Privacy Policy
The short version: boxofrules.com uses analytics to understand how the site is doing. Those tools only run after you accept the cookie notice. We never sell your data, and we collect no personal information beyond what you choose to send.
Your choice
When you first visit, a notice asks whether to allow analytics cookies. Nothing in the analytics or measurement section below loads until you click Accept. If you Decline, Google Analytics stays in cookieless mode (aggregate, anonymous estimates only) and Microsoft Clarity and the Meta pixel do not load at all. You can change your mind by clearing this site's data in your browser, which brings the notice back.
Analytics and measurement
If you accept, we use the following to measure traffic and improve the site. None of them are used to sell anything about you:
- Google Analytics 4 (Google) for page views and on-site events. IP addresses are anonymised, and it runs under Google Consent Mode, so before you accept it only sends cookieless, aggregated pings.
- Microsoft Clarity (Microsoft) for anonymised heatmaps and session statistics, to see which parts of the site work and which do not.
- Meta Pixel (Meta) to measure visits that come from Instagram and Facebook. Loads only after you accept.
These providers process data under their own privacy policies. We store a small flag in your browser to remember your accept or decline choice so the notice does not keep reappearing.
Newsletter
If you sign up to the mailing list, we store the email address you give us, and nothing else, so we can send you news about releases, plugin builds and shows. It is never sold or shared, and every email includes an unsubscribe link that removes you immediately. You can also just reply and ask.
Plugin usage data
Box of Rules plugin builds that include usage reporting send small, anonymous usage events to boxofrules.com — things like "the plugin was launched", which major controls get used, and a roughly-hourly snapshot of how the plugin is configured (which channels are active and where the dials sit), with the plugin version, the operating system, and which DAW is hosting the plugin (for example "Logic Pro"). Which built-in (factory or artist) preset was loaded is counted by its name — these are our names, not yours; the names of presets you create yourself are never transmitted. Clicks on the links in the plugin's footer (Instagram, Spotify and so on) pass through the same counted redirects as the website's social links, described below. Events are queued on your machine and sent in a batch roughly once an hour.
This data contains no personal information, no audio, no file names and no way to identify you: the only identifier is a random ID the plugin makes up on first run, which links events from the same install without saying anything about who you are. IP addresses are not stored with events, and raw events are deleted or aggregated within 12 months. Usage reporting can be switched off at any time from the plugin's own settings (the "Send anonymous usage data" checkbox in the plugin's SYS panel, next to a PRIVACY link that opens this page); switching it off sends one final opt-out signal so we can count opt-outs, discards anything still queued but unsent on your machine, and after that nothing is ever sent again. The plugin keeps working exactly the same with it off.
Embedded video
Videos do not load until you press play. When you do, the player is served by YouTube in privacy-enhanced mode (youtube-nocookie.com), and YouTube's own terms then apply to that playback.
Plugin downloads
The plugin pages read the public releases feed from GitHub to show the latest build and download links. That request is the same one your browser makes when you open the releases page on GitHub. Nothing about you or your session is sent. Downloads come straight from GitHub, under GitHub's privacy terms.
When you click a download button we also count the click ourselves: just "a download button was clicked", with the plugin, platform and page. No IP address, no cookie and no identifier of any kind is stored with it — it is a bare tally so we know which builds people want.
Streaming and social links
Links out to streaming platforms, Instagram, TikTok and Ko-fi take you to those services, which have their own privacy policies. We do not share any data with them. Some of these links pass through boxofrules.com on the way (for example boxofrules.com/spotify), where we count the click — nothing more is recorded about you, and no IP address is stored.
Contact
Questions about any of this? Email contact@boxofrules.com.