Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 30, 2026

This page explains what information Daily Beltway (dailybeltway.com) collects from readers, why, who else receives it, and the choices you have. It describes the services this site actually runs as of the date above. Questions or requests: tom@dailybeltway.com.

The short version

  • You can read Daily Beltway without an account.
  • If you sign up for the newsletter, we keep your email address to send it, and every email has an unsubscribe link.
  • Google AdSense runs on this site. Google and its partners use cookies to show and measure ads. You can turn off personalized ads (links below).
  • Embedded videos and posts from YouTube, X and Facebook load from those companies’ servers.
  • We do not sell your personal information.

Newsletter

What we collect: the email address you give us on the Newsletter page, the date you signed up and which form you used.

How it is used: only to send the Daily Beltway newsletter (currently a weekly email with our articles and videos). Emails are delivered by Twilio SendGrid, our email provider. Our emails contain a small tracking image and tracked links, so we can see whether an email was opened and which links were clicked (with the time and the browser or email client involved). We use this to measure what readers find useful and to keep our emails out of spam folders, which means sending less to people who never open them.

Unsubscribing: every email has a one-click unsubscribe link. After you unsubscribe — or if your address bounces or reports our mail as spam — we keep the address on a “do not send” list so it is never mailed again.

Sign-up boxes elsewhere on the site: the email boxes in some page sidebars and footers sign you up for the same newsletter as the Newsletter page. The address is also kept in this website’s database, together with a cookie (tds_leads) that remembers you already signed up.

How long we keep it: newsletter addresses are kept until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete them; the “do not send” record is kept so we can honor it.

Advertising (Google AdSense)

This site loads Google AdSense. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website or other websites. Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visits to this site and/or other sites on the internet.

Analytics

As of the date above, our reader pages do not load Google Analytics or any other audience-measurement script. Google Site Kit is installed for site administration. If we turn on analytics, this section will be updated to say so.

Embedded content from other companies

When a page includes content from another service, your browser connects to that company, which receives your IP address and browser details and may set its own cookies under its own privacy policy:

  • YouTube (Google): video players in articles and on our Watch page, and video thumbnails in our Watch section, load from YouTube. A full video player loads only when you press play in the Watch section. Google privacy policy.
  • X (Twitter): we load X’s embed script on our pages so that posts we cite display in full. X privacy policy.
  • Facebook (Meta): our Watch section shows thumbnails of our Facebook Reels, loaded from Meta’s servers. Meta privacy policy.
  • Google Fonts: the site’s typefaces are loaded from Google’s font servers.

The share buttons on articles (Facebook, X, Telegram, email, copy link) are plain links: nothing is sent to those services unless you click one.

Comments

If you comment, we collect the name, email address and website you enter, the comment itself, and your IP address and browser user-agent (to fight spam). Your email address is never published. If you tick “Save my name, email, and website in this browser”, that information is stored in cookies on your device for one year. Comment author pictures may be looked up from Gravatar (Automattic) using a scrambled (hashed) version of your email address — Automattic privacy policy. Comments are kept with the article they belong to.

Security and server logs

Like most websites, our web server and security software (Wordfence and All-In-One WP Security) record IP addresses, browser details and the pages requested, to keep the site running and to block attacks. These logs are used only for security and troubleshooting.

Cookies, in one place

  • Advertising cookies set by Google and its partners (see Advertising above).
  • Comment cookies if you choose to save your details (one year).
  • tds_leads after you use a sign-up box, so the site knows you already subscribed.
  • Login cookies for site staff only.
  • Cookies set by YouTube, X or Meta when their embedded content loads.

You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. The site still works without them; ads may be less relevant.

Who we share information with

We share reader information only with the service providers that run the site and newsletter (our hosting, Twilio SendGrid, and Google for advertising), or when the law requires it. We do not sell or rent your personal information.

Your choices and requests

You can ask us what information we hold about you, or ask us to correct or delete it, by emailing tom@dailybeltway.com. Depending on where you live, you may have additional legal rights over your data; we will honor requests as the law requires.

Children

Daily Beltway is a news site for adults. It is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their information.

Changes

When the services we use change, we update this page and the date at the top.