Privacy Policy
Last updated: July 3, 2026
The Sustainable Progress & Equality Collective ("SPEC", "we", "us") operates specollective.org, including the GIEE program pages. This policy explains what personal data we collect, why, and what rights you have over it.
The short version: we collect nothing about you unless you send us a form or an email. On GIEE pages, if you opt in, we count how many visitors read each page per day, in aggregate and without identifying anyone. We use no advertising or tracking cookies.
What we collect
If you contact us through a form on this site (such as the GIEE partnership form), we receive the information you enter: your name, email address, affiliation, professional role, area of interest, and message.
Our hosting provider automatically keeps short-lived technical server logs (such as IP address and browser type) for security and reliability, as virtually all web hosts do.
On GIEE pages, optional analytics records only a canonical page path and locale in an aggregate daily counter after you grant consent. Each page is counted at most once per visitor per day, so the figure is a daily visitor count rather than a page-view total. To do that without identifying you, your browser keeps a short list of the pages it has already reported today in its own local storage, under the name "analytics-seen"; it contains no identifier, never leaves your device, is replaced the next day, and is deleted if you withdraw consent. We do not record IP addresses, link visits across days, follow you between devices, use advertising services, or create profiles. Fonts and all other assets are served from our own infrastructure.
Why we collect it and on what legal basis
We use the information you submit solely to respond to your inquiry and, where relevant, to explore the collaboration you asked us about. Under the GDPR, our legal bases are taking steps at your request prior to entering into an agreement (Art. 6(1)(b)) and our legitimate interest in responding to messages sent to us (Art. 6(1)(f)).
We never sell personal data, use it for advertising, or share it with third parties beyond the service providers listed below. The legal basis for optional GIEE measurement is your consent, which you may withdraw from this page.
Who processes it
Form submissions are delivered to us by email using Google Workspace (Gmail). This website and its aggregate GIEE analytics database are hosted on DigitalOcean in the United States. These providers act as processors under their standard data processing agreements. Transfers to the United States are safeguarded under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework and/or Standard Contractual Clauses.
How long we keep it
Inquiry emails are kept for up to 12 months after the inquiry is resolved, then deleted, unless the exchange leads to an ongoing collaboration or we are legally required to keep it longer. GIEE analytics are stored as daily aggregate visitor counts for 90 days; managed-database backups follow the retention period stated in the deployment record and may retain encrypted copies for that period. The "analytics-seen" entry in your browser's local storage covers only the current day and is replaced or removed the next time you visit. We do not store form submissions in any database.
Your rights
If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or another jurisdiction with similar protections, you have the right to:
- access the personal data we hold about you;
- have it corrected or deleted;
- restrict or object to our processing of it;
- receive it in a portable format;
- lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority.
To exercise any of these rights, email us at [email protected]. We will respond within one month.
Contact
For any question about this policy or your personal data, contact us at [email protected].
If we change this policy, we will post the updated version on this page with a new "last updated" date.