Privacy policy
This policy explains what personal information Island Dispatch collects, why, and what your rights are. We've kept it as short and clear as we can.
Last updated: .
The short version
- You can read everything on this site without giving us any personal information.
- Anything we do store (like newsletter sign-ups) is kept in a database in the European Union, which UK law treats as giving your data the same level of protection as the UK.
- This is a non-commercial fan site. We don't show adverts, we don't use tracking cookies, and we don't build profiles about you.
- We never sell or share your information for marketing.
- YouTube videos only load if you press play.
- If you join the newsletter, we only ask for your email address, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
- You can ask to see or delete any information we hold about you, and you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).
Who we are
Jake McEvoy runs this website and is the “controller” of your personal information. That means we decide how it is used and we are responsible for looking after it.
- ICO registration
- Exempt
What we collect, why, and how long we keep it
We collect as little as possible. The table explains each thing we collect, why we need it, the legal reason (“lawful basis”) that allows us to use it under UK data protection law, and how long we keep it.
| When | What we collect | Why | Lawful basis | How long we keep it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visiting the website | Your IP address, browser type, the page you asked for and the time. Your browser sends these automatically to our host, Cloudflare, which may keep them briefly in security logs. | To deliver pages to you and to keep the site secure (for example, spotting attacks). | Legitimate interests: we need this to run a secure website. The data is minimal and not used for anything else. | We can't see individual visitor logs on our Cloudflare plan. Cloudflare keeps limited logs for security for a short time, under the Cloudflare privacy policy. |
| Your email address, your confirmation that you are 13 or over, and a record of your consent: the date and time, the exact wording you agreed to, when you confirmed by email, and which version of this policy was in place. | To send you the newsletter, to check the address is really yours (we email you a confirmation link first), and to prove you asked for it. | Consent. You can withdraw it at any time by unsubscribing. | If you don't confirm within 7 days, everything is deleted. Once subscribed, your address is deleted from our list as soon as you unsubscribe. We then keep a scrambled (hashed) version of it with the consent dates for 2 years, to prove we had permission, and then delete that too. | |
| Emailing us (including corrections and complaints) | Your email address, your name if you give it, and whatever you write. | To reply to you and act on what you tell us, such as correcting a story. | Legitimate interests: answering messages people send us. | 12 months after we finish dealing with your message, unless we need it longer for a legal claim. |
| Anonymous visit counting (only if you say yes) | Which page was viewed and the date. Nothing that identifies you: no cookies, no IP address, no device details. | To understand which stories are popular, so we can improve the site. | We only count visits if you opt in. The figures contain no personal data. | Daily totals are kept indefinitely; they cannot identify anyone. |
| Your privacy choices | Whether you said yes or no to optional features, and when. Saved in your browser, plus an anonymous copy in our database (stored in the EU) with a random reference number (no IP address or anything else that identifies you). | So we remember your choice, and so we can prove choices are respected. | The database record is not personal data because it cannot identify you. The copy in your browser is strictly necessary storage. | In your browser: 12 months, or until you clear it. In our database: 2 years. |
What we don't do
- We don't use advertising, social media or cross-site tracking cookies or scripts.
- We don't profile you, make automated decisions about you, or use your information to decide what you see.
- We don't collect your location, contacts, photos or anything from your device beyond what is listed above.
- We don't load fonts, scripts or images from other companies. Everything comes from this website.
- We don't sell or rent your information to anyone.
Young people
Many of our readers are young, so we follow the ICO's Age Appropriate Design Code (the Children's Code). Every privacy setting starts in its most private position, optional features stay off unless you turn them on, and we don't use tricks to push you into sharing more.
If you are under 13, please ask a parent or carer before signing up to the newsletter, because UK law says they need to give consent for you.
YouTube videos
Some stories include YouTube videos. We use YouTube's privacy-enhanced mode (youtube-nocookie.com), and the video is not loaded at all until you press its play button. When you press play, your browser connects to Google, which then receives information such as your IP address and may store information on your device. Google is responsible for that information under its own Google privacy policy.
Who we share it with
We use a small number of service providers (“processors”) to run the site. They can only use your information to provide their service to us, under a written contract.
| Provider | What they do | Where they store data |
|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare (Cloudflare Pages, Pages Functions and D1) | Hosts this website, handles newsletter sign-ups and visit counting, and stores the mailing list, consent records and daily visit totals in a database. | Database stored only in the European Union (Cloudflare D1, EU jurisdiction). Page requests are handled by the Cloudflare data centre nearest to you, usually in the UK. |
| Amazon Web Services (Amazon Simple Email Service) | Sends newsletter and confirmation emails. Your address passes through it only to deliver each email. | European Union (AWS Stockholm region, eu-north-1) |
| Google (Gmail) | Receives and stores emails you send to our contact address, including correction reports. | Google data centres worldwide, including the USA |
The mailing list, newsletter consent records, cookie-choice records and visit totals are stored in the European Union. UK law recognises the EU as giving your data adequate protection (UK "adequacy regulations"), so no extra safeguards are needed for this. Newsletter emails are sent from Amazon's data centre in Stockholm, Sweden (EU). Emails you send us are stored by Google, which may store them outside the UK. Cloudflare and Google are certified under the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (the "UK-US data bridge"), which UK law also recognises as giving adequate protection if data does go to the USA. Cloudflare, Amazon and Google are US companies, so US authorities could in some circumstances request data they hold.
We will only share information with anyone else if the law requires it, for example a valid request from the police.
Your rights
Under UK data protection law you have the right to:
- See the personal information we hold about you (a “subject access request”).
- Correct information that is wrong or incomplete.
- Delete your information.
- Limit how we use your information.
- Object to us using your information, where we rely on legitimate interests.
- Take your information to another service (“data portability”).
- Withdraw consent at any time, for example by unsubscribing using the link in any newsletter or our unsubscribe page. This doesn't affect anything we did before you withdrew it.
To use any of these rights, email jakemcevoyyt@gmail.com. It's free. We will reply within one month. If we need to check who you are, we'll only ask for what we need.
How to complain
If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information, please tell us first at jakemcevoyyt@gmail.com and we'll try to put it right. We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator, at any time:
- Online: make a complaint on the ICO website
- Phone: 0303 123 1113
- Post: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Keeping your information safe
The site is only available over an encrypted (HTTPS) connection. Access to stored information is limited to the people who run the site, and we keep only what we need.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. If a change affects the choices you've made, we'll ask you again.