Privacy Policy

Effective date: 2026-10-29

1. Who we are

WeekendWatts (https://weekendwatts.com) is published by Charland & Co., a sole proprietorship located in Quebec, Canada ("we", "us"). Person in charge of the protection of personal information: the Owner, Charland & Co., hello@charlandandco.com.

2. What we collect

Information you give us: your name, email address and message if you contact us.
Server logs: our hosting provider, Hostinger, automatically records technical data when you visit: IP address, browser type, device type, referring page, pages requested, and date and time. Logs are kept for up to 30 days.
Calculators: numbers you enter into our calculators are processed in your browser and are not sent to us or stored.

We do not collect sensitive personal information. We use a privacy-focused visit counter and, only if you accept, advertising technology from Google, described under Cookies, analytics and advertising. We do not sell your name or email in a customer list.

Cookies, analytics and advertising

Some features need cookies or similar storage in your browser. Strictly necessary items (for example, remembering your cookie choice, or security) can run without an advertising Accept. Advertising and optional analytics cookies stay off until you click Accept in our cookie banner (or equivalent Cookie settings control), except where a tool is described below as cookieless.

Essential cookie: we store one small cookie (ww_consent) to remember your cookie choice for 6 months. It contains no personal information.

Basic visit counts (GoatCounter)

We use GoatCounter, a privacy-focused analytics service operated from Ireland, to count visits to weekendwatts.com. Only our own staff see these statistics; there is no public counter.

What is counted: the page visited, the referring site, browser and operating system type, language, screen width, and country (worked out from your IP address). GoatCounter stores these only as totals (for example, “40 visits from Canada today”), not as a record of your visit.

No cookies, no identifier. GoatCounter does not set cookies or store anything in your browser (no localStorage or similar). It does not store your IP address or a tracking ID. To avoid counting the same visit twice, it keeps your IP address and browser details in temporary memory for up to 8 hours, then discards them.

Why: only to see which pages are useful and fix the site. We do not use it for advertising, we do not sell or share this information, and GoatCounter does not share it with third parties.

Where and how long: the totals are stored on servers in Finland and Germany (Hetzner Online GmbH) for as long as we keep our GoatCounter account; deleted totals may remain in backups for up to 30 days. Before using this service outside Quebec we assessed it and limited it to anonymous totals as described here.

Your choice: because GoatCounter does not use cookies or identify you, it runs whether or not you accept advertising cookies. To be excluded, you can block gc.zgo.at in your browser or content blocker, or write to us at the contact below.

Advertising (Google AdSense)

We use Google AdSense and related Google advertising services (Google LLC, United States) to show ads on WeekendWatts (weekendwatts.com). Google and its advertising partners may use cookies or similar technologies to:

serve ads on this site;
limit how often you see an ad;
measure whether ads were shown or clicked; and
if you allow personalized ads, show ads based on your activity on this site and/or elsewhere on the web.

Consent: Advertising cookies and personalized ads are off by default. They run only after you click Accept. If you click Reject, ignore the banner, or send a Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal, we treat that as a refusal of advertising cookies / sale-or-share for targeted advertising to the extent the law requires. You can change your choice any time with the “Cookie settings” link in the footer.

Non-personalized ads: Where Google allows it and the law requires consent for personalized ads, Reject / GPC may still allow non-personalized ads that use contextual information (for example, the page you are on) rather than a profile.

What Google may process: identifiers stored in cookies or device storage, IP address (often truncated), approximate location, browser and device type, pages viewed on this site, and whether ads were shown or interacted with — under Google’s policies and your consent choices. Details: how Google uses cookies in advertising and how Google uses information from sites that use its services.

Transfers: Google processes data in the United States and other countries. Before enabling AdSense we assessed this use for Quebec’s Law 25 and limited advertising cookies to consented visitors where required.

Your controls: Cookie settings on this site; Google’s ad settings; industry opt-outs where available; browser controls that block third-party cookies.

We use Google Consent Mode v2 (or successor). Until you Accept, Google advertising storage remains denied so ad cookies are not used for personalized advertising. After Accept, storage may be granted as described in the banner. GPC is treated as an opt-out of sale/share / targeted advertising where applicable.

3. Why we use it

To answer your messages.
To keep the site secure and working (server logs).
To see which pages are useful and fix the site (GoatCounter visit totals).
To show advertising and understand whether ads are working (Google AdSense / Google advertising services), only if you accept advertising cookies where consent is required.

We use personal information only for these purposes, unless you consent to another use or the law requires or permits it.

4. Who we share it with

We do not sell your name or email. Google advertising cookies, which may count as “sharing” for targeted advertising under some laws, run only if you accept (see Cookies, analytics and advertising). We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information. We share information only with service providers that process it on our behalf:

Namecheap, Inc. (email forwarding) and Google LLC (Gmail inbox) (receiving and answering email), located in the United States
Hostinger (web hosting), located in Malaysia
GoatCounter (operated by Martin Tournoij, Ireland; servers in Finland and Germany) — visit counts
Google LLC (Google AdSense and related advertising / measurement services), located in the United States (and other Google regions Google uses to deliver the service)

We may also disclose information if required by law.

5. Storage outside Quebec

Our service providers may store and process your information outside Quebec and Canada, including in the United States. Information stored there may be accessible to courts and authorities of that country. Before transferring information outside Quebec, we assess whether it will receive adequate protection, and we bind providers by written agreement.

6. Affiliate links and other websites

When you click an affiliate link (for example, to Amazon), you leave our site. The retailer may set cookies and collect information about you under its own privacy policy, including to track that the sale came from us. We do not receive your name or payment details from retailers. Please read the retailer's privacy policy.

7. Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control

GoatCounter does not identify you or store a lasting profile. Advertising cookies run only after Accept (see Advertising above).

We do not change our practices in response to browser “Do Not Track” signals, because no common standard exists. We treat a Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal as a “Reject” choice for advertising cookies and as an opt-out of sale, sharing or targeted advertising where the law requires it. Third parties, such as retailers you visit through our links, may track you under their own policies.

8. Retention and security

We keep contact messages for up to 12 months, and server logs as stated above, unless the law requires longer. We use reasonable safeguards, such as access controls and encrypted connections (HTTPS). No system is perfectly secure. If a confidentiality incident creates a risk of serious injury, we will notify you and the authorities as required by law.

9. Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:

know what personal information we hold about you and get a copy;
correct it;
delete it;
withdraw consent;
opt out of sale, sharing or targeted advertising — use Cookie settings, send a Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal, or email us; we honour GPC as an opt-out where the law requires it;
not be discriminated against for using these rights.

To make a request, email hello@charlandandco.com. We may need to verify your identity. You may use an authorized agent where the law allows. We will respond within 30 days, or sooner where the law requires. If we deny your request, we will explain why and, where your state's law provides it, how to appeal. Quebec residents may complain to the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec; other Canadian residents may complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

California: Under California Civil Code section 1798.83 ("Shine the Light"), we do not share personal information with third parties for their own direct marketing.

10. Children

This site is intended for adults and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 (or under 14 in Quebec without parental consent). If you believe a child has given us information, contact us and we will delete it.

11. Changes

We will post any change to this policy on this page and update the effective date. If we make a material change, such as adding analytics or advertising, we update this policy before the change takes effect and, where required, ask for your consent.

12. Contact

Charland & Co., hello@charlandandco.com.