Atlas policy · Version 1.4
Privacy Policy
Effective August 20, 2026. These terms describe the current Atlas Version 13 service and will be revised before any materially different data practice or public capability is introduced.
What Atlas collects now
Atlas offers anonymous read-only educational access and optional enrollment in The Atlas Letter. Atlas does not offer public accounts or public AI. Contact controls remain informational; approved feedback is collected through an external Google Form.
Atlas records limited first-party Reader Intelligence events under its governed measurement baseline. These events include canonical article views, active-reading time in bounded intervals, 25%, 50%, 75%, 90%, and end-of-article milestones, a clearly labeled Reader Completion Proxy, Atlas Confidence and internal-learning interactions, newsletter request and confirmed-conversion events, normalized campaign attribution, general device category, a randomly generated browser-session identifier, and timestamp.
Reader Completion is an approximation based on reaching the governed end-of-article marker together with a minimum active-reading threshold. It does not prove that every paragraph was read or understood. Atlas does not store search text, feedback text, account identity, full referrer URLs, arbitrary query strings, advertising identifiers, persistent reader identifiers, medical information, or cross-site activity in Reader Intelligence records. Returning-reader measurement remains disabled.
Browser storage, cookies, and hosting data
Atlas uses browser session storage to hold a random Reader Intelligence session identifier and normalized first-touch campaign attribution. Session storage is limited to the browser session and is not used to identify a person across sessions. Atlas uses local storage to remember the visitor's optional analytics choice. If a visitor affirmatively allows Google Analytics, Google may set first-party analytics cookies such as _ga and a property-specific _ga_* cookie to distinguish browser sessions. Atlas does not set advertising cookies or use these choices for cross-site behavioral profiling. The hosting and security services supporting Atlas may process standard request, device, network, authentication, and security information needed to deliver and protect the service.
Optional Google Analytics
Google Analytics 4 is an optional, consent-gated service that supplements rather than replaces Reader Intelligence. It is used to understand broad acquisition, visits and sessions, traffic channels, device and browser categories, approximate geography, page paths, campaign attribution, and basic engagement. The Google tag is blocked from loading or transmitting data until the visitor affirmatively allows analytics. Declining analytics does not restrict Atlas content or functionality.
When allowed, Atlas sends Google only the Atlas page location with governed campaign parameters (utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, and utm_content) and the standard information needed for basic Google Analytics measurement. Atlas does not send Reader Intelligence events, email addresses, names, account identifiers, health information, arbitrary query strings, or user-provided data to Google Analytics. Google may process device and browser information and derive approximate geography from network information under its applicable terms and privacy practices.
Atlas has disabled Google Signals, user-provided data collection, advertising personalization, remarketing, advertising-product links, and optional Enhanced Measurement for scrolls, outbound clicks, site search, video engagement, file downloads, and form interactions. Google Analytics event-level data retention is configured for two months. Atlas does not use Google Analytics to make automated editorial or health decisions.
Feedback and third-party services
When Atlas provides a feedback link, it opens a Google Form operated by Google. Information submitted there is provided voluntarily and is processed under Google’s applicable terms and privacy practices as well as Atlas’s feedback procedures. Do not submit medical records, diagnoses, treatment details, credentials, or other sensitive personal information. Atlas uses feedback to evaluate usability, correct defects, and improve educational quality; feedback cannot directly modify Canon or authorize publication.
Newsletter status
The Atlas Letter uses explicit consent and double opt-in. Atlas stores the email address, consent and policy versions, lifecycle status, confirmation state, unsubscribe state, suppression state, and bounded delivery evidence needed to administer the subscription. Resend processes only the information necessary to deliver confirmation, welcome, newsletter, and unsubscribe-related messages in accordance with its applicable terms and privacy practices. Unsubscribing does not require an Atlas account.
Use, sharing, and retention
Atlas uses information only to operate, secure, evaluate, and improve the service or to respond to feedback submitted through an approved channel. Atlas does not sell personal information or use it for targeted advertising. Information may be processed by service providers supporting hosting, security, authentication, optional consented analytics, or an explicitly selected feedback service, and may be disclosed when required by law or necessary to protect rights, safety, and service integrity.
Atlas retains subscriber information only for as long as reasonably necessary to administer subscriptions, demonstrate consent, honor suppression requests, satisfy applicable legal obligations, and protect the integrity of the service. Raw Reader Intelligence events are retained for no more than 90 days and are then deleted; governed daily and weekly aggregates may be retained for longer institutional comparison. Historical analytics created before the validated Reader Intelligence V1 baseline are not treated as reliable public-production measurements. Google Form responses remain subject to the Owner’s configured retention and deletion controls.
Your choices
You may browse without submitting feedback. You may avoid browser session storage by closing the session or clearing site data. You may decline Google Analytics when first asked and may later allow or withdraw optional analytics through the persistent Privacy Choices control. Withdrawing removes Atlas-set Google Analytics cookies and reloads the page without the Google tag. You may request access to, correction of, or deletion of information that Atlas controls, subject to applicable law and legitimate security or recordkeeping needs.
Children and sensitive information
Atlas is a general educational service and is not directed to children under 13. Atlas does not request medical records or individualized health histories. Please do not provide them through feedback, contact, search, or newsletter fields.
Security and changes
Atlas uses access controls, data minimization, audit records, dependency review, and security testing, but no online service can guarantee absolute security. Material policy changes will receive a new version or effective date and will be presented before the changed practice begins where required.
Contact
Privacy, data-choice, accessibility, or correction questions may be sent to hello@atlashealthinstitute.org.