Privacy

I believe privacy should be understandable. This page explains what information this website collects, why I use it, who may process it on my behalf, and the choices you have about your information.

This website is operated by Eric Mackay from Los Angeles, California. If you have a question about this notice or about information I hold about you, you can contact me through the Contact page.

Information you give me

The main ways I collect personal information are when you contact me or choose to receive emails from me.

If you use the Contact form, I collect your name, email address, the type of enquiry you are making, and the message you send. You can also choose to sign up for new writing and occasional updates at the same time.

If you subscribe to my newsletter elsewhere on the site, I collect your email address and information about where on the site you subscribed.

You do not need to provide personal information simply to read the site.

How I use your information

I use information you submit through the Contact form to read and respond to your enquiry, manage our correspondence, and keep an appropriate record of that correspondence.

I use your email address to send you new writing and occasional updates only when you have chosen to subscribe. Newsletter subscriptions use email verification, so you may be asked to confirm your email address before you are added to the mailing list.

For visitors in the UK or European Economic Area, the legal basis I rely on depends on what I am doing with the information. I rely on your consent for email marketing. I rely on my legitimate interests where necessary to respond to enquiries, operate and secure the website, maintain appropriate business records, and understand the context in which someone has contacted me, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and interests.

You can withdraw your consent to marketing emails at any time by using the unsubscribe option included in those emails.

Information collected when you contact me

When you submit the Contact form, the site may also record limited information about how you arrived there.

This can include the previous page you visited on this website, a referring page supplied by your browser, and campaign information contained in links to the site, such as UTM parameters.

The site temporarily remembers some of this information within your browser session so that it can be included with your enquiry. It is not used to build a profile of your browsing behaviour across different visits.

The Contact form also uses security measures including rate limiting and Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise. These measures help protect the site from spam, automated submissions and abuse.

Newsletter

If you choose to receive new writing and occasional updates, your email address is stored while the subscription is verified.

Once you verify your address, it is added to my mailing list, which is managed using Kit.

I use the mailing list to send the content you asked to receive. I do not add Contact enquiries to the mailing list unless the person has separately chosen to subscribe.

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link provided in marketing emails.

Security information

Like most websites, this site processes limited technical information where necessary to keep it secure and functioning properly.

This can include an IP address and limited technical information associated with a request where it is needed for security, rate limiting or abuse prevention.

This information may be used for rate limiting, detecting malicious activity, preventing abuse and investigating security incidents. It is not used for advertising or to create a marketing profile about you.

Cookies and browser storage

The public website does not currently use first-party cookies for analytics or advertising.

A first-party authentication cookie is used when an authorised administrator signs into the private administration area. It is not set for ordinary visitors.

The site uses limited session storage in your browser to remember things such as whether you have dismissed the newsletter bar and, when relevant, the page or campaign information associated with a later Contact enquiry. This information normally disappears when the browser tab or session ends.

Some third-party features may use cookies or similar browser technologies of their own. These are discussed below.

Google reCAPTCHA

This site uses Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise to help protect the Contact form against spam and automated abuse.

The reCAPTCHA software is provided by Google and may communicate with Google when pages on this site are loaded and when the Contact form is submitted.

Google's processing of information through reCAPTCHA is governed by Google's own privacy terms and policies.

Podcast and third-party media

Podcast pages use services provided by RSS.com to display and play podcast episodes. Loading a podcast page containing an RSS.com player may cause your browser to communicate directly with RSS.com.

Some individual podcast episodes may also contain a YouTube video. Where a YouTube player is present, the site uses YouTube's privacy-enhanced youtube-nocookie.com embed domain. Loading that content may still result in communication between your browser and YouTube or Google.

These third-party services operate under their own privacy policies and may process technical information such as your IP address or information about your browser or device.

I do not receive a record from these embedded services identifying who listened to or watched an individual episode through this website.

Who processes information for me

I use a small number of service providers to operate the website and communicate with people who choose to contact or subscribe.

These currently include:

• Heroku and PostgreSQL infrastructure, used to host the website and its database;
• Resend, used to send transactional emails, including Contact notifications and email verification;
• Kit, used to manage newsletter subscribers and send email updates;
• Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise, used to protect the Contact form against spam and abuse;
• RSS.com, used to provide podcast information and audio playback;
• YouTube, where video is available for a podcast episode; and
• Slack, which may receive limited information in an operational alert if part of the website fails.

These providers may process information on my behalf or, for embedded services, receive information directly from your browser. Their own processing may also be subject to their respective privacy policies.

I do not sell your personal information.

I do not use your personal information for third-party behavioural advertising.

The website does not currently use advertising pixels or general visitor analytics services.

International processing

I am based in the United States and some of the companies that provide services for this website operate internationally.

This means that if you visit the site from the United Kingdom, European Economic Area or another country, information you provide may be processed in the United States or other countries in which these service providers operate.

Where data protection law requires safeguards for an international transfer, I rely on the safeguards provided through the relevant service provider and its contractual arrangements.

How long I keep information

I keep personal information only for as long as it is reasonably needed for the purpose for which it was collected, including appropriate business, security and legal record-keeping.

Contact enquiries and related correspondence may be retained where I reasonably need a record of the enquiry or our correspondence, including where there is an ongoing working relationship, dispute, legal obligation or other legitimate business reason to retain it. I periodically review information that is no longer needed and may delete or anonymise it.

Email addresses submitted for newsletter subscription are stored while the subscription is being verified. Unverified newsletter signups are periodically removed when they are no longer needed. Verified subscriber information is retained while you remain subscribed.

Technical information used specifically for website security, rate limiting or abuse prevention is retained for as long as reasonably necessary for those purposes. Short-term rate-limiting records expire as part of the site's normal operation. Information associated with suspected abuse or a security incident may be kept for longer where necessary to investigate or prevent further activity.

If you unsubscribe from the newsletter, information may be retained to the limited extent necessary to honour that request and ensure you are not inadvertently resubscribed.

Some service providers may retain information under their own retention policies or where they are legally required to do so.

Your choices and rights

Depending on where you live, privacy law may give you rights relating to your personal information.

These may include the right to ask what personal information I hold about you, request a copy of it, ask for inaccurate information to be corrected, request deletion of information, restrict or object to certain uses of your information, or withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.

Not every right applies in every circumstance, but I will respond to legitimate privacy requests in accordance with applicable law.

You can unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time using the unsubscribe link in the email.

To make another privacy request, use the Contact page and make clear that your message relates to privacy.

I may need to verify your identity before acting on a request involving personal information.

California privacy information

If you are a California resident, you may have rights relating to personal information held about you under applicable California privacy law.

The categories of personal information this website may collect include identifiers such as your name, email address and IP address; information you voluntarily include in correspondence; internet or electronic activity information associated with security and Contact attribution; and information about your newsletter preferences.

I use this information for the purposes described in this notice.

I do not sell personal information.

I do not share personal information for cross-context behavioural advertising.

Because the website does not use advertising or behavioural analytics technologies, it does not currently use browser-based Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track signals to alter advertising or analytics behaviour. There is no such advertising or analytics processing to opt out of on the site.

Third-party services described in this notice may receive information when you use particular features of the site.

You can contact me to request access to, correction of, or deletion of personal information I hold about you, subject to the rights and exceptions provided by applicable law.

UK and European visitors

If UK or European data protection law applies to the way your information is processed, you may have rights including access, correction, erasure, restriction, objection and, in some circumstances, data portability.

Where I rely on consent, you can withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal does not affect processing that was lawful before consent was withdrawn.

Where I rely on legitimate interests, you have the right to object to that processing in circumstances provided by applicable data protection law.

If you are in the United Kingdom and believe your information has been handled improperly, you also have the right to raise a concern with the Information Commissioner's Office.

If you are in the European Economic Area, you may have the right to complain to the data protection authority responsible for your country or region.

Children

This website is intended for a general adult audience and is not designed to collect personal information from children.

If you believe a child has provided personal information through the site, please contact me so that I can review and, where appropriate, delete it.

Security

I use reasonable technical and organisational measures intended to protect personal information handled through the site.

No internet service or method of electronic storage can be guaranteed to be completely secure, so I cannot promise absolute security.

Changes to this notice

I may update this Privacy Notice as the website, the services I use or applicable privacy requirements change.

The date at the top of this page shows when the notice was most recently updated. Material changes to how personal information is used will be reflected here and, where appropriate, brought to the attention of affected people.

Contact

If you have a question about this Privacy Notice, want to exercise a privacy right, or have a concern about information I hold about you, please use the Contact page.

Eric Mackay
Los Angeles, California
United States