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Privacy Policy and Terms of Use

The Desk is presented to readers free of advertisements or direct sponsorships, and the site does not wittingly collect data on users for any purpose of any kind.

The Desk does use a number of third party services to bring content, solicit donations and collect unidentifiable web traffic analytics:

  • Content on The Desk is hosted by Eleven2. View their legal and privacy policies here.
  • Donations are solicited via PayPal. View PayPal’s privacy policy here.
  • Occasionally, posts may feature sponsored links to products and services for which The Desk may receive a commission. Currently, The Desk uses Rakuten Marketing and Amazon’s Affiliate programs. The Desk does not use display or CPM advertising from these services.
  • The Desk uses the comment platform Disqus to handle audience engagement. Before their comments are published, readers are required to log in to an existing Disqus account or sign up for a new one. Disqus’ privacy policy is here.
  • The Desk uses Google Analytics only to monitor real-time and overall traffic to the website. Google Analytics collects information from website users as delivered by their Internet browser and/or Internet Service Provider, including length of time spent on a website, approximate date and time the website was accessed, the type of web browser used, the approximate location and the operating system of the computer or mobile device used to access the website. Google’s product privacy policy can be found here. Readers who do not want their activity tracked by Google Analytics can download and install this free plug-in.
  • Social media plugins are provided by Facebook and Twitter. Facebook’s privacy policy can be viewed here and Twitter’s policy is here.

The Desk cannot modify or control the data collection processes, if any, of third party services, nor can The Desk control how and when any collected data is accessed, used or distributed by those services. When you access any content on this website, you acknowledge that you have read and consent to the privacy and data collection policies of any and all third party service(s) used by The Desk.

The Desk does not utilize a hard or soft “paywall,” and the site does not request readers disable advertisement blocking (“ad blocking”) software in order to access content.