ZAH-ZAHA is an independent research project run by Wael M. Nasser. This page explains, in plain terms, what the site records, why, where it is kept and for how long, who can see it, and what you can ask for.
In effect from 10 November 2026. Last updated: 9 November 2026.
In short
- The site uses no cookies for readers and no advertising, and it never sells or shares information about readers.
- It counts how pages are read, without names, IP addresses or anything that links one visit to another. Detailed records are deleted after 90 days; only monthly totals remain.
- If you write through the site’s form, your message is kept for 12 months at most.
- If you subscribe to the newsletter, your email address is held by the newsletter service, beehiiv.
- Some of this information is stored outside Québec and outside Canada.
- You can ask what is held about you, and ask for it to be corrected or deleted.
Who is responsible
Wael M. Nasser is the person in charge of the protection of personal information for ZAH-ZAHA (responsable de la protection des renseignements personnels). He is the only person who can see the reading statistics and the messages. Contact: [email protected].
When you read the site
ZAH-ZAHA’s own reading statistics. The site records how its pages are read, to make them easier to read and to decide what to write next. For each page view it notes the page and its language, the country, the time zone, the kind of device with its language and display settings, the site you came from, how far you read and what you clicked. It stores no IP address, name or identifier, sets no cookie, and never links one page view to another. It records nothing you type: not your site searches (only how many searches were made and how many found nothing) and not your Stress Test ratings. The Method page explains the purposes in full.
No identification, location or profiling. The site uses no technology that identifies you, locates you or builds a profile of you. The country in the reading statistics comes from Cloudflare’s network, is never linked to you, and is used only in counts.
Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control. If your browser sends either signal, ZAH-ZAHA’s own reading statistics record nothing.
“Was this page useful?” At the end of articles and stress tests you can answer Yes or No. Only the totals of each answer for each page and month are kept.
Search engines and AI assistants. The site counts which pages they fetch, by the name of the service only.
Cloudflare, the host. Like any web host, Cloudflare handles each request to the site, including its IP address, in order to deliver the page and protect the site, and it keeps its own overall traffic statistics. ZAH-ZAHA does not receive or store those IP addresses.
Settings kept in your browser
Some choices are remembered in your own browser (its local storage), so the site works the way you left it. They stay on your device, are never sent to ZAH-ZAHA, and disappear when you clear your browser’s site data:
- light or dark theme, and how Arabic text is displayed;
- small display choices, such as the list or timeline view of the tracker, and hints or introductions already shown;
- the date of your last visit, so the home page can show what is new;
- your answer to “Was this page useful?”, so you are not asked again;
- your draft in the “Test your own wording” workbench, which never leaves your browser;
- your answers in a Stress Test, including the “move (زحزح) a word yourself” preview, which are never sent anywhere.
When you write to ZAH-ZAHA
The site’s message form. Your message, the page you wrote from, and any name or email address you choose to give are stored in the site’s database at Cloudflare. They are used only to reply to you and, if you tick the box, to credit you. A short phone notice tells Wael that a message has arrived and what kind it is; it never includes your name, email address or words. Messages are deleted automatically after 350 days, and Cloudflare’s backup copy disappears within 7 days after that, so nothing is kept longer than 12 months. You can ask for your message to be deleted sooner, or withdraw your permission to be credited at any time.
Email to [email protected]. Cloudflare passes these emails on to Wael’s Gmail account without storing them. They are kept in Gmail, at Google, only as long as they are needed.
The newsletter
Subscribing happens on the website of beehiiv, the newsletter service ZAH-ZAHA uses. beehiiv stores your email address, and you must confirm it before you receive anything. Like most newsletter services, beehiiv records whether each email is opened and which links are clicked, together with information such as IP address, device and approximate location; its own privacy policy explains this. ZAH-ZAHA cannot switch this off: beehiiv applies it to every email it sends. Every email has a link to unsubscribe at any time, and many mail apps also show their own unsubscribe button. Unsubscribing stops the emails but does not delete what beehiiv holds. To have your subscription and its records deleted, write to [email protected], or ask beehiiv directly at beehiiv.com/privacy/gdpr. beehiiv completes deletions within 30 days, and copies can remain in its backups for up to 90 days.
Outside services
These services handle information for ZAH-ZAHA, each under its own terms:
- Cloudflare (a US company) hosts the site, its database and the contact@ email address.
- cdnjs, a public library service run by Cloudflare, supplies the 3D drawing code used on Stress Test pages; your browser fetches it from there.
- beehiiv (a US company) sends the newsletter.
- Gmail (Google, a US company) holds email sent to [email protected].
- ntfy.sh delivers the phone notices about new messages, which contain no personal information.
- Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools report how people found the site through Google and Bing, as totals. They add nothing to the site’s pages.
Links to other sites, such as Bluesky, LinkedIn or the sources cited, take you to sites with their own privacy policies.
How long information is kept
| What | Where | How long |
|---|---|---|
| Detailed reading records | Cloudflare database | 90 days, then only monthly totals |
| Monthly totals and “useful” answers | Cloudflare database | Kept; they describe no one |
| Messages sent through the form | Cloudflare database | 12 months at most, including the backup |
| Email to [email protected] | Gmail | As long as needed |
| Newsletter subscription | beehiiv | Until you ask for deletion, or until ZAH-ZAHA stops using beehiiv, plus 30 days |
| Settings in your browser | Your device | Until you clear them |
Where information is stored
Information is stored outside Québec. The site’s database is held by Cloudflare in eastern North America; Cloudflare does not say whether it is in the United States or Canada. beehiiv and Google store information in the United States, where it is subject to US law.
How it is protected
The site is served only over an encrypted connection (HTTPS). The page where messages and statistics are read is private and locked with a key that only Wael holds. The database keeps no IP addresses, and messages are deleted on a fixed schedule. If an incident ever puts personal information at risk of serious harm, the people concerned and Québec’s Commission d’accès à l’information will be told promptly.
Your choices and rights
You can read everything without giving any information. Writing to ZAH-ZAHA, subscribing and answering “Was this page useful?” are all optional. To stop the reading statistics, turn on Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control in your browser.
You can ask what information ZAH-ZAHA holds about you, ask for it to be corrected or deleted, or withdraw a permission you gave, by writing to [email protected]. You will receive an answer within 30 days. Because the reading statistics are not linked to anyone, no record in them can be traced back to you.
If you are not satisfied with the answer, you can complain to Québec’s Commission d’accès à l’information or to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
Changes to this page
If the site starts to record something new, this page will say so before it happens, and the date at the top will change.