Willamette Valley Weather Watch Privacy Policy
Last updated: October 8, 2026
This policy explains how Willamette Valley Weather Watch uses information on our website, our browser weather channel, and our official TV applications when released. It covers audience measurement, accounts, community features, contact messages, and information needed to operate these services. Third-party platforms have their own privacy policies. A TV application may also provide a platform-specific notice describing its actual collection at launch.
Why we measure our audience
Audience measurement supports our weather broadcasting and advertising business. We use first-party analytics to understand which weather information is useful, measure channel use and reliability, and provide advertisers with aggregate audience reports. We do not send our audience analytics to an outside analytics provider. Advertiser reports contain totals and grouped statistics, rather than browser identifiers, individual browsing histories, account details, or contact messages.
We do not use audience analytics to identify visitors by name, link their activity to community accounts, or build advertising profiles across unrelated websites. We do not sell individual audience records or share those records with advertisers for cross-site targeting. Aggregate reports describe groups without browser or installation identifiers; ordinary analytics records use random identifiers and are more accurately described as pseudonymous. We do not claim that every piece of information processed by our services is completely anonymous.
Website analytics
For browsers without Global Privacy Control enabled, we measure page loads, visits, referring website domains, campaign labels, broad device and browser categories, language, browser time zone, approximate geography, foreground page time, and selected interactions. Examples include forecast selections, opening alerts, enlarging imagery, opening the channel, and sponsor interactions where implemented. We exclude private account pages and signed-in administrators from audience measurement.
A randomly generated analytics browser identifier is stored in local storage. Its website expiration is renewed to 90 days after each visit. A website visit identifier is renewed during use and replaced after 30 minutes of inactivity. These identifiers allow repeat-use measurement but do not contain your name or email address. Clearing browser storage removes the identifiers on that browser; a later visit may create new ones.
Channel and TV application analytics
The browser channel measures channel starts, playback sessions, foreground activity, confirmed viewing time, scenes and alerts displayed, and playback or buffering problems. Sponsor-related events may be measured when those features are enabled. Records include a random browser identifier, a session identifier, event times, channel and market context, and relevant playback information. The channel's browser identifier currently has no automatic local-storage expiration and remains until browser storage is cleared. A new channel initialization creates a new session identifier.
Official TV applications may use random installation and session identifiers, platform/application versions, and playback events for equivalent audience and reliability measurement. Application-specific details and controls will be disclosed when those applications launch. TV applications currently in development are not included in production audience reports; embedded TV browser runtimes are excluded from browser-channel collection. Website geolocation described below should not be understood as a claim that every channel or TV application collects visitor geography.
IP addresses and approximate location
Network connections necessarily expose an IP address to the servers delivering the service. Website analytics uses a locally stored DB-IP City Lite database to derive approximate country, region, and city. We do not send an IP address to DB-IP for this lookup, store a raw IP address in audience analytics records, or request precise device location for audience measurement. Approximate IP location may be inaccurate, especially with VPNs, mobile networks, and shared connections. It does not establish a person's physical location or reliably prove VPN use.
IP Geolocation by DB-IP. DB-IP Lite data is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Information about the database is available from DB-IP.
Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control
Because audience measurement is important to the operation and advertising foundation of our weather service, we do not use the legacy Do Not Track (DNT) browser setting to disable first-party analytics. The protections and limits described in this policy still apply. DNT does not change what we share with advertisers: aggregate reports, not individual audience records.
Global Privacy Control (GPC) is handled differently. When a browser signals GPC, website analytics collects only daily aggregate counts by page and interaction type; browser-channel analytics collects only daily aggregate channel-load counts. These requests do not generate or transmit analytics browser, installation, view, or session identifiers, device characteristics, acquisition details, or analytics geolocation. They are not stored as linked browsing or viewing histories. We cannot use these counters to determine unique GPC visitors, returning visitors, or individual viewing time. The server also rejects identifier-based analytics requests carrying the Sec-GPC signal.
We do not offer a separate voluntary analytics-off button. You can use GPC in a supported browser to receive aggregate-only measurement, and browser controls can restrict JavaScript and local storage. DNT and GPC do not disable necessary service functions, security measures, or information you voluntarily submit. This policy does not waive any privacy rights applicable law gives you.
Accounts, community features, and contact messages
If you register, contact us, or participate in community features, we process information you provide, such as your username, email address, password in hashed form, optional profile information, and message or post contents. This information is not anonymous. Community posts may be visible to others according to the feature's access rules. Contact submissions include the connection IP address for operational and abuse-prevention purposes. We use this information to provide the requested features, respond to messages, manage accounts, and moderate or protect the service; it is separate from audience analytics.
Necessary session cookies and other functional storage support login, form security, and service preferences. Ordinary server logs may contain IP addresses, request details, and browser information. Short-lived IP-derived buckets limit excessive analytics requests; these are security controls, not audience identifiers or advertiser records.
Retention and safeguards
Website page and interaction analytics and daily aggregate counters are subject to automatic pruning after approximately one year. Website browser first/last-visit records are pruned after approximately 400 days without activity. Channel GPC daily counters are pruned after approximately one year. These cleanup operations run when the relevant collection or maintenance paths execute.
Ordinary channel analytics events, viewing intervals, and browser or installation records currently have no automatic retention cutoff and remain until administratively deleted. Account information, messages, operational logs, and backups follow separate operational retention practices; the audience retention periods above do not apply to them. We do not promise a fixed deletion period for those records.
We use access restrictions and other reasonable technical safeguards to protect stored information. No system can guarantee complete security. Authorized hosting or service providers may process information necessary to operate the service. Information may also be disclosed when required by law or needed to address security incidents or protect legal rights.
External services and children
Links to social media, video platforms, advertisers, and other external websites lead to services governed by their own policies. If an external service is embedded or opened, it may receive connection information and use its own cookies. Our statements about first-party audience analytics do not describe those providers' practices.
Our services are intended for a general audience and are not directed specifically to children under 13. Please contact us if you believe a child has provided personal information that requires review or removal.
Privacy questions and requests
Use our contact page for questions about this policy or requests concerning your information. Describe the request without including passwords or other sensitive credentials. We will review applicable access, correction, deletion, and other privacy rights and may need information to verify a request. Not every request can be matched to analytics records because we do not maintain a name-to-analytics-identifier directory.
We will update this page when our practices change and revise the date above. Material changes will be explained as appropriate. Future TV releases and changes involving individual advertising data will require corresponding disclosures.