Privacy
Updated
This policy was last changed on 2026-11-09. The What-If Observatory has no accounts, comments, newsletter or forms, and it shows no ads.
Google Analytics
The site uses Google Analytics 4 to count visits. When it runs, it sets first-party cookies whose names start with _ga, and it collects the pages you view, the page that sent you, your approximate location, and your device and browser type. The setup marks ad storage, ad user data and ad personalization as denied. Google explains its use of this data at How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services.
Whether you are asked first depends on where you are:
- In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and a few related territories, or if your location cannot be determined: you see a choice. Until you accept, Google Analytics does not load at all, so it sends nothing and sets no cookie. If you refuse, it never loads.
- Everywhere else: it loads without asking, unless you have already refused on this browser.
A link in the footer of every page reopens the choice, and you can change your answer at any time. Refusing after Google Analytics has run reloads the page without it. Cookies already set stay in your browser until they expire or you clear them.
To work out your region, your browser asks Cloudflare for a country code when you have not yet made a choice. The site uses the answer for that decision and does not store it.
Cloudflare
Cloudflare hosts the site and delivers its pages, so it handles your requests. Its privacy policy covers that.
Cloudflare Web Analytics runs for every visitor in every region, and the consent choice does not control it. It measures page views and how fast pages load, and it sends those measurements to /cdn-cgi/rum on this site. It uses no cookies and nothing in your browser's local storage, and Cloudflare says it does not fingerprint visitors. To block it, set a content blocker to block static.cloudflareinsights.com.
Requests from mainland China and Russia are blocked before they reach the site.
What stays in your browser
Your consent choice is stored in this browser's local storage under the key cookie-choice-d318, with the value granted or denied. If you use the light and dark switch, that choice is stored in this browser under the key dome-lights. Neither is sent anywhere.
The site search filters inside your browser, and your search terms are not sent anywhere.
If you write to contact@whatifobservatory.com, your address and message are used only to deal with that message. Questions about this policy can go to the same address.
What is not here
There are no other tracking codes, third-party fonts or social media embeds. If ads are ever added, this page will change before they appear.