Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Chicago Fine Dining ("we", "us") publishes a curated guide to fine dining restaurants in Chicago at www.chicagofinedining.com. This policy covers that website only. It does not cover the restaurant websites, booking platforms, or map services we link to; those services have their own privacy policies.

The data controller responsible for your personal information is Mundroff Computers LLC. Privacy enquiries: [email protected].

2. Information we collect

We do not operate accounts, logins, comment threads, newsletters, or contact forms on this site, so we do not ask you to give us personal information directly. Information is collected in two ways:

Information collected automatically by our web server

Like almost all websites, our server keeps access logs. Each request records:

• your IP address
• the date and time of the request and the page or file requested
• the HTTP status code and number of bytes sent
• the referring URL, if your browser sent one
• your browser's user-agent string (browser and operating system)

These logs are used to run the site securely and diagnose faults. They are not used to build advertising profiles.

Information collected by third-party services embedded in our pages

Google AdSense, Google Analytics and Ahrefs receive information directly from your browser when their scripts run. This can include your IP address, browser information and the page you are reading. Google advertising and analytics may also use cookie identifiers. Fonts and restaurant photographs are served from this website.

3. Cookies and similar technologies

Cookies are small files stored by your browser. Similar technologies include local storage, pixels, and device or advertising identifiers. This site sets no cookies of its own. All cookies encountered here are set by the third-party services below:

• Advertising cookies — set by Google and its advertising partners to select ads, cap how often you see the same ad, and measure ad performance and fraud.
• Analytics cookies — set by Google Analytics to estimate visitor numbers and understand which pages are read.

You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. Most browsers also offer a private browsing mode. Blocking cookies will not stop you reading this site, though ads may become less relevant.

4. Advertising, Google AdSense, and your ad choices

We plan to use Google AdSense to help cover the site's costs. Approval is pending. AdSense code is present on the editorial pages — the homepage, about, and the restaurant and planning guides — but not on this page, the contact page or the error page. Its presence does not establish approval or advertising revenue.

The following disclosures are required of sites that use Google advertising products:

• Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website or other websites.
• Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to this site and/or other sites on the internet.
• You may opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google My Ad Center (previously Ads Settings).
• You may opt out of the use of third-party vendor cookies for personalised advertising by visiting www.aboutads.info/choices, or www.youronlinechoices.com in Europe.
• Google's own handling of data from sites that use its services is described at How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services.

Opting out of personalised advertising does not remove ads. It means the ads you see are chosen without using a profile built from your browsing history.

Consent in the EEA, the UK, and Switzerland

If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, advertising consent is collected by Google's certified consent message, which appears on your first visit to a page that carries advertising. Refusing is a single click, exactly like accepting, and where you refuse you will still see ads, but they will be non-personalised. That message records your choice under the IAB Transparency and Consent Framework and you can reopen it from the same page at any time.

Audience measurement is separate, because it is not covered by that framework. In the EEA, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland it stays switched off unless you turn it on yourself through the Privacy Settings link in the footer of every page. Nothing on this site asks you a second time.

Your measurement choice is recorded in your browser's local storage on your own device. We do not transmit it to a server or keep a central record of it, which means clearing your browser data resets it.

5. Analytics

We use Google Analytics 4 (measurement ID G-K5FKYYTYCM) to understand how many people read the guide and which entries they read. Google Analytics collects your IP address, device and browser information, approximate location derived from IP, pages viewed, and time on page, and stores an identifier in your browser to distinguish returning visits.

GA4 and Ahrefs measurement code is included on every page, including the error page, so we can understand visits that start on an individual guide. Both load only when audience measurement is allowed by your privacy choices and the site's regional defaults. Turning audience measurement off prevents them from loading on subsequent pages; if they are already running, the page reloads to apply your choice.

We also use Ahrefs Web Analytics for aggregate traffic reports. Ahrefs describes this service as cookieless and says it does not collect personal data. We apply the same audience-measurement choice to it as to GA4.

We view this data only in aggregate. We do not attempt to identify individual readers from it.

You can prevent Google Analytics from collecting your data entirely by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

6. Other third parties

• Fonts and restaurant photographs are self-hosted. Loading them does not contact Google Fonts or Unsplash.
• Google Maps — embedded maps load only when you click "Load Google Map". Loading a map connects your browser to Google, which receives your IP address and browser information and may use cookies under its own privacy policy. You can leave maps unloaded and use the directions links instead.
• Outbound links — restaurant booking pages and Google Maps links take you to sites we do not control. Once you follow such a link, that site's own privacy policy applies.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with data brokers.

7. How we use information

• To deliver the website and keep it available and secure.
• To detect, investigate, and prevent abuse, fraud, and technical faults.
• To measure readership in aggregate so we know which entries are useful.
• To display advertising that funds the site, and to measure whether it worked.
• To comply with legal obligations and respond to lawful requests.

We do not use your information to make automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects about you.

8. Legal bases (EEA, UK, Switzerland)

• Consent — for advertising and analytics cookies and the processing that follows from them. You may withdraw consent at any time.
• Legitimate interests — for server logs and security monitoring, on the basis of our interest in operating a functioning, secure website. You may object to this processing.
• Legal obligation — where we must retain or disclose information to comply with the law.

9. Retention

• Server access logs — retained for 180 days, then deleted.
• Google Analytics data — retained according to the retention period configured in our Analytics property.
• Advertising data — retained by Google under its own retention schedules, described in the Google Privacy Policy.
• Emails you send us — retained for as long as needed to deal with the matter, and then for 12 months.

10. Your rights in the EEA, UK, and Switzerland

Subject to the conditions in applicable law, you have the right to request access to your personal data; correction of inaccurate data; erasure; restriction of processing; portability; and to object to processing based on legitimate interests. Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw consent at any time without affecting processing carried out before withdrawal.

To exercise any of these, contact us using the details in section 16. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your national supervisory authority — in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office.

11. Your rights in California and other US states

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act as amended by the CPRA gives you the right to know what personal information is collected and how it is used, to request deletion, to request correction, to opt out of the "sale" or "sharing" of personal information for cross-context behavioural advertising, and not to be discriminated against for exercising those rights. Residents of other US states with comprehensive privacy laws have broadly similar rights.

We do not sell personal information for money. However, the use of advertising cookies on this site may constitute "sharing" for cross-context behavioural advertising under the CPRA, and a "sale" under some state definitions. To opt out:

• Use the Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information link in the footer of every page. Switching the opt-out on tells Google to apply restricted data processing and to serve only non-personalised ads on this browser; and/or
• Enable the Global Privacy Control signal in a supporting browser, which we honour as a valid opt-out request; and/or
• Opt out of personalised advertising at Google My Ad Center.

You may also submit a request by email to [email protected]. We will verify your request and respond within the time required by law. An authorised agent may submit a request on your behalf with proof of authorisation.

12. International data transfers

Our service providers, including Google, operate globally, and your information may be processed in the United States and other countries whose data protection laws differ from those where you live. Where personal data is transferred out of the EEA, the UK, or Switzerland, it is protected by the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses, the UK International Data Transfer Addendum, or another lawful transfer mechanism relied on by the recipient.

13. Children's privacy

This site is intended for a general adult audience. It is not directed to children, we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 (or under 16 in jurisdictions where that is the applicable age), and we do not serve ads targeted to children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

14. Security

The site is served over HTTPS. We apply reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect the limited information we hold, including restricted access to server logs. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

15. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the site, the law, or our advertising partners change. The effective date at the top of the page always reflects the current version. Material changes will be signposted on the site before they take effect.

16. How to contact us

For any privacy question, or to exercise a right described above:

General enquiries go to the contact page.

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