What we measure, what we do not collect

Audience measurement

Purpose. To understand how the site is used (which pages are read, from which sources, on which devices) in order to improve its content and usability. This measurement serves no advertising, no profiling, no personalisation, and is passed on to no one.

No cookie, no storage. The site sets no measurement cookie, writes nothing to your browser’s local storage, and assigns you no persistent identifier. No consent banner is needed, because there is nothing to consent to.

No third party. Measurement is performed by our own servers. No request is sent to an external analytics service, an advertising network or a content delivery network: loading a page of this site makes your browser talk to no domain other than ours. Country resolution relies on a database installed on our own server, never on a service queried remotely.

Data recorded. For each page viewed, we record:

• the page viewed and the date;
• the page or search engine that led you there, without the parameters of its address;
• the campaign parameters of a link, where it carries them (source, medium, campaign, content);
• the device type, the browser and the operating system, as derived from an analysis performed in memory (your browser’s raw technical signature is not kept);
• the country, derived in memory from the IP address: the IP address itself is never written ;
• a session fingerprint: a computed, non-reversible value, which changes every night. It makes it possible to know that several pages were read during a single visit; it does not make it possible to recognise you from one day to the next, nor on another site.

We also record a few interface actions: a click on a call-to-action button, the submission of a form, reading progress through an analysis, departure via an external link. In every case, only the action is counted. What you type into a form is never passed to audience measurement, and the destination address of an outbound link is not recorded.

What we do not collect. No IP address, no advertising identifier, no browser fingerprint, no browsing history outside this site, no form content, and no data that could re-identify you.

Retention period. Detailed records are kept for thirteen months, then deleted automatically. Beyond that, only anonymous totals remain (counts by day, by page, by country) which relate to no one and are kept without time limit.

Right to object. The right to object, like the rights of access, rectification and erasure, applies to data relating to an identified or identifiable person. The measurement described above keeps none: there exists, in our records, no key that would allow your visits to be retrieved: not by us, not by you, not by a third party. These rights are therefore without object as regards audience measurement: not because we refuse them, but because there is nothing to retrieve, correct or erase. An opt-out mechanism would require marking you in order to recognise you: that would be precisely collecting the data we refuse to collect.

Bots. Visits from indexing engines and monitoring probes are detected and excluded from the statistics.

Forms

Two forms on this site let you write to us: the request for a scoping conversation (the Speak with an Expertpage) and the application to the 2027 edition of the Barometer. The information you enter (your name, your organisation, your role, your work email, and what you write to us) is used solely to reply to you and to handle your request. It is neither sold, nor rented, nor used for any other purpose. It is not passed to audience measurement, which records only the fact that a form was sent.

Applying for an open position and subscribing to our newsletter each follow their own rules (attachments, double confirmation, retention periods): they are covered in the sections that follow.

Applications

Purpose. When you apply for an open position (the Careerspage), the information you send us is used solely to handle your application: to review it, to reply to you, and to arrange interviews where appropriate. It serves no other purpose, is neither sold nor rented, and is passed to no third party.

Data recorded. Your name, your email address, your phone number if you provide one, the cover letter you write, the position applied for, and the files you attach: your CV, and your letter where you upload one.

Your attachments are not public. Your CV and your letter are stored in a private area of the server, outside any web-accessible zone: no address reaches them. Only those at GDC who handle recruitment can view them, after authenticating.

Retention period. An application we do not take forward, or that you withdraw, is deleted automatically 12 mois after it is closed, the record as well as the attachments. An application under review is kept for the duration of the recruitment.

Audience measurement. Submitting an application is counted as a form submission, and nothing more: neither your letter, nor your attachments, nor any information you enter is passed to audience measurement.

Your rights. You may at any time request access to, rectification or erasure of your application, or withdraw it, by replying to the acknowledgement you received, or by writing to contact@gdc-sense.com.

Independent expert network

Purpose. When you apply to the network of independent professionals (the Independent expert network page), the information you send us is used solely to consider your application: to review it, to reply to you, to arrange an interview where relevant, and to offer you engagements should the collaboration begin. It is neither sold nor rented, and is passed to no third party.

Data recorded. Your name, your work email address, your telephone number if you provide one, the role you are aiming for, the day-rate range you indicate, your availability, the address of your LinkedIn profile or the CV you attach, and the message you write. The range is self-declared and indicative: it binds neither you nor GDC.

Your CV is not public. It is stored in the same private area of the server as the CVs sent with applications for open positions, outside any web-accessible area: no address can reach it. Only the people at GDC who consider applications can open it, once authenticated.

Retention period. An application we do not take forward is deleted automatically, record and CV alike, 12 months after it is closed. The same applies to an application that has led to a signed agreement: it has served its purpose, and the collaboration then lives in the agreement itself. A profile we keep on file with future engagements in mind, for want of an immediate need, is held for at most 24 months after our last exchange; every renewed contact restarts that period, and you may ask for its deletion at any time.

Audience measurement. Submitting an application to the network is counted as a form submission, and nothing more: neither the role you are aiming for, nor the rate range, nor your CV is passed to audience measurement.

Newsletter

Purpose. Subscribing to our newsletter lets you receive our insights, one issue a month. Your address serves that purpose alone: it is neither sold, nor rented, nor used to solicit you, nor entrusted to an emailing provider. Issues are sent from our own servers.

Data recorded. Your email address, and nothing else: not your name, not your organisation, not your IP address, not your browser’s technical signature. We also note the language in which you subscribed, so as to write to you in it, along with the dates of your confirmation and, where applicable, of your unsubscription.

Double opt-in. Entering an address is not enough to subscribe it. You receive a first message, and only one, asking you to confirm: until you have followed the link it contains, your address stays pending and receives no insights. That link expires after 7 days. This is what guarantees that no one can subscribe someone else in their place.

Unsubscribing in one click. Every issue carries an unsubscribe link. One click is enough: no reason is asked for, no confirmation is required, and no message follows.

Retention period. Your address is kept for as long as you are subscribed. Once you unsubscribe, it is deleted automatically after 30 days: that period allows an accidental unsubscription to be reversed; beyond it, nothing of your passage remains in our records. An address left pending confirmation is never used.

Audience measurement. Submitting the subscription form is counted as a form submission, and nothing more: the address you enter is not passed to audience measurement. Our emails contain neither tracking pixel nor tracking link: we do not know whether you open them.

Collaboration agreements

Who this concerns. This section does not concern visitors to the site. It concerns GDC’s experts and executive committee members, to whom the firm sends a collaboration agreement, signed online from a personal link.

Data recorded. The title retained, your answers as you gave them, refusals included, the name you enter as your signature, the date and time of that signature, the time at which you consulted the agreement, the fingerprint of the text you consulted, the identifier of the link, and your connection address (IP address).

The photograph you upload. The signature page lets you attach your portrait. Uploading it is optional, and the file received waits in the private area of the server: it appears on the site only once the firm has countersigned the agreement. Without a photograph, your profile shows your initials. You may ask us at any time to remove your portrait by simple email: we then update our materials within thirty days.

Why the IP address. It is the only IP address this site records, and it records it nowhere else. Audience measurement writes none, nor does newsletter subscription. The purpose here is not the same: it is not to measure traffic but to establish proof of a contractual commitment, and the connection address is what practice requires should that commitment be disputed. It is announced on the signature page, before anything is confirmed.

Your documents are not public. The signed agreement and its consent certificate are placed in a private area of the server, outside any Web-accessible zone: no address reaches them. Only an authenticated administrator can download them.

Retention period. The agreement and its certificate are kept for the duration of the collaboration and 5 years after it ends, the ordinary limitation period. A signature link that is sent and never used is deleted 30 days after it expires.

For any question about your data, or to exercise your rights over the information you have sent us through a form, write to us at contact@gdc-sense.com.