Privacy notice

Deaf Truth Unfiltered is published by DeafMetrix Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales with company number 17291262, registered office 66 Paul Street, London, EC2A 4NA. DeafMetrix Ltd decides how and why personal information connected with this publication is used, which makes it the controller under UK data protection law.

Privacy questions go to hello@deafmetrix.com.

Sent voluntarily by email

When someone emails the editor, the message, the sender's email address, any name given and anything attached are received. This covers:

• general correspondence and questions;
• experiences and stories offered for possible publication;
• complaints, correction requests and accessibility reports;
• partnership and sponsorship enquiries.

Collected automatically when the site is visited

Like any website, the pages are delivered by a hosting service that receives standard technical information from the browser, such as the IP address, browser and device type, the page requested, the time of the request and referring page. This is used to deliver pages and to keep the service secure and working. Optional Cloudflare visit and performance measurement is described below. No advertising tools are enabled.

Not collected

• No accounts, passwords or profiles exist on this site.
• This site keeps no subscriber list; the signup form sends details directly to Buttondown.
• No payment details are taken.

We use Cloudflare Web Analytics only after you choose “Allow measurement”. It helps us understand demand, which pages are useful and whether pages load well. The basis is consent. Declining does not affect reading, contacting us or joining the newsletter.

The service measures page views, visits, referring sites, browser and device categories, country and page performance. Visits are not a count of unique people. Returning readers, owner visits and tests may count again. People who decline, use a blocking tool or have JavaScript off are not included in these optional statistics.

Cloudflare receives the technical information needed to deliver its script and receive measurements, including network requests. Its documentation says Web Analytics does not use cookies, browser storage or fingerprinting to identify visitors and does not log query strings. This is not a claim that hosting processes no IP addresses.

We keep a necessary first-party preference cookie, dt_site_measurement, for 180 days to remember allow or decline. It contains a version and choice, not a visitor identifier. Change or withdraw your choice at any time. Withdrawal reloads the page to stop the previously loaded measurement code. A Global Privacy Control signal takes priority and keeps optional measurement off.

Measurement is separate from newsletter consent. We do not link statistics to email addresses, editor correspondence or advertising accounts. Cloudflare's Web Analytics documentation describes its measurements. We do not export individual browsing records or try to identify readers from these statistics.

Reading the site requires no personal information beyond the technical data any browser sends. Sending an email requires an email address, because a reply is impossible without one. First story contact should contain only a short general outline and a contact preference.

Please do not send medical records, detailed health information, evidence, recordings or third-party names at first contact. Appropriate privacy and consent arrangements, and a safe way to share any necessary details, are agreed first.

• Replying to correspondence, handling complaints, corrections and accessibility reports. Basis: legitimate interests in running a responsive, accountable publication. Where a complaint relates to a legal requirement, legal obligation may also apply.
• Considering a story for publication and the editorial work around it. Basis: legitimate interests in journalism and freedom of expression. Publishing anything that identifies a contributor happens only with that contributor's written agreement, and that agreement can be withdrawn before publication.
• Partnership enquiries. Basis: legitimate interests in discussing commercial relationships, or steps taken at the sender's request before entering a contract.
• Delivering and securing the site. Basis: legitimate interests in keeping the site available and protected from misuse.
• Keeping records required by law, for example business or tax records connected with a paid partnership. Basis: legal obligation, only where it applies.

Where legitimate interests is the basis, those interests are weighed against the rights and expectations of the people concerned. Sensitive information requires an Article 6 lawful basis and, where applicable, an Article 9 condition before further processing. Publication consent alone does not cover earlier handling.

An experience sent by email often includes information about deafness, health or disability. The law treats this as special category information, which needs a specific condition in addition to a lawful basis. Sending an email is not treated as explicit consent for every later use, and permission to publish does not cover handling that happened before it was given.

• The first message is kept to what is needed to read and reply to it. Details that are not needed, including information about other people, are not kept for longer than necessary.
• If a piece might be developed, the editor agrees with the contributor what further information is needed, and records the lawful basis and condition that apply before handling it further. The Article 6 basis and Article 9 condition are considered separately from any case-specific DPA 2018 journalism exemption.
• Any reliance on the journalism exemption is considered case by case, never as a blanket rule.
• Requests for British Sign Language arrangements are used only to agree how to communicate. No recording is asked for before a method has been agreed.
• Someone helping a contributor to make contact is asked to share only what is needed. Permission to publish comes from the contributor directly.

Contacting the editor does not sign anyone up to email updates. The newsletter needs its own separate consent and confirmation. Contact is not publication consent or a transfer of copyright.

Published Truths name organisations, not individual members of staff, and do not include personal contact details. Information is redacted where identifying a person is not necessary to the account.

UK data protection law contains a special purposes exemption for journalism. It is not applied as a blanket rule. Where it may be relevant, it is considered case by case, taking account of the public interest, the likely harm to the person concerned and the Information Commissioner's journalism code. Anyone who believes they are identifiable in a published piece can write to hello@deafmetrix.com, and the request will be considered properly.

Email updates are optional and are sent by Buttondown, the email service. Brevo, the service prepared earlier, holds earlier setup and test records; it is not used for signup.

• joining needs a separate, unticked box to be ticked, so the basis is consent;
• the form sends the email address and the ticked consent box directly from the reader's browser to Buttondown, and this site keeps no copy;
• as part of that request Buttondown receives technical data such as the IP address, the referring page and browser details, which it uses to deliver and secure its service, including checks against automated or abusive signups;
• nothing else is sent unless the link in the confirmation email is used;
• the address is used only for Deaf Truth Unfiltered emails, never for DeafMetrix consultancy marketing, and is never sold;
• every update includes an unsubscribe link, and consent can also be withdrawn by emailing hello@deafmetrix.com.

With the address, the form sends Buttondown the consent wording and its version, the signup form source and this notice's version. Buttondown records its own signup and confirmation details. These provider records can change and are not a permanent consent history.

Open and click measurement is switched off in the Buttondown settings for this publication. Buttondown still processes what is needed to deliver emails, handle confirmation and unsubscribes, and protect the service.

Buttondown automatically tidies the list: it removes people who unsubscribed after about 7 days and unconfirmed signups after about 30 days from the active list. Buttondown describes this as a soft removal rather than total erasure, and may keep limited suppression details so that a removed address is not emailed again.

Buttondown LLC is based in the United States. Its published data processing agreement includes the EU Standard Contractual Clauses and the UK Addendum for transfers. Its privacy policy and list of subprocessors are published on its site. This is separate from the review of the website hosting arrangements described below, which remains unresolved.

Personal information is not sold and is not shared for marketing. It is handled by service providers acting on behalf of DeafMetrix Ltd:

• Website hosting and optional measurement. Cloudflare hosts the public pages and processes technical data to deliver and protect them. Its customer data-processing agreement is incorporated into its self-service terms. Optional Cloudflare Web Analytics is controlled by the choice described above. Lovable is used as a development tool, not to receive public website visits after this hosting move. No private reader messages or subscriber list are uploaded to the development project.
• Email. Messages sent to hello@deafmetrix.com, the working editorial mailbox, are held by Microsoft 365.
• Newsletter provider. Subscriber addresses are held by Buttondown, the email service that sends confirmation and update emails. This site does not keep its own copy. Brevo holds earlier setup and test records from preparation.
• Professional advisers, such as lawyers, where needed to deal with a complaint or legal matter.

Information may also be disclosed where the law requires it.

Typefaces are served from this site itself, so reading a page does not send a request to a font provider.

Cloudflare operates a global network, so hosting is not restricted to the UK. Its customer data-processing agreementprovides transfer safeguards including the Standard Contractual Clauses and UK Addendum where applicable, and describes its subprocessors and security measures. A copy or explanation of applicable safeguards can be requested by email.

Buttondown is based in the United States; its contractual safeguards are described in the email-updates section above. Microsoft 365 handles the editorial mailbox under Microsoft's customer data-protection terms. These services may process data outside the UK; this notice does not promise that all information stays in one country.

Information is kept only as long as it is needed for the purpose it arrived for, judged by these criteria:

• general correspondence: until the matter is resolved and any follow up is unlikely;
• submissions not published: until a decision is made and communicated, unless the contributor asks for it to be kept;
• published pieces and their supporting records: for as long as the piece is published and for a period afterwards in which a complaint or legal claim could reasonably arise;
• complaints and corrections: long enough to show how the matter was handled;
• hosting technical data: according to the hosting provider's own security and operational practices.

These are retention criteria, not fixed promises. Operational deletion schedules, provider retention and backup periods still need confirmation.

Under UK data protection law, people have rights over their personal information. Depending on the circumstances, these include the right to:

• be told how it is used, which is the purpose of this notice;
• access a copy of it;
• have inaccurate information corrected;
• have it erased;
• restrict how it is used;
• object to its use where the basis is legitimate interests;
• data portability, where the basis is consent or contract and processing is automated;
• withdraw consent at any time where consent is the basis, without affecting anything done before.

Some rights have limits, including where the journalism exemption properly applies. Requests go to hello@deafmetrix.com. There is normally no fee, and a response is normally due within one calendar month, subject to applicable legal extensions or exemptions.

A complaint about how personal information has been handled is different from a rights request. It can be made by emailing hello@deafmetrix.com with the subject line "Data protection complaint", saying what happened and what outcome would put it right.

UK law sets out how DeafMetrix Ltd must deal with such a complaint:

• it is acknowledged within 30 days of being received;
• it is looked into appropriately, without undue delay;
• the complainant is kept informed of progress;
• the outcome is explained without undue delay.

The one calendar month timeline for rights requests, such as a request for a copy of information, is separate and still applies to those requests.

Anyone unhappy with how their information has been handled can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint. The ICO normally expects the organisation to have been given the chance to resolve the complaint first.

No decision with legal or similarly significant effect is made about anyone by automated means. The site has no profiling, advertising or personalisation.

This notice will change when the site or its services change. The date at the top shows the current version, last updated 1 November 2026.