Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains what information The Mothership website at mothershippod.com (the "Site") collects, why, who it is shared with, and the choices you have. The Site is operated by Emerald City Media, LLC ("The Mothership," "we," "us"). It applies to the Site only. The podcast apps, video platforms, social networks and newsletter service you may use to follow the show have their own privacy policies.

The short version

• You can browse the Site without giving us any personal information.
• Analytics and session-recording tools run only if you accept them in our cookie banner. You can change your mind at any time with Cookie Preferences at the bottom of every page.
• If you use the contact form, your message is emailed to our team. The Site does not keep a database of messages.
• We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for targeted advertising.

Information you give us

The contact form

When you send a message through the contact page, we collect your name, your email address, the topic you choose and your message. The form sends it to our team by email and sends you an automatic confirmation. The Site itself does not store your message; it is kept in our team's email inbox so we can reply.

If you tick the box to join the newsletter, we send you to Substack to finish signing up, and we include the sign-up link in your confirmation email. We do not add you to any list ourselves.

The newsletter

Our newsletter is run on Substack. When you subscribe, Substack collects your email address and handles delivery, preferences and unsubscribing under its own privacy policy. Every newsletter includes a link to unsubscribe.

Information collected automatically

Analytics (only with your permission)

If you accept analytics cookies, we use Google Analytics 4 to understand how people find and use the Site, such as which pages are visited, roughly where visitors are located (country or city level), the type of device and browser, and how visitors arrived. Google Analytics uses cookies and receives your IP address to do this. If you decline, or make no choice, Google Analytics sets no cookies and does not recognize you from one visit to the next. Google's use of this data is described in How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services.

Session recordings (only with your permission)

If you accept analytics cookies, we also use Microsoft Clarity to see how people use our pages, such as where they click, how far they scroll, and recordings of visits with personal details hidden, so we can find and fix what's confusing. Clarity is set to hide the text you type into form fields. Microsoft's use of this data is described in the Microsoft Privacy Statement.

Tag management and your cookie choice

We use Google Tag Manager to load these tools and CookieYes to show the cookie banner and remember your choice. Tag Manager does not set cookies itself, and the tools above wait for your answer before they run.

Security and delivery

Like every website, the Site's hosting and security providers receive technical information with each request, including your IP address, browser type and the page requested. They use it to deliver the Site, keep it fast and protect it against abuse. The contact form also uses your IP address briefly to limit how many messages can be sent in a short period; it is held in memory for a few minutes and not saved.

Video

Episode videos on the Site are played from YouTube in its privacy-enhanced mode. Nothing loads from YouTube until you press play. Once you do, YouTube (Google) may set cookies and collect information under Google's privacy policy.

Cookies and similar technologies

We use as few as we can, and we ask before using any that aren't strictly necessary:

• Your cookie choice. CookieYes stores your answer in a cookie named "cookieyes-consent" so we don't ask on every page. It is strictly necessary, contains no personal information and lasts up to one year.
• Google Analytics cookies (_ga and _ga_*), set only if you accept analytics. They typically last up to two years.
• Microsoft Clarity cookies (such as _clck and _clsk), set only if you accept analytics. They last up to one year.
• YouTube cookies, set only after you press play on a video.

You can change your choice at any time with Cookie Preferences at the bottom of every page, and you can also block or delete cookies in your browser settings.

Links, affiliate links and sponsors

The Site links to podcast apps, social networks, retailers and other websites we don't control. Some links to products are affiliate links: if you buy through one, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you, and the retailer or affiliate network may use cookies to record that the sale came from us. Sponsored episodes and segments are identified in the show notes and in the episode audio. Please read the privacy policies of any site you visit.

How we use information

We use the information described above to:

• reply to your messages and consider guest pitches, partnership and press requests;
• understand how the Site is used and improve it (only with your permission);
• keep the Site secure and prevent spam and abuse;
• meet our legal obligations and enforce our Terms of Use.

If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, our legal bases are: your consent (analytics and the newsletter); our legitimate interests in answering messages and running a secure website; and compliance with legal obligations.

Who we share it with

We share information only with service providers that help us run the Site, under contracts that limit how they can use it:

• Netlify hosts the Site.
• Cloudflare provides content delivery and security.
• Resend delivers contact form emails and confirmations.
• Google provides analytics (only with your permission), tag management, and video playback through YouTube.
• Microsoft provides Clarity session analytics (only with your permission).
• CookieYes shows the cookie banner and records your choice.
• Substack runs the newsletter.
• Sanity hosts the Site's content (episodes, pages and images). No visitor information is stored there.

We may also disclose information if required by law, to protect our rights or the safety of others, or as part of a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, in which case this policy continues to apply.

We do not sell personal information, and we do not "share" it for cross-context behavioral advertising as those terms are defined under California law.

How long we keep it

We keep contact messages only as long as needed to respond and follow up, and delete them when they are no longer needed, generally within two years. Google Analytics data is kept for 14 months. [Microsoft Clarity keeps session recordings for 30 days and summary data for up to 13 months; confirm in Clarity's settings.] Newsletter data is kept by Substack until you unsubscribe or ask for it to be deleted.

Your choices and rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to ask us to tell you what personal information we hold about you, give you a copy, correct it, delete it, or restrict or object to how we use it, and to withdraw consent at any time. To make a request, email hello@mothershippod.com. We will respond within the time the law requires and will not treat you differently for exercising your rights. We may need to confirm your identity before acting on a request, and you may use an authorized agent where the law allows.

If you are in the EEA or UK, you may also complain to your local data protection authority.

Children

The Site is intended for a general adult audience and is not directed to children under 13 (or under 16 in the EEA and UK). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has sent us information, please contact us and we will delete it.

International visitors

We are based in the United States, and our service providers may process information in the United States and other countries. Where required, transfers are protected by appropriate safeguards such as standard contractual clauses.

Security

We use reasonable measures to protect information, including encrypted connections (HTTPS) across the Site and not storing contact messages on the Site. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top of this page shows when it last changed. If we make significant changes, we will highlight them on the Site.

Contact us

Questions about this policy or your information: hello@mothershippod.com, or by mail to Emerald City Media, LLC, 387 W Lancaster Ave, Unit 470, Haverford, PA 19041.

Accessibility statement

We want everyone to be able to enjoy The Mothership. We aim for the Site to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at Level AA, and we test with keyboards, screen readers and zoom as we build.

What we have done

• Every page can be used with a keyboard alone, with visible focus and a "Skip to main content" link.
• Text and controls meet WCAG color-contrast requirements, and body text never goes below 12px.
• Buttons and links are at least 44 by 44 pixels in page content.
• Images carry text descriptions, and decorative images are hidden from screen readers.
• Animations are switched off when your device asks for reduced motion.
• Forms have clear labels and error messages that are announced to screen readers.

Known limitations

• Episode videos play through YouTube, whose player we don't control. Captions are available on YouTube where provided.
• Every episode page has a Transcript link. It opens a full transcript where we publish one, and otherwise the episode on YouTube, which provides its own transcript and captions.
• Some linked sites, including podcast apps and social networks, are outside our control and may not meet the same standard.

Tell us about a problem

If anything on the Site is hard to use, or you need content in a different format, email hello@mothershippod.com with the page and what went wrong. We aim to reply within 5 business days. If we can't fix the problem quickly, we'll get you the content another way.