Privacy policy

When you are reading

We collect nothing. There is no analytics on this site, no tag manager, and no advertising or measurement service. No cookie is set. The site uses your device's own typefaces rather than a webfont, so your browser does not contact a font service either. One thing is kept on your device: if you switch the site between light and dark, that choice is saved in your browser's local storage under the name mm-theme. It stays on your device, it is not sent to us or to anyone else, and clearing your browser data removes it. The site is hosted by Vercel, which receives the requests your browser makes, including your IP address and browser details, and keeps ordinary server logs. We do not use those logs to identify or profile anyone. The pages link out to LinkedIn, X and Instagram. Those are plain links rather than embedded widgets, so those networks learn nothing about you unless you click.

If you join the mailing list

We ask for your email address and your first name, both required, and your last name, which is optional, with a checkbox that records your permission to be emailed. There is also a hidden field that people do not see and that automated signup scripts tend to fill in, which we use to discard obvious bots. What happens next depends on whether JavaScript is running. With JavaScript on, which is the ordinary case, the form sends what you typed to markmaker.xyz and our own server passes it to Mailchimp, so your browser does not contact Mailchimp and nothing on this site involves Google at any point. With JavaScript off, the Subscribe button takes you to Mailchimp's own signup page instead. That page is theirs rather than ours and it runs Google reCAPTCHA, so Google receives information from your browser there, and you can tell because the address bar stops saying markmaker.xyz. There is no confirmation step: you are on the list once you subscribe, and your permission is recorded against your contact at that point. We keep your details until you unsubscribe or ask us to remove you.

The emails we send

Mailchimp sends the emails and records whether a message was opened and whether a link in it was clicked. We use that to see whether anyone is reading, not to build a picture of you. This is also the one point at which your browser contacts Mailchimp directly: the tracking in a message and the unsubscribe link both go to a Mailchimp address, so opening an email or unsubscribing reaches them rather than us. Each email carries that unsubscribe link and it works immediately.

If you use the form

The form at markmaker.xyz/start asks what you are working on before it asks who you are. We keep your answers, because they are the substance of what you got in touch about. Then it asks for your first name and email address, both required, and your last name, company and message, which are optional. Your browser does not contact anyone else at that point: the form posts to markmaker.xyz, and our own server passes it to HubSpot, where we keep it so we can answer you and pick the conversation up again if you come back. HubSpot holds it on our instructions under their data processing terms. Using the form does not put you on the mailing list, and the two are kept apart. We keep what you send until you ask us to delete it, and you can ask at any time by writing to hello@markmaker.xyz.

Who else handles your information

Three companies. Intuit Mailchimp stores the mailing list and sends the emails, holding your email address, any name you gave, the date you subscribed, and the open and click record described above. HubSpot stores what you send through the form. Vercel hosts the site and runs the two server routes that pass a signup to Mailchimp and a form submission to HubSpot. Each acts on our instructions under their data processing terms. We do not sell your information, we do not share it for advertising, and we do not buy information about you from anyone. Nothing belonging to a third party runs when a page loads.

Your information goes to the United States

Markmaker LLC is a US company and Mailchimp stores the list in the United States, so if you are in the UK or the European Economic Area, joining the list is an international transfer. Mailchimp is certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and its UK Extension, and its data processing terms also incorporate the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses as a fallback if that framework is set aside. Those are the safeguards this transfer relies on.

Your rights, and how to reach us

Wherever you are, you can ask what we hold about you, ask us to correct it, and ask us to delete it. Our lawful basis for the mailing list is your consent, given when you subscribed, and you can withdraw it at any time by unsubscribing; withdrawing it does not affect anything done before you withdrew. If you are in the UK or the European Economic Area and you think we have handled your information badly, you can complain to your national data protection authority. This site is not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect information about them. If what we do with your information changes, this page changes and the date at the top moves with it. The date marks that, not a correction to the wording. Write to hello@markmaker.xyz with any question about this page, including a request to see or delete what we hold.