How we handle your data, plainly stated.

The Platform Operating Manual is operated by Platform Operating Manual, a sole trader based in England and Wales. For any privacy query, email legal@platformoperatingmanual.com.

We collect only what we need to deliver the newsletter and run this website. Specifically:

• Your email address, collected when you subscribe, used to send the weekly edition. Stored by our newsletter processor, Beehiiv. Legal basis: your consent (withdrawable at any time via the one-click unsubscribe link in every email).
• Anonymous product-analytics events, pageviews, clicks, and form submissions, tagged against a random browser identifier stored in your browser’s localStorage. See the analytics section below for the full list of what is captured and the opt-out. Legal basis: legitimate interest in running the publication responsibly.
• Server logs, standard web-server logs (IP address, user agent, request path, timestamp) retained by our hosting provider, Vercel, for security and debugging. Legal basis: legitimate interest in site reliability and abuse prevention.
• Attribution metadata, when you arrive from another site, we store the UTM parameters and referrer URL in your browser’s sessionStorage (under the key pom.attribution.v1) so we can forward them to Beehiiv if you subscribe. Held only for the lifetime of your browser tab; never shared with third parties beyond Beehiiv. Legal basis: legitimate interest in attributing the subscription you are actively initiating.

This website does not set first-party cookies on your device. We do store one entry in your browser’s localStorage to persist the anonymous analytics identifier across visits; it is never sent to a third party and contains no identifying data about you. Beehiiv and Vercel may set their own cookies where they serve content (for example, the Beehiiv subscribe widget or newsletter subdomain); consult their policies below for details.

We rely on a short list of third-party processors. Each has been chosen for its published security and privacy practices.

• Beehiiv, newsletter delivery, subscriber management, and the article archive hosted at newsletter.platformoperatingmanual.com. Privacy: beehiiv.com/privacy.
• Vercel, website hosting, edge network, and analytics. Privacy: vercel.com/legal/privacy-policy.
• PostHog, product analytics, EU region. See the analytics section below for the full list of events we capture, what is excluded, and how to opt out. Privacy: posthog.com/privacy.

We run PostHog for product analytics, hosted on their EU region. It helps us see which editions readers open, which frameworks get used, and where the subscribe flow loses people, the kind of operational signal we need to keep the publication honest without having to guess.

What we capture. Pageviews (the URL of each page you visit on this site), click and form-submit events on a small set of named surfaces (the subscribe form, early-access cards, article handoff links), and standard session metadata (rough device type, viewport size, and the referring URL if you arrived from another site).

What we never capture. Your email address. Your name. Your full IP address (PostHog strips it before storage). We do not identify you, cross-reference your activity across devices, or sell the data. Every event is tagged against a random identifier that lives only in your browser’s localStorage.

Respecting your preference. We honour the Do Not Track browser signal, if it is set, PostHog captures nothing from your visit. You can also opt out explicitly for this browser:

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Legal basis. Legitimate interest (UK GDPR Article 6(1)(f)) in understanding how the publication is used so we can improve it. If you would rather we did not capture any activity, use the opt-out above or enable Do Not Track.

As a UK or EU resident, you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Ask us to correct inaccurate data (rectification).
• Ask us to delete your data (erasure / “right to be forgotten”).
• Restrict how we process your data.
• Receive your data in a portable format.
• Object to processing based on legitimate interests.
• Withdraw consent at any time for processing based on consent.

To exercise any of these rights, email legal@platformoperatingmanual.com. We aim to respond within 30 days. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk.

Subscription data is retained while your subscription is active. When you unsubscribe, your email is retained for up to 30 days (to honour the unsubscribe and handle any complaint) and is then deleted from our active records. Server logs are retained by Vercel in line with their default retention windows. Back-up copies may persist for a short period after deletion.

Beehiiv and Vercel are US-based. When your data is transferred outside the UK / EEA, the transfer is covered by the UK International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA) or the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, as appropriate, with additional safeguards where required.

The Platform Operating Manual is written for working professionals and is not directed at children under 16. We do not knowingly collect data from children. If you believe we have, email legal@platformoperatingmanual.com.

We may update this policy as the publication grows. When we do, we update the “Last updated” date above. For material changes that affect subscriber data, we notify subscribers by email.

Privacy queries, rights requests, and concerns: legal@platformoperatingmanual.com.