PRIVACY POLICY · Effective August 27, 2026
elisama.net is a personal website operated by Elisa Ma from California, United States. This policy explains what the site collects, why, and what you can do about it.
1. Information you give me
If you email me or use a form on this site, I receive whatever you choose to send, usually your name, your email address, and your message. I use it to reply to you. I don't add you to anything, and I don't pass it on.
2. Information collected automatically
This site uses Google Analytics 4, a service from Google LLC, to understand how people find and use it. Google Analytics sets cookies in your browser and collects:
which pages you visit, in what order, and how long you stay
approximate location at city or region level, derived from your IP address
device type, browser, operating system, and screen size
the site, link, or search that sent you here
a randomly generated identifier, stored in a cookie, so a return visit can be recognised as a return visit
Google Analytics 4 does not store full IP addresses. Your IP is used to estimate your location and is then discarded — it is never logged, and it is never visible to me.
I do not see your name, your email address, or your exact location through Analytics. What I see are aggregate reports about groups of visitors.
Data collection through Google Analytics is switched off for visitors in the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom. If you are visiting from there, no analytics cookies are set and no analytics data about your visit is collected.
3. Why I collect it
To reply to messages you send me.
To see which pages people find useful, so I know what to write more of and what to fix.
To keep the site running and to protect it from abuse.
I do not sell your personal information. I do not share it with advertisers. I do not use it to build advertising profiles, and Google's advertising features are not enabled on this site's Analytics property.
4. Cookies
The site sets a small number of cookies, listed below. In short: cookies Google Sites needs to serve the page, and Google Analytics cookies that count your visit. You can block or delete all of them in your browser settings and the site will still work.
Set by Google Analytics.
_ga Tells one visitor apart from another 2 years
_ga_<ID> Holds session state for this site's Analytics property 2 years
_gid Tells visitors apart; set only on some configurations 24 hours
Google Sites, which hosts this site, sets its own cookies to serve pages and protect against abuse. They are required for the site to load at all and are set regardless of anything else. Google documents them at policies.google.com/technologies/cookies.
Turning cookies off
Google's Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout switches off Analytics permanently, here and everywhere.
Every major browser lets you block or delete cookies for a specific site. In Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge it sits under Settings → Privacy.
Private or incognito windows discard cookies when you close them.
These are not set for visitors in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, where analytics collection is switched off entirely.
5. Who else receives your data
Google LLC — hosts this site through Google Sites and provides Google Analytics. Google's privacy policy is at policies.google.com/privacy. Analytics data is processed on servers in the United States.
Anyone I am legally required to disclose to, if I ever receive a valid legal demand.
6. How long it is kept
Analytics: Google deletes event-level data about your visit after 2 months. Aggregate totals persist longer.
Emails you send me: kept in my mailbox until I no longer need them.
7. Your choices
Install Google's Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. It stops Analytics on this site and every other site, permanently.
Block or clear cookies for elisama.net in your browser settings.
Browse in a private or incognito window, which discards cookies when you close it.
Email contact.elisa.ma[at]gmail.com to ask what I hold about you, to correct it, or to have it deleted. I'll answer within 30 days.
8. California residents
The California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the CPRA, gives California residents rights to know, delete, correct, and opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information. Those obligations apply to businesses above certain thresholds. This is a personal website: it does not have $25 million in annual gross revenue, does not handle the personal information of 100,000 or more California consumers or households, and earns no revenue from selling or sharing personal information. The CCPA therefore does not formally apply to it.
I will honor requests to know or delete anyway. Email contact.elisa.ma[at]gmail.com. I do not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined by the CPRA, and I never have.
9. Do Not Track
Some browsers can send a "Do Not Track" signal. There is no agreed standard for what a website should do in response, and this site does not currently respond to Do Not Track signals. The opt-out methods in section 7 work regardless of your browser's Do Not Track setting.
10. Tracking across other websites
California law asks me to tell you whether third parties may collect information about your online activity over time and across other websites. Google Analytics collects information about your activity on this site only. It is not configured to follow you to other sites, and Google Signals (the setting that would enable cross-site and cross-device advertising features) is switched off on this property.
11. Children
This site is not directed to children under 13, and I do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has sent me something, email contact.elisa.ma[at]gmail.com and I will delete it.
12. Security
The site is served over HTTPS. No method of transmitting or storing data online is completely secure.
13. Other sites
This site links to places I don't control. This policy doesn't cover them. Read theirs.
14. Changes
If I change this policy I will update the effective date at the top, and I will note any material change on this page for at least 30 days. Using the site after a change means you accept the updated policy.
15. Contact
Elisa Ma — contact.elisa.ma[at]gmail.com