Privacy Policy
Effective: April 29, 2026
The Mold Report ("we," "I," "the site") is a personal AI-curated news aggregator built and operated by Julien Lepleux. This page explains what we collect, how we use it, who we share it with, and your rights — including under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA/CPRA), the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and similar laws.
Plain summary: We collect what you give us (newsletter email, tip submissions) and basic anonymous analytics. We don't sell your data. We don't run ads. We don't share data with anyone except the services we use to make the site work (Google Analytics, Formspree, Substack). You can ask us to delete anything we have about you anytime.
What we collect
Information you give us
- Newsletter signup: email address, submitted to Substack.
- Tip submission form: name, email, and the tip details, submitted to Formspree.
- Email correspondence: if you email editorial@themoldreport.com, we receive your email address and the message contents.
Information collected automatically
- Anonymous usage data via Google Analytics 4 (GA4): page views, session duration, general geographic region (country/state level), device type, referring source. GA4 uses cookies to distinguish unique visitors. No personally identifiable information is collected through GA4.
- Standard server logs from GitHub Pages (which hosts the site), including IP address, browser user-agent, and timestamps of requests. We don't access these directly; they're managed by GitHub.
What we do NOT collect
- We do not solicit health information through any form on this site. Please do not submit personal health information (medical records, lab results, mental-health details, etc.) through the tip form or by email.
- We do not use third-party advertising pixels, retargeting tags, or affiliate-tracking scripts.
- We do not collect data from anyone we know to be under 13. The site is not directed at children.
How we use your information
- Newsletter emails: used solely to send the newsletter. Substack handles delivery and unsubscribes.
- Tip submissions: reviewed by our AI editorial pipeline and may be published with attribution if accepted. We may also email you to follow up on a tip.
- Analytics: to understand which content is useful to readers and improve the site.
Who we share it with
We use these third-party services to operate the site. Each has its own privacy policy:
- Google Analytics — anonymous analytics.
- Formspree — tip submission processing.
- Substack — newsletter delivery.
- GitHub Pages — site hosting.
We do not sell your personal information. We do not share it with advertisers, data brokers, or any party not listed above.
Cookies, tracking, and your consent
This site uses a cookie consent banner (powered by CookieYes) to ask before any non-essential cookies are set. By default, analytics cookies are denied until you choose to accept them. Your choice is remembered.
The cookies on this site, if you accept:
- Google Analytics 4 (
_ga,_ga_*) — anonymous visitor analytics. Set only if you accept analytics cookies. - Functional cookies — your consent choice itself, plus minor UI state. These are essential and always set.
- Substack and Formspree may set their own cookies on their respective forms when you interact with them (newsletter signup, tip submission). These follow each provider's privacy policy.
This site uses Google Consent Mode v2, which means analytics tags respect your consent choice automatically. We do not run advertising pixels, retargeting tags, or affiliate-tracking scripts.
To change your choice later: click the small "Cookie Preferences" button in the bottom-left corner of any page, or clear your browser's cookies for this site to be re-asked.
You can also disable cookies entirely in your browser settings. Disabling them will not prevent you from reading articles.
Data retention
- GA4 analytics data: retained for 14 months, then automatically deleted.
- Tip submissions: retained until processed, then for 90 additional days for follow-up.
- Newsletter emails: retained until you unsubscribe.
- Email correspondence: retained as long as needed for the matter at hand, then deleted.
Your rights
Everyone
You can ask us to delete your data, correct it, or tell you what we have about you. Email privacy@themoldreport.com and we'll respond within 30 days.
California (CCPA/CPRA)
If you're a California resident, you have the right to:
- Know what personal information we have about you.
- Delete any personal information we have about you.
- Correct inaccurate personal information.
- Limit use of sensitive personal information (we don't collect any, but you have the right anyway).
- Opt out of sale or sharing of your personal information. We do not sell or share your personal information. You don't need to take any action — but if you'd like written confirmation of this for your records, email privacy@themoldreport.com.
- Non-discrimination: we won't treat you differently for exercising your rights.
EU/UK (GDPR)
If you're in the EU or UK, your lawful basis for our processing is:
- Consent — for newsletter signup, tip submission, and analytics cookies (where required).
- Legitimate interest — for anonymous analytics and replying to your emails.
You have the right to access, rectify, erase, restrict, or object to the processing of your personal data, and to data portability. To exercise any of these rights, email privacy@themoldreport.com. You can also lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority.
Other states
Residents of Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, Texas, and other states with comprehensive privacy laws have similar rights to those listed above. We honor all valid requests through the same email channel.
International transfers
Our service providers (Google, Substack, Formspree, GitHub) are based in the United States. Your data may be processed in the US. By using the site, you consent to this processing.
Security
We use HTTPS for all site traffic. Form submissions are sent directly to processing services (Formspree, Substack) and not stored on the site itself. We don't operate any server-side database. That said, no method of transmission is 100% secure — we cannot guarantee absolute security.
Children's privacy
This site is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If you believe we have collected information from a child under 13, email privacy@themoldreport.com and we will delete it promptly.
Changes to this policy
If we make material changes to this policy, we will post the new policy here with an updated effective date and (where reasonable) note the change in the site footer for at least 30 days.
Contact
For privacy questions, requests, or to exercise any of your rights:
Operator: Julien Lepleux, julien@moldco.com