Last updated: May 2026 — updated to reflect free model, Google AdSense advertising, and Ko-fi donations
plainews is built on a simple principle: your reading habits are none of our business. This privacy policy explains what we collect, what we do with it, and what rights you have.
When you read plainews, we do not collect, store, or transmit:
Reading plainews requires no account and no registration. We don’t track who reads what, and we don’t want to. If you choose to create an account, the data we collect is described below.
Anonymous analytics — to understand how the site is used:
This data is stored in Cloudflare KV as simple counters. It contains no personal information and cannot identify any individual user. Daily counters are automatically deleted after 90 days.
Approximate location — to show relevant local and national headlines, plainews uses your approximate city, region, and country as inferred by Cloudflare from your IP address. This is used to select relevant content and is not associated with your identity. When an advertisement is displayed, your country (not city or precise location) is included in aggregate impression counts — for example, “42 impressions from the United States.” This is population-level data only and cannot identify you as an individual.
If you create a plainews account, we collect and store the following information associated with your email address:
Unverified accounts that do not complete email verification are automatically deleted after receiving two reminders. You can request deletion of your account at any time by emailing [email protected].
Your recent search terms are saved in your browser’s localStorage —
on your own device only. You can clear this at any time by clicking the “clear”
button in the recent searches row.
Search terms are also counted in aggregate on our servers for two purposes: (1) to build a trending topics list visible to all users, and (2) when an advertisement is active, to generate a “top searches during campaign” summary for the advertiser. This logging records only the search term and a daily frequency count — not who searched, not their session, and not any identifying information. It cannot identify any individual.
plainews does not use Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, or any behavioral tracking services.
plainews displays advertisements on the Daily Brief page served by Google AdSense. Google AdSense may use cookies and similar technologies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this or other websites. You can opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ad Settings. See how Google uses information from sites that use its services.
plainews does not use any other advertising networks, behavioral tracking pixels, or cross-site tracking. We do not sell or share personal data with advertisers. Aggregate, anonymous impression data (total count, general country, device type) may be collected for reporting purposes.
plainews accepts voluntary donations via Ko-fi. Donations are processed by Ko-fi and PayPal. plainews does not receive or store any payment card information from donors. See Ko-fi’s Privacy Policy.
plainews does not use cookies for tracking, advertising, or analytics. No personal tracking cookies are set on your device when you visit or read plainews.com.
plainews does not knowingly collect any information from children under the age of 13. Account registration requires users to be 13 or older.
Regardless of whether you have an account, you have the right to:
For readers who do not have an account, we hold no personal data about you to access, correct, or delete.
If this privacy policy changes materially, we will update the “Last updated” date at the top of this page. Registered account holders will be notified of material changes by email. Continued use of plainews after any changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
Questions about this privacy policy can be directed to [email protected].
TYPE html>Last updated: May 2026 — updated to reflect free model, Google AdSense advertising, and Ko-fi donations
plainews is built on a simple principle: your reading habits are none of our business. This privacy policy explains what we collect, what we do with it, and what rights you have.