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Consult
Colin

Privacy

Last updated: 26 August 2026

The human-readable bit

There is no long, unreadable legal text here. No mumbo-jumbo to cover my back. No attempts to trick you into agreeing to terms you'll regret later.

I am located in Belgium, where the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applies. I collect as little data as necessary and, when I do, I protect it as if it were my own. I set no cookies, and I do not track you across other websites.

What data I collect and how I use it

Email newsletter

If you sign up to my newsletter, I collect your email address so I can send you those emails. It is not sold or shared with anyone beyond the software described below.

Feel free to sign up with an anonymising service like Addy.io or SimpleLogin if you wish.

The emails are sent via Keila, which is based in the EU, uses EU-based sending infrastructure and complies with the GDPR. Open and click tracking is disabled on all emails.

Legal basis: your consent. You can withdraw it at any time using the unsubscribe link in any email, or by contacting me. Retention: until you unsubscribe.

Contact enquiries

If you email me or use my contact form, I receive whatever you choose to send: your name, email address and the content of your message. I use it only to reply to you and to keep a record of our correspondence.

I run my own mail server, so your message is not handed to a third-party mail provider.

Legal basis: my legitimate interest in responding to people who get in touch, and taking steps at your request before entering into a contract. Retention: two years, then deleted. You may ask me to delete it sooner.

Web analytics

Visits are measured using a self-hosted instance of Swetrix, a privacy-friendly analytics tool. It sets no cookies and creates no persistent identifier for you. Your IP address and user agent are used only to generate a salted hash that lets the software recognise a single visit; the salt is rotated regularly and the IP address itself is not stored. I see aggregate figures: pages, referrers, countries; not individuals.

Legal basis: my legitimate interest in understanding which pages are useful, balanced against the minimal impact of cookieless, aggregate measurement. Retention: aggregate statistics are kept indefinitely; they cannot be linked back to you.

Server logs

This site is delivered by bunny.net, a Slovenian CDN provider acting as my data processor. Bunny processes standard request data: the page requested, the timestamp, the response code, your browser user agent and your IP address; in order to serve the site and keep it secure. IP addresses are anonymised before they reach any log I can see, and logs are retained for three days before deletion. I do not use them to build a profile of you.

Legal basis: my legitimate interest in the security, performance and availability of the site.

Invoicing and client work

When you hire me, I ask for the information needed to invoice you: name, business name, address, VAT number and contact details, together with the records of the work itself.

Legal basis: performance of our contract, and my legal obligation under Belgian accounting and tax law. Retention: seven years, as Belgian law requires, and longer where professional obligations demand it.

If an invoice goes unpaid, your details may be passed to a debt recovery service, on the basis of my legitimate interest in being paid for my work.

Who's responsible for your information

I (Colin O'Brien) am responsible for the security of any information you share with me. If you have any questions or complaints, please contact me.

Updates

Any changes to this policy become effective as soon as they are published to this website. The date at the top tells you when it last changed.

The slightly more technical part

Data controller

Colin O'Brien
Registered in Belgium with BCE number: BE0663.401.311
Email: colin@consultcolin.eu

Data sharing

I do not share your personal information with third parties, except:

  • This site is delivered by bunny.net, which processes request data as described above.
  • When you work with me, your invoice data is shared with my accountant.
  • When you sign up to my newsletter, your email address is shared with Keila, the newsletter software.
  • When an invoice remains unpaid, your details may be shared with a debt recovery service.
  • When required by a legal request or obligation.

International transfers

My accountant, Keila and bunny.net are all EU-based companies, and I do not transfer your data outside the EU myself. Because bunny.net operates a global content delivery network, a request made from outside Europe may be served by a server in that region, meaning your IP address is processed there in order to deliver the page to you.

Automated decision-making

There is none. No profiling, no automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects.

Your rights

Under the GDPR, you have the following rights:

  • The right to access (request all data I have on you).
  • The right to rectification (request I correct any inaccurate data).
  • The right to erasure (request I delete your data).
  • The right to restrict processing (limit how I use your data).
  • The right to object (object to processing based on legitimate interests, including analytics).
  • The right to data portability (transfer your data to another service).
  • The right to withdraw consent at any time, where processing is based on consent.

Email me and I will respond within one month.

Supervisory authority

If you are unhappy with how I handle your data, you can lodge a complaint with the Belgian Data Protection Authority, or with the supervisory authority in your own country; find their details on the EDPB site.