Privacy.
What we keep, and why.

The short version

• Comlumen keeps what it needs to run your account, the free-story meter and your subscription. Nothing else.
• We never sell your information, and we do not show ads that follow you around.
• Analytics run only if you say yes. If your browser sends Global Privacy Control, we treat that as no.
• You can download everything we keep, or delete your account, yourself, at any time.

Who we are

Comlumen is a Stacklumen LLC product. Stacklumen LLC, a Kentucky limited liability company based in Lexington, Kentucky, United States, decides how your information is used (it is the “controller”). Write to us about anything on this page at support@stacklumen.com.

What we keep, why, and for how long

For each item: what it is, the legal reason we rely on (for readers in the EU and the UK, where the law asks us to name one), and how long we keep it.

Your account

Your name, email address, photo if you add one, password or the account you sign in with, and the devices you are signed in on. Clerk runs sign-in for us and holds these.

Why we may: Contract: you asked for an account.

How long: Until you delete your account.

What you save, follow and choose

Your saved stories, the sections, reporters and topics you follow, and your briefing choices (which emails you want and how often). No email is sent yet; when it is, these choices are your opt-in.

Why we may: Contract for saved stories and follows; consent for the briefing, which you can turn off at any time.

How long: Until you remove them or delete your account.

Comlumen Play

Your puzzle results, so they follow you to other devices when you are signed in.

Why we may: Contract.

How long: Until you clear them in Play settings or delete your account.

The reading meter

Which stories your account opened in each calendar month, so a story never counts twice and the free stories start again on the first of the month. Signed out, the meter lives only in a cookie in your browser (see below). We also count how many times each story was opened, with nothing that links a count to a person.

Why we may: Contract: the meter is how the free stories work.

How long: With your account until you delete it. The signed-out cookie ends on the first of the next month.

Your subscription

Your plan, its status and dates, and your Stripe customer number. Stripe takes your card and billing address; Comlumen never sees your card. When you subscribe we also record that you asked for the subscription to start now (the box you tick at checkout), when, and the country your connection came from.

Why we may: Contract to run the subscription; legal obligation for payment and tax records.

How long: Our copy goes when you delete your account. Stripe keeps payment and tax records for as long as financial law requires, usually up to seven years.

Your cookie choices

What you chose in the cookie dialog, its version and when, with a random id from your browser, and your account if you were signed in.

Why we may: Legal obligation: we must be able to show you agreed before we count visits.

How long: For as long as the choice applies. If you delete your account, the record stays but is no longer linked to it.

How the paywall is used

When a wall was shown, an account was made from it, or a checkout was started or finished, with your account id if you were signed in. It holds no name or email. If our team gives an account free reading or refunds a payment, we keep a record of who did it and why.

Why we may: Legitimate interests: running a fair paywall and keeping our own staff accountable.

How long: Up to two years.

Messages you send us

What you write to support, and our answers.

Why we may: Legitimate interests: answering you and keeping a record of it.

How long: Up to two years after the conversation ends.

Server logs

Every request to a website arrives with an IP address and browser details. Vercel, which hosts Comlumen, keeps them briefly to run and secure the site. Comlumen does not store your IP address or browser details in its own database.

Why we may: Legitimate interests: keeping the site working and safe.

How long: Days, not months, under Vercel’s own limits.

We do not collect sensitive information, such as health or political views, and we do not use your information to make automated decisions about you.

Cookies and browser storage

Essential cookies make the site work: sign-in and the meter. They cannot be switched off, because the site does not work without them. Everything else stored in your browser is there because you used the feature it serves.

cm_meter

Essential. The signed-out meter: the stories this browser opened this month, as short codes, signed so it cannot be edited. No id, nothing that identifies you. Ends on the first of the next month.

cm_wall

Essential. Set when the wall asks you to make an account, so we can count accounts made from it. No id. Seven days, or until your account is made.

__session, __client_uat, __client

Essential. Clerk’s sign-in cookies, on comlumen.com and clerk.comlumen.com: they keep you signed in. As long as your session lasts.

__cf_bm

Essential, and only when you sign in or make an account. Cloudflare sets it for Clerk’s protection against bots. 30 minutes.

sl-consent, sl-visitor-id

Essential. Stored in your browser: your cookie choice and the random id it is recorded with.

Stacklumen-dark-mode, cm-reading, cm-recent-searches, cm-bulletin-dismissed

Stored in your browser when you use the feature: light or dark, your reading settings, your recent searches, and notices you closed. Never sent to us.

cm-play-v1

Stored in your browser: your Play results and settings. Signed in, the results are copied to your account.

comlumen:intent

Stored in your browser for ten minutes: a story you asked to save, or a topic to follow, before signing in, so it is done when you come back.

Analytics

If you allow analytics, Vercel counts page views for us: the page, the page you came from, your browser, your kind of device and your country. It uses no cookies and keeps no IP address. Until you allow it, nothing is counted. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, analytics stay off and the switch cannot turn them on. Change your choice at any time with Preferences, at the bottom left of every page.

Who helps us

These companies process information for us, under contracts that let them use it only to provide their service to Comlumen.

Vercel

Hosts the site and, only if you allow analytics, counts page views. United States.

Neon

Hosts Comlumen’s database. United States.

Clerk

Runs accounts and sign-in. United States.

Cloudflare

Protects sign-in from bots, for Clerk. Global network.

Stripe

Takes payments and runs subscriptions, invoices and refunds. United States.

Sign-in providers

If you choose to sign in with an account you have elsewhere, that provider tells us your name, email address and photo.

Our fonts are served from our own site, so no font service sees your visit. We may also share information when the law requires it, or to protect people or the site from harm.

Information sent outside your country

Comlumen is run from the United States, so if you read from elsewhere, your information is processed there. When information about readers in the EU, the European Economic Area, the UK or Switzerland goes to our providers, we rely on the EU Standard Contractual Clauses and the UK addendum, or the provider’s EU-US Data Privacy Framework certification. Ask us at support@stacklumen.com for a copy of the safeguards that apply.

We do not sell or share it

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for advertising that follows you across sites, as US state privacy laws define those words. We have not done so in the past twelve months.

Your rights

Wherever you live, you can ask to see what we hold about you, correct it, delete it, take a copy to use elsewhere, limit how we use it, or object to a use. Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time, and that does not undo what was done before.

• Download everything: your account page, Download your data.
• Delete your account: Profile, Delete account. It ends any subscription at once and deletes what our database holds about you.
• Analytics: Preferences, at the bottom left of every page.
• Anything else: write to support@stacklumen.com from the email on your account. We answer within a month. If we cannot help, we say why, and you can ask us to look again by replying.

If you are unhappy with how we handle your information, you can complain to the data protection authority where you live (in the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office). We would like the chance to put it right first.

Who accounts are for

New accounts are open to people who live in the United States. Comlumen accounts and subscriptions are for people aged 16 and over. We do not knowingly keep information about anyone younger. If you think a child has made an account, write to us and we will delete it.

Changes to this notice

When this notice changes, the date at the top changes. If a change matters to how we use what we already hold, we tell signed-in readers on the site before it applies, and ask again where we need your consent. The Comlumen Terms cover subscriptions and using the site.

Contact

Stacklumen LLC, Lexington, Kentucky, United States. support@stacklumen.com.