Vol. II, No. 95 From Our Region to Yours

The Fine Print

Privacy Policy

Last updated:

This Privacy Policy explains what information is collected when you read The Regional Dispatch at theregionaldispatch.com (the “website”) or in The Regional Dispatch app for iOS and Android (the “app”), why it is collected, who receives it, and the choices you have. The website and the app are published by Legendre Media Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Legendre Media,” “we,” “us”). We are the controller of the information described here, except for information that Google collects for its own purposes, which Google’s own privacy policy governs.

The short version: there are no reader accounts, no comment sections, no newsletter sign-ups and no forms. We do not ask for your name, email address, phone number or location. Our own code sets no cookies. Most of what is collected is collected by Google, to deliver ads and notifications, and you can control it.

Information collected on the website

Server logs. Like nearly every website, our web server records each request it receives: your IP address, the date and time, the page or file requested, the referring page, your browser’s user agent string, and the response size and status. We use these logs to run and secure the site, to fix problems, and to count visits in aggregate. Raw logs are deleted automatically after about five weeks. Aggregate statistics built from them, which do not identify anyone, may be kept longer.

No cookies or tracking of our own. The website does not set cookies, does not use browser storage, and does not run analytics or tracking scripts of its own. Our fonts are served from our own server. The share buttons on stories are plain links: nothing is sent to X, Facebook, Bluesky or Reddit unless you click one, and then that service’s own privacy policy applies. Site search runs entirely in your browser; your search terms are not sent to us.

Advertising on the website. When ads appear on the website, they are served by Google AdSense. Google and its partners may use cookies, web beacons, IP addresses and similar identifiers to show ads, limit how often you see the same ad, measure ad performance, and detect fraud and abuse. See “Advertising and Google” below.

Information collected by the app

The news itself. The app downloads stories, photos and staff information from theregionaldispatch.com. Each of those requests reaches our web server and is logged as described above (IP address, time, file requested and the app’s user agent).

Settings and saved stories stay on your device. Your appearance and text-size settings, the stories you save for offline reading, whether you want notifications, and a couple of simple counters (how many times you’ve opened the app and how many stories you’ve read, used only to decide when to offer notifications) are stored only on your device. They are never sent to us. They may be included in your phone’s own backup (iCloud or Google), depending on your device settings. Deleting the app deletes them.

Notifications (optional). If you turn on new-story notifications, the app asks your phone for permission and subscribes your device to topics in Google’s Firebase Cloud Messaging: either a single “stories” topic for every new story, or one topic for each section you choose (for example, “section-politics”). Which sections you chose is stored only on your device. Firebase creates a device token and an installation identifier so it can deliver messages. Google holds these, and which topics your device is subscribed to, to route notifications; we never receive them, store them, or connect them to you. When we publish a story, we send a message to its topics as a whole, not to individual devices. Firebase Analytics is turned off in the app. You can change your sections or turn notifications off at any time in the app’s Settings (which unsubscribes your device from those topics) or in your phone’s system settings.

Advertising in the app. The app shows native ads from Google AdMob: a boxed advertisement in the story list and, at most, one at the end of a story. To serve and measure those ads, the Google Mobile Ads SDK collects information from your device, which according to Google’s disclosures can include your IP address, your device’s advertising identifier where one is available (the Android advertising ID; on iOS, see below), device and operating system details, app information, ad interactions, and diagnostic data. The app is set to request ads rated PG or lower.

  • Ads in the app are non-personalized unless you agree otherwise. The app asks Google for non-personalized ads unless you have consented to personalized ads through Google’s consent message. Non-personalized ads are chosen using contextual information, such as the app and your general location (derived from your IP address), rather than a profile of your interests. Google still uses device information for frequency capping, aggregate measurement, and fraud prevention.
  • iOS. The app does not ask for permission to track you under Apple’s App Tracking Transparency, so it cannot read your device’s advertising identifier (IDFA).
  • Android. You can reset or delete your advertising ID in your phone’s settings (on most devices, Settings, then Privacy or Google, then Ads).
  • Consent where it’s required. Where the law requires consent, including the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, the app shows Google’s consent message before ads are personalized. When privacy choices apply to you, an Ad Privacy Choices item appears in the app’s Settings, where you can review or change your answer.

Purchases. If the app offers an in-app purchase, such as one to remove ads, Apple or Google processes the payment. We do not receive your payment details; the store only tells the app whether the purchase is active on your account.

No other SDKs. The app contains no crash-reporting or analytics SDKs beyond what is described above.

Advertising and Google

Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies and similar identifiers to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website or other websites and apps. Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visits to this site and other sites on the internet.

Consent on the website. Where the law requires consent for advertising cookies, including the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, you will see Google’s consent message before personalized ads are shown, and you can change your choice later.

Global Privacy Control. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, the website treats it as a request to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information and asks Google for non-personalized ads for that browser. There is no common standard for “Do Not Track” signals, so the website does not respond to them.

Email

If you write to us, we receive your email address, your name if you include it, and whatever you put in the message. We use it to read and answer you, and we keep correspondence only as long as we need it. Our email is hosted by an email service provider that stores messages for us.

We use the information above to deliver the website and the app, keep them secure and working, understand overall readership, send notifications you asked for, answer messages, and earn advertising revenue that pays for the paper. For readers in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, our legal bases are our legitimate interests in running and securing a free publication (server logs, non-personalized ads), your consent (personalized ads and notifications, which you can withdraw at any time), and the performance of a contract when you buy something in the app.

Who receives information

We do not sell your personal information for money, and we do not share it except:

  • Google, which provides advertising (AdSense, AdMob) and notification delivery (Firebase Cloud Messaging) and uses information as described in its own policies;
  • service providers that host our website and email for us, who may use it only to provide those services;
  • Apple and Google, which distribute the app and process any purchases under their own terms;
  • when the law requires it, or to protect the rights, safety or property of our readers, Legendre Media or others; and
  • in a merger, sale or reorganization, to the successor, under a privacy policy no less protective than this one.

Under some US state laws, letting advertising partners use identifiers to show you ads based on your activity across other sites and apps can count as “selling” or “sharing” personal information, or as “targeted advertising.” You can opt out of that at any time with the controls in this policy: Google’s consent and privacy choices, Global Privacy Control on the website, the non-personalized default in the app, your device’s advertising ID settings, or by emailing us.

International transfers

Our web server is located in Germany, and Legendre Media and Google operate in the United States. Information may be processed in the United States and other countries whose laws differ from yours. Where the law requires it, transfers rely on appropriate safeguards, such as the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses used by our providers.

Your choices and rights

Because there are no accounts, we hold very little that is linked to you. Server logs are tied only to IP addresses and expire on their own. Here is how to control the rest:

  • Notifications: turn them off in the app’s Settings or your phone’s settings.
  • Ads: use Ad Privacy Choices in the app’s Settings where it appears, reset or delete your Android advertising ID, use My Ad Center, enable Global Privacy Control in your browser, or block cookies in your browser.
  • Everything the app stores on your device: delete the app.

Depending on where you live, including California and other US states with privacy laws, and the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, you may have the right to access, correct, delete or receive a copy of your personal information, to object to or restrict how it is processed, to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information and targeted advertising, and to withdraw consent. To make a request, email desk@theregionaldispatch.com. We’ll answer within the time the law allows. Because we don’t have accounts, we may ask for details, such as the IP address and dates involved, to find the information. You can use an authorized agent where the law allows it, and we will not discriminate against you for exercising these rights. In the EEA, the UK or Switzerland, you can also complain to your local data protection authority. For information that Google holds, such as advertising and notification identifiers, you can also use Google’s own tools at myaccount.google.com and My Ad Center.

Children

The Regional Dispatch is a general-audience publication. It is not directed to children under 13 (or under 16 in the EEA and the UK), and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, email us and we’ll delete it.

Security

We serve the website and the app’s feed only over encrypted HTTPS connections, collect as little as we can, and limit who can access our servers. No system is perfectly secure, but we don’t hold much worth taking.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the website, the app, or the law changes. The “Last updated” date at the top shows when it last changed. If we make a material change, we’ll note it on this page before it takes effect.

Contact

Legendre Media Inc.
8 The Green #22878
Dover, DE 19901
United States

Email: desk@theregionaldispatch.com