How we handle your data
The short version: we collect as little as possible, we never sell it, and you can be removed at any time with one click. Here's the honest, plain-English detail — because "nothing to sell you" ought to apply to your data too.
- What we collect: your name and email address, only when you choose to join our newsletter.
- Why: so we can send you the newsletter you asked for — nothing else.
- Where it lives: with Buttondown, our email provider, under a data-processing agreement. We don't run our own database of you.
- Your rights: see it, correct it, or delete it whenever you like. Every email has a one-click unsubscribe.
- We never sell or share your details with anyone for marketing.
Pimpernel is run by a small team, and this notice is written the way we'd explain it to a friend: no ten-page legal wall, just what actually happens to your information. If you only read one line, read this one — we ask for the bare minimum, we use it only for what you signed up for, and you're always in control of it.
What we collect, and when
The only personal data we actively collect is what you type into our newsletter sign-up form: your name and your email address. That's it. We ask for your name purely so we can greet you properly rather than with a cold "Dear subscriber", and for your email so we've somewhere to send the newsletter. We don't ask for your address, your phone number, your visa status, or anything else — because we don't need it.
We collect this only when you deliberately give it to us by signing up. We don't harvest it, buy it, or gather it quietly in the background.
Why we have it, and what we do with it
We use your name and email for one purpose: to send you the Pimpernel newsletter — the occasional useful note about living in or moving to France that you asked to receive. When we eventually launch paid services, we may write to tell existing subscribers first (that's the founding-member benefit), but that's still the same newsletter relationship you opted into. We will never use your details to cold-sell you something unrelated, and we'll never pass them to a third party to do the same.
Where your data lives
We don't keep our own database of subscribers. Instead we use Buttondown, a well-regarded email newsletter service, to store the list and send the emails. This is deliberate: it means your data sits with a specialist provider whose whole job is doing this securely, rather than in a spreadsheet on someone's laptop. Buttondown acts as our data processor under a formal data-processing agreement, and handles the data in line with GDPR. Your sign-up travels to them over an encrypted (HTTPS) connection.
Plain and simple
You are always in control of your data
Under UK and EU data protection law you have the right to see what we hold about you, to correct it, and to have it deleted entirely. The quickest route is the unsubscribe link at the bottom of every email we send — one click removes you from the list. If you'd rather ask us directly, or want a copy of what we hold, just email hello@pimpernel.fr and we'll sort it out. No hoops, no delay, no guilt-trip.
How long we keep it
We keep your details for as long as you're subscribed and want to hear from us. The moment you unsubscribe or ask to be removed, your data is deleted from our active list. We don't hold on to it "just in case".
Cookies and tracking
Our sign-up form doesn't set advertising cookies or track you around the web. If we measure how many people open a newsletter, that's ordinary, privacy-respecting email analytics through Buttondown — never sold on, never used to build a profile of you elsewhere.
Changes to this notice
If we add new services and the way we handle data changes, we'll update this page and note the date at the top. Anything significant, we'll tell subscribers about directly rather than burying it here.
This notice explains our own practices in plain terms and is not legal advice. Pimpernel is the data controller for the personal data described here; Buttondown acts as our data processor. If you have a concern we can't resolve, you have the right to complain to your data protection authority — in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO); in France, the CNIL. To exercise any of your rights, or if anything here is unclear, email hello@pimpernel.fr.