What we collect, why, and what you can do about it

This policy covers the DC Economics website, newsletter and member area at DC Economics. It is written to be read, not skimmed: each section says what we actually hold and what it is used for.

Who is responsible

The data controller is DC Economics ([CONTROLLER: your legal name or company name, registered address]), based in Manchester, UK. Questions about this policy or your data: hello@dc-economics.com.

What we collect, and why

When you sign up for the free newsletter

• Your email address, and your name if you give it.
• The topics you chose, which form and page you used, the time, and the consent line shown beside the button.
• Your IP address and browser identifier at the moment you submitted the form.

Why: to send you the newsletter you asked for (your consent, which you confirm by clicking the link in the first email and can withdraw at any time with the unsubscribe link), and to keep a record of that consent and detect abuse of the form (our legitimate interest).

When you subscribe (pay)

• Your email address and, if you enter it at checkout, your name and billing address.
• Your Stripe customer and subscription identifiers, your plan, its status and renewal dates, and the amounts you have paid and any refunds.
• Card details go to Stripe directly. We never see or store them.

Why: to provide and bill the subscription you bought (performance of our contract with you) and to keep the financial records the law requires us to keep.

When you sign in

• The sign-in links we email you (kept as a one-way hash), and a session record with the IP address, browser identifier and time of each sign-in.

Why: to give you access to what you subscribed to and keep that access secure (contract and legitimate interest).

When we email you

• What we sent you and when, and the delivery events our email provider reports back: delivered, bounced, marked as spam.
• Whether an email was opened or a link clicked, if open and click tracking is switched on for our sending domain.

Why: to run the list responsibly: stop sending to addresses that bounce or complain, honour unsubscribes immediately, and understand whether issues arrive (legitimate interest).

When you use the member area

• Your email preferences: chosen topics, whether sending is paused, whether you have unsubscribed.
• We do not currently record which issues you read. If we add reading history to the member area, we will update this policy before we start collecting it.

When you write to us

• Your name, email address, the message and the same request details, so we can read it and reply.

Server logs

• Like every web server, ours logs the address of each request, the page requested, the time, your IP address and browser identifier.

Who processes it for us

• Stripe (Stripe Payments Europe, Ltd. and Stripe, Inc.) processes payments, holds card details and runs the checkout and billing pages. Stripe is an independent controller for the payment itself; see Stripe's privacy policy.
• Resend (Resend, Inc.) delivers our email and reports delivery events back to us.
• Our own server, hosted with Hetzner Online GmbH, runs the website, the newsletter system and the member area.
• BeyondWords provides the audio player on articles with narration. Its code loads only when you press play; at that moment BeyondWords sees your IP address and may store its own settings in your browser.

How long we keep it

• Free sign-ups: until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete you. An unsubscribed address is kept only so we do not email it again.
• Subscription and payment records: for the life of the subscription and then for as long as tax and accounting rules require.
• IP addresses and browser identifiers captured at sign-up and sign-in: 12 months, after which an automatic job removes them from our records.
• Sign-in links: deleted 24 hours after they expire. Sessions: 30 days, or until you sign out.
• Email delivery events: 24 months.
• Server logs: rotated on a short cycle by the server (about two weeks).

Your rights

You can, at any time:

• Access and export what we hold about you: ask by email and we will send it.
• Correct anything wrong.
• Delete your data: email us from the address concerned and every row that holds it goes, except the payment records we are required to keep.
• Withdraw consent to email: the unsubscribe link in every email works with one click and takes effect immediately, and the member area lets you pause or narrow what you receive.
• Object to processing based on our legitimate interests.
• Complain to a supervisory authority. In the UK that is the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk). You can also complain to the authority where you live.

Write to hello@dc-economics.com. We answer within a month.

Cookies and storage in your browser

• Member session cookie (dc_member): set only when you sign in, so the member area knows it is you. It cannot be read by scripts, is sent only to our own server, and lasts 30 days or until you sign out.
• Reading settings: the text-size and highlight-colour choices on articles are stored in your browser's local storage and never sent to us.
• No third-party tracking. We run no analytics, advertising or social-media trackers on this site.
• Stripe's checkout and billing pages, and the BeyondWords player when you press play, set their own cookies under their own policies.

Changes

If this policy changes in a way that matters, subscribers will hear about it by email before it takes effect. The date at the top is the date of the current text.

See also our terms of service and disclaimer.