1. Who We Are

Asia Economia Times ("we", "us", "our") is an independent digital news publication operated by AET Media Pte. Ltd., registered in Singapore (UEN 202512345A). Our registered address is 68 Circular Road, #02-01, Singapore 049422.

This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, disclose, and protect information about you when you visit our website, subscribe to our newsletters, create an account, or otherwise interact with our services.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Information You Provide

Account registration: When you create an account, we collect your username, email address, and password (stored as a salted cryptographic hash — we never store passwords in plain text).

OAuth sign-in: If you sign in with X (Twitter) or GitHub, we receive your username and, where available, your email address from those services. We do not receive your password.

Correspondence: If you contact us by email, we retain your messages to respond to your enquiry.

2.2 Information Collected Automatically

Usage data: We collect standard web server logs including your IP address, browser type, referring URL, pages visited, and timestamps. This data is used for security monitoring and aggregate analytics.

Push notifications: If you subscribe to push notifications, we store your browser subscription endpoint and your category preferences. We do not link this to personally identifiable information unless you are also signed in.

Cookies: See Section 5 for full details on our cookie use.

3. How We Use Your Information

• To operate and improve our website and services
• To send push notifications for categories you have subscribed to
• To respond to your correspondence
• To detect and prevent fraud and abuse
• To produce aggregated, anonymised analytics about readership
• To comply with our legal obligations

We do not sell your personal data. We do not use your data to build individual advertising profiles. We do not share your data with third parties for their own marketing purposes.

4. Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)

Where applicable under the General Data Protection Regulation (for users in the European Economic Area and United Kingdom), we process your data on the following bases:

• Contract: To provide the services you have requested (account, notifications)
• Legitimate interest: Security monitoring, fraud prevention, aggregate analytics
• Consent: Push notifications (which you may withdraw at any time)
• Legal obligation: Compliance with applicable laws

5. Cookies

We use the following categories of cookies:

• Strictly necessary: Session management, CSRF protection. These cannot be disabled without breaking core site functionality.
• Functional: Remembering your reading preferences and saved articles (stored locally in your browser).
• Analytics: Aggregated, anonymised traffic analytics. We do not use Google Analytics or similar services that share data with advertising networks.

You can manage cookie preferences using our Cookie Settings page.

6. Data Retention

Account data is retained for as long as your account is active. If you request deletion of your account, we will delete your personal data within 30 days, subject to our obligation to retain records for legal or accounting purposes.

Web server logs are retained for 90 days and then automatically deleted.

7. Your Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the right to: access your personal data; correct inaccurate data; request deletion ("right to be forgotten"); object to or restrict certain processing; and receive your data in a portable format.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at privacy@asiaeconomiatimes.org. We will respond within 30 days.

8. Children's Privacy

Our services are not directed at children under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe we have inadvertently collected data from a child, please contact us immediately.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be announced on our website with at least 14 days' notice before taking effect. Continued use of our services after a change takes effect constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

10. Contact

For privacy-related enquiries or to exercise your data rights, contact our Privacy Team at privacy@asiaeconomiatimes.org or write to us at our registered address above.