What we remember,
and what we don't.

1. What we collect today

Most visitors never give us any personal information. We collect data only when you actively send it to us through one of the forms on the site.

• Newsletter subscribers: your email address, optionally your first and last name, and any preferences you tell us (favourite stops, travel style, how you heard about us). Subscription date is recorded so you can verify when you opted in.
• Traveller tip submissions: the tip text, optionally your name and email, optionally an image. We use this to review the tip before publishing it on a stop page; your name appears as a credit if your tip is approved, your email is never shown publicly.
• Event submissions: the event details, optionally an image, plus your name and email so we can reach you with questions. Approved events appear on the site without your contact information.
• Business / listing submissions: the business details, the owner's name, email and phone so we can reach you about the listing. None of your contact information is shown publicly unless you mark it as the business's public contact.
• Standard web-server logs: our hosting provider (Vercel) records standard information when you visit the site, including your IP address, the page you requested, the date and time, your browser type, and the referring page. This is used to detect abuse and keep the site running. We do not use these logs for marketing or profiling.

We do not currently run analytics scripts, advertising trackers, fingerprinting libraries, third-party tag managers, or anything that follows you across other sites.

2. Where your data sits

• Airtable. Newsletter subscribers, tip submissions, event submissions, and business submissions are stored in our private Airtable workspace, which is restricted to our team. Airtable's privacy policy is at airtable.com/company/privacy.
• Vercel. The site itself is hosted on Vercel, which records the server logs described above. Vercel's privacy policy is at vercel.com/legal/privacy-policy.
• Your browser. The site uses small amounts of essential browser storage (specifically localStorage) to remember your filter preferences on the events page, the dismissal of the cookie notice, and similar functional settings. We do not use cookies or storage for analytics, advertising, profiling, fingerprinting, or any form of cross-site tracking. Third-party services we load (Google Fonts and Phosphor Icons via their CDNs, Vercel for hosting) may set their own cookies under their own privacy policies; we have no control over those. A cookie notice is shown to first-time visitors with equal-prominence Accept and Reject buttons; the choice is stored in your browser's localStorage and respected on return visits. Clearing site data for northlanderguide.com will resurface the notice.

3. Third-party services the site talks to

To render the pages quickly we load a few resources from public CDNs. None of these services receive your form data.

• Google Fonts serves the Fraunces and Spline Sans typefaces. Google sees standard web-request information (IP address, browser, referring page).
• jsdelivr serves the Phosphor Icons stylesheet.
• Ontario Northland is linked from several pages so visitors can confirm train schedules and prices. We do not pre-share any visitor information with them.

4. What changes when accounts launch

We're building a free signup so visitors can save favourite stops, track events, and access the Northlander.app trip planner across devices. When that lands, this section will be updated. The plain-English plan:

• An account requires an email address. Sign-in uses a passwordless magic link (we email you a one-time link rather than asking for a password).
• If you create an account, we will store your email, the date you signed up, the magic-link tokens we send you (short-lived, single-use), and any profile preferences you choose to save.
• You'll be able to delete your account and the data attached to it from your profile page.
• The site will keep working without an account for everything that's free today.

5. What changes when paid plans and advertising launch

Two paid surfaces are planned. Each will get a short update to this page before it goes live.

• Northlander.app First Class: a one-time payment that unlocks the full trip planner. Payment will be processed by Stripe (or a similar regulated payment processor); we do not see or store your card number. We will store the email associated with your purchase, the date, and a license key (or equivalent activation token) we send you. Stripe's privacy policy.
• Featured listings and advertising: businesses can purchase a Featured slot on a stop page, or run a sponsored placement elsewhere on the site. Payment will go through Stripe. We will store the business owner's email, phone, and the listing details, plus the dates the listing was active. Featured / sponsored listings will always be labelled as such.

6. Children

NorthlanderGuide.com is intended for general audiences and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. When accounts launch, we will not allow account creation by users under 13 without verified parental consent.

7. Your rights

You can:

• Unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time using the link at the bottom of every newsletter, or by emailing the address below.
• Request a copy of any data we hold about you by emailing the address below.
• Request correction or deletion of your data, including withdrawing a tip, event, or business submission. We may keep a redacted copy where required by law (for example, financial records of a past purchase).
• If you're in a jurisdiction with specific data rights (GDPR in the EU / UK, CCPA in California, PIPEDA in Canada, etc.), exercise those rights by contacting us at the address below.

8. Sharing with third parties

We do not sell your data. We will only share personal information with a third party if:

• You ask us to (for example, when you click an external link).
• We're legally required to (for example, a valid court order from a court of competent jurisdiction in Ontario, Canada).
• It's necessary to provide a service you've requested (for example, sending a one-time magic-link login email through our email provider, or processing a payment through Stripe).

9. Security

We use industry-standard security measures (HTTPS, scoped Airtable API keys held server-side, environment variables on Vercel) to protect the data we store. No internet service is 100% secure; we cannot guarantee absolute security, but we will tell you promptly if a breach affects your data.

10. Changes to this policy

If we change what we collect or how we use it, we'll update this page and bump the "Last reviewed" date at the top. Material changes (for example, the introduction of accounts, paid plans, or advertising) will be announced at the top of the relevant page on the site.

11. Contact

Questions about this policy or about anything you've submitted? Reach us at info@northlanderguide.com.