Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2026-04-19

This site (ejl.st, "entropy just lost") is a personal blog run by Ethan Lewis. This policy explains what information is collected, why, and what you can do about it. Plain language, no dark patterns.

What's collected

Newsletter subscriptions

If you subscribe to the newsletter, your email address — and, optionally, the name you provide — is sent to a self-hosted Listmonk instance running at list.ejl.st. Subscriptions are confirmed by a double opt-in email: you are not added to any list until you click the confirmation link. Every email includes a one-click unsubscribe link. Your address is used only to send you posts; it is never sold, rented, or shared.

Comments

Comments are powered by a self-hosted Comentario instance at comments.ejl.st. To leave a comment you sign in with an email and a display name, or via a supported social provider. Your email is not shown publicly. Comentario may log your IP address transiently for moderation and spam prevention.

Analytics

Visit counts are tracked with a self-hosted Umami instance at analytics.ejl.st. Umami is cookieless and does not build cross-site profiles. It records page paths, referrers, country, browser, and device type. IP addresses are processed only to derive country and are not stored. There is no advertising or third-party tracking.

"Like" button

Clicking the "like" button on a post writes a key in your browser's localStorage so the button remembers it's been clicked, and sends an anonymous event to Umami with the post slug. No personal data is attached.

Search

On-site search is powered by Algolia. When you type a query, the text is sent to Algolia's servers to return matching notes. Algolia may log queries and IP addresses for abuse prevention; see their privacy policy for details.

Server logs

The web server keeps short-lived access logs (IP, timestamp, path, user agent) for debugging and abuse mitigation. These are rotated and not used for profiling.

What's not collected

  • No advertising or behavioural tracking cookies.
  • No third-party analytics (Google Analytics, Meta Pixel, etc.).
  • No cross-site sharing of your email or name.
  • No use of your content to train machine-learning models.

Your rights

Under GDPR, UK GDPR, CCPA, and comparable laws, you may have the right to:

  • Request a copy of any personal data associated with your email.
  • Request correction or deletion of that data.
  • Unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time (link in every email).
  • Ask for comments you've posted to be deleted.

For any of the above, email ethan@ejl.st. Expect a response within a reasonable time.

Data retention

Newsletter subscriptions are kept until you unsubscribe or request deletion. Comments are kept indefinitely unless you ask to remove them. Umami aggregate data is kept for the lifetime of the site. Server access logs are kept no longer than 30 days.

Changes

If this policy changes in a meaningful way, the "Last updated" date at the top will be bumped and, for material changes affecting existing subscribers, an email notification will go out.

Contact

Questions? ethan@ejl.st.