If you only read
There are no tracking cookies, no advertising, and no third-party analytics. The one thing kept that could identify you is your IP address, for 30 days, as described below.
The site keeps a simple count of how many pages are read. For each page view it records the address of the page, the website that linked you here if there was one, your browser’s time zone, whether that view started a new browsing session, and your IP address. So that the pages of one visit can be seen together, each view also carries a random number your browser makes and keeps in that tab only: it is not a cookie and it disappears when you close the tab. No cookie is set and no device identifier is kept. The time zone is used only to group readers roughly by country. If your browser sends a “do not track” signal, nothing is counted at all, and the member area is never counted.
The IP address is kept so the author can tell different readers apart and notice misuse of the site. Only the author sees it, it is never shared or used for advertising, and it is deleted after 30 days. Nightly backups of the site’s database are kept for a further 30 days and then deleted. The basis for this is the site’s legitimate interest in understanding how the book is read; you can ask for your address to be removed sooner through the contact page.
The web server itself does not keep access logs of the pages you read. Its error log can record the address of a request that failed, and is cleared when the server is updated.
If you sign in
Signing in creates an account with your email address and the date you joined. There is no password. Each sign-in link you request is emailed to you through Resend, our email provider, and expires in 15 minutes. A session cookie keeps you signed in for up to 30 days.
While signed in, the site stores what you choose to enter: your daily routine entries (the morning anchor, your one line for the day, pause counts, evening scores and open loops), your weekly check answers, and any comments you post on essays, with the display name you give. Comments are public once approved; everything else is private to you and to the site administrator.
If you join the weekly essay
Your email address is stored with the date, the page you signed up from, and whether you have confirmed. Nothing is sent until you click the confirmation link. Every essay carries an unsubscribe link that works immediately. The essay list is separate from member accounts: you can be on one without the other.
If you write to the author
The contact form stores your name, email address and message, and emails the same to the author so a reply can reach you. No IP address is recorded. Your address is never added to the newsletter and never passed to anyone else. Ask and the message will be deleted.
If you leave a review
A review needs a free sign-in, which keeps out spam and means one review per person. Your rating, your words, the name you choose to show and the date are stored, and appear publicly on the reviews page once the author approves them. You can edit or delete your review at any time. Approved reviews and the average rating are also offered to search engines as structured data, which is how star ratings can appear in results.
Where it lives
Everything is stored in a database on a single server in London, run by DigitalOcean, with a backup copy taken nightly on the same server and kept for 30 days. Emails are sent through Resend, whose servers are in Ireland. No other company receives your data. When the site adds Google sign-in, using it will share only your email and name with the site, and only if you choose that option.
What we never do
- Sell, rent or share your email or your routine data with anyone.
- Send you anything other than the sign-in links you request and, if you joined it, the weekly essay.
- Show your routine entries or weekly checks to anyone but you.
- Follow you across other websites, or hand your reading to an advertising or analytics company.
Your rights, and how to use them
- See it: your routine and weekly entries are all visible in your member area.
- Delete it: signed-in readers can delete their account and everything in it, at once and permanently, from Your account. It also removes the same email from the essay list.
- Leave the essay list: the unsubscribe link in any essay, or this page.
- Ask a question or request a copy of your data: sellayaso@gmail.com. Replies come from the author, within a few days.
If you are in the UK or EU, these rights are yours under data protection law and this page is our notice to you under it. The lawful basis for keeping your account is the agreement you make by signing in; for the essay list it is your consent, given when you confirm.
Changes
If this page changes in a way that matters, the date at the top changes and members are told by email.