Privacy Policy
What we collect, why we have it, and how to get rid of it. Short, because we collect very little.
Last reviewed 1 September 2026
The short version
Reading this site takes no account and leaves no tracker. We set no cookies and run no analytics. We only hold personal information about you if you gave it to us by filling in a form, and you can have it deleted by asking.
What we collect, and when
Just reading
Nothing. There is no sign-in wall, no cookie banner because there are no cookies to consent to, and no analytics script on the page. Our web server keeps ordinary access logs -- the kind every web server keeps -- which include IP addresses and are used to keep the site running and to spot abuse.
If you sign up or contact us
The forms on this site ask for:
- your name
- your email address
- your phone number, where a form asks for one
- a referral or affiliate code, if you were given one
- whatever you choose to write to us in a message
If you pay for something
Payments are handled by Stripe. Your card details go to Stripe and never to us -- we store only the customer reference Stripe gives back, so we can tell which account a payment belongs to.
Email and text messages
We record separately whether you have agreed to email and to text messages, and we treat them as separate permissions. Agreeing to one is not agreeing to the other, and neither is a condition of anything else.
We do not currently send marketing text messages. If that changes, it will only go to people who have agreed to it, every message will say who it is from and how to stop, and replying STOP will end them. Message and data rates may apply. Consent to texts is never required to buy anything.
To stop email, use the unsubscribe link in any message or write to us. To change either permission, write to info@emeraldcoastconnected.com.
Who else sees it
We do not sell your information, and we do not share it for anyone else's marketing. It reaches only:
- Stripe, to take a payment
- the services that deliver our email and, if we ever send them, our text messages
- our own hosting, which stores the data
- anyone we are legally required to give it to
The news on this site
Stories on the news page summarise what other publishers and public bodies have already published, and link back to them. If you are named in something here and want it removed, write to us and it comes down while we look at it. That applies whether or not the original publisher takes theirs down -- we can only speak for our own page.
Conditions data
Weather and beach conditions are read from public government sources -- the National Weather Service, NOAA, NASA and the EPA. We ask them for readings for a fixed location on this coast; we do not ask for or use your location.
How long we keep it
For as long as you have an account or an open enquiry with us, and after that for as long as we need it for our records or the law requires. Ask us to delete it and we will, except where we are required to keep something.
Your choices
Write to info@emeraldcoastconnected.com and ask us to show you what we hold about you, correct it, delete it, or stop contacting you. You do not need to give a reason, and it costs nothing.
Children
This site is not aimed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect their information. If you believe we have, tell us and we will delete it.
Changes
If this policy changes we will update the date at the top. The date is the honest signal -- a policy with no date is one nobody can check.
Contact
Emerald Coast Connected, Fort Walton Beach, Florida. info@emeraldcoastconnected.com