Privacy

Who I am

This is the personal website of Scott Mackey, a software builder based in Somerset, UK. I'm responsible for the information collected here (in data protection terms, the "controller"). If you have a question about your information, use the contact form, or reply to any email I've sent you.

This site doesn't sell anything and doesn't show adverts. I don't sell or share your information with anyone for marketing.

The contact form

What I collect: your name, your email address and your message.

Why: so I can read your message and reply to it. The legal reason (the "lawful basis") is my legitimate interest in answering people who get in touch.

How it's handled: when you press send, your message is passed to Resend, an email delivery service, which delivers it to my inbox as an email. Resend keeps a short record of emails it sends, under its own privacy policy. The email is stored in my mailbox, which is provided by Apple (iCloud Mail).

How long: I keep messages for as long as we're talking, and for up to two years after that so I have the context if you get back in touch. After that I delete them. You can ask me to delete yours sooner at any time.

The newsletter

What I collect: your email address, and whether you've confirmed it.

Why: to send you occasional notes on what I'm building, no more than once a month. The lawful basis is your consent, which you give by signing up and then clicking the confirm link in the email you receive (this is called "double opt-in").

How it's handled: the list is run by Brevo, an email newsletter service. Brevo stores your address and sends the emails. I don't track whether you open the emails or click the links. If you never confirm, you aren't added to the list.

How long: until you unsubscribe. Every email has an unsubscribe link, and one click takes you off the list. You can also ask me to remove you.

Visitor statistics

To see which pages are read, I plan to use Cloudflare Web Analytics. It isn't switched on yet; I'll update this page when it is. Cloudflare describes it as privacy-first and cookie-free: it doesn't use cookies or local storage, and it doesn't build a profile of you or follow you across other sites.

It records things like the page you visited, the site that sent you here, your browser type and your rough location (country level). I only ever see totals, not individual people. The lawful basis is my legitimate interest in knowing whether the site is useful.

Hosting, spam protection and security

The site is hosted on a server rented from Hostinger. Like any web server, it keeps short technical logs (such as IP addresses and pages requested) for up to 30 days to keep the site running and stop abuse.

The site runs behind Cloudflare, which helps deliver pages quickly and blocks attacks. To do that, Cloudflare processes technical information such as your IP address.

The forms use Cloudflare Turnstile, a check that tells people and bots apart without puzzles. It looks at technical signals from your browser for that one purpose. The lawful basis for all of this is my legitimate interest in keeping the site working and safe.

Information sent outside the UK

Some of the services I use (Resend, Cloudflare) are based in the United States. When your information goes there, it's protected by the UK-US data bridge or by the UK's standard contract terms in my agreement with each provider.

Cookies

This site doesn't use cookies for tracking or advertising. Cloudflare may set a short-lived security cookie to help tell people from bots; this is strictly necessary, so it doesn't need your consent. That's why there's no cookie banner.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law (the UK GDPR), you have the right to:

• ask for a copy of the information I hold about you
• ask me to correct anything that's wrong
• ask me to delete your information
• ask me to limit how I use it, or object to me using it
• ask for your information in a format you can take elsewhere
• withdraw your consent at any time, for example by unsubscribing from the newsletter

To use any of these rights, send me a message. It's free, and I'll reply within one month. I may need to check it's really you before I share anything.

How to complain

If you're unhappy with how I've handled your information, you can complain to me first: use the contact form or email [email protected]. I'll confirm I've received your complaint within 30 days, look into it, and tell you what I found and what I've done.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this page

If I change how the site handles information, I'll update this page and the date at the top. If the change is significant and you're on the newsletter, I'll tell you by email.