Privacy at greatfon.net
Amended
Stored by this site
Nothing linked to you. With no sign-up or login, there is no user record to keep. Pages are pre-built
static files, and no list of searched handles is kept. The exception is the handle carried in the URL
(/?u=name, which each search now loads), which reaches the ordinary access logs of the
host and CDN. The CDN also counts lookups per IP address over a few minutes, to hold back floods; those
counts expire on their own. greatfon.net itself sets no ad or analytics cookies; the ads on its pages come from an
outside ad network that runs its own (see Advertising). If
any of that is ever altered, the new version of this page goes up first, under a fresh date.
Greatfon.net also tallies how visits arrive, anonymously. A moment after a page shows, it reports the host of the referring site (no path), the page entered, the country it was opened from, and a campaign label if one is present; the day’s counter moves up by one. No cookie, ID number or IP address plays any part. A DNT or GPC browser reports nothing; counters expire at 90 days. A day marker kept in this browser tells the counter whether you have been to Greatfon.net before. Out of it comes just a gap class, never the marker itself and never an ID. Visitors who send DNT or GPC get no marker, and the browser’s own site-data cleaner erases it.
Stored by your browser
- Recent lookups: local storage, never transmitted. Handles opened on that one device only. Emptied by Wipe list or by clearing site data; a private window loses it at close.
- Offline copy: greatfon.net’s own pages are stored by a service worker so they open without a connection. No handles or profiles in it. Cleared along with site data. It also holds the ad network’s notification code, which serves notifications only, and only once you allow them.
- Per-tab counter: the tab notes how many lookups it has made, the latest handle and the time a saved file last brought up a partner page. Gone when the tab closes.
- Ad network entries: the network from the Advertising section may set its own cookies or similar records for greatfon.net in your browser.
One lookup, step by step
- Bot screen. Before any search runs, our CDN screens it silently (Cloudflare Turnstile does the screening) to tell people from scripts. It inspects browser characteristics and usually stays out of sight.
- Page and request. The address switches to
/?u=nameand the handle goes to greatfon.net. - Data supplier. The request to a separate data supplier comes from greatfon.net’s server, never from your browser; the supplier fetches that open account’s data from Instagram, and greatfon.net forwards the result to your page. What the supplier gets: the handle, plus the IP of our server. Nothing about you rides along: no IP of yours, no request metadata, no mention of greatfon.net. Retention there is its decision, not ours.
- Media. After that, photos arrive in your tab from Instagram’s CDN; that CDN logs your IP, though not the referring site. Clips with their thumbnails, avatars, saved files and the tiny cover of each highlight take a detour through greatfon.net’s server.
Routing through a VPN reduces what servers see of you.
Services involved
- Hosting: keeps the site’s files online.
- CDN (Cloudflare): sits in front, blocks abuse, hosts the Turnstile screen every search passes, and touches your IP only for that moment.
- Data supplier: gathers public profiles when our server asks (see the lookup section).
- Instagram’s media CDN: sends photos to your browser, so it sees your IP.
- Ad network: serves every ad on the site (see Advertising).
Nobody outside those five receives data from greatfon.net, and nothing is sold.
Advertising
Ads on greatfon.net are served by an outside advertising network that picks them and decides, under its own rules, what data their delivery uses. No consent prompt is shown for them, wherever you are.
- Pop-unders: any click on the page, even away from an ad, may bring up an advertiser’s site in a fresh tab or window, most often hidden behind the one you are on.
- Slide-in cards: little messages pop in on top of what you are reading, and an × dismisses each.
- Full-page ads: on a results page or a note an ad can fill the screen until you dismiss it with its own button.
- Notification requests: once a lookup is done, your browser may ask to allow notifications from greatfon.net. Say yes and the network can push ads to you even when the site is not open; turn it off again in the browser’s settings for this site.
- Partner links and tiles: “Explore” closing a bio line, “Worth a look today” cards and tiles around results and notes, the strip along the screen’s bottom edge, and the “Popular” links beside recent lookups, in the viewer and in the footer are all advertising. They open deals from advertisers; the account you are viewing never chose or endorsed any of them.
- Downloads: saving a file can also open a partner page in a new tab, no more than once per minute; the file itself is unaffected.
- What the network sees: your IP address, the browser you use, preferred language, display size and which site you are on. The network and its advertisers can keep cookies or comparable IDs in your browser to choose ads, avoid showing one too often, tally impressions and clicks, and weed out bot traffic.
- Blocker test: before a lookup, your browser tries to reach the ad network. If a blocker cuts it off, the lookup is not made and a notice asks you to allow ads here. Only a tally of such stops is kept, with no handle and no IP address.
Your recent-lookups list stays in the browser, and the network is never handed the names
you looked up. The one exception: when a handle sits in the address bar (/?u=name), any script on that
page, ad scripts included, can read the address.
Rights
Ask what is held about you, and to have it fixed or erased; expect a written reply saying the answer is nothing. Complaints may also go to a privacy regulator near you.
The data controller is greatfon.net, reachable at contact@greatfon.net.