
• Cloudflare, Inc. delivers the site and keeps the technical logs described under Reading the site, runs the check on the sign-in page, sends our emails (account email, the daily digest, email alerts and Breaking News) from our sending subdomains of indianopinion.org, and stores copies of our database backups.

Both are based in the United States. Google LLC and Microsoft Corporation, both based in the United States, receive and process the analytics data described under Analytics.

Your rights

You can ask us for a copy of the personal data we hold about you, ask us to correct or delete it, or object to our processing it. If you have an account, you can also do much of this yourself on your account page: change your name, username or email address, download your data, switch the digest off, or ask for the account to be deleted. Email [email protected] and we will respond. If you are in the UK or EU and are unhappy with our response, you can complain to your data protection regulator.

Contact

For any privacy question or request: [email protected].

Last updated: 2 October 2026.