What we collect
We only ever collect the minimum needed to run a gear-advice website. There are three broad categories:
- Information you give us. If you subscribe to the newsletter or email us, that is your email address and whatever message you choose to include. We do not ask for your name, phone number or physical address, and we have no reason to collect them.
- Information collected automatically. Basic technical data — approximate location derived from IP address, browser and device type, referring page, and which pages you visit — collected through cookies and server logs (see Google Analytics below).
- What we do not collect. We do not run quizzes with hidden data harvesting, we do not ask you to log in, and our calculators (water needs, pack weight, power, tent size, checklist generator) compute your inputs server-side per request and do not store them against your identity. A calculation is not a profile.
Cookies & similar technologies
A cookie is a small text file your browser stores for a site. The table below lists every cookie this site sets or allows to be set. We use first-party analytics cookies only — no advertising cookies, no retargeting, and no third-party marketing trackers.
| Cookie | Set by | Purpose | Typical lifetime |
|---|---|---|---|
| _ga, _ga_* | Google Analytics 4 (first-party) | Distinguish unique visitors and measure page views | 13 months |
| Amazon session cookie | Amazon.com.au — only after you click a link and leave | Attribute a purchase to our referral for affiliate commission | Set by Amazon under its own policy |
You can delete or block cookies in your browser settings at any time; the site works fully without them, and nothing beyond aggregate analytics counts you.
Google Analytics
We use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to understand which guides people actually read, so content decisions are made from data rather than guesswork. Specifically:
- GA4 runs on first-party cookies only, and we do not enable Google Signals, user-ID stitching or advertising features.
- IP addresses are not logged or matched to identities by Google for our property, and we set event-data retention to the shortest option available.
- Analytics data is processed on Google's servers, which may be located outside Australia — see Disclosure & overseas transfers.
If you would prefer not to be measured at all, you can install Google's free Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, or simply use a browser that blocks analytics requests. Opting out changes nothing about the content you can read.
How we use information
- To send the newsletter and the checklist download you asked for.
- To see which guides and tools are useful and which are not.
- To keep the site secure and diagnose breakage.
- To respond to your questions when you email us.
We do not sell, rent or trade personal information. Ever. The site earns its money through affiliate commissions (see the disclosure), which never involve sharing your data with retailers — a commission is a retroactive payment on a sale, not a data exchange.
Disclosure & overseas transfers
We share information only with the small number of service providers that make the site work — our hosting provider, our email delivery provider and Google (for analytics) — and only to the extent those providers need it. We may also disclose information where required by Australian law or by a valid order of a court or regulator.
Under APP 8 we note that Google Analytics and some service providers may hold data outside Australia (commonly the United States). We take reasonable steps to ensure those providers maintain safeguards comparable to the APPs, and none of the data we pass is sensitive.
Your rights
Australian privacy law gives you the right to:
- ask us what personal information we hold about you (usually just an email address);
- ask us to correct information that is out of date or wrong;
- ask us to delete your newsletter subscription at any time;
- make a privacy complaint — and if we cannot resolve it, escalate to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (oaic.gov.au, 1300 363 992).
To exercise any of these, email hello@trackandcanopy.com.au. We respond within 30 days, which is comfortably inside the statutory timeframe.
Security & retention
The site is served over HTTPS. Newsletter addresses are kept only while you remain subscribed plus a short grace period for unsubscribe processing. Analytics data ages out automatically under the retention settings described above. No transmission is perfectly secure, but we keep collection minimal so there is very little of yours to protect in the first place.
Children
The site is general-audience gear advice, not directed at children, and we knowingly collect no personal information from anyone under 18. Camp with them; don't have them subscribe.
Changes & contact
If our practices change materially — for example if we adopt a new analytics tool — we will update this page and revise the date at the top. Questions about this policy go to hello@trackandcanopy.com.au.