Privacy policy

The short version: we collect only what you choose to give us (your email address for the puzzle pack, and anything you write in the contact form), plus visit statistics from Google Analytics. We don't sell your information, we don't use advertising cookies, and you can have your details deleted at any time.

1. Who runs this site

This site is run by Margaret Holloway, a puzzle author based in California, USA. Margaret decides how the personal information collected through the site is used. Questions about your data go to mh@margaretpuzzles.com. In this policy, "we" and "us" mean Margaret Holloway.

2. What we collect at a glance

We don't ask for, and don't want, sensitive information such as health details, financial details or government ID numbers. Please don't include them in a message.

3. The email list

If you ask for the free puzzle pack, we keep your email address and, if you give it, your first name. We use them to send the pack and occasional emails about new books and puzzles. Nothing else. We never sell or rent the list, and we never give it to anyone for their own marketing.

The list is stored with Resend, an email service that processes it on our behalf. Resend processes data in the United States. Resend also keeps the date you signed up, as a record that you asked to join. Open and click tracking is switched off, so we don't see whether you opened an email or which links you clicked.

You can unsubscribe at any time with the link at the bottom of every email, or by writing to mh@margaretpuzzles.com. When you unsubscribe, Resend marks your address as unsubscribed so you aren't emailed again by mistake. If you'd rather be erased completely, just ask.

4. Contact messages

When you use the contact form, we receive your name, email address and message so we can reply. Messages are delivered to our inbox through Resend. We don't add you to the email list because you wrote to us.

The contact form and the sign-up forms use Cloudflare Turnstile to stop spam. Turnstile checks technical signals from your browser and device, such as browser characteristics and your IP address, to tell people from bots. It doesn't use cookies to track you for advertising. Cloudflare also uses these signals to improve its bot detection, under its own Turnstile privacy notice.

5. Visit statistics

We use Google Analytics, a service of Google LLC, to understand how the site is used: which pages are read, which Amazon links are clicked, which site sent a visitor, what kind of device they use and roughly where they are (country or city, never a street address). We see only totals and trends, not who you are.

Google Analytics uses cookies (named _ga and similar) to tell a new visit from a returning one. Google says Google Analytics 4 doesn't log or store IP addresses. We've switched off Google signals and every advertising feature, so these statistics aren't used to show you ads or linked to your Google account. Google keeps the statistics for 14 months and then deletes them.

In the United Kingdom, the European Union, the European Economic Area and Switzerland, analytics cookies are switched off. Google receives only a basic signal that a page was viewed, with no cookie and no identifier. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, analytics cookies are switched off for you wherever you live. You can also block Google Analytics on every site with Google's opt-out browser add-on.

6. Hosting and security

The site is hosted by Cloudflare Pages, a service of Cloudflare, Inc. Like every web host, it automatically processes basic technical details whenever a page is requested, such as your IP address, browser type and the time of the request. This is needed to deliver pages to you and to protect the site against attacks and abuse. The host keeps these logs for a limited period under its own policies, and we don't use them to identify visitors.

7. Cookies

The site doesn't use advertising cookies. It uses two kinds of cookie or browser storage:

• Google Analytics cookies, for visit statistics, as described in section 5. They're switched off for visitors in the United Kingdom, the European Union, the European Economic Area and Switzerland, and for any browser that sends a Global Privacy Control signal, so the site doesn't need a cookie banner.
• Cloudflare's security tools may store a small, strictly necessary item in your browser while you use a form, solely to confirm you passed the spam check.

The site also remembers a few settings in your browser, such as the Amazon store you picked and whether you've closed the sign-up box. These stay on your device and aren't sent to us. Blocking cookies won't stop you reading the site or downloading printables.

8. Links to Amazon and other sites

Buy buttons are plain links to Amazon, which has its own privacy policy. We don't use affiliate links, so we earn nothing from the click itself, and we don't receive any information from Amazon about you or what you buy. Once you leave this site, the other site's privacy policy applies.

9. Who we share information with

We share personal information only with the service providers named in this policy (Resend, Cloudflare and Google), and only so they can run those services for us. We don't sell personal information, and we don't share it with anyone for advertising.

We may also disclose information if the law requires it, to protect our rights or the safety of others, or as part of a transfer if the site or Margaret's publishing business is ever passed to someone else, in which case this policy would continue to protect your information.

10. How long we keep it

• Email list: until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete it. After you unsubscribe, your address is kept only as unsubscribed, so you aren't emailed again.
• Contact messages: for as long as we need them to deal with your message, and then for up to 12 months in case you write back. After that we delete them.
• Visit statistics: kept by Google Analytics for 14 months, then deleted.
• Hosting and security logs: kept by Cloudflare for a limited period under its own policies.

11. Keeping it safe

We use reputable providers with strong security practices, keep access to our accounts protected with strong passwords and two-step sign-in, and collect as little as possible in the first place. No system is perfectly secure, so we can't guarantee absolute security. If a breach ever affected your personal information, we would tell you as the law requires.

12. Children

This site is for adults and families. The email list and contact form are not meant for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child under 13 has given us their details, write to mh@margaretpuzzles.com and we'll delete them. Teachers and parents are welcome to sign up and pass printables on to children.

13. Your rights and choices

Wherever you live, you can ask us to:

• tell you what personal information we hold about you and give you a copy;
• correct anything that's wrong;
• delete your information;
• stop sending you emails, which you can also do yourself with the unsubscribe link.

Write to mh@margaretpuzzles.com from the email address the request is about, so we can confirm it's you. We'll reply within one month. We won't charge you, and we'll never treat you differently for using these rights. You can also ask someone to make a request for you, in which case we may ask for proof that you authorized them.

14. California privacy notices

Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control. The site doesn't track visitors across other websites, and we don't allow other companies to do so through the site for advertising. Google Analytics counts visits to this site only, with its advertising features switched off. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, the site switches analytics cookies off for you. Browsers no longer apply Do Not Track consistently, so the site doesn't respond to it separately.

Third parties on the site. The only other companies that receive information when you use the site are the service providers listed in section 9. None of them may use it to build an advertising profile of you.

No selling or sharing. We don't sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, as California law uses those terms, and we haven't done so in the past 12 months. We don't collect sensitive personal information.

Direct marketing by others. We don't give personal information to other companies for their own direct marketing.

California Consumer Privacy Act. California's main consumer privacy law applies to businesses above certain size thresholds. This site is a one-person author business well below them. We still give every visitor the rights in section 13.

Changes. If we make a material change to this policy, we'll update the "Last updated" date and, if it affects how we use your email address, tell subscribers by email before it takes effect.

15. Visitors outside the United States

The site is run from California, and our service providers process information in the United States and, for some services, in other countries. By using the site, you understand your information may be processed in those places, where privacy laws may differ from your own.

If you live in the United Kingdom, the European Union or a country with similar laws, we rely on these legal grounds:

• Your consent, for the email list. You can withdraw it at any time by unsubscribing.
• Our legitimate interests, for replying to messages, keeping the site secure and counting page views without cookies. You can object to this use.
• Legal obligations, where the law requires us to keep or disclose information.

You also have the right to restrict how we use your information, to receive it in a portable format, and to complain to your local data protection authority. We'd appreciate the chance to sort out any concern first.

16. Changes to this policy

We'll update this policy when the site or the services it uses change. The "Last updated" date shows the latest version. Significant changes will be noted at the top of this page and, where they affect subscribers, sent by email.

17. Contact

Margaret Holloway
margaretpuzzles.com
California, USA
mh@margaretpuzzles.com