The small print
Privacy notice
What this site keeps about you, why, for how long, and what you can ask me to do with it.
Last updated: [date Richard approves these]
Who I am
The Ashmarch is my author site. I'm Richard A K Martin, and I decide what happens to any personal data the site collects, which makes me its controller under UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018).
For anything to do with your data, write to me at tales@theashmarch.com. I'll reply within one month.
What I collect, and why
The newsletter
- What
- Your email address, the date you signed up and the date you confirmed.
- Why
- To send you new tales and news of the book.
- Lawful basis
- Your consent. The box starts unticked, and nothing is sent until you click the link in the confirmation email (double opt-in). Every email has an unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing withdraws your consent.
- Kept
- Until you unsubscribe. After that I keep only your address and the dates you signed up and left, for two years, so I can show you agreed and make sure you aren't emailed again.
Votes
There's no vote on the site at the moment. If I ever open one, this notice will say what it records before it starts, and the records will be kept for one year after the winning tale is published, then deleted.
Emails you send me
- What
- Your email address, your name if you give it, and whatever you write.
- Why
- To read and reply to you.
- Lawful basis
- My legitimate interest in answering readers who write to me.
- Kept
- As long as I need them, then deleted.
Server logs
- What
- Each request to the site: your IP address, the page asked for, the time, and the browser's user-agent string.
- Why
- To keep the site running and secure, and to find and fix faults.
- Lawful basis
- Legitimate interests: a website can't be run safely without them.
- Kept
- [Period, e.g. 14 days], then deleted.
Visitor counts
[To come.] I plan to count visits with Umami, a privacy-friendly analytics tool that sets no cookies and doesn't track you across other sites. It records the page, where you came from, and your browser, device type and country, and it doesn't store your IP address. I use it only to see which tales people read. Lawful basis: legitimate interests. [Where it is hosted, and for how long the figures are kept: to be confirmed.]
On your own device
The site sets no cookies. The reading room remembers your page in a tale in your own browser's storage, so you can pick up where you left off. That never leaves your device, and clearing your browser's site data removes it.
Who else handles it
I don't sell your data or share it for advertising. These companies process it for me, under contract:
- Hosting: B Squared Software Development Ltd hosts the site and its server logs, on servers rented from Hetzner Online GmbH in Germany.
- Newsletter: MailerLite, which holds subscribers' email addresses and sends the newsletter for me. Its own privacy policy is atmailerlite.com/legal/privacy-policy.
- Email: 123-Reg, which hosts the tales@theashmarch.com mailbox.
The site's servers are in Germany, and MailerLite says it stores subscribers' data in the European Union. Both are in the European Economic Area, which UK law treats as giving your data adequate protection.
Your rights
You can ask me to:
- tell you what I hold about you and send you a copy;
- correct anything that's wrong;
- delete it;
- stop or limit using it, or object to my using it on the basis of legitimate interests;
- give it to you in a form you can take elsewhere.
Where I rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time. For the newsletter, use the unsubscribe link in any email. For anything else, write to tales@theashmarch.com. It's free, and I'll answer within one month.
Complaints
If you're unhappy with how I've handled your data, please tell me first and I'll put it right if I can. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK regulator:ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint, or 0303 123 1113.
Changes
If this notice changes, the new version goes up here with a new date at the top. If a change affects how I use your email address, I'll tell subscribers by email first.