TL;DR — The Short Version
FS HOT runs zero tracking cookies, zero analytics scripts, and zero JavaScript. We do not collect, store, or sell personal data. The only cookie on this entire site is a functional game-state cookie used exclusively in the Minesweeper game — it contains no personal or tracking data whatsoever and is automatically deleted from our server after 3 days. What little server-side log data exists is used solely for site performance and security, and is never shared with anyone under any circumstances.
01 — About FS HOT
FS HOT (fshot.org) is an independent, privacy-first technology site created and maintained by Deakster since 2001. It provides privacy-focused utilities, tech articles, and browser-based tools — built entirely on pure PHP and CSS with zero JavaScript.
Privacy is not a feature that was added to FS HOT. It is the foundational principle upon which every design and engineering decision has been made, from day one.
02 — What We Do Not Do
The following data practices are explicitly absent from FS HOT:
03 — Cookies
FS HOT sets one cookie, in one specific context only: the Minesweeper game. No cookies are set anywhere else on the site.
Minesweeper Session Cookie
When you play Minesweeper, a single server-side session cookie is created to maintain your game state between page loads — for example, which cells you have revealed or flagged. This cookie:
This cookie exists purely to make the game playable across page refreshes. It holds no value outside of the Minesweeper game context and presents no privacy risk to the user.
04 — Privacy Utilities
FS HOT provides several server-side utilities. Below is a transparent account of how each handles any data that passes through it.
05 — Server Logs (Nginx)
FS HOT operates a standard Nginx web server access log. This is a routine component of running any web server and serves two purposes:
- Basic analytics — understanding which pages are visited most frequently, so we can focus our efforts accordingly.
- Security — identifying and responding to malicious traffic, bots, and abuse attempts.
A typical Nginx access log entry looks like the following:
This data is not personal data in the sense of being linked to an identified individual. We make no attempt to identify, profile, or track any visitor. We do not correlate log entries across sessions. We do not share, sell, or disclose access log data to any third party under any circumstances.
As noted in Section 04, requests to SurfaceScan, AAF, and G2S2 are explicitly excluded from logging — the query parameters you submit to those utilities do not appear in any log file on our server.
06 — Third-Party Services
FS HOT makes no third-party requests when you load any page on the site. There are no external fonts loaded from Google, no scripts pulled from CDNs, no social media embeds, and no advertising networks. Every asset served by fshot.org is self-hosted.
The only outbound connections are those you choose to follow yourself — for example, links to external sites in the site footer — which are governed by those third parties' own privacy policies.
07 — Children's Privacy
FS HOT does not knowingly collect any information from visitors of any age. Given that no personal data is collected at all, FS HOT is inherently safe for users of all ages from a data-privacy standpoint.
08 — Your Rights
Because FS HOT does not collect or store personal data, there is in practice nothing held about you to access, correct, export, or delete. If you have any questions or concerns regarding your data and this site, you are welcome to contact us directly — we will respond promptly and transparently.
For users in the United Kingdom and European Economic Area, this policy is consistent with the principles of the UK GDPR and EU GDPR — most notably the principle of data minimisation, of which FS HOT is, in practical terms, a near-complete example.
09 — Changes to This Policy
Should this policy be updated, the revised version will be published at this URL with a new effective date. We do not anticipate material changes — FS HOT's privacy model is intentionally simple, and has been since the beginning.
10 — Contact
FS HOT is an independent site operated by Deakster. If you have questions about this policy or any privacy-related concern, please reach out via the site's support channel.
Effective: April 2026 · fshot.org · Last reviewed: April 2026