Justice Faces is a legal journalism website. We publish court case studies, judge profiles, and legal basics explainers about courtrooms, verdicts, and the judges who issue them.
This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect when you visit Justice Faces, why we collect it, who else receives it, and what choices you have.
Justice Faces is operated by Saran Afzaal, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, whose editorial standards are set out on our About Us page. In this policy, “we,” “us,” and “our” mean Justice Faces; “you” means any visitor to justicefaces.com; and “Site” means justicefaces.com and every page on it.
Please read this policy together with our Terms and Conditions and our Disclaimer. By using the Site, you acknowledge that you have read this policy. Where the law requires your consent for specific processing, such as non-essential cookies, we ask for it separately, and continuing to browse is not treated as that consent.
If you have questions or concerns about this policy, contact us using the details in Section 15.
Summary
This summary is a guide only. The numbered sections below contain the full terms.
- You can read Justice Faces without creating an account or giving your name.
- We receive personal details only when you provide them, for example through our contact form, a comment, or an email.
- Standard technical data, such as IP address, browser, device, referring page, and pages viewed, is collected automatically, as on most websites.
- The Site uses Google AdSense to display advertising. Google and its advertising partners may use cookies to show ads, including ads based on your browsing. Section 3 explains how to opt out of personalized advertising.
- We do not sell your contact details or other information you submit to us.
- Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, or delete personal information we hold. We will consider a request from any reader. See Section 9.
- Nothing on this Site is legal advice. See our Disclaimer.
1. Information We Collect
We collect two kinds of information: information you choose to give us, and information collected automatically as you browse.
1.1 Information you give us
You can read every article without providing personal information. You share personal details only when you choose to do so:
| What you do | What we receive |
|---|---|
| Send a message through our contact form | Your name, email address, subject, and message |
| Leave a comment on an article | Your name, email address, comment text, IP address, and browser string |
| Email us directly | Your email address and the contents of your message |
| Subscribe to updates, if we offer a newsletter | Your email address |
| Submit a correction or tip about a case | Whatever you choose to include, including any documents you attach |
Please do not send sensitive personal information, such as medical details, financial account numbers, or identifying information about another person involved in a legal matter. If you submit a correction about a case, limit it to facts and the public record.
1.2 Information collected automatically
Like most websites, our servers and analytics tools record technical information each time a page loads:
- IP address, and the approximate location it suggests
- Browser type and version
- Device type and operating system
- Screen size and language settings
- The page that referred you to us and the pages you then visit
- Date, time, and length of your visit
- Links you click within the Site
This data is collected through server logs, cookies, and similar technologies. We use it in aggregate, for example to see which articles readers find useful and to keep the Site secure. We do not use it ourselves to build profiles of individual readers. Our advertising partners may process some of it as described in Section 3.
1.3 Cookies and similar technologies
Cookies are small text files that a website stores in your browser so it can recognize your browser on a return visit. The Site uses four kinds:
- Strictly necessary cookies keep the Site functioning, remember your cookie choices, and help protect against spam and abuse. These cannot be switched off.
- Preference cookies remember small settings, such as whether you dismissed a notice.
- Analytics cookies help us count visitors and understand which articles are read.
- Advertising cookies are set by Google and other advertising partners to measure and target advertising. Section 3 describes them.
Web beacons, pixels, and local storage work in a similar way and are covered by the same rules in this policy. Section 3 explains how to opt out of personalized advertising, and Section 4 explains how to manage your cookie choices.
2. How We Use Your Information
We use information only for the purposes below. For readers in the EU and UK, the table also shows the legal basis under the GDPR and UK GDPR.
| Purpose | Reason | Legal basis (GDPR and UK GDPR) |
|---|---|---|
| Serve pages and keep the Site online | You requested the page | Legitimate interest |
| Reply to your message or correction | You contacted us and expect a response | Legitimate interest |
| Publish and moderate comments | To keep discussion civil and free of spam | Legitimate interest |
| Measure traffic and article performance | To understand which topics readers want | Consent where required by law; otherwise legitimate interest |
| Show advertising that funds the Site | Advertising revenue supports our reporting | Consent for cookies and personalized ads where required; otherwise legitimate interest for non-personalized ads |
| Send emails you signed up for | You asked to hear from us | Consent |
| Detect spam, scraping, and abuse | To protect the Site and its readers | Legitimate interest |
| Respond to legal requests and preserve records | Required by law | Legal obligation |
We do not sell your contact details or other information you submit to us, rent or trade it to data brokers, publish it without your permission, or use your contact details to build an advertising profile.
3. Advertising, Google AdSense, and Third-Party Vendors
Advertising helps fund the Site and keeps it free to read.
Google AdSense. We use Google AdSense, Google’s advertising service, to display ads on the Site. Google is a third-party vendor that uses cookies to serve ads here. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user’s prior visits to this Site or other websites. Google’s use of advertising cookies enables Google and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visits to the Site and other sites on the internet.
Personalized and non-personalized ads. Personalized ads are based on your browsing activity and interests. Non-personalized ads are based on the content of the page you are viewing and general location. Which kind you see depends on your settings and, where the law requires it, your consent.
Other advertising vendors. Google and other third-party ad servers or ad networks may place cookies, JavaScript, or web beacons in the ads they serve. These are sent directly to your browser, which automatically receives your IP address. We have no access to, and no control over, cookies used by third-party advertisers. This policy does not cover their practices, and each vendor has its own privacy policy.
What advertisers do not receive from us. We do not give advertisers your name, your email address, the contents of a message you sent us, or anything else you entered into a form on this Site.
Ad standards. Ads on the Site are served by Google and third-party advertisers, so we cannot review every ad in advance. We do not knowingly accept advertising that is deceptive, impersonates legal counsel, or promises case outcomes. Ads are intended to be visually distinct from our editorial content. If you see an ad that concerns you, please contact us so we can review it and block it where possible.
How to opt out of personalized advertising
You can use any of the following options, and none requires our permission:
- Google Ads Settings: turn off ad personalization across Google’s services at adssettings.google.com.
- Google’s partner disclosure: read what Google collects on sites that use its services in “How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services.”
- Industry opt-outs: opt out of many vendors at once through the Digital Advertising Alliance at aboutads.info/choices, the Network Advertising Initiative at optout.networkadvertising.org, or, in Europe, youronlinechoices.eu.
- Your browser: block or delete cookies through the privacy settings in Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge.
Opting out of personalized advertising does not remove ads. You will still see ads, but they will be based on page content rather than your browsing history.
4. Cookie Consent and Your Choices
Readers in the EEA, the UK, and Switzerland. Where the law requires consent, we ask for your choice through a consent management platform certified by Google, as Google’s EU user consent policy requires for publishers serving ads in these regions. Your choice is recorded and passed to Google and its advertising partners. You can change or withdraw your choice at any time using the cookie settings control on the Site. Withdrawing consent is as easy as giving it, and the articles remain free either way.
Readers elsewhere. Your local law may not require a consent banner, so you may not see one. You can still use the browser controls and industry opt-outs listed in Section 3, and you can email us to ask what personal information we hold.
Browser controls. Every major browser lets you block third-party cookies, clear cookies when you close the browser, or browse privately. Blocking all cookies may prevent parts of this or other websites from working.
Global Privacy Control and Do Not Track. Some browsers and extensions send automated signals expressing a privacy preference. Where Global Privacy Control is legally recognized, such as under California law, we treat it as a valid opt-out request to the extent our tools can detect it. There is no common industry standard for the older Do Not Track signal, and we cannot guarantee that every third-party vendor on the Site honors it.
5. Analytics
We use Google Analytics, connected to the Site through Google Site Kit, to understand how readers find and use Justice Faces. It shows us, for example, how many people read a given article, how long they stay, and whether they go on to read other pages.
We see aggregated, statistical reports. We do not use Google Analytics to identify individual readers. According to Google, Google Analytics 4 does not log or store individual IP addresses and uses IP address data only to derive approximate location. Our server logs, described in Section 1.2, are separate from Google Analytics and may contain IP addresses.
Google processes this data on our behalf under its own terms, and Google Analytics sets its own cookies. If you prefer not to be counted, you can install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, which works across all websites that use Google Analytics.
We may also use Google Search Console, which reports the search queries that led visitors to the Site. We receive aggregated query and click data from it.
6. Comments, Messages, and Embedded Content
Comments. If you comment on an article, the name you enter, your comment, and the date are published. Your email address is not published. We keep it so we can reply and distinguish genuine readers from spam. Your IP address and browser string are recorded with the comment for the same reason. Comments may be held for moderation. We may decline to publish comments that are abusive, defamatory, or that identify private individuals in ongoing proceedings. Please think carefully before commenting on a live case.
Contact form. Messages sent through our Contact Us page reach us by email and remain in our inbox until the matter is resolved. We use them to respond to you, not to add you to a mailing list.
Email updates. If we offer a newsletter and you subscribe, we store your email address with our email service provider and send you the updates you requested. Every email includes an unsubscribe link. When you unsubscribe, we stop sending you emails and remove your address from our active list. Our provider may keep a minimal record so that your request is honored.
Embedded content. Our articles sometimes embed videos, social media posts, or court documents hosted elsewhere, such as a hearing clip or a filing. Embedded content behaves as if you had visited the other website directly. The host may collect data about you, set its own cookies, and track your interaction with the embed. That processing is governed by the host’s own policy, not ours. We embed only content that the story requires.
7. How Long We Keep Your Information
| Type of data | How long we keep it |
|---|---|
| Contact form messages and email replies | Up to 24 months after the conversation ends |
| Published comments | While the article remains online, or until you ask us to remove them (subject to Section 13) |
| Newsletter subscriptions | Until you unsubscribe |
| Server access logs | For the period set by our hosting provider |
| Google Analytics data | For the retention period set in our Analytics account, currently 14 months |
| Advertising cookie data | Controlled by Google and its partners under their own policies |
| Records we must keep for legal or tax reasons | For as long as the relevant law requires |
When a retention period ends, we delete the data or anonymize it so that it can no longer be linked to you. If you ask us to delete information sooner, see Section 9.
8. Where Your Information Is Processed
Justice Faces runs on third-party hosting infrastructure. The services we rely on, including our host, analytics provider, email provider, and advertising partners, operate servers in several countries, including the United States.
As a result, information collected on the Site may be transferred to, stored in, and processed in a country other than the one where you are located, under data protection laws that differ from your own.
Where personal data is transferred out of the EEA or the UK, we rely on the safeguards our providers use, such as adequacy decisions, standard contractual clauses, or other mechanisms recognized by applicable law.
9. Your Privacy Rights
Your rights depend on where you live, and some privacy laws apply to us only in specific circumstances. We will consider a request from any reader, whatever their location. We may not be able to fulfill every request where no law requires it or where a legal exception applies.
If you are in the EU, the UK, or the EEA (GDPR and UK GDPR)
Where these laws apply, you have the right to:
- Be informed about what personal data we hold and why
- Access a copy of your personal data
- Correct inaccurate or incomplete data
- Request deletion of your data, subject to the exceptions in Section 13 and other legal exceptions
- Restrict our processing while a dispute is resolved
- Object to processing based on legitimate interest, including profiling for advertising
- Receive your data in a portable format, where this right applies
- Withdraw consent at any time, without affecting processing carried out before you withdrew it
- Complain to your data protection authority; in the UK this is the Information Commissioner’s Office, and in the EU it is the supervisory authority in your member state
If you are in California (CCPA and CPRA)
Where California law applies to us, you may have the right to know what personal information we collect, use, and disclose; to request deletion or correction of it; to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information; and to limit the use of sensitive personal information. You will not receive different service or content for exercising these rights.
We do not sell personal information in exchange for money. Advertising cookies set by Google and other third parties, described in Section 3, may involve the sharing of personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising as California law defines that term. You can opt out through the options in Section 3 and, where we can detect it, through a Global Privacy Control signal.
If you are elsewhere
Residents of other U.S. states, Canada, Australia, Brazil, and other jurisdictions may have comparable rights under their own laws. Send us your request and we will review it.
How to make a request
Use our Contact Us page or the email address in Section 15. Tell us what you are asking for and give us enough detail to locate your data, such as the email address you used or a link to the comment concerned. Making a request is free.
We aim to respond within 30 days. Some laws set different deadlines or allow extensions. For example, the GDPR and UK GDPR generally allow one month, extendable in some cases, and California law generally allows 45 days, extendable in some cases. If we need more time, we will tell you. We may ask you for information to confirm your identity so that we do not disclose your data to the wrong person.
10. Children’s Privacy
Justice Faces is written for adults. Our court coverage addresses violent crime, family breakdown, and sentencing, which is not appropriate for children.
The Site is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. In line with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), we do not knowingly allow anyone under 13 to comment or subscribe. Some countries set a higher minimum age for consenting to data processing, and we apply those rules where they apply to us.
If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has given us personal information, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.
11. How We Protect Your Information
The Site is served over HTTPS, so traffic between your browser and our server is encrypted. We keep our content management system and plugins updated, and we restrict access to the admin area and to contact form submissions to a small number of authorized people.
We aim to collect only what we need. We do not collect payment details or identity documents from readers, and readers do not need an account to use the Site.
No method of transmitting data over the internet or storing it electronically is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. If a breach affects your personal data, we will notify you and the relevant authority where the law requires.
12. Links to Other Websites
Our articles link to external sources, including court dockets, published opinions, news reports, official judicial biographies, and the material gathered on our Legal Resources page.
When you click an external link, you leave the Site and are subject to the other website’s privacy policy. We are not responsible for the content, security, or data practices of external sites, including sites we cite. The same applies to any social media profile where our content appears. We recommend reviewing a site’s privacy policy before you provide it with personal information.
13. Editorial Content and Public Records
This policy governs the personal data of readers who use the Site. It does not govern the information we publish as journalism about judges, parties, and cases.
Our judge biographies and case write-ups draw on court filings, published rulings, official judicial records, open hearings, and verified reporting. Many privacy laws, including the GDPR and UK GDPR, provide exemptions or special rules for journalism. These vary by country and apply only where their conditions are met. Where an exemption applies, we may decline a request under Section 9 to delete or restrict accurate reporting about a court proceeding. We assess each request individually and do not treat every published item as automatically exempt.
You can always ask us to correct the record. If we have published something about you, or about a case you were involved in, that is factually wrong, out of date, or missing important context, such as a conviction overturned on appeal, a dropped charge, or a misspelled name, please tell us. Send the information you have, and we will review it against the source documents and correct, update, or annotate the article where the evidence supports it. We make corrections openly.
We also consider requests from people who were never public figures and were caught up in a case. We do not promise removal, but we review each request and take the potential harm into account.
Our wider editorial standards are described on our About Us page.
14. Changes to This Policy
We may update this policy as privacy law and advertising technology change. When we do, we will change the “Last updated” date at the top of this page. If a change materially affects your rights or how we handle your data, such as a new category of data, a new purpose, or a new class of recipient, we will also post a visible notice on the Site and request fresh consent where consent is the legal basis we rely on.
Please review this page periodically. Continuing to use the Site after an update means you acknowledge the revised policy.
15. Contact Us
For questions about this policy, requests about your data, or corrections to an article, contact us using any of the following:
- Contact form: justicefaces.com/contact-us
- Email: privacy@justicefaces.com
- Editor: Saran Afzaal, Founder and Editor-in-Chief
- Website: justicefaces.com
To help us respond quickly, state what you are asking for and include the email address you used on the Site or a link to the relevant article or comment.
We aim to reply to general inquiries within five working days. Formal data requests are handled as described in Section 9.
Related pages: About Us · Terms and Conditions · Disclaimer · Legal Resources