Privacy Policy

What this site collects, and who else sees it

Last updated: 2026-10-10

The Battin Front (thebattinfront.com) is my weather website. I'm Zach Battin, and I run it from Ohio. This page covers what the site and the tools behind it collect, why, and who else gets it. The short version: you don't need an account to use the site, the only thing you can type in is a place for My Town, I don't sell anything about you, and there are no ads.

What the website itself collects

  • No accounts and no sign-up forms. The public pages never ask for your name, email address or anything else. The only login on the site is the admin login, and I'm the only one who uses it.
  • Blog view counts. When you open a blog post, a counter for that post goes up by one. It's a single number. It doesn't record who you are, your IP address or your device.
  • Server logs. My web host, InMotion Hosting, automatically keeps standard access logs, like almost every website: your IP address, the date and time, the page or file requested, your browser's user-agent string and the referring page. They're used for security and troubleshooting and kept according to the host's own retention settings.
  • My Town lookups. When you use My Town, what you type (a town or ZIP code) is sent to this website, or, if you choose "Use my location", your location rounded to about 100 metres. The website passes it on to my own weather server to get the answer. My weather server sees the place but never your IP address, and it may record the place in its routine request logs. This website keeps each answer for 60 seconds, so the next person asking about the same place gets it faster, and counts lookups for 10 minutes to stop abuse. Those counters are filed under a scrambled code, not your IP address. Nothing else is kept. The place is part of the page address, so the host's server logs above include it. Lookups made on the website are never shown on my live streams.

Google Analytics

Most public pages use Google Analytics 4 (measurement ID G-7ENZ7PEBT4) so I can count visits and see which pages people use. Google Analytics sets cookies (named _ga and _ga_…) and receives things like the pages you view, how you got here, your approximate location (worked out from your IP address), and your device and browser type. I only look at these reports in aggregate, to improve the site. Google processes this data under the Google Privacy Policy. You can block it with your browser's cookie or tracker settings, or with Google's Analytics opt-out add-on.

Storage on your device

Besides the Google Analytics cookies above, the site keeps a few things in your browser's local storage. None of it is sent back to me as personal information:

  • Homepage Facebook feed: a copy of the latest posts from my Facebook page, so the homepage shows them right away on your next visit.
  • Admin login: a sign-in token, for the site owner only.
  • My Town: the last place you looked up (its name, and the rounded location if you used "Use my location"), so the page can offer it next time.

You can clear all of it at any time from your browser's site-data settings.

Content from other companies

Some pages load content straight from other companies' servers. When your browser fetches it, that company gets your IP address and standard browser information, and some of them may set their own cookies. Each one follows its own privacy policy.

  • Facebook (Meta): the homepage loads Facebook's JavaScript SDK to show my Facebook page's content. If you're logged in to Facebook, Meta may link that visit to your account.
  • YouTube (Google): the Videos and Chase Log pages show YouTube thumbnails, and play a video in YouTube's embedded player when you open one. YouTube may set cookies once a player loads.
  • Maps and weather data: map tiles come from OpenFreeMap (built on OpenStreetMap data) and the U.S. Geological Survey. Some weather data is requested straight from the National Weather Service (api.weather.gov) and NOAA.
  • Fonts and code libraries: Google Fonts, jsDelivr, unpkg and html2canvas.hertzen.com.

Social media

I publish posts from this site to my Facebook page and my Bluesky account. If you comment on the Facebook page, I can read, reply to, hide or delete that comment through Meta's tools. That includes a private admin page on this site that asks Facebook for recent comments when I open it. Those comments aren't copied into this site's database. The only thing stored is the reaction and share counts for my own posts. What you post on Facebook or Bluesky falls under those platforms' own policies.

YouTube API Services (my video uploader)

The Battin Front uses YouTube API Services. A desktop tool called "The Battin Front uploader" uses the YouTube Data API to upload videos to The Battin Front's own YouTube channel. It doesn't run on this website and isn't offered to the public. The only person who signs in to it is me, the channel owner.

  • What it accesses: permission to upload videos to my own channel (the youtube.upload scope), and nothing else. It doesn't read, collect or store any information about YouTube viewers, commenters or other channels.
  • What it stores: the Google OAuth sign-in token for my own channel, saved as a file on my computer. It isn't uploaded to this website, put in any database or shared with anyone.
  • How it uses it: only to send my videos, with their titles, descriptions and tags, to YouTube. Nothing obtained through the API is sold or shared with third parties.
  • Deleting it: my normal procedure is to delete the stored token file, which ends the tool's access. Access can also be revoked at any time from the Google security settings page: https://security.google.com/settings/security/permissions.

By using YouTube features on this site or through my uploader, you agree to be bound by the YouTube Terms of Service. Google's handling of data is described in the Google Privacy Policy.

Sharing and selling

I don't sell, rent or trade personal information, and there's no advertising on this site. The companies listed above only get information because your browser loads their content or services directly.

Children

This site isn't directed at children under 13, and I don't knowingly collect personal information from them.

Changes

If what the site collects changes, I'll update this page and the date at the top.

Contact

Questions or complaints about this policy or how the site handles your information: email thebattinfront@gmail.com, or see the Contact page.