Privacy Policy

The Human Datum

Last Updated: 06/01/2026

1. Introduction and Accountability

We are committed to maintaining the accuracy, confidentiality, and security of your personally identifiable information ("Personal Information"). As part of this commitment, our privacy policy governs our actions as they relate to the collection, use, and disclosure of Personal Information.

This policy is based on the values set by the Canadian Standards Association's Model Code for the Protection of Personal Information and Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).

Privacy Officer: Jens Koester

We are responsible for maintaining and protecting the Personal Information under our control. We have designated an individual who is responsible for compliance with our privacy policy.

Contact: Jens Koester

Address: Venture X North York​, 5255 Yonge St, Unit 201, Toronto, ON, M2N 6P4, Canada

E-Mail: jk@jens-koester.com

2. Information We Collect

We collect Personal Information to provide our newsletter and consulting services. This includes:

• Contact Information: Name and email address, collected when you subscribe to our newsletter or submit a contact form.

• Payment Information: If you purchase a paid subscription, our payment processor (Stripe) collects your financial information. We do not store full credit card numbers on our servers.

• Usage Data: We collect anonymous data regarding website visits and newsletter engagement (opens and clicks) to improve our content.

• Technical Data: Server logs may collect IP addresses and browser types for security and diagnostic purposes.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your Personal Information for the following purposes:

• To send you the newsletter and content you have subscribed to.

• To process payments for premium subscriptions or consulting services.

• To respond to your inquiries or support requests.

• To analyze the performance of our emails and website to improve our services.

• To detect and prevent fraudulent transactions or security breaches.

4. Disclosure and Third-Party Processing

We do not sell your Personal Information. We share data only with trusted third-party service providers who assist us in operating our website and conducting our business. These parties are contractually obligated to keep your information confidential.

For the purposes of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), we do not sell your personal data to third parties.

Key Service Providers:

• Ghost Foundation: Our website is hosted on the Ghost content management system and we are using Ghost's internal services to deliver emails. Your data is stored on Ghost’s servers. By using our service, you acknowledge that your information may be transferred to and processed in jurisdictions outside of Canada, where it may be subject to the laws of those jurisdictions.

• Stripe: We use Stripe for payment processing. Stripe processes your financial data to validate transactions and prevent fraud. Their privacy policy can be viewed at stripe.com/privacy.

• Email Delivery: We use third-party email delivery services (integrated with Ghost) to send newsletters to your inbox.

5. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

• Essential Cookies: We use strictly necessary cookies (specifically ghost-members-ssr) to allow members to log in and maintain their session. These are required for the website to function.

• Analytics: We use Ghost’s native analytics, which are privacy-friendly and do not use cookies to track you across the web. We do not store persistent identifiers for analytics purposes.

Embedded Third-Party Media Content

This website embeds audio and video content from third-party platforms to deliver podcast episodes and video content directly on our pages. When you visit a page containing embedded content, these platforms may collect data about your visit even before you press play.

Spotify

We embed episodes of The Slow Frequency podcast using Spotify's embedded player. When you load a page containing a Spotify embed, Spotify (Spotify AB, Regeringsgatan 19, 111 53 Stockholm, Sweden) may set cookies on your device and collect data including your IP address, browser type, operating system, referral URL, and interaction with the player. If you are logged into a Spotify account in the same browser, Spotify may associate this data with your account.
Spotify processes this data in accordance with its own privacy policy, available at: https://www.spotify.com/legal/privacy-policy/

We have no control over and accept no responsibility for the data collected by Spotify through these embeds.

YouTube

We embed video content using YouTube (Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland / Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA). Where available, we use YouTube's privacy-enhanced mode (youtube-nocookie.com), which limits the data YouTube collects until you actively play a video. However, when you press play — or if privacy-enhanced mode is unavailable — YouTube may set cookies on your device and collect data including your IP address, browser type, device information, pages visited, and viewing behaviour. If you are logged into a Google account in the same browser, Google may associate this data with your account.
YouTube and Google process this data in accordance with Google's privacy policy, available at: https://policies.google.com/privacy
We have no control over and accept no responsibility for the data collected by YouTube or Google through these embeds.

Your choices

You can prevent data collection by these third-party platforms by adjusting your browser's cookie settings, using a browser extension that blocks third-party embeds, or choosing to listen to the podcast and watch videos directly on the Spotify and YouTube platforms rather than through the embedded players on this website.

6. Data Retention

We retain your Personal Information only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this policy. If you unsubscribe from our newsletter, your email remains in our "unsubscribed" list to ensure we do not email you again, unless you request permanent deletion. Financial transaction records are retained for a minimum of 7 years to comply with Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) requirements.

7. Your Rights

Under PIPEDA and potentially GDPR (for EU visitors), you have rights regarding your data:

• Access: You may request details of the Personal Information we hold about you.

• Correction: You can update your name and email directly via the "Account" link on our website.

• Withdrawal of Consent: You can unsubscribe from our emails at any time using the link at the bottom of every newsletter.

• Deletion: You may request the permanent deletion of your account and data by contacting our Privacy Officer.

8. Changes to this Policy

We reserve the right to modify this privacy policy at any time to reflect changes in our practices or legal obligations. Changes will be posted on this page.