Source before claim.

Authority

Official primary sources are preferred over summaries and commercial directories.

Context

Germany and the UK, including its four nations, are not treated as one identical system.

Correctability

Every material piece of information has an owner, review date and correction route.

The five rules in full

Alongside authority, context and correctability, we apply data minimisation and separation of observation from inference. We do not collect everything just in case it becomes useful. A usage event does not become a claim about motivation or suitability.

• Authority: who can make this claim?

• Context: where, when and for whom does it apply?

• Minimisation: do we genuinely need the field?

• Separation: what was observed and what was inferred?

• Correctability: who reviews and changes it?

A practical decision

A search phrase might appear useful for product analysis but can contain personal concerns or sensitive information. We therefore measure that a search happened, not its free text as an analytics property. Content improvement uses controlled voluntary research rather than hidden collection.

• Record purpose before collection.

• Check a less intrusive alternative.

• Set access and retention.

• A new use requires a new review.