Current Minute (“we,” “us,” or “our”) is an event-first news product operated at currentminute.com. This Privacy Policy explains what information we process, why we process it, and the choices you have.
Summary
- We do not require an account to read Current Minute.
- We use first-party, anonymous analytics and cookies to operate the product and understand usage.
- We do not sell personal information and do not use advertising identifiers or cross-site tracking pixels as part of our analytics.
- We do not intentionally collect your name, email address, or precise (GPS) location through normal browsing.
Information we collect
1. Information you choose to send us
If you email us, we receive whatever you include in that message (such as your email address and the contents of your note). We use that information only to respond and handle your request.
2. Anonymous product analytics
When you use Current Minute, we record limited first-party analytics events, such as:
- page, feed, category, event, and story views
- “What Changed?” / story delta views
- marking a story as seen
- clicks out to original source links
These events are associated with an anonymous visitor identifier and session identifier. They are used for aggregate product metrics (for example, visitors, sessions, and engagement with stories), not for advertising profiles.
For each new session we may also store first-party attribution that helps us understand audience and acquisition:
- landing page path
- referring website host (not the full URL) when your browser sends a referrer
- optional campaign tags you click through (
utm_source,utm_medium,utm_campaign) - coarse device class (mobile, tablet, or desktop) derived from the user agent — we do not store the raw user agent in analytics
- approximate location (country, and sometimes region or city) derived from the network address of the request
We do not store IP addresses in our analytics database. Location is resolved from CDN/hosting headers when available, or from a short-lived geolocation lookup used only to turn an IP into a coarse place name. That lookup is cached; the IP itself is not written into analytics tables.
3. Technical and server information
Like most websites, our hosting environment may automatically process standard request metadata such as IP address, user agent, requested URL, and timestamps in server or security logs. We use this information to operate, secure, and troubleshoot the service.
Cookies and local storage
Current Minute uses the following first-party browser storage:
-
bn_vid— anonymous visitor ID (opaque UUID). HttpOnly; SameSite=Lax; Secure when the site is served over HTTPS. Used for “What Changed?” continuity and aggregate analytics. Default lifetime: about 365 days. -
cm_sid— anonymous session ID (opaque UUID). HttpOnly; SameSite=Lax. Used for session-level analytics (for example, events per session). Rolling inactivity window: about 30 minutes. -
cm_skip_analytics— optional operator preference to exclude this browser from public visitor counts. HttpOnly; SameSite=Lax; set only from the admin analytics screen. -
cm-appearance— localStorage preference for light/dark/system appearance. Stored only on your device; not used for advertising.
Admin operators may also receive an authentication cookie (cm_admin) and CSRF protections after signing in to the admin area.
That cookie is for site administration only.
While it is present, public page views from that browser are not counted as visitors.
You can clear Current Minute cookies and site data in your browser at any time. Doing so may reset “What Changed?” continuity and create a new anonymous visitor ID on your next visit.
How we use information
We use the information described above to:
- provide and maintain Current Minute, including story continuity features
- measure and improve product performance and reliability
- secure the service and investigate abuse or outages
- respond to messages you send us
We do not use this information to build advertising profiles or to sell access to your data.
How we share information
We do not sell personal information.
We may share information only in these limited cases:
- Service providers / hosting. Infrastructure providers that host the website, database, or related systems may process data as needed to provide those services under our instructions. If a geolocation lookup is used for a new session, that provider receives the request IP solely to return a coarse country/region/city and does not receive your analytics cookies or reading history.
- Legal requirements. We may disclose information if required by law, regulation, legal process, or to protect the rights, safety, or integrity of Current Minute, our users, or the public.
- Business transfer. If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, or asset sale, information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to this policy’s principles.
Third-party content loaded by the site
Current Minute serves its front-end libraries and fonts from this site (self-hosted Bootstrap, jQuery, Inter, and Newsreader). Visiting Current Minute therefore does not require your browser to fetch those assets from Google Fonts, jsDelivr, or jQuery’s CDN.
When you follow a link to an original news source, that destination site’s own privacy policy applies. Hosting and CDN infrastructure that delivers Current Minute itself may still process standard connection metadata as described under hosting providers above.
Retention
Analytics event data is retained for approximately 1825 days, after which it is eligible for cleanup. “What Changed?” state associated with an anonymous visitor ID is retained as needed to provide that feature. Server logs are retained according to ordinary hosting and security practices. Contact emails are retained as long as needed to handle your request.
Security
We take reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect information we process, including HTTPS in production, HttpOnly cookies for identifiers, and access controls for administrative tools. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
Your choices and rights
Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or obtain more information about personal data relating to you.
Because Current Minute’s public product is designed around anonymous identifiers rather than accounts, we generally cannot identify a specific person from browsing alone. You can:
- clear cookies and site data in your browser to remove local identifiers we set
- contact us to ask questions or request help with a privacy-related concern
If you email us, please include enough detail for us to understand and respond to your request. We may ask for additional information to verify and process it.
Children
Current Minute is a general-audience news service and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided personal information to us, contact us and we will take appropriate steps.
International visitors
Current Minute may be hosted in the United States. If you access the service from another country, information described in this policy may be processed in the United States or other locations where our providers operate.
Changes to this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will change the effective date above and post the updated policy on this page. Continued use of Current Minute after an update means you acknowledge the revised policy.
Contact
Privacy questions: support@currentminute.com
Operator: Current Minute · Website: currentminute.com