Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

NamasteNode ("we," "us," or "our") operates the website namastenode.com (the "Website"). We are committed to transparency regarding how we handle your personal information and to protecting your privacy at every step.

This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect from you, how we collect it, how we use and share it, and what rights you have in relation to that information. It applies to all visitors, readers, subscribers, and users of our Website.

By accessing or using our Website, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with the practices described herein, please discontinue your use of the Website immediately.

Effective Date: February 2026

2. Information We Collect

We collect information in several ways depending on how you interact with our Website. Below is a detailed breakdown of the types of information we gather.

2.1 Personal Information You Provide

When you voluntarily interact with certain features of our Website, you may provide us with personal information, including but not limited to:

• Newsletter Subscription: When you subscribe to our newsletter, we collect your email address so we can send you updates, new articles, and curated content related to Node.js and web development.
• Comments: When you post a comment on an article, we collect your display name and the text content of your comment. This information is publicly displayed on the article page alongside your comment.
• Contact Form: When you reach out to us through our contact page, we collect your name, email address, subject, and message body so we can respond to your inquiry appropriately.

2.2 Automatically Collected Information

When you visit our Website, certain information is collected automatically through your browser and our server infrastructure. This includes:

• IP Address: Your Internet Protocol address, which may indicate your general geographic location.
• Browser Type and Version: The web browser you use (e.g., Chrome, Firefox, Safari) and its version number.
• Operating System: The operating system running on your device (e.g., Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS).
• Device Type: Whether you are accessing the Website from a desktop computer, laptop, tablet, or mobile phone.
• Referring URL: The web address of the page that directed you to our Website (e.g., a search engine results page or another website's link).
• Pages Visited: Which pages and articles you view during your session on our Website.
• Time on Page: How long you spend on each page, helping us understand which content is most engaging.
• Click Patterns: Which links, buttons, and interactive elements you click on within the Website.

2.3 Cookies & Tracking Technologies

Our Website uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to enhance your browsing experience, remember your preferences, and gather analytical data. We use the following categories of cookies:

• Essential Cookies: These cookies are necessary for the Website to function correctly and cannot be switched off. They include:
  • nn-theme — Stores your preferred theme (light or dark mode).
  • nn-cookie-consent — Records whether you have accepted or declined the cookie consent banner.
  • nn-liked — Keeps track of articles you have liked so your preferences persist across sessions.
• Analytics Cookies: We use Google Analytics to collect aggregated, anonymized data about how visitors use the Website. These cookies help us understand traffic patterns and improve our content.
• Advertising Cookies: We use Google AdSense to display advertisements. AdSense may place cookies on your device to serve ads based on your interests and browsing history across websites.

2.4 Information from Third Parties

We may receive additional information about you from third-party services integrated into our Website:

• Google Analytics Demographics: Google Analytics may provide us with aggregated demographic information (such as age ranges, gender distribution, and general interests) about our audience as a whole. This data is anonymized and cannot be used to identify any individual visitor.
• Google AdSense Ad Interaction Data: Google AdSense provides us with data about how advertisements on our Website are performing, including impressions, clicks, and engagement metrics. This helps us understand the effectiveness of ad placements and optimize the user experience.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

• Provide and Maintain the Website: To ensure the Website functions properly, loads efficiently, and delivers the content you request.
• Send Newsletters: To deliver our email newsletter to subscribers with updates on new articles, tutorials, and relevant web development content. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link provided in each newsletter email.
• Respond to Contact Inquiries: To reply to messages you send us through the contact form, address your questions or concerns, and provide the support you need.
• Analyze Website Usage: To understand how visitors use our Website, identify popular content, detect performance issues, and make data-driven decisions about future improvements.
• Display Advertisements: To serve relevant advertisements through Google AdSense, which helps fund the free content we provide on the Website.
• Detect and Prevent Fraud: To protect the Website and its users from malicious activity, spam, abuse, and other security threats.
• Improve Content and User Experience: To tailor our content strategy, improve site navigation, enhance design elements, and ensure the Website meets the needs and expectations of our audience.
• Remember Your Preferences: To store and recall your settings such as dark/light theme preference, cookie consent status, and liked articles so you have a consistent experience across visits.

4. Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom (UK), or any other jurisdiction where the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or similar legislation applies, we rely on the following legal bases to process your personal data:

• Consent: When you voluntarily subscribe to our newsletter or accept non-essential cookies, you provide explicit consent for us to process your data for those specific purposes. You may withdraw your consent at any time by unsubscribing from the newsletter or adjusting your cookie preferences.
• Legitimate Interest: We process certain data (such as analytics data and security logs) based on our legitimate interest in understanding how our Website is used, improving our services, and maintaining the security and integrity of the Website. We always balance our interests against your fundamental rights and freedoms.
• Contractual Necessity: When you contact us through our contact form, we process your information as necessary to respond to your inquiry and fulfill the implicit agreement to communicate with you.
• Legal Obligation: In certain circumstances, we may be required to process or retain your data to comply with applicable laws, regulations, or legal proceedings.

5. Google AdSense & Advertising

We use Google AdSense to display advertisements on our Website. AdSense is an advertising service provided by Google LLC that allows us to monetize our content and continue providing free educational resources to our readers.

5.1 How Google AdSense Works

Google AdSense uses a combination of cookies, JavaScript, and web beacons to serve advertisements that are relevant to you. When you visit a page on our Website that contains ads, Google may collect or receive information from your browser, including:

• Your IP address and general geographic location
• Browser and device information
• The content of the page you are viewing
• Your browsing history across websites that use Google advertising services
• Ad interaction data (whether you viewed or clicked on an ad)

5.2 Personalized vs. Non-Personalized Ads

Personalized ads are tailored to your interests based on your browsing activity across multiple websites. Google builds an advertising profile from this data and uses it to show you ads that it believes are more relevant to you.

Non-personalized ads are not based on your past browsing behavior. Instead, they are targeted using contextual information such as the content of the current page, your general geographic location, or the time of day. If you have not consented to personalized advertising or have opted out, you will see non-personalized ads instead.

5.3 How to Opt Out of Personalized Advertising

You have several options to manage or opt out of personalized advertising:

• Google Ad Settings: Visit Google's Ads Settings to control the information Google uses to show you ads and to opt out of personalized ads.
• Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA): Visit aboutads.info/choices to opt out of personalized advertising from participating companies.
• Network Advertising Initiative (NAI): Visit the NAI Opt-Out Page to opt out of targeted advertising from NAI member companies.
• Browser Settings: Most modern browsers allow you to block third-party cookies, which will limit personalized ad tracking. Note that this may affect your experience on other websites as well.

For more information about how Google uses data when you visit sites that use its services, please see Google's Privacy & Terms page.

6. Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google LLC, to help us understand how visitors interact with our Website. Google Analytics collects data through cookies and provides us with reports on Website activity.

6.1 What We Track

• Number of visitors and sessions
• Pages viewed and the order in which they are visited
• Time spent on each page and overall session duration
• Bounce rate (visitors who leave after viewing only one page)
• Traffic sources (organic search, direct traffic, referral links, social media)
• General geographic location of visitors (country and city level)
• Device type, browser, and operating system used
• Aggregated demographic data (age range, gender, interests) when available

6.2 Data Protection Measures

• IP Anonymization: We have enabled IP anonymization in Google Analytics, which means your IP address is truncated before it is stored. This prevents the full IP address from being associated with your browsing activity.
• No Cross-Site Tracking: We do not enable cross-site tracking features. Our Google Analytics implementation is limited to tracking activity on namastenode.com only.
• No User-ID Tracking: We do not use the User-ID feature in Google Analytics, which means we do not link your analytics data to a personally identifiable account.

6.3 How to Opt Out of Google Analytics

If you prefer not to have your browsing data collected by Google Analytics, you can install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on. This add-on instructs the Google Analytics JavaScript running on websites not to send any information to Google Analytics. The add-on is available for all major browsers.

7. Cookies in Detail

Below is a comprehensive list of cookies used on our Website, organized by type. You can manage your cookie preferences through your browser settings or through our cookie consent banner.

Cookie Name	Type	Purpose	Duration
nn-theme	Essential	Stores your preferred theme (light or dark mode) so it persists across page loads and sessions.	Persistent
nn-cookie-consent	Essential	Records whether you have accepted or dismissed the cookie consent banner to avoid showing it repeatedly.	Persistent
nn-liked	Essential	Stores the list of articles you have liked so your preferences are remembered across visits.	Persistent
_ga	Analytics	Used by Google Analytics to distinguish unique users by assigning a randomly generated number as a client identifier.	2 years
_gid	Analytics	Used by Google Analytics to distinguish unique users. Refreshed each time data is sent to Google Analytics.	24 hours
_gat	Analytics	Used by Google Analytics to throttle request rate, limiting the collection of data on high-traffic sites.	1 minute
__gads	Advertising	Set by Google AdSense to measure ad interactions and prevent the same ads from being shown too many times.	13 months
__gpi	Advertising	Used by Google AdSense to store and track ad personalization preferences across websites.	13 months
IDE	Advertising	Used by Google DoubleClick to register and report user actions after viewing or clicking an advertiser's ad, enabling measurement of ad effectiveness and delivery of personalized ads.	13 months
NID	Advertising	Set by Google to build a profile of user interests and show relevant ads on Google properties and across the web.	6 months
DSID	Advertising	Used by Google to identify a signed-in user on non-Google sites for ad personalization.	2 weeks

Please note that the cookies listed above are subject to change as third-party services update their technologies. We recommend reviewing this section periodically for the most up-to-date information.

8. Data Sharing & Third Parties

We value your trust and are committed to being transparent about who has access to your data. We do NOT sell your personal data to any third party. However, we do share data with the following service providers who assist us in operating the Website:

8.1 Google (Analytics & AdSense)

As described in the sections above, we share data with Google through Google Analytics (for website analytics) and Google AdSense (for advertising). Google processes this data in accordance with its own Privacy Policy. Data shared with Google may include browsing behavior, device information, IP addresses (anonymized for Analytics), and ad interaction data.

8.2 Hosting Provider

Our Website is hosted on servers provided by our hosting provider. The hosting provider may have access to server logs that contain IP addresses, request timestamps, and other technical data necessary for maintaining server infrastructure and troubleshooting issues.

8.3 Email Service Provider (Newsletter)

We use a third-party email service provider to manage and distribute our newsletter. When you subscribe to our newsletter, your email address is shared with this provider so they can deliver emails on our behalf. The email service provider is contractually obligated to protect your information and is prohibited from using it for any purpose other than delivering our newsletter.

8.4 CDN (Cloudflare)

We use Cloudflare as our Content Delivery Network (CDN) to improve Website performance, ensure availability, and provide DDoS protection. Cloudflare may process certain data (such as IP addresses and request headers) as part of delivering these services. Cloudflare's data processing practices are governed by their own Privacy Policy.

8.5 Legal Disclosures

We may disclose your information if required to do so by law, court order, or governmental regulation, or if we believe in good faith that such disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, your safety, or the safety of others, investigate fraud, or respond to a government request.

9. Data Retention

We retain your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. Below is a summary of our retention practices:

• Newsletter Email Addresses: Retained until you unsubscribe. Upon unsubscription, your email address is removed from our mailing list. Note that your address may persist in backup systems for a limited time after unsubscription.
• Comments: Comment data (display name and comment text) is retained indefinitely as part of the public record of the article. If you wish to have a comment removed, you may request deletion by contacting us.
• Contact Form Messages: Contact form submissions (name, email, subject, and message) are retained for 1 year from the date of submission, after which they are deleted. This period allows us to follow up on inquiries and maintain a record of correspondence.
• Analytics Data: Data collected through Google Analytics is retained in accordance with Google's data retention policies. We have configured our Google Analytics data retention settings to align with our operational needs. You can learn more about Google's data retention practices in their documentation.
• Cookie Data: Cookies are retained for the durations specified in the cookie table above. You may delete cookies from your browser at any time.

10. Data Security

We take the security of your data seriously and implement a variety of technical and organizational measures to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. While no method of transmission over the Internet is 100% secure, we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your data.

• HTTPS Encryption: All data transmitted between your browser and our Website is encrypted using HTTPS (TLS/SSL) protocols, ensuring that your information cannot be intercepted or tampered with during transit.
• Helmet.js Security Headers: We use Helmet.js to set various HTTP security headers that help protect against common web vulnerabilities such as cross-site scripting (XSS), clickjacking, MIME type sniffing, and other attack vectors.
• Content Security Policy (CSP): Our Website implements a strict Content Security Policy that controls which resources (scripts, styles, images, etc.) are allowed to load, reducing the risk of code injection attacks.
• Rate Limiting: We employ rate limiting on our server endpoints to prevent brute-force attacks, excessive scraping, and denial-of-service (DoS) attempts.
• Input Validation: All user input (comments, contact form submissions, newsletter sign-ups) is validated and sanitized on both the client and server side to prevent injection attacks and malformed data from entering our systems.
• Regular Security Audits: We conduct regular security reviews and audits of our codebase, server configurations, and third-party dependencies to identify and address potential vulnerabilities promptly.

11. Your Rights (GDPR)

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom (UK), or any other jurisdiction where the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or similar data protection legislation applies, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Right of Access: You have the right to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you, along with information about how it is being processed.
• Right to Rectification: You have the right to request the correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data that we hold about you.
• Right to Erasure ("Right to Be Forgotten"): You have the right to request the deletion of your personal data when it is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, when you withdraw consent, or when there is no other legal basis for processing.
• Right to Restrict Processing: You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances, such as when you contest the accuracy of the data or when processing is unlawful.
• Right to Data Portability: You have the right to receive the personal data you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format, and to transmit that data to another controller without hindrance.
• Right to Object: You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data for reasons relating to your particular situation, especially where we rely on legitimate interest as the legal basis for processing.
• Right to Withdraw Consent: Where processing is based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before the withdrawal.

How to Exercise Your Rights

To exercise any of the rights listed above, please contact us through our contact page or email us at [email protected]. Please include enough information to identify yourself and specify the right you wish to exercise.

We will respond to your request within 30 days of receiving it. In certain circumstances, we may need to extend this period by an additional 60 days, in which case we will notify you of the extension and the reason for it.

If you believe that your data protection rights have been violated, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection supervisory authority.

12. Your Rights (CCPA)

If you are a resident of California, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) grants you specific rights regarding your personal information. This section describes your CCPA rights and how you can exercise them.

12.1 Your Rights Under the CCPA

• Right to Know: You have the right to request that we disclose the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you, the categories of sources from which we collected the information, the business or commercial purposes for collecting the information, and the categories of third parties with whom we share the information.
• Right to Delete: You have the right to request the deletion of your personal information that we have collected, subject to certain exceptions permitted by law.
• Right to Opt-Out of Sale: You have the right to opt out of the sale of your personal information. We do not sell your personal information. However, if this practice changes in the future, we will provide you with a clear mechanism to opt out.
• Right to Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA rights. We will not deny you goods or services, charge you different prices, provide a different level of quality, or suggest that you may receive a different price or quality of service for exercising your rights.

12.2 Categories of Personal Information Collected

In the preceding twelve months, we have collected the following categories of personal information as defined by the CCPA:

• Identifiers: Email address, display name, IP address.
• Internet or Network Activity: Browsing history on our Website, search history on our Website, and information regarding your interaction with our Website and advertisements.
• Geolocation Data: General geographic location inferred from your IP address.
• Inferences: Aggregated profiles reflecting preferences, characteristics, and behavior drawn from the information listed above (via Google Analytics).

To exercise your CCPA rights, please contact us through our contact page or email us at [email protected]. We will verify your identity before fulfilling your request.

13. Children's Privacy

Our Website is not directed at children under the age of 13 (or under the age of 16 in jurisdictions where the GDPR applies). We do not knowingly collect, use, or disclose personal information from children under these ages.

If you are a parent or guardian and believe that your child has provided us with personal information without your consent, please contact us immediately through our contact page or at [email protected]. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under the applicable minimum age without verified parental consent, we will take steps to delete that information as quickly as possible.

14. International Data Transfers

Our Website is accessible globally, and the information we collect may be transferred to, stored in, and processed in countries other than the country in which you reside. These countries may have data protection laws that differ from the laws of your jurisdiction.

In particular, our servers, hosting providers, and third-party service providers (such as Google for Analytics and AdSense, and Cloudflare for CDN services) may be located in the United States or other countries. By using our Website, you acknowledge and consent to the transfer of your information to these jurisdictions.

Where required by applicable law, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your personal data during international transfers, including but not limited to standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission or other legally recognized transfer mechanisms.

15. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or other factors. When we make changes, we will revise the "Last updated" date at the top of this page.

If we make material changes that significantly affect how we handle your personal information, we will provide prominent notice on the Website, such as a banner notification, prior to the changes taking effect. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we are protecting your data.

Your continued use of the Website after the posting of changes constitutes your acceptance of the revised Privacy Policy.

16. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data handling practices, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. We welcome all inquiries, including data protection and privacy-related requests.

• Email: [email protected]
• Contact Page: namastenode.com/contact

When contacting us about a data protection matter, please include sufficient detail to help us identify you and understand your request. We aim to respond to all legitimate inquiries within a reasonable timeframe and no later than 30 days.