Privacy policy
Last updated 14 September 2026
This explains what we do with your information. We have written it in plain English rather than in legal language, because a policy nobody reads protects nobody.
The short version
- We collect your email address when you subscribe, and your name and contact details when you send us an event.
- We use them for those two things only.
- We do not sell your details, and we do not pass them to advertisers.
- There are no cookies and no tracking on this website.
- You can unsubscribe from any email in one click, without logging in.
- You can ask us what we hold about you, and ask us to delete it, at any time.
Everything below is the same thing in more detail.
Who we are
The Bay Scoop is published by Bitesize Media Ltd, which is the data controller for the information described here.
Registered in England and Wales, company number [COMPANY NUMBER].
Registered office: [REGISTERED OFFICE ADDRESS]
Registered with the Information Commissioner's Office, registration number [ICO NUMBER].
Email: hello@bitesize-media.com
What we collect, and why
When you subscribe to the newsletter
We collect your email address, and your first name if you give us one. We use it to send you The Bay Scoop each Thursday, and nothing else.
Our email platform also records ordinary things about how the email performed: whether it was opened, and which links were clicked. We look at those in aggregate to work out which items readers actually want. We do not use them to build a profile of you.
Our lawful basis is your consent, which you give by ticking the box and confirming through the email we send you. You can withdraw it at any time by clicking unsubscribe, and that is the end of it.
When you tell us about an event
We collect the details of the event, plus your name and an email address or phone number. We use your contact details for one purpose: checking the event with you before we print it.
Our lawful basis is our legitimate interests in publishing accurate local information. We think that is fair, because you gave us the details in order for us to publish them, we only use them to check facts you sent us, and we do not use them for anything else.
Telling us about an event does not subscribe you to anything. The newsletter is a separate, unticked box on that form, and it is entirely your choice.
When you email us or reply to an issue
We keep the correspondence so we can answer you and so we have a record of what was said, particularly when it concerns a correction. Our lawful basis is our legitimate interests in running the publication and keeping an accurate record.
When you visit this website
Our web server keeps an ordinary access log, which includes your IP address, the page you asked for and the time. We use it to keep the site working and to stop automated abuse of our forms. Our lawful basis is our legitimate interests in the security of the site.
Cookies
This website does not set any cookies. There is no advertising pixel, no analytics script and no third-party tracker on it. That is why you are not being asked to accept anything.
If that ever changes, we will say so here and ask you first.
Who else handles your information
We use a small number of companies to run the publication. They process your information on our instructions and are not allowed to use it for their own purposes.
| Who | What they do | Where |
|---|---|---|
| beehiiv, Inc. | Stores the subscriber list and sends the newsletter | United States |
| Proton AG | Our email accounts, so correspondence with us passes through them | Switzerland |
| Hetzner Online GmbH | Hosts this website and the event submission form | Germany |
We do not sell your information, we do not rent it, and we do not share it with advertisers. An advertiser who buys space in The Bay Scoop is buying space in an email. They never receive the list.
Sending information outside the UK
beehiiv is based in the United States, so subscriber information is transferred there. That transfer is covered by the UK International Data Transfer Addendum to the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses, which is one of the mechanisms UK law recognises for protecting personal data sent abroad.
Our email is with Proton, in Switzerland, and our server is in Germany. The UK recognises both Switzerland and the EU as providing an adequate level of data protection, so no additional safeguard is needed for either.
How long we keep things
| What | How long |
|---|---|
| Your subscription | For as long as you are subscribed |
| A record that you unsubscribed | Kept indefinitely, so we never email you again by accident |
| Event submissions and the contact details on them | Twelve months after the event has happened |
| Email correspondence | Two years |
| Web server logs | Thirty days |
The second row is worth explaining. When you unsubscribe we have to remember that you did, otherwise a future import could add you back. So we keep a minimal suppression record rather than deleting every trace of you. It contains your email address and nothing else, and it is never used to contact you.
Your rights
Under UK data protection law you can ask us to:
- Tell you what we hold about you, and give you a copy of it
- Correct anything that is wrong
- Delete it
- Stop using it, or restrict what we do with it
- Hand it over in a portable format, or send it to someone else
- Object to us relying on legitimate interests
- Withdraw your consent to the newsletter, at any time
Email hello@bitesize-media.com and we will deal with it. There is no charge, and we will reply within one month. We may ask you to confirm who you are first, so that we are not handing your information to somebody else.
If you are unhappy with us
Please tell us first, because most things are a misunderstanding we can fix the same day.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, which is the UK regulator for this. They are at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113.
Changes to this policy
If we change how we use your information we will update this page and change the date at the top. Anything significant, such as adding a tracker or a new supplier, we will tell you about in the newsletter rather than quietly editing this page.