Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 2026

Overview

The Secret Military Technology Research Institute (SMTRI) is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains what data we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have. We comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the ePrivacy Directive.

Key principle: We count visitors anonymously by default. We only set cookies for analytics and marketing after you explicitly consent.

Data We Collect

Anonymous Data (Always Collected)

Even without consent, we collect the following anonymous data to understand aggregate traffic patterns:

  • Page views: Which pages are visited and when
  • Pseudonymous visitor ID: A SHA-256 hash of your IP address and browser user-agent (cannot be reversed to identify you)
  • Referrer: Which website referred you to us (e.g., Google, direct visit)
  • Country: Derived from your IP address at the server level (not stored as raw IP)

This data is stored in our server-side database and cannot be used to identify you personally. It is used solely to count total visitors and understand traffic trends.

Cookie-Based Data (Only With Consent)

If you consent to analytics cookies, we additionally collect via Google Analytics 4:

  • Session data: Session duration, pages per session, bounce rate
  • Engagement data: Scroll depth, clicks on outbound links, file downloads, search queries
  • Cross-domain behavior: Navigation between secretmilitarytechnology.com and secretmilitary.tech
  • Content interactions: Graph node clicks, timeline filter usage, research paper chapter views

Cookies We Use

Cookie Purpose Duration Consent
_ga Google Analytics visitor ID 2 years Required
_ga_* GA4 session state 2 years Required
cookie_consent_v1 Stores your cookie preferences 180 days Necessary
sessionStorage Anonymous pageview tracking Session Necessary

Your Rights Under GDPR

If you are in the European Economic Area (EEA), you have the following rights:

  • Right to access: Request a copy of your personal data
  • Right to rectification: Correct inaccurate data
  • Right to erasure: Request deletion of your data ("right to be forgotten")
  • Right to restrict processing: Limit how we use your data
  • Right to data portability: Receive your data in a machine-readable format
  • Right to object: Object to processing based on legitimate interests
  • Right to withdraw consent: Withdraw consent at any time (use the cookie settings icon in the bottom-right corner)

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at [email protected].

Legal Basis for Processing

  • Anonymous traffic counting: Legitimate interest (Article 6(1)(f)) — we use hashed, non-identifiable data to understand aggregate usage
  • Analytics cookies: Consent (Article 6(1)(a)) — only activated after explicit consent via the cookie banner
  • Security storage: Legitimate interest — necessary for site security and fraud prevention

Data Retention

  • Anonymous pageviews: 24 months, then automatically aggregated and purged
  • GA4 data: 14 months (Google's default retention for event-level data)
  • Cookie consent preference: 180 days in localStorage

Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services that may process data:

Children's Privacy

Our website is not directed at children under 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe we have collected data from a child, please contact us.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. We will notify you of any significant changes by posting the new policy on this page and updating the "Last updated" date.

Contact

For privacy questions or requests: [email protected]

For cookie-specific questions, see our Cookie Policy.