Website privacy.
This policy explains how information is used when you visit imberweather.com and its weather API. It covers the website, not a native mobile app.
Last updated: 5 November 2026
Who is responsible?
Benjamin Raisanen, based in the United Kingdom, operates IMBER and is the controller of personal information processed for this website. Contact: benjaminraisanen@hotmail.co.uk.
What information is used, and why?
| Information | Purpose and lawful basis |
|---|---|
| IP address, request time, requested URL (including search or location query parameters), browser details, referring page and technical errors. | Delivering, securing and troubleshooting the website and API: legitimate interests in operating a reliable and secure public service. |
| The town you search for, or coordinates supplied after you allow browser location permission. | Finding and displaying the requested local forecast: legitimate interests in answering your weather request. The forecast and Model Comparison pages request browser location when opened; you can also press the location button. Your browser controls permission. Search by town is available without device location. |
| Optional remembered town and appearance settings. | Personalising later visits: your consent to optional browser storage. Precise device coordinates are not saved as a remembered location. |
| Your name, email address and message if you contact us. | Responding and handling requests: legitimate interests in communicating with you; legal obligation where needed to fulfil data protection rights. |
| Your answers on the feedback form, including your name or contact details if you choose to give them. Every question is optional. | Understanding how IMBER is used and deciding what to improve: legitimate interests in improving the service. |
| Supporter information made available by Buy Me a Coffee, such as your name, message, contact details and contribution record, depending on your choices. | Acknowledging contributions and keeping relevant records: legitimate interests, and legal obligations where financial record keeping is required. We do not receive your full payment card details. |
Providing a location or contacting us is optional. Without a location request, we show a default forecast. We do not use the public website for advertising or visitor analytics, sell personal information, or make decisions about people with legal or similarly significant effects through automated profiling.
Location is not anonymous simply because we do not ask for your name. Coordinates and town searches can appear alongside an IP address in technical request logs.
Who receives information?
- Unlimited Web Hosting (UK): hosts IMBER’s website and weather services and processes technical requests on our behalf.
- OpenStreetMap Foundation: provides background map tiles directly to your browser. It receives your IP address, browser/request details and map tile coordinates, which reveal the area being viewed. Its servers may be in the UK and other countries. It acts as an independent controller: OSMF privacy policy ↗.
- Sunrise-Sunset.org: your browser requests sun times for the selected forecast location. That service receives the forecast coordinates and connection details, including your IP address. Provider privacy policy ↗.
- Automattic / Jetpack: supplies WordPress security and connected site administration services, which may process technical and security information. Public visitor statistics are disabled. Automattic privacy policy ↗.
- Microsoft Outlook: processes correspondence sent to the contact email above. Microsoft privacy statement ↗.
- Buy Me a Coffee and its payment partners: the support widget connects only when you choose to open it. Visiting the external support page also connects to that service. Payment and widget processing are governed by Buy Me a Coffee’s privacy policy ↗.
- Tally: provides the feedback form on the support page. The form loads as you scroll near it, so Tally receives your IP address and browser details even if you don’t submit it. If you do submit it, Tally stores your answers for IMBER. Tally says this data is stored within the European Union. Tally’s privacy policy ↗.
Weather datasets and place-name sources are credited on the website. Loading forecast data does not send your device’s location directly to the Met Office or GeoNames from this website.
Processing outside the UK
UK hosting does not mean every service processes information only in the UK. The external services and email provider listed above may use international infrastructure. Their policies describe their locations and transfer arrangements. Contact us for information about any international transfers IMBER makes and the applicable safeguards. We do not claim that all processing stays within the UK.
How long is information kept?
The web server is configured to rotate access and error logs daily and keep 14 archived rotations. Actual expiry depends on rotation and whether a log has data. Application and security records are kept as needed to investigate faults, prevent abuse or meet legal obligations, subject to system storage limits. A record needed for a specific incident may be retained while that matter is handled.
Correspondence and rights requests are retained while needed to resolve the enquiry, manage reasonable follow-up and meet applicable legal obligations. Contribution records are retained for administration and any required financial record keeping. Feedback responses are kept while they’re useful for improving IMBER, and you can ask us to delete yours. Hosting backups and external services follow their own retention arrangements; contact us if you need details for a particular record.
We do not maintain a visitor account or a separate history of your device’s movements. Technical logs may nevertheless contain location requests.
Cookies and browser storage
The public weather pages use a small browser-storage record to remember your privacy choice for up to 180 days. Optional preferences are off until accepted. You can reject them and still use the forecasts and radar.
| Storage | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|
imber-consent-v1 | Necessary record of your privacy choice, its version and expiry. | Up to 180 days. |
imber-theme | Optional light/dark preference. | Until consent expires, you withdraw it or clear site data. |
imber-location-choice-v1 | Optional remembered forecast town. | Until consent expires, you withdraw it or clear site data. |
Your browser may cache maps and site assets to deliver the content you request. WordPress authentication/security cookies may apply to administrators who sign in. The optional Buy Me a Coffee widget may use its own cookies and storage after you open it; closing it unloads the embedded service but does not erase cookies it has already set. The Tally feedback form on the support page may also use its own cookies and storage once it loads. These can be removed in your browser settings.
Your rights and choices
You may have rights to access, correct, erase or restrict use of your information, receive portable data, and withdraw consent. You can object to processing based on legitimate interests. Rights depend on the circumstances and are not absolute. See your data rights for how to make a request.
Withdraw optional-storage consent through Cookie settings. Device location permission can be revoked in your browser or device settings. Withdrawal does not affect processing that was lawful before withdrawal. You can complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office ↗.
Changes to this policy
We update this page when the website or its data practices change. Material changes requiring a new choice will be presented before new optional processing begins.