Last updated: 29 July 2026

1. Who we are

CONSTANT is an independent digital publication available at readconstant.com, including to visitors redirected from readconstant.co.uk. This notice explains how personal information is collected and used when you visit the website, subscribe to a newsletter, request a guide, create a member account, buy or manage a paid membership, contact us or otherwise interact with CONSTANT.

For data protection purposes, Cameron, trading as CONSTANT, is the controller of your personal information. This means that he decides why and how that information is used.

If you have a question, want to exercise a data protection right or wish to make a complaint, email hello@readconstant.com with “Data protection” in the subject line.

2. The information we collect

Depending on how you use CONSTANT, we may collect:

  • Contact and identity information: your name, email address and any profile or display name you choose to provide.
  • Membership information: your member identifier, membership tier, subscription status, newsletter preferences, sign-up date and source, renewal or cancellation status, account activity and member labels used to administer your membership.
  • Payment and transaction information: your Stripe customer and subscription identifiers, the membership purchased, payment amount and currency, payment status, billing country, invoice or receipt information and limited payment-method details made available by Stripe. CONSTANT does not receive or store your full card number or card security code.
  • Communications and content: information in emails, replies, enquiries, feedback, survey responses, data protection requests or complaints, and any comments or other content you choose to submit where those features are available.
  • Technical and usage information: your IP address, browser and device type, operating system, approximate location derived from your IP address, referring page, campaign or sign-up attribution information, access times, pages and posts viewed, and security or diagnostic logs.
  • Newsletter information: whether an email was delivered, opened or clicked, and whether it bounced, was marked as spam or prompted an unsubscribe. These measurements can be affected by the settings used by your email provider and may not always be accurate.
  • Preferences and compliance records: your newsletter consent, unsubscribe status, communication preferences and records of when and how those choices were made.

We do not ask you to provide special category information, such as information about your health, religion, political opinions or sexual orientation. Please do not include this type of information in messages or other submissions unless it is genuinely necessary.

3. How we obtain information

We collect information:

  • directly from you, including when you subscribe, register, pay, comment or contact us;
  • automatically when you use the website or interact with an email;
  • from Ghost, which hosts the publication and manages members, newsletters and analytics on our behalf; and
  • from Stripe in connection with paid memberships and payment events.

We do not buy mailing lists.

4. How and why we use your information

We only use personal information where we have a lawful basis under applicable data protection law.

Operating and securing the website

We use technical data, logs and essential authentication information to deliver the website, keep member sessions working, prevent abuse, diagnose faults and protect CONSTANT and its readers. We rely on our legitimate interests in operating a reliable and secure publication and, for member-only services, on performing our agreement with you.

Creating and managing memberships

We use contact, account and membership information to register you, authenticate you through passwordless sign-in links, provide the access included in your tier, remember your preferences, administer renewals or cancellations and provide member support. We do this to perform our agreement with you and take steps at your request before you become a member.

If you do not provide the information marked as required during registration, we will not be able to create or administer your membership.

Sending the Pattern Guide and newsletters

When you ask for the Pattern Guide or subscribe to a CONSTANT newsletter, we use your email address and preferences to deliver what you requested and send the editorial and membership communications described at sign-up. We rely on your consent for these emails.

You can withdraw consent at any time by using the unsubscribe link in any newsletter or by emailing us. Unsubscribing from newsletters does not automatically delete your member account or cancel a paid membership. We may still send essential service messages, such as sign-in links, receipts, security notices or changes affecting a paid membership, where these are necessary to provide the service or comply with law.

Processing paid memberships

We use membership, transaction and limited payment information to activate paid access, administer subscriptions, respond to billing queries and keep transaction records. We rely on performing our agreement with you and on legal obligations relating to accounting, tax, fraud prevention and record-keeping.

Stripe processes the payment details entered at checkout. Its own use of personal information is explained in the Stripe Privacy Policy.

Understanding readership and improving CONSTANT

We use Ghost’s first-party website analytics and newsletter engagement information to understand which editions are useful, measure readership, improve the publication, plan content, troubleshoot delivery and protect the health of the mailing list.

Ghost’s native website analytics are first-party and cookie-free. They do not use persistent browser storage to recognise an anonymous visitor across sessions or devices. Ghost counts unique visitors within 24-hour windows. When a member is signed in, Ghost may record the member identifier, whether the membership is free or paid, and which posts the member views. We do not use this information to make decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you.

We rely on our legitimate interests in operating and improving CONSTANT for Ghost’s cookie-free analytics and newsletter engagement information. We consider the limited effect on readers and use this information in a proportionate way. You can object to this processing by contacting us.

At the date of this notice, CONSTANT does not use Google Analytics, Meta Pixel, TikTok Pixel, Hotjar or another third-party analytics or advertising tracker. If we introduce any of these technologies, we will update this notice and provide any consent controls required before they are activated.

Responding to messages, requests and complaints

We use contact details and correspondence to answer enquiries, provide support, deal with data protection rights requests and investigate complaints. We rely on our legitimate interests in communicating with readers and members, on performing our agreement with you where relevant, and on our legal obligations.

Publishing and moderating comments

If comments are enabled, we use the information you submit to publish, administer and moderate them, enforce our rules and prevent abuse. We rely on our legitimate interests in maintaining a constructive and safe discussion space and, where applicable, on performing our agreement with members. Remember that a published comment can be read and copied by other people.

We may use relevant information to maintain financial records, respond to lawful requests, detect or prevent fraud, establish or defend legal claims and enforce our terms. We rely on legal obligations and our legitimate interests in protecting CONSTANT, its readers and its legal rights.

5. Cookies and similar technologies

CONSTANT uses only cookies or similar storage that are strictly necessary to provide features you request, such as secure member authentication, account security and payment checkout. These technologies are needed for the relevant service to work. You can block them through your browser, but doing so may prevent you from signing in, managing a membership or completing a payment.

Ghost’s native website analytics are cookie-free and do not use persistent browser storage to recognise anonymous visitors across sessions, browsers or devices.

At the date of this notice, CONSTANT does not use non-essential analytics, advertising or behaviour-tracking cookies. If that changes, we will update this notice, publish appropriate cookie information and put the required consent controls in place before any non-essential technology is activated.

6. Who receives your information

We disclose personal information only where necessary for the purposes in this notice. Recipients may include:

  • Ghost Foundation Ltd, which hosts the website and processes member, authentication, newsletter, email-delivery and analytics information on our behalf, together with the subprocessors it authorises for infrastructure and service delivery. Ghost acts as our processor for publication data but may act as a controller for information it collects for its own account, billing and support purposes. See Ghost’s GDPR information, Data Processing Agreement and Privacy Policy.
  • Stripe and its associated entities and service providers, which process paid membership transactions, payment authentication, fraud prevention, subscription management and receipts. Stripe may act as a processor or controller depending on the activity.
  • Email, domain and IT service providers used to receive and respond to direct messages or maintain the publication.
  • Professional advisers, such as accountants, legal advisers, insurers or auditors, where reasonably necessary.
  • Courts, regulators, law-enforcement bodies, tax authorities or other public authorities where disclosure is required by law or reasonably necessary to protect rights, prevent fraud or respond to a lawful request.
  • A prospective buyer, successor or restructuring partner if all or part of CONSTANT is sold, transferred or reorganised, subject to appropriate confidentiality and data protection safeguards.

We do not sell or rent personal information, and we do not give the member list to other organisations for their own marketing.

7. International transfers

CONSTANT is operated from the United Kingdom. Ghost states that Ghost(Pro) data is stored in the European Union and that its analytics data is stored in EU regions, although information may be accessed elsewhere for support and maintenance. Stripe and the authorised providers used by Ghost and Stripe may process information in the United Kingdom, European Economic Area, United States and other countries in which they operate.

Where personal information is transferred outside the United Kingdom to a country that is not covered by UK adequacy regulations, an appropriate safeguard is used where the law requires one. Depending on the transfer, this may include the UK International Data Transfer Agreement, the UK Addendum to approved contractual clauses, the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework for a participating recipient, or another lawful transfer mechanism. You may contact us for more information about safeguards relevant to your information.

8. How long we keep information

We keep personal information only for as long as it is needed for the purpose for which it was collected, including legal, accounting, security and dispute-resolution requirements. In general:

  • Member account and preference information is kept while the membership remains active. It is deleted or anonymised after the account is closed, except for information that must be retained for another purpose described below.
  • Newsletter subscription information is kept until you unsubscribe or the membership is deleted. We may retain a minimal suppression record for as long as reasonably necessary to honour an unsubscribe or objection, and retain consent records where needed to demonstrate compliance.
  • Payment, invoice and accounting records are generally kept for six years after the end of the relevant financial year or the end of the membership, if later, unless law requires a different period.
  • Routine enquiries and support correspondence are generally kept for up to two years after the matter is closed. Information relevant to a contract, complaint or legal claim may be kept for up to six years, or longer where a claim or legal obligation requires it.
  • Data protection request and complaint records may be kept for up to six years after the matter is closed so that we can demonstrate how it was handled and respond to related issues.
  • Identifiable member analytics and newsletter engagement information is kept while it remains reasonably useful for administering and improving the publication and is deleted or anonymised when it is no longer needed. Aggregated information that no longer identifies anyone may be retained for longer.
  • Security and diagnostic logs are kept for the shortest period reasonably necessary for security, abuse prevention and fault diagnosis, in line with the retention schedules of the relevant service provider.
  • Comments may remain for as long as the relevant article and discussion are published, unless they are removed or anonymised.

Deletion from backups may take place on the service provider’s normal backup cycle. We may retain information for longer if necessary to comply with law, respond to an active dispute, prevent fraud or enforce legal rights.

9. Security

We use proportionate technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal information. These include encrypted connections, restricted administrative access, account-security controls, reputable service providers and contractual data protection commitments where required.

No internet service is completely secure. If we become aware of a personal data breach, we will investigate it and notify affected people and the relevant regulator where the law requires us to do so.

10. Your data protection rights

Depending on the circumstances and the law that applies to you, you may have the right to:

  • ask for a copy of your personal information;
  • ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information;
  • ask us to delete information;
  • ask us to restrict how information is used;
  • receive information you provided in a portable format, or ask us to transfer it to another controller;
  • object to processing based on legitimate interests, including any related profiling;
  • object at any time to the use of personal information for direct marketing;
  • withdraw consent at any time, without affecting processing that took place before withdrawal; and
  • complain about how your information has been handled.

These rights are not absolute and exemptions may apply. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request. We will normally respond within one month, subject to any extension or pause permitted by law. You will not normally have to pay a fee.

To exercise a right, email hello@readconstant.com with “Data protection request” in the subject line.

11. Automated decision-making

CONSTANT does not use personal information to make solely automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you.

Stripe and financial partners may use automated systems for payment authentication, fraud prevention and regulatory compliance under their own privacy terms. If a payment is declined or restricted, you can contact us and, where appropriate, Stripe for further information.

12. Children

CONSTANT is intended for a general audience and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from a child under 13 without appropriate authorisation from a person with parental responsibility. If you believe a child has provided information inappropriately, contact us so that we can investigate and delete it where required.

Anyone under 18 should involve a parent or guardian before purchasing a paid membership.

13. Links and embedded content

Articles may link to websites operated by other organisations. Their collection and use of information are governed by their own privacy notices, not this one.

If we add third-party embedded content that uses non-essential cookies or similar technologies, we will publish or update the relevant cookie information and obtain consent before it loads where required by law.

14. Changes to this notice

We review this notice when our services, providers or legal obligations change. The date at the top shows when it was last updated. If a change materially affects how we use existing member information, we will provide an appropriate notice on the website or by email.

15. Contacting us and making a complaint

Questions, rights requests and data protection complaints can be sent to hello@readconstant.com. Please describe what has happened and the outcome you are seeking, and include enough information for us to identify any relevant account or correspondence. Do not send identity documents unless we ask for them through an appropriate method.

We will acknowledge a data protection complaint within 30 days of receiving it. We will investigate it without undue delay, keep you appropriately informed and tell you the outcome.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority. You can find current contact details and the complaint process at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint. You do not have to contact us before approaching the ICO, although giving us the opportunity to address the issue may lead to a quicker resolution.