Privacy policy

What we collect

• Reading the site. Pages you open and how you use them (for example which story you opened, how far you scrolled, which links you followed), your browser type, device and screen size, and your IP address, from which an approximate location (country and region) is derived. Where you allow it, we also record sessions (a replay of clicks, scrolling and page changes, with form inputs masked) to find what is hard to use.
• An account. Your email address and name, and the sign-in method you choose. The preferences you set (your perspective, desks, followed topics and sources, stacks), stories you save, and the reading activity we use to personalise For You and My Stack.
• Newsletters. Your email address, the editions you chose, your delivery time and time zone, and the confirmation of your sign-up. Our emails contain a tracking pixel and tracked links, so we learn when an email is opened or a link is clicked, with the IP address and browser of that request.
• Ask Clarity. The questions you type and the answers generated for them. Signed-out questions are rate-limited by a one-way hash of your IP address, not the address itself.
• Messages to us. Whatever you send to contact@theclarity.today.

Why we use it, and on what legal basis

• To run your account, send the newsletters you asked for, personalise your feed and answer your questions — necessary to provide the service you requested (contract).
• To measure and improve the publication, keep it secure and prevent abuse — our legitimate interest in a working, safe product. Where the law requires consent for analytics storage or session recording (the EEA, the UK and Switzerland), we ask first and do nothing until you agree.
• To meet legal obligations, such as answering a lawful request or keeping records.

We do not use your data for automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects. The personalisation of your feed only orders stories you can all read anyway.

Who processes it for us

We use these service providers, each bound to process data only on our instructions:

• Amazon Web Services (United States) — hosting, databases, storage, and the AI models that write articles and answer questions.
• Cloudflare (global network) — content delivery and protection against attacks.
• Clerk (United States) — account sign-in.
• PostHog (United States) — product analytics, session recording and error reports.
• Microsoft (United States) — sending email.

Story images are often loaded directly from the publisher that ran them, so that publisher’s server receives your IP address and browser details, and may set its own cookies, when you view the image. We send it no referrer and no information about you.

International transfers

Our providers process data in the United States and elsewhere. Where data from the EEA, the UK or Switzerland is transferred, we rely on the safeguards those laws recognise, such as the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses and their UK and Swiss equivalents, or the EU–US Data Privacy Framework where a provider is certified.

How long we keep it

• Account data, preferences, saved stories and questions: while your account exists. When you delete your account they are erased, and reading activity linked to it is erased or anonymised.
• Newsletter subscriptions: until you unsubscribe; we then keep only what proves you opted out.
• Analytics events and session recordings: for a limited period set in our analytics provider, after which they are deleted automatically.
• Email you send us: as long as needed to deal with it.

Your rights and choices

Wherever you live, you can ask us to tell you what we hold about you, give you a copy in a portable format, correct it, delete it, or stop using it for a purpose you object to. Where we rely on consent you can withdraw it at any time, as easily as you gave it. Email contact@theclarity.today from the address on your account; we answer within 30 days and may ask you to confirm it is you. You can also:

• change or withdraw measurement consent with Privacy choices in the footer of any page;
• unsubscribe from any newsletter with the link at the bottom of every email;
• manage your profile, preferences and sign-in in your account.

Global Privacy Control. If your browser sends a GPC signal, we treat it as your choice to opt out: no analytics storage on your device and no session recording.

California and other US states. We do not sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioural advertising, and we do not use sensitive personal information to infer characteristics about you. You have the rights to know, delete, correct and opt out, and we will not treat you differently for using them. An authorised agent may act for you with your written permission.

Complaints. If you are unhappy with our answer you may complain to your data protection authority (in the EEA, the authority where you live; in the UK, the ICO; in Switzerland, the FDPIC).

Children

Clarity is a general-audience news publication and is not directed at children. You must be 16 or older to create an account or subscribe. If you believe a child has given us personal data, write to contact@theclarity.today and we will delete it.

Security

Data travels encrypted (HTTPS) and is stored with access limited to the systems that need it. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach affects your data we will tell you and the authorities as the law requires. To report a vulnerability, see security.txt.

Changes to this policy

We will update the date at the top when this policy changes, and tell account holders by email before a material change takes effect.