Privacy Policy.

Who we are.

ACDB Limited, trading as Lucid Dot, operates this website and its newsletter and is the data controller for the personal information described in this notice. ACDB Limited is registered in England and Wales (company number 17001072). Its registered office is 194 Grierson Road, London, SE23 1NU, United Kingdom.

For questions about how we handle your personal information, or to exercise your data protection rights, email polka@luciddot.org. This notice covers the public website and newsletter, not any separate client application or its data.

Information we collect.

When you subscribe to the newsletter, we collect your email address, subscription date and status, and available signup-source and referral information. New subscribers are asked to confirm their email address through a link sent by email before receiving the newsletter; we may send a reminder if they have not confirmed.

Our newsletter provider, beehiiv, measures delivery, email opens and the links readers click, including engagement associated with individual subscribers. Open measurement may use an invisible image in an email, and click measurement may use tracked links. Some email clients and security systems affect the accuracy of these measurements.

When you contact us, we process the contact details and message you choose to send. The website’s enquiry form prepares an email in your email app; it does not submit the message to a Lucid Dot database.

As with most websites, our hosting provider processes technical request and security information. We use Vercel Analytics to understand website visits in aggregate. The site also loads third-party resources necessary for the newsletter form and website operation.

Why we use your information.

We use subscription information to send the newsletter you request, confirm subscriptions, manage unsubscribes, and understand which topics and links readers find useful so that we can improve future newsletters. We rely on your consent to send newsletter and other optional marketing emails; you can withdraw it by using the unsubscribe link in any newsletter or contacting us. Where a particular tracking technology requires separate consent under applicable law, that requirement must be addressed separately.

We use enquiries to respond to you and, where relevant, discuss potential work. Depending on the circumstances, our lawful basis is our legitimate interest in responding to enquiries or taking steps you request before entering into a contract.

We use technical information to operate, secure and improve the website. Our lawful basis, where personal data is involved, is our legitimate interest in maintaining a secure, functional service. Where applicable law requires consent for particular tracking technologies, we must obtain that consent separately.

Service providers.

We use beehiiv to manage newsletter signups and delivery, and Vercel for website hosting and analytics. Enquiry correspondence is handled through our email service. These providers process relevant information to deliver their services. We do not sell subscriber lists.

How long we keep information.

We retain personal information only for as long as it is needed for the purposes described in this notice or to meet legal obligations, and we review it periodically.

We keep newsletter subscriber information while you remain subscribed. If you unsubscribe, we stop sending newsletters and ordinarily initiate deletion of your subscriber profile and associated identifiable email-open and link-click history from our beehiiv audience within 90 days. We may retain limited information for longer when needed to respect your opt-out, document consent, resolve a dispute or comply with the law.

beehiiv's subscriber-management guidance says that deleting a subscriber removes their record and associated data from a publication's audience, whereas unsubscribing alone does not. beehiiv manages its underlying systems and backups; we cannot directly erase backup copies. Its Privacy Policy states that it may retain some backups longer than the original information for security and business continuity, but does not specify a fixed backup-deletion period. That policy generally concerns beehiiv's own processing; our subscribers' data processed on our behalf is governed by our instructions and beehiiv's Data Protection Addendum. The Addendum provides for destruction of customer personal data within 30 days after our service agreement ends, subject to legal retention requirements; this is not a deadline for individual unsubscribes. We remain responsible for handling your requests and overseeing our service providers.

We review subscriptions after 24 months without meaningful engagement and remove information that is no longer needed. We ordinarily keep enquiry correspondence for up to 12 months after an enquiry closes, unless an ongoing relationship or legal requirement justifies longer retention.

We may keep genuinely anonymous, aggregated statistics for longer. Technical hosting, security and analytics records are subject to the relevant provider settings and retention arrangements, which we review to minimise unnecessary retention.

International processing.

Some of our service providers, including beehiiv and its subprocessors, may process personal information outside the UK, including in the United States. beehiiv's published Data Protection Addendum incorporates contractual transfer safeguards, including the relevant Standard Contractual Clauses and the UK International Data Transfer Addendum. Further information is available in beehiiv's Data Protection Addendum and subprocessor list.

Your rights.

Depending on the circumstances, you may ask to access, correct or delete your personal information; restrict or object to processing; or request a portable copy. You can also withdraw newsletter consent at any time without affecting earlier lawful processing. Contact polka@luciddot.org to make a request.

If you are in the UK, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). We would welcome the opportunity to address concerns first.

Changes to this policy.

We may revise this notice as our services and data practices change. Any updated version will appear on this page with a new date.