Privacy
What stays on your server, and what does not.
This describes what the software actually does today. Where something is optional, it says so and says what turns it on.
Last updated 2 October 2026 · applies to HWS 0.2.3 and to HWS Live.
Higashi Web Stats
Processed on your own server
HWS is software you install and run yourself. JotNotes does not host it, does not have access to it, and cannot see what it holds. It reads your own web-server logs and, if you choose to embed the browser tracker, events your pages send to your own install.
Visitor IP addresses are hashed with a per-site salt before they are stored. The raw address is not kept. Sessions are grouped by that hash, not by a person.
Raw events are kept for 90 days by default, which you can change; daily aggregates are kept until you delete them. You can export everything at any time, and delete it, from the dashboard.
You are the data controller for the data in your install. If your visitors are covered by GDPR or similar law, the obligations to them are yours, not ours.
Leaving your server
Three things, all of them conditional
A default install of HWS sends nothing to JotNotes or to anyone else. There is no telemetry, no phone-home and no usage reporting. Three things can send data out, and each has to be switched on:
1. HWS Live, if you buy a key and enter it
Installing HWS does not enable Live. Live starts only when you paste a key you bought into your own install. While it is enabled, your install sends a periodic aggregate report containing: an identifier for your site, the period covered, the kind of site you said it is and the crawler stance you chose, counts of human pageviews, sessions and engaged sessions, and for each crawler its name, whether it verified, how many hits it made and how many bytes it took, plus the catalogue-walk verdict and the signals behind it.
It does not send IP addresses, hashed or otherwise, URLs, request paths or user agents. We use it to produce your reading and your comparisons. Remove the key and sending stops.
2. External geolocation, if you switch it on
Off by default. If you set EXTERNAL_GEO=true, each visitor IP address is sent to ip-api.com to resolve a country, region and city. That is a third party, in the United States, and their free tier has no TLS, so the request travels over plain HTTP. An IP address is personal data. We default this off, and if you turn it on you should say so to your visitors.
3. Voluntary research sharing, if you opt in
Off by default, and separate from HWS Live. Buying Live, entering a Live key and configuring Live all leave it off; you turn it on yourself under Account, and you can turn it off again at any time, which stops anything further being sent.
When it is on, your install shares the aggregate figures it has already worked out for your own dashboard: a one-way install identifier, the period, the kind of site and stance you chose, counts of human pageviews, sessions and engaged sessions, per-crawler name, verification state, hits and bytes, and the catalogue-walk verdict.
It does not include visitor IP addresses, URLs, request paths, user agents, credentials or raw logs. The install identifier is a one-way hash: it lets us see that two reports came from the same install without telling us which install.
We may use what is shared to improve HWS and HWS Live, improve crawler detection and the research behind it, study aggregate trends across sites, and publish aggregate industry research, reports and white papers. We do not sell it. Anything published is aggregate; no individual site is identified.
Other services
Who else is involved
- PayPal — takes your payment and holds the billing details. We never see or store your card.
- ip-api.com — only if you switch external geolocation on, as above.
- Google, Bing, Apple, DuckDuckGo and Perplexity — HWS downloads their published crawler IP-range lists so it can verify which bots are genuine. These are downloads: nothing about you or your visitors is sent.
- An AI provider of your choosing — only if you configure your own key for written readings. The provider is yours and the account is yours.
If you buy HWS Live
What we hold about you
Your email address, so we can send your key and reach you about the service; your billing address as PayPal supplies it; and the aggregate reports your install sends while Live is enabled. That is all.
Cancel and we stop processing new reports. Ask us to delete what we hold and we will, except where we are required to keep billing records. Write to jot@jotnotes.com.
Limits worth stating
What this does not promise
Hashing an IP address reduces risk; it does not make the data anonymous in every circumstance, and a hash of a rare address in a small dataset can still be revealing. HWS observes and reports — it never blocks or changes traffic, so it is not a defence against anything. Crawler identification relies on published ranges and on behaviour, and something that disguises itself well enough can be misread.
Questions, or a request about your own data: jot@jotnotes.com. Security reports: security@jotnotes.com.