Privacy Policy

What We Collect

When you create an account or subscribe, we collect your email address and name. If you subscribe to a paid plan, your payment information is collected and processed directly by Stripe, we do not store your card number, CVV, or full payment details on our servers. When you sign up on one of our town sites, we also record which town site you signed up on and when, the page you signed up from, and the general network you connected from (not your full IP address). We keep this record to show that the signup was requested. If you never confirm a signup, we delete it after about 13 months.

We also collect standard server logs (IP address, browser type, pages visited) and use privacy-focused analytics to understand how the Service is used.

How We Use Your Information

• To provide and maintain the Service, including delivering email newsletters
• To process subscriptions and payments through Stripe
• To send service-related communications (account confirmations, subscription changes, trial reminders)
• To improve the Service based on aggregate usage patterns
• To see whether our ads on Facebook and Instagram bring in new readers, and to help those ads reach people likely to be interested (see Advertising partners)

We don’t sell your information for money. We share a limited sign-up record with Meta for advertising measurement, which some state laws treat as a “sale” or “targeted advertising.” You can opt out at any time through Your Privacy Choices. We share your information only with the companies listed under “Third-Party Services,” for the reasons given there, and as the law requires.

Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services to operate Townbrief:

• Stripe, payment processing. Subject to Stripe’s Privacy Policy.
• Mailgun, email delivery for newsletters and transactional emails.
• Umami, privacy-focused, cookie-free analytics (self-hosted).
• Meta Platforms, Inc. (Facebook and Instagram), advertising measurement. We tell Meta about signups that came from our ads, as described under Advertising partners. Subject to the Meta Privacy Policy.

Cookies

We use essential cookies to keep you logged in. Our analytics tool (Umami) doesn’t use cookies. We don’t use third-party advertising cookies or tracking pixels. Some of our emails, including the one that confirms your signup, carry a small image from our email provider, Mailgun, that tells us whether the email was opened. Separately, our server tells Meta when you sign up after clicking one of our ads; see Advertising partners.

Data Retention

We retain your account information for as long as your account is active. If you cancel your subscription, we keep your account so you can resubscribe later. You may request full account deletion by emailing us.

Advertising records. We keep a simple log of which accounts we’ve sent to Meta (the account ID number, town, and dates), not your email address, so we never send the same sign-up twice. Meta keeps what it receives under its own terms.

Your Rights

You may at any time:

• Access and update your account information
• Unsubscribe from marketing emails (service emails related to your subscription cannot be opted out of)
• Request deletion of your account and personal data
• Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Opt out of our sharing your sign-up with Meta for advertising, through Your Privacy Choices or a Global Privacy Control signal from your browser

To exercise these rights, email dave@townbrief.com.

Children

The Service is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be posted on this page with an updated date.