The short version

This site is a personal blog. The only personal information you give it is the email address you provide if you choose to subscribe to the newsletter. Your email is sent directly to Ghost Members, the platform that delivers the newsletter, and is never sold, shared, or used for anything besides newsletter delivery. You can unsubscribe at any time. The site also counts visits with Rybbit, a cookieless analytics service, to see which pages people read.

What information is collected

  • Newsletter signups: when you submit your email address through the "Stay in the loop" form, that email is sent to Ghost Members so it can deliver the weekly newsletter to you.
  • Analytics: each page loads a small script from Rybbit that records the page viewed and general details such as the referring site, browser, device type, and country. Rybbit does not set cookies, and the site uses this only in aggregate, to see which pages are read.
  • Server logs: the hosting provider may keep standard request logs (IP address, user agent, timestamp) for a short window for abuse prevention and error diagnosis. These logs are not joined with newsletter or analytics data.

What is not collected

  • No advertising trackers or third-party ad networks.
  • No analytics that follow you across other sites or build a profile of you.
  • No cookies are set by this site for tracking purposes.
  • No social-media pixels (Facebook, X/Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.).

Third parties

The site relies on the following service providers, each with their own privacy policies:

  • Ghost — handles newsletter delivery and member records. Email addresses submitted through the signup form are sent to Ghost. See Ghost's privacy policy.
  • Rybbit — privacy-friendly, cookieless analytics. Like any web request, loading its script sends your IP address and browser details to Rybbit. See Rybbit's privacy policy.
  • Netlify — hosts and serves the site and may keep brief request logs as described above. See Netlify's privacy policy.
  • YouTube and Spotify — some posts embed a video (from youtube-nocookie.com) or a track. The embed loads from that service when it scrolls into view, under that service's own privacy policy.

If additional providers are added, this page will be updated.

How long data is kept

Newsletter email addresses are kept for as long as you remain subscribed. When you unsubscribe, your address is removed from active mailings; Ghost may retain a record of the unsubscribe request to ensure you don't receive further mail.

Your rights

You can ask to:

  • See what data is associated with your email address.
  • Update or correct that data.
  • Have your data deleted.
  • Unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time using the link in any email, or by emailing the address below.

Contact

For privacy questions or to exercise any of the rights above, email ben@bencodezen.io.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the Last updated date at the top of this page will reflect the most recent revision.