Privacy Policy

This policy explains how Arik Housley (“Arik,” “we,” “us” or “our”) collects, uses and protects personal information through arikhousley.com (the “site”) and through the messages, speaking inquiries, newsletter and podcast the site connects you with. We’ve tried to write it in plain language. If anything is unclear, email us at info@housleyspeaks.com.

1. Who we are

Arik Housley is a speaker, author and podcast host based in Napa Valley, California. He runs this site and decides how the personal information described here is used. When we say “we,” we mean Arik and the people who help him with his speaking work and this site, such as his web developer.

This policy covers the site and the information you share with us through it, by email or about a speaking engagement. It doesn’t cover the websites and services of other companies that the site links to or uses, such as Substack, Amazon, YouTube or social networks. They have their own privacy policies, and section 7 explains how they fit in. Your use of the site is also covered by our Terms of Use.

2. Information you give us

You can read and listen to everything on the site without giving us any personal information. We collect it only when you choose to share it.

Speaking inquiries and the contact form

The contact form asks for your first and last name, organization, email address and phone number. You can also tell us your organization’s website, your expected audience size and any questions or comments. When you send the form, the site also records the date and time, the page you sent it from, and your IP address and browser type, which help us spot spam and misuse.

We use your phone number only to talk with you about your inquiry. We don’t send marketing texts or make marketing calls.

Email, phone and social media

If you email us, call, or message Arik on social media, we receive your contact details and whatever you choose to include, and we use them to reply.

Booking an engagement

If your organization books Arik, we also handle what’s needed to arrange and deliver the event: the organizer’s contact and billing details, event logistics such as dates, venue and travel, and our agreement. We keep these for the engagement and for our business records.

Stories you share with us

Many people write to Arik about their own loss. Please share only what you’re comfortable sharing. Anything you tell us about your health, your family or someone you’ve lost is read with care and used only to respond to you. We won’t publish it or pass it on to anyone without your permission, unless the law requires it.

Please don’t send passwords, payment card numbers or government ID numbers through the form or by email. We’ll never ask you to send them that way.

Testimonials, interviews and podcast guests

If you give us a testimonial, we publish it with your name, title and organization only with your permission. If you’re a guest on Arik’s podcast or appear in an interview, we publish the episode, your name and what you chose to share, as agreed with you. Event organizers sometimes share photos or recordings of Arik’s talks, and we may post them with the organizer’s permission. If you’d like a testimonial, photo or anything else about you changed or removed, contact us.

3. Information collected automatically

Like every website, the site and the services it relies on receive some information automatically when you visit.

Server and security logs

Our web host and its security network, Cloudflare, receive the information your browser sends with every request: your IP address, browser and device type, the page you asked for, the page that referred you, and the date and time. It’s used to deliver pages quickly, protect the site from attacks and spam, and fix problems.

Analytics

We use Google Analytics to understand how people find and use the site: which pages are read, how visitors arrive (for example, from a search engine or a podcast link), their general location (such as country and city) and the type of device they use. Google Analytics uses cookies to collect this information, and Google says it doesn’t log or store IP addresses. We use these reports only to improve the site. We don’t use them to identify you or to show you ads. To learn how Google uses this information, read How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services. To opt out, see section 10.

Spam protection on the contact form

The pages with the contact form (the homepage and the Contact page) use Cloudflare Turnstile to check that a person, not a bot, is sending it. To do this, Cloudflare looks at signals from your browser and connection, such as your IP address and browser details. Cloudflare says it uses these signals to tell people from bots and to improve its bot detection, not to identify, profile or target individuals. See Cloudflare’s Turnstile privacy addendum.

Embedded videos, audio and sign-up forms

Some pages show content served directly by other companies. When your browser loads it, that company receives information such as your IP address, browser details and the page you’re on, and it may set its own cookies:

• YouTube (Google) plays the videos in many podcast episodes and blog posts. They use YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode, so watching them here isn’t used to personalize your YouTube recommendations or the ads you see elsewhere. YouTube may still store information in your browser, and if you click through to YouTube, its usual policies apply.
• Vimeo plays the video at the top of the homepage. It runs in Vimeo’s “do not track” mode, so Vimeo doesn’t record viewing statistics or set tracking cookies, though it may set security cookies that protect its service.
• Substack provides the newsletter sign-up form at the end of each blog post and podcast episode, and the podcast audio, which plays from Substack’s servers.

Each handles your information under its own privacy policy: Google, Vimeo and Substack.

Icons and fonts

The site’s icons come from Font Awesome, so your browser connects to Font Awesome’s servers when a page loads, and Font Awesome receives your IP address, browser details and our site’s address (see Font Awesome’s privacy policy). The site’s fonts are stored on our own server, so loading them involves no one else.

4. Cookies

Cookies are small files a website stores in your browser. Similar technologies, such as your browser’s local storage, work much the same way. The site itself sets cookies only for the people who log in to manage it. The cookies you may receive as a visitor come from the services described above:

• __cf_bm, from Cloudflare, our security network: helps tell people from bots so the site stays protected. It expires after 30 minutes of inactivity.
• _ga and _ga_…, from Google Analytics: count visits and tell one visitor from another, without identifying you. They last up to two years.
• YouTube’s cookies and storage, from Google, on pages with a YouTube video: play the video and keep the player working. In privacy-enhanced mode, what you watch here isn’t used to personalize YouTube or ads. Google’s policy explains how long they last.
• Substack’s cookies, in the sign-up form and the podcast player: make the form and the player work. Substack’s policy explains how long they last.
• Vimeo’s security cookies, in the homepage video: protect Vimeo’s service. In “do not track” mode, Vimeo sets no tracking cookies.
• wordpress_… and wp-settings-…, from this site, only for people who log in to manage it: keep them signed in and remember their settings. They last from the end of the session up to a year.

YouTube and Substack can recognize your browser on other websites that use their services. You can block or delete cookies in your browser’s settings. The site will still work, though embedded videos or the sign-up form might not.

5. How we use your information

We use personal information to:

• reply to your messages and speaking inquiries;
• plan, schedule and deliver speaking engagements, including agreements, invoices and travel;
• send the newsletter and podcast to people who subscribe, through Substack;
• publish testimonials, interviews and podcast episodes, with the permission of the people in them;
• understand how the site is used, so we can improve it;
• keep the site, the contact form and our email secure and free of spam and abuse;
• keep business records and meet our legal, tax and accounting obligations;
• protect our rights and other people’s safety, and respond to lawful requests.

We don’t sell your personal information, and we don’t use it for targeted advertising.

6. Who we share information with

We share personal information only in these situations:

• Service providers that help us run the site and our work: our web host and its security network, Cloudflare (which also provides Turnstile); Google Analytics; Font Awesome; our email providers, including the delivery service that sends contact-form messages to us (currently Twilio SendGrid); and the developer who builds and maintains the site. They may use the information only to provide their services to us, though some, such as Google and Cloudflare, also use it in limited ways their own policies describe, such as improving their services.
• People who help with an engagement, such as an event organizer’s team, a co-presenter or a travel provider, when they need details to make the event happen.
• With your permission, for example when you agree to let us publish a testimonial or introduce you to someone.
• For legal reasons, when we believe in good faith that the law, a court order or a government request requires it, or to protect the rights, property or safety of Arik, visitors to the site or others.
• If Arik’s speaking business changes hands, information may pass to whoever takes it over, who must keep protecting it as this policy describes.

We don’t sell personal information or share it with anyone for their own marketing.

7. The newsletter, podcast, book and foundation

Some of what the site links to is run by other companies under their own terms and privacy policies:

• Newsletter and podcast. Arik publishes his newsletter and podcast on Substack. When you subscribe, through the form on this site or on Substack, Substack collects your email address and handles your subscription under its privacy policy. As the publisher, Arik can see subscribers’ names and email addresses, when they subscribed and how they interact with the newsletter (such as whether an email was opened), and he uses this only to run the newsletter. Every email includes an unsubscribe link. If you pay for a subscription, Substack and its payment processor handle the payment, and we never see your card details.
• Podcast apps. If you listen in Spotify or another podcast app, that app’s own privacy policy applies.
• The book. Always November is sold by Amazon and other retailers, which handle your order and payment under their own policies, such as Amazon’s privacy notice. Signed copies are sold through a checkout run by Alaina’s Voice Foundation on Square: the foundation receives your order and shipping details, and Square processes your payment under its privacy notice. The site never receives your payment details.
• Alaina’s Voice Foundation. The foundation is a separate 501(c)(3) nonprofit with its own website and policies. Donations are made to the foundation, not through this site.
• Social media. When you follow or message Arik on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X or Substack, that platform’s policies apply, and Arik can see whatever you make visible to him there.

8. How long we keep information

We keep personal information only as long as we need it for the reasons in this policy:

• Inquiries and messages: contact-form entries stored on the site are deleted automatically after 12 months. The copies that reach our inbox, and the emails we exchange, are kept as long as we need them to respond, follow up and keep a record of our conversations. If they lead to an engagement, we keep the related records, such as agreements and invoices, as long as tax and business record-keeping requires, generally up to seven years.
• The site’s email log: the record of the emails the site sends, including contact-form notifications, is kept for up to six months.
• Server and security logs: kept by our host and Cloudflare for a short time, usually days or weeks.
• Analytics: Google Analytics keeps data linked to individual visitors for no more than 14 months.
• Newsletter: until you unsubscribe; after that, Substack’s own retention rules apply.

When we no longer need information, we delete it or remove anything that identifies you.

9. How we protect information

We use safeguards suited to a site of this size: the site runs over an encrypted (HTTPS) connection, the contact form is protected against spam and abuse, access to the site’s administration and to inquiry records is limited to the people who need it, and our service providers use industry-standard security. No website or email system is perfectly secure, though, so we can’t guarantee the security of what you send us. If a security incident affects your personal information, we’ll tell you as the law requires.

10. Your choices and rights

Wherever you live, you can ask us to:

• tell you what personal information we have about you, and give you a copy;
• correct information that’s wrong or out of date;
• delete your information (we may keep what the law requires us to keep, such as tax records);
• stop using your information for a particular purpose, such as contacting you.

To make a request, email info@housleyspeaks.com with “Privacy request” in the subject line, or use the contact form, and tell us what you’d like us to do. We may need to confirm it’s really you first, usually by replying to the email address we have for you. We’ll respond within 30 days. Someone else can make a request for you, but we may ask for proof that they’re allowed to. If we can’t do what you ask, we’ll explain why, and you can reply to ask us to reconsider. We won’t treat you differently for using any of these rights.

Other choices

• Emails: unsubscribe from the newsletter with the link at the bottom of any issue or in your Substack account. If you’d rather we didn’t follow up on an inquiry, just tell us.
• Cookies: block or delete them in your browser’s settings.
• Google Analytics: install Google’s opt-out browser add-on.
• YouTube and Google: manage your activity and ad settings in your Google account.
• Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control: there’s no agreed standard for responding to “Do Not Track” signals, so the site doesn’t change what it does when your browser sends one. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, we treat it as a request not to sell or share your personal information. We don’t do either anyway.

11. California and other US state privacy rights

If you live in California:

• California’s Online Privacy Protection Act asks websites to explain what they collect, who they share it with, how you can review and correct it, how they announce changes and how they respond to Do Not Track signals. This policy covers each of these in sections 2 to 6, 10 and 15.
• Other companies, such as Google (through YouTube) and Substack, may collect information about your online activity over time and across different websites when you use this site, as sections 3 and 4 explain.
• Under California’s “Shine the Light” law (Civil Code section 1798.83), you can ask whether we’ve shared your personal information with other companies for their own direct marketing. We haven’t, and we don’t.
• We don’t sell or share personal information, as California’s privacy law defines those terms.

Many other states give their residents similar rights. You can use the rights in section 10 wherever you live.

12. Visitors outside the United States

The site is run from the United States, and the information described here is stored and processed in the United States and wherever our service providers work. Privacy laws there may differ from those where you live.

If you’re in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, we rely on these legal bases:

• taking steps you ask for before an agreement, and carrying out that agreement, when you inquire about or book an engagement;
• our legitimate interests in replying to messages, running a secure and useful site, understanding how it’s used and keeping business records, balanced against your rights;
• your consent, when you subscribe to the newsletter or let us publish a testimonial, which you can withdraw at any time;
• legal obligations, such as keeping tax records.

You have the right to access, correct or delete your information, to restrict or object to how we use it, to receive a copy in a portable format and to withdraw your consent. To use these rights, contact us. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.

13. Children’s privacy

The site is meant for a general audience. Arik speaks at schools, but schools and organizers book him, and the site isn’t directed at children. We don’t knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 (under 16 in the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom). If you’re a student who wants to reach Arik, please ask a parent, teacher or counselor to help. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, contact us and we’ll delete it.

14. Links to other websites

The site links to other websites, including organizations and resources Arik mentions in his posts. We don’t control those sites and aren’t responsible for their privacy practices, so please read their policies before you share information with them.

15. Changes to this policy

We’ll update this policy when our practices or the law change. The date at the top of the page shows when it last changed. If a change is significant, we’ll point it out at the top of this page for a while. The updated policy applies from the date it’s posted.

16. How to contact us

Questions, requests or concerns about your privacy? Get in touch:

Arik Housley
Napa Valley, California, United States
Email: info@housleyspeaks.com
Contact form: arikhousley.com/contact