Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 2026

NewsFlash ("we", "us") is a free, browser-based educational game for children ages 5–12. It is a child-directed service under the U.S. Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). We designed it to be safe and private by default. This policy explains, in plain English, exactly what we do and don't collect.

What we do NOT collect

We do not collect names, email addresses, phone numbers, mailing addresses, photos, voice or video, precise location, screen names, contact lists, or any other personal information from children or adults. There are no accounts and no sign-up. Player names you type into the game are never transmitted to us — they exist only in your own browser's session storage and are erased when you close the tab or browser.

Persistent identifiers we do collect

We use Google Analytics 4 in a cookieless, privacy-hardened configuration to understand basic aggregate traffic (how many visits a page gets, roughly which country they come from, which device type). Specifically:

• No analytics cookies are set. Analytics runs with client_storage: 'none', so no persistent identifier is stored on the device and visitors are not tracked across sessions or across sites.
• IP anonymization is enabled (anonymize_ip). IP addresses are truncated before storage and are used transiently only to derive coarse country-level location and to deliver the page.
• All advertising features are disabled — Google Signals, ad personalization, remarketing, audience building, and demographics reporting are turned off, and ads data redaction plus restricted data processing are enabled.
• Data is used solely for internal operations support: measuring aggregate usage, keeping the site working, and protecting against abuse. It is never used for advertising, profiling, or building a profile of any child.
• We do not sell, rent, or share any data with third parties for their own purposes.

Because analytics is cookieless and IPs are anonymized, we do not retain a persistent identifier that could be linked back to an individual child.

Cookies

We set no cookies of our own, and analytics sets none either. There are no advertising cookies, no tracking pixels, no fingerprinting, and no cross-site tracking. Because of this, there is no cookie banner to click — there is nothing to consent to. The only client-side storage we use is your browser's sessionStorage, described below, which never leaves your device.

IP addresses

Like every website, our hosting and security provider briefly sees the IP address your device uses in order to deliver the page and to block abuse (for example, someone hammering the site with automated requests). IP addresses are used transiently for these internal-operations and security purposes, are not stored in any profile, are never used to identify a child, and are not combined with any other information about you. Google Analytics receives only a truncated (anonymized) IP.

What happens inside the game

Everything in the game runs in your browser. Player names, cash, shares and prices are held in sessionStorage, a temporary space that belongs to your tab. Nothing about the game is sent to us or to anyone else, and it is erased automatically when you close the tab or browser, or when you press "Quit game."

Data retention

Aggregate analytics data is retained for the shortest period Google Analytics allows — 2 months for event-level data — after which it is automatically deleted. Game data (player names, cash, shares) is stored only in your browser's sessionStorageand is deleted the moment you close the tab or browser. We keep no server-side database and no logs containing personal information.

How to opt out

You can block analytics entirely with the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-on, any content blocker, or your browser's tracking-protection setting. The game works completely normally with analytics blocked. You may also email info@kidstockgame.com to request that we stop any collection associated with your household.

Parental rights (COPPA)

Because we collect no personal information from children, there is nothing for a parent to review or delete — but parents may still write to info@kidstockgame.com to ask what is collected, to refuse further collection, or to request deletion. Please do not include any details about your child in your message beyond what is needed to answer it. Our design also aligns with the UK Age Appropriate Design Code and GDPR-K.

Ads

There are no advertisements, sponsorships, or in-app purchases anywhere on this site or in the game.

External resources

Fonts, images, and scripts needed to display the game are self-hosted on our own domain. We do not load Google Fonts, social widgets, embedded videos, chat widgets, or any third-party trackers. The only external request the site makes is the analytics script described above.

Security

The site is served over HTTPS. Since no personal information is collected or stored on our servers, there is no user database that could be breached.

Changes

If we ever change this policy, we'll update the date above. Material changes will be announced prominently on the homepage before they take effect.

Contact

Questions, concerns, or COPPA requests: info@kidstockgame.com