Privacy
Privacy & Cookie Policy
What this site stores, what it sends anywhere else, and how to change your mind.
Last updated 2026-09-11
Who runs this site
afsalv.com is a personal portfolio and a small set of free browser tools. It is run by an individual, not a company, and it sells nothing.
Data controller
Muhammed Afsal Villan
India
thegenuinecoder@gmail.com
This policy covers the public pages: the home page, the image gallery, the blog, and the free tools listed at /tool. Some paths on this domain are private utilities I run for myself, are excluded from search engines, and are not part of the service offered to you.
What is collected
There are no accounts, no sign-up, no newsletter, and no contact form. I do not ask you for your name, your email address, or anything else. Three things are nevertheless processed:
- Settings you choose — your light/dark theme preference, and your answer to the cookie question. Both are kept in your own browser and are never sent to the server.
- Analytics, only if you agree — if you accept, Google Analytics records an anonymous visit. If you decline, or never answer, it is never loaded at all.
- Server logs — the web server records the IP address, the page requested, the time, and the browser's User-Agent string for every request. This happens for every website on the internet and is how abuse and outages are diagnosed.
The tools themselves collect nothing. The Markdown converter, Markdown viewer, JSON viewer and diff checker all run entirely inside your browser: whatever you paste stays on your machine and is never uploaded, logged, or seen by me.
Cookies and browser storage
Nothing non-essential is stored until you say yes. Visitors in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland are asked before anything optional loads; the banner's Reject all button takes exactly one click, the same as accepting.
| Name | Type | Purpose | Kept for | Needs consent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
theme, tool-theme |
Local storage | Remembers whether you chose light or dark mode. | Until you clear it | No — essential |
afsalv.consent |
Local storage | Remembers your answer to this cookie question so you are not asked again. | 180 days | No — essential |
_ga, _ga_<id> |
Cookie | Google Analytics. Counts visits and which pages are read. | 2 years | Yes |
You can change your answer whenever you like — use the “Cookie settings” link at the bottom of any page. Withdrawing consent deletes the analytics cookies immediately and reloads the page so the tracker stops running. Your consent is re-requested after 180 days regardless.
Third parties
I have deliberately kept these to a minimum. There are no adverts, no ad networks, no social media pixels, no embedded comment systems, no session recording, and no fingerprinting. Web fonts are served from this domain rather than from Google, so loading a page sends nothing to a font CDN.
- Google Analytics 4 — loaded only after you consent. Provided by Google Ireland Limited. Legal basis: your consent, GDPR Article 6(1)(a). Google Consent Mode is used, with advertising signals permanently denied: your data is never used for ad targeting or ad personalisation.
- GitHub — the home page asks the public GitHub API for the star and fork counts of two of my open-source projects. Your browser makes that request directly, so GitHub sees your IP address. No cookies are set and nothing identifies you. Legal basis: legitimate interest, GDPR Article 6(1)(f), in showing accurate project information.
- Hosting — the server and its reverse proxy keep access logs, as described above. Legal basis: legitimate interest, GDPR Article 6(1)(f), in keeping the site secure and available. Logs are retained for 30 days and then deleted.
Where your data goes
The server that hosts this site is operated from India, which is outside the European Economic Area. If you visit from the EEA or the UK, the request data described above therefore leaves that area. India has no European adequacy decision, so this transfer relies on GDPR Article 49(1)(b) — it is necessary to deliver the page you asked for.
If you consent to analytics, Google may process that data in the United States under the EU–US Data Privacy Framework and its Standard Contractual Clauses.
I am not established in the EU and have not appointed a representative under GDPR Article 27. This is a non-commercial personal site whose processing is occasional and presents no risk to your rights. You can reach me directly at the address below.
Your rights
If you are in the EEA or the UK, the GDPR gives you the right to request access to your personal data, to have it corrected or erased, to restrict or object to its processing, and to receive it in a portable form. Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time without affecting what happened before.
In practice there is very little to exercise these rights against: I hold no account for you and nothing on this site is tied to your identity. The realistic requests are erasure of server log entries, and withdrawal of analytics consent — which you can do yourself, in one click, from any page.
Email me and I will answer within 30 days. If you are not satisfied, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your national data protection authority — in the EEA, the supervisory authority where you live or work; in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office.
Contact
Questions about this policy, or about anything the site does, go to thegenuinecoder@gmail.com.
If this policy changes in a way that affects you, the consent banner reappears and asks again. This version is dated 2026-09-11.
FAQ
Do you use advertising or tracking cookies?
No. There are no adverts, no ad networks, no social media pixels, and no cross-site tracking of any kind. The only optional cookie is Google Analytics, which counts visits, and its advertising signals are permanently denied so the data is never used for ad targeting.
What happens if I reject cookies?
The whole site keeps working exactly as before. Rejecting means Google Analytics is never loaded, so no request is made to Google at all. Only your theme preference and your answer to the cookie question stay in your browser, and neither is ever sent to the server.
How do I change my mind later?
Use the "Cookie settings" link at the bottom of any page. Withdrawing consent deletes the analytics cookies straight away and reloads the page so the tracker stops running. You are also asked again automatically every 180 days.
Do the browser tools upload what I paste into them?
No. The rich text to Markdown converter, Markdown viewer, JSON viewer and formatter, and diff checker all run entirely inside your browser. Your content is never uploaded, never logged, and never seen by anyone else.
Why do I not see a cookie banner?
The banner is shown to visitors in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland, where consent is required before anything optional loads. Elsewhere the same choice is available at any time through the "Cookie settings" link in the footer.