1. Who we are

Building the Mind is an independent blog located at buildingthemind.com, focused on mental models, decision science, behavioral economics, and applied thinking. The website is operated by an individual publisher and is not affiliated with any corporation or institutional entity.

For all privacy-related inquiries, the data controller can be reached at: digi@buildingthemind.com

2. What data we collect and why

A. Information you provide voluntarily

We collect personal information only when you choose to provide it. This includes:

• Name and email address — when you subscribe to our newsletter or email updates
• Name, email, and message content — when you contact us through our contact form
• Comment data — if you leave a comment on an article (name, email, website URL, and comment text)

We collect this information to respond to your enquiry, deliver email content you have subscribed to, and manage community engagement on the site. We do not collect personal information without your active and informed consent.

B. Information collected automatically

When you visit Building the Mind, certain technical information is collected automatically by our hosting platform, analytics tools, and advertising partners:

• IP address (anonymized where possible)
• Browser type and version
• Device type and operating system
• Pages visited and time spent on each page
• Referring website or search query
• Geographic location (country or city level — not precise location)
• Interactions with advertisements served on the site

This information is used to understand how visitors use the site, to improve content and performance, and to support advertising systems. It is not used to identify you personally and is not linked to your name or email address without your consent.

3. Cookies and tracking technologies

Building the Mind uses cookies — small text files stored on your browser — and similar tracking technologies. These are used for website functionality, performance analytics, and advertising. Below is a summary of the types of cookies in use.

4. Third-party services we use

Building the Mind uses the following third-party services, each of which may collect data in accordance with their own privacy policies. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these third parties, but we have selected them with care and listed their policies below for your reference.

5. How we use your information

We use the data we collect for the following purposes:

• To operate and maintain this website and ensure its technical functionality
• To analyze site traffic and understand how readers engage with our content
• To improve article quality, navigation, and user experience based on behavioral data
• To respond to messages, questions, and feedback submitted through our contact form
• To send newsletter emails and content updates to subscribers who have opted in
• To display advertising through Google AdSense and affiliated advertising networks
• To fulfill our obligations under affiliate programs, including tracking qualifying purchases
• To detect and prevent spam, fraud, or security threats
• To comply with applicable legal obligations

We do not use your information for automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects on you.

6. How we share your information

We do not sell, rent, trade, or otherwise transfer your personal information to third parties for their own marketing purposes.

We share data only in the following limited circumstances:

• With third-party service providers — as described in Section 4, for the specific purposes of analytics, advertising, email delivery, and website infrastructure. These providers are contractually prohibited from using your data for any purpose beyond the service they provide to us.
• When required by law — if compelled by a valid legal process, court order, or government authority, we may disclose data to the extent required by applicable law.
• To protect rights and safety — if disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of this website, its readers, or others.
• In aggregate and anonymized form — we may share anonymized, aggregate statistical information (e.g., “X% of visitors are from the United States”) that cannot be used to identify any individual.

7. How long we keep your data

• Newsletter subscriber data — retained for as long as your subscription is active, plus a reasonable period thereafter. You may unsubscribe and request deletion at any time.
• Contact form submissions — retained for up to 12 months after the inquiry is resolved, then deleted.
• Comment data — retained indefinitely as part of the public record of the article, unless you request removal.
• Analytics data — Google Analytics retains data according to its own data retention settings, which we have configured at a maximum of 14 months for user-level data.
• Server log data — automatically collected server logs (IP addresses, request times) are retained for up to 90 days by our hosting provider for security and diagnostic purposes.

8. Data security

We implement reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect the data we hold against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures include the use of HTTPS encryption, secure hosting, and restricted access to any stored personal data.

However, no method of transmission over the internet and no electronic storage method is 100% secure. While we take the protection of your data seriously, we cannot guarantee absolute security and cannot be held liable for security breaches that are outside our reasonable control.

If you become aware of any security vulnerability or potential breach relating to this website, please contact us immediately at digi@buildingthemind.com.

9. Your privacy rights

Regardless of your location, you may contact us at any time to:

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at digi@buildingthemind.com. We will respond within 30 days. We may need to verify your identity before processing certain requests.

10. GDPR — rights for EU and EEA residents

If you are located in the European Union (EU) or European Economic Area (EEA), you have additional rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Our legal bases for processing personal data are as follows:

• Consent — for newsletter subscriptions and non-essential cookies. You may withdraw consent at any time.
• Legitimate interests — for analytics, security, and improving our content, where our interests do not override your fundamental rights.
• Legal obligation — where processing is required by applicable law.

Please note that this website may transfer data to servers located outside the EU/EEA (including the United States). Where such transfers occur — for example through Google Analytics or Google AdSense — they take place under standard contractual clauses or other approved transfer mechanisms in accordance with GDPR requirements.

11. CCPA — rights for California residents

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) grants you specific rights regarding your personal information:

• Right to know — you may request disclosure of the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you in the past 12 months.
• Right to delete — you may request deletion of personal information we have collected, subject to certain exceptions.
• Right to opt out of sale — we do not sell personal information. You do not need to opt out.
• Right to non-discrimination — we will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA rights.

To exercise your CCPA rights, contact us at digi@buildingthemind.com. We will respond within 45 days as required by California law.

12. Children’s privacy

Building the Mind is not directed at children under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided personal information through this website, please contact us at digi@buildingthemind.com and we will promptly delete that information.

For visitors in the EU, we do not knowingly collect data from children under the age of 16 without verifiable parental consent, in accordance with GDPR Article 8.

13. External links

This website contains links to external websites, including book retailers, research sources, and third-party tools. These external sites operate under their own privacy policies, which we do not control and are not responsible for. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of any external site you visit through a link on this website.

The presence of a link to an external site does not constitute endorsement of that site’s privacy practices.

14. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or for other operational reasons. When we make material changes, we will update the “Last updated” date at the top of this page.

We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Continued use of the website after any changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy. If you have subscribed to our newsletter, we may also notify you of significant changes by email.