Privacy Policy

1. Scope and contact

This HustleByte Privacy Policy covers HustleByte Network's hustlebyte.net and Softside Journal. It describes our publishing, research surveys, referral links, contact forms, email subscriptions, and first-party analytics on those sites. Contact [email protected] for access, correction, deletion, or consent questions. We may verify requests and retain records when legally required.

2. Website and referral activity

Analytics are optional. Before you accept, we do not assign our analytics visitor identifier, create a visit analytics record, or send interaction telemetry. You can accept or reject with equal controls in the notice and reopen Privacy settings later. Withdrawing consent removes the browser's analytics identifier and stops new optional tracking. It does not erase historical server records; contact us to request deletion where applicable. Security verification, survey submission, contact, and email choices continue when you reject analytics.

If accepted, a first-party hbn_vid cookie connects visits on the same approved domain. Its configured default life is 365 days. We record page and survey visits, timestamps, URLs and bounded query parameters, referrers, UTM and campaign source, browser, operating system, device, user agent, return visits, and interaction events. Events include page load and visibility, focus, scroll depth, viewed sections, CTA and referral engagement, internal links, subscription interactions, survey start/completion, and page exit. Some events include viewport, language, timezone, elapsed time, and section or CTA labels. The cookie is not shared across our two domains.

3. Essential cookies and services

hbn_analytics_consent remembers your analytics choice for 365 days and does not itself start analytics. Security cookies hbn_public_csrf, hbn_signup_csrf, and the private admin hbn_admin_csrf protect forms and may last for the browser session. They remain available after analytics rejection. Cloudflare supplies network and abuse protection and Turnstile verification for research surveys. Turnstile may process browser and network signals under Cloudflare's terms; it is needed to submit a survey in production. Our hosting and security infrastructure may receive IP addresses, request headers, and logs independently of the optional analytics cookie.

4. Surveys, drawings, and email

Research surveys store selected answers, free text when offered, submission time, survey version, language, verification information, and an email address only when you choose an email option. We may publish grouped findings, but not individual answers or participant emails. Results delivery and marketing updates are separate choices; a drawing entry requires its stated email and eligibility conditions, while marketing subscription is optional. The drawing email may be used to verify entries and notify or deliver a prize. Survey submission and these email choices do not depend on analytics consent. Email acquisition and consent history are retained for accountability and unsubscribe handling.

5. Referrals, campaigns, and recipients

Campaign links and stored referral destinations help measure advertising and affiliate activity, distribution, and outbound clicks. A click may carry campaign parameters to a merchant or affiliate network, which applies its own privacy policy. We record the destination and time of outbound clicks even when analytics are rejected, because these redirects are part of our referral operations. Social tracker clicks also record a broad device category. Source and campaign attribution are included when an accepted analytics visit is available. We share data as needed with our hosting and security providers, Cloudflare, email delivery providers, and referral destinations you choose to visit. We may disclose records when required by law. We do not sell visitor contact-form submissions as mailing lists. We do not claim that third-party sites follow this policy.

6. Retention

At present, detailed visit and event records, campaign and referral history, survey submissions, consent/source records, and contact correspondence have no automated deletion schedule. We retain them for historical reporting, attribution, research integrity, support, and legal records. A proposed 24-month limit for detailed visit and interaction records needs a separately reviewed archival or aggregation process before any historical data is removed; it is not currently enforced. Cloudflare and mail providers may apply their own log retention periods. Contact us to request deletion or learn what we hold about you.

7. Other choices and updates

You can unsubscribe from marketing emails using the message's link. Browser settings can remove cookies, though our preference notice will appear again if its cookie is removed. We will update this policy when our practices change and provide notice where required. Our sites are not directed to children under 13; contact us if you believe a child submitted personal information.