PRIVACY POLICY: What Happens To Your Data (In Words You’ll Actually Read)

Privacy policies are where words go to die. Legal departments write them. Nobody reads them. Everyone clicks “accept” and hopes for the best while their data floats off into the void like a balloon at a carnival nobody asked to attend.

This one is different. Not because I’m legally required to make it different, but because I actually want you to know what happens to your information when you hand it over.

Your data isn’t abstract. It’s yours. And your nervous system deserves to know where it’s going.

THE SHORT VERSION:

I collect your email. I use it to send you things you signed up for. I don’t sell it. I don’t share it with “partners.” I don’t have partners. I have a laptop, a Substack account, and a deep personal hatred for spam.

THE LONGER VERSION:

WHAT I COLLECT

Your email address. That’s the main thing. You gave it to me so I could send you words. That’s what I use it for.

Basic analytics. Substack shows me things like: how many people opened an email, what links got clicked, general geographic regions of readers. Not your home address. Not your browsing history. Not what you had for breakfast. Just enough to know if anyone’s actually reading or if I’m shouting into the void.

Whatever you tell me directly. If you reply to an email and share something, I have that information because you sent it to me. I treat it like a human conversation, not a data harvesting opportunity.

WHAT I DO WITH IT

Send you the newsletter you signed up for. That’s... basically it.

Occasionally I might email you about something new I’m offering. A book. A course. A thing I made that I think you’d like. But I’m not going to flood your inbox with promotional garbage because I also have an inbox and I know how annoying that is.

Your information doesn’t get sold. Not to advertisers. Not to data brokers. Not to anyone. I don’t even know how to do that and I don’t want to learn.

WHO ELSE SEES YOUR DATA

Substack. They run the platform. They handle payments if you’re a paid subscriber. They have their own privacy policy which is longer and more boring than this one, but they’re not evil. They’re just a tech company doing tech company things.

Payment processors. If you pay for a subscription, Stripe handles that. I don’t see your full card number. I see your name and that you paid. That’s it.

Nobody else. There’s no secret third party. No marketing partners. No “carefully selected affiliates.” Just me, Substack, and Stripe if money is involved.

COOKIES

Yes, there are cookies. Not the delicious kind. The tiny text files that help websites remember things.

Substack uses them to keep you logged in and to track basic analytics. I didn’t personally put them there, but they exist because that’s how the internet works now. You can block them in your browser settings if you want. Some things might work less smoothly, but you won’t be banished from the website or anything.

Your body already has enough things tracking it. I get why you might not want more.

YOUR RIGHTS

You can ask me what data I have on you. (It’s probably just your email and whether you’ve opened some emails. Not exactly a CIA file.)

You can ask me to delete it. I will.

You can unsubscribe anytime. No guilt trip. No “we’ll miss you” campaign. Just gone.

If you’re in the EU, you have GDPR rights. If you’re in California, you have CCPA rights. If you’re anywhere else, you still have “basic human decency” rights, which I also respect.

You’re not trapped here. You never were. The door opens from the inside.

KIDS

I don’t knowingly collect data from anyone under 16. This content isn’t aimed at kids anyway. If you’re a minor who somehow ended up here, maybe go outside? Touch grass? The internet will still be here when you’re older and more emotionally equipped to handle it.

If I find out I accidentally collected data from a minor, I’ll delete it faster than you can say “parental controls.”

CHANGES

I might update this policy sometimes. If I do, I’ll note the date at the top. I’m not going to sneak in something sketchy and hope you don’t notice. That’s not how we do things here.

QUESTIONS?

Email me. Seriously. If something here doesn’t make sense or you want to know something specific, just ask. I’m a person. I read my emails. I’ll answer you.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

Your data is yours. I borrow your email to send you things. I don’t sell it, share it, or do weird things with it. If you want out, you can get out. Simple.

Your nervous system can relax. This isn’t that kind of internet corner.

Dea 🔥