Privacy

The short version

If you subscribe, we hold your email address so we can send you the newsletter. If you visit a listing, we count that the listing was viewed. If you write to us, we keep the email. That is nearly all of it.

We do not sell your information, we do not share it with advertisers, and we do not run third-party ad trackers on this site.

What we collect, and why

Grouped by what you did to give it to us. We don't collect anything on this list speculatively — each one exists because something on the site needs it to work.

• Subscribing: your email address, and which page or event you subscribed from. That's what the newsletter is sent to, and the source tells us which parts of the site actually bring people in.
• RSVPing to an event: your name and email, and whether you turned up. Used to run the door and to size the next one. RSVPing to one of our own events also subscribes you, which the form says before you submit.
• Claiming a directory listing: your email and name, and a one-time link sent to that address to prove it's yours. We check whether your email domain matches the listed website — a match speeds up approval, it isn't a requirement.
• Writing to us: the email itself, including your address and anything you put in it. Replies to the newsletter come to a real inbox.
• Reading the site: a count of listing views, website clicks and phone-number taps per business, and clicks on sponsor placements. These are counts, not profiles — they aren't tied to a name, an account, or a session.
• Signing in as an administrator: your email address, and if you use Google, the name and profile picture Google returns. Staff only.

What we don't do

No advertising pixels, no Meta or TikTok trackers, no session recording, no cross-site tracking, no data sold or rented to anyone, ever.

We don't use cookies to follow you. The only cookie this site sets is the one that keeps an administrator signed in, and it exists only after someone signs in to the staff area.

The site isn't meant for children and we don't knowingly collect anything from anyone under 13.

Business listings are public information

The directory lists local businesses. Most entries start from publicly available information — a business's own website, public records, and public business listings — and describe the business, not any individual.

A business contact name, email or phone number we hold for reaching an owner is kept private and is not published. What appears on a public listing page is the business's own name, category, service area, description, website, and any phone number the business itself publishes.

If you run a business listed here and want it changed or removed, say so and it's done. You do not have to claim it, prove ownership, or pay for anything first.

Public permit and licence filings

Part of the newsletter is built from permit and business-licence filings published by local government portals. Those records are public by law and often name a contractor, architect or owner.

We only read portals that permit it, we identify ourselves when we do, and we republish only what is already public. If you're named in a filing and want us to stop mentioning you, write to us and we'll drop you from the queue.

How your email is used

One newsletter a week, plus the occasional note about an event. Subscribing to the newsletter does not sign you up to anything else.

Every email has an unsubscribe link that works immediately and permanently. We never re-add an address that has unsubscribed, including from an import.

We don't sell, rent or share the subscriber list. Sponsors buy a placement in the newsletter; they don't get the list, and they don't get your address.

Who else sees your data

Running this needs a handful of services. Each one gets only what it needs, and none of them is permitted to use it for their own purposes.

• Beehiiv — sends the newsletter and holds the subscriber list.
• Resend — sends transactional email (sign-in links, claim links, replies) and receives email sent to our reply address.
• Anthropic (Claude) — drafts newsletter copy and listing descriptions from public sources. Subscriber addresses and personal contact details are not sent to it.
• Cloudflare R2 — stores photos uploaded to directory listings.
• Stripe — takes payment for paid listings. Card details go to Stripe and never touch our servers.
• Google — sign-in for administrators, and a lookup that returns a business's public place identifier when importing listings.
• Railway — hosts the site and the database.

How long we keep things

Subscriber records last until you unsubscribe, after which we keep the address only to make sure you're not added again. Event RSVPs are kept while the event is planned and for a season afterwards. Sign-in links expire in 15 minutes; claim links in 24 hours.

View and click counts are kept as running totals for the monthly report a listing gets. Emails you send us are kept until they're dealt with and then archived.

What you can ask for

Whoever you are and wherever you live: you can ask what we hold about you, ask for a copy, ask for it corrected, or ask for it deleted. Write to us and we'll do it — normally within a few days, and without asking why.

If you're in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia or a state with a comparable law, those are your rights under it, and we won't treat you differently for using them. We do not sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioural advertising, so there's nothing to opt out of on that front.

If you're in the UK or EU: this is a small US publication and not aimed at you, but the same requests are honoured on the same terms.

Security, honestly stated

Traffic is encrypted, the database isn't public, payment details never reach us, and administrator sign-in needs either a link sent to an allowlisted address or a Google account on the same allowlist.

No one can promise a system is unbreakable, and we won't. If something is ever exposed, we'll say so plainly and quickly rather than quietly.

Changes

This page carries the date the current wording took effect — September 3, 2026. If we change anything that matters, we'll change that date, and if the change affects how your information is used we'll say so in the newsletter rather than hoping you check.

Getting in touch

Greater ATL publishes Greater ATL. Privacy questions, data requests and complaints go to hello@greateratl.news.

A postal address is available on request.