Privacy

A minimal-data publication.

Last reviewed: July 28, 2026.

What we collect

When you request the newsletter, we collect the email address you enter, your optional learning-domain interest, the page where you requested the subscription, confirmation and subscription status, and technical data needed to deliver the request and prevent abuse. Technical data may include an IP address, request time, referrer category, and rate-limit outcome.

On Vercel production deployments, Vercel Web Analytics records page views and related technical context, such as the page or route, filtered query parameters, referrer, approximate location, browser, operating system, device type, and event time, for aggregate traffic reporting. Vercel documents Web Analytics as cookie-free and unable to track visitors across websites. Vercel Speed Insights records a 25 percent sample of eligible performance events, including Web Vitals and related route, network, browser, device, operating-system, country, and event-time data. Vercel describes stored Speed Insights data points as not associated with an individual visitor or IP address and not usable to reconstruct a browsing session across pages. These tools are disabled on Vercel Preview and local deployments. Corpus release and search indexing are controlled separately from analytics; both remain disabled until the user explicitly authorizes publication.

Why we use it

We use newsletter data to send the material you explicitly requested, preserve double opt-in, apply your optional interest tag, maintain unsubscribe records, respond to privacy requests, diagnose delivery, and protect the signup endpoint. We use website analytics and performance data to understand aggregate traffic and find broken or slow pages. We do not buy or scrape contact lists, sell personal information, or treat a public email address as consent.

Processors and international handling

Buttondown processes newsletter subscription and delivery data. Vercel hosts the website, enforces the production rate limit, and provides the Web Analytics and Speed Insights services described above. These providers may process data in countries outside your own under their published contractual and security arrangements. We do not add advertising trackers.

Retention

Active subscriber data is retained while the subscription is active. Suppression and unsubscribe records may be retained as needed to honor your choice and prevent accidental resubscription. Abuse and operational logs, analytics events, and performance data are retained according to the applicable providers' current service terms and the project's plan settings.

Your choices and rights

Every newsletter includes an unsubscribe option. Depending on your location, you may ask for access, correction, deletion, restriction, or a portable copy of applicable personal data, or object to processing. You may also contact your local data-protection authority. We may need to verify a request before acting on it.

Contact

Send privacy and data requests to hello@themetalearner.com. This notice will be updated if the publication adds a materially different data use.