Last updated: April 2026
We run a privacy site. It would be embarrassing to have a sloppy privacy policy. So this one is short, written in plain English, and accurate to what the site actually does.
If you find a discrepancy between what’s written here and what the site is doing, that’s a bug. Email hello@defendyourselfonline.com and we’ll fix it.
The 30-second summary
- We use privacy-respecting analytics that does not use cookies and does not track you across sites
- We do not use Google Analytics, Meta Pixel, or any advertising tracker
- We collect your email address only if you give it to us (newsletter, comments, contact)
- We do not sell, rent, share, or trade your email or any other personal data
- Affiliate links may set a cookie on your device when you click them — that cookie belongs to the vendor, not us
- You can read every cornerstone article, take the 7 Signs assessment, and browse the entire site without giving us anything
That’s most of it. Details below.
What we collect, when, and why
When you read articles
We use Plausible Analytics (or Simple Analytics — whichever appears in the source of this page is what we currently use). It is cookie-free, does not use fingerprinting, does not track you across sites, and the data is owned by us, not sold.
What it captures: page URL, referrer (the site that sent you here, if any), country (derived from IP, then discarded), browser and operating system family, screen size bucket. Your full IP address is not stored.
We use this to know which articles are useful and which are not.
When you take the 7 Signs assessment
The assessment runs in your browser. Your individual answers are not transmitted to us unless you choose to enter your email at the end to receive your score and personalized recommendations. If you don’t enter your email, we keep nothing.
If you do enter your email, we store: your email, your score (a number from 0 to 7), and the date you took the assessment.
When you subscribe to the newsletter
We use MailerLite to send the newsletter. They store: your email address, your subscription date, your IP at the time of signup (legally required for some jurisdictions), and basic engagement data (whether you opened a given email, whether you clicked a link).
We use this only to send the newsletter you signed up for and to understand which content readers find useful. We do not share the list with anyone, ever.
You can unsubscribe with one click from any email. We will not “win you back” with manipulative resubscribe campaigns.
When you buy a digital product
We process payments through Stripe. Stripe receives your card details directly — we never see them. We receive: your name, email address, billing country, and the product you bought. We use this to deliver the product and provide support.
When you leave a comment or write to us
If you comment on an article, we store the comment, the email and name you submitted (we use Gravatar for the avatar — you can opt out at gravatar.com), and your IP address (used to filter spam and discarded after 30 days unless the comment is itself spam).
If you email us at hello@defendyourselfonline.com, we keep the conversation thread for as long as it’s useful (typically 1–2 years) so we can find context if you write again.
What we don’t collect
- No third-party advertising trackers. No Google Ads pixel, no Meta Pixel, no TikTok pixel, no LinkedIn Insight tag.
- No fingerprinting. No canvas fingerprinting, no audio fingerprinting, no font enumeration.
- No “session replay” tools like Hotjar or FullStory that record what you click and type.
- No data sales. Not to “marketing partners,” not to data brokers, not to anyone.
Affiliate links
When you click an affiliate link on our site, the destination vendor may place a cookie on your device to track whether you eventually subscribe (so we get credit for the referral). That cookie belongs to the vendor, follows the vendor’s privacy policy, and is not visible to us. We receive only an aggregated commission report — typically just a count of conversions, not who converted.
If you do not want this, you can: (a) clear cookies after clicking, (b) use a browser like Brave or Firefox with strict tracking protection, or (c) navigate directly to the vendor’s site without our link. We won’t be hurt — that’s the whole point of running a privacy site.
Cookies in detail
Our own first-party cookies, if you encounter them:
| Cookie | Purpose | Lifetime |
|---|---|---|
wp-settings-* | WordPress UI preferences if you log in (admin only) | 1 year |
comment_author_* | Pre-fills your name and email on comments after you post once | 1 year |
We do not set marketing or analytics cookies. The analytics provider we use does not use cookies.
Third parties involved
The full list of third parties that ever touch any data from this site:
- Hostinger — our web host, sees server logs
- Cloudflare — content delivery network and DDoS protection
- Plausible Analytics or Simple Analytics — privacy-respecting analytics
- MailerLite — newsletter delivery
- Stripe — payment processing for digital products
- Gravatar — comment avatars (you can opt out at their site)
- Affiliate vendors you click through to — each has its own privacy policy
We do not work with anyone else. If that changes, this list changes first.
Your rights
Regardless of where you live, you can ask us to:
- Tell you what we have on you. Email us, we’ll send what we have.
- Delete what we have on you. Email us, we’ll delete it. Newsletter unsubscribe is one click and removes you from MailerLite automatically.
- Correct anything that’s wrong.
- Export it. We’ll send what we have in a readable format.
Residents of the EU and UK have these rights formally under GDPR. Residents of California have similar rights under CCPA. Residents of every other place have them informally because we think they should.
The address for any of the above is hello@defendyourselfonline.com. Subject line “Data request” gets it routed correctly.
Children
This site is not directed at children under 13 (or under 16 in the EU). If you are a parent and think your child has signed up for our newsletter, write to us and we will remove them.
Changes to this policy
When we change this policy, we update the “Last updated” date at the top, and for substantive changes we will note the change in the next newsletter. We do not silently change policies.
Contact
hello@defendyourselfonline.com
Or by mail — if you would like a physical address for legal purposes, email us first and we’ll provide one.
This policy is written by humans, not lawyers. We believe it is accurate and sufficient for our scale and audience. If you are using this site as part of a regulated activity that requires a lawyer-reviewed policy, you should consult one.