Last updated: 9 July 2026.
This policy explains what personal information The Distributed collects, why, who processes it, and the controls you have over it. It is written to meet the Australian Privacy Principles and, for visitors in the EU and UK, the GDPR. It covers this site and the dashboard at thedistributed.co.
Who we are
The Distributed is operated from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. For any privacy question, or to exercise a right described below, email contact@thedistributed.co.
What we collect
We only collect what we need to run the site:
- Account information — your email address and, if you sign in with Google, your name and profile basics. Authentication is handled by our identity provider (Clerk); we never see or store your password.
- Content you create — watchlists, alerts, annotations, and saved screeners you save to your account.
- Newsletter signup — your email address, if you subscribe. We use double opt-in: nothing is added to the list until you confirm from the email we send you.
- Contact-form messages — what you write to us, and the email address you give so we can reply. Messages are delivered to our inbox and are not used for marketing.
- Technical and usage data — IP address, request metadata, and basic server logs needed to operate, secure, and rate-limit the site.
- Cookies and analytics — the session and authentication cookies set by our identity provider so you stay signed in, and Google Analytics, which we use to understand aggregate site usage (pages viewed, approximate region, device type). Analytics data is viewed only in aggregate; it is not used to build advertising profiles and is never sold. You can block analytics cookies in your browser or with Google’s opt-out tools without affecting the site. We do not use third-party advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.
We do not collect brokerage credentials, bank details, or any link to your real-world trading accounts.
Public data we analyse
Our coverage is built on publicly available data: public Reddit posts and comments, SEC filings (EDGAR), other public regulatory filings and disclosures, macroeconomic series, and market reference data. Where social-media content is analysed, author identifiers are used internally only — for quality controls such as bot detection and author-trust scoring — and what we publish is aggregate statistics (mention counts and sentiment scores), not profiles of individual users. If a public post we processed is deleted at its source and you want it removed from our systems too, email us and we will action it.
How we use your information
- To provide and personalise the service — your watchlists, alerts, and saved views.
- To send transactional email — a welcome message and the alert or digest notifications you opt into.
- To send the newsletter, only with your double opt-in consent. Every issue includes an unsubscribe link that works immediately.
- To secure the site, prevent abuse, and enforce rate limits.
- To meet legal and record-keeping obligations.
Our lawful bases (for GDPR purposes) are performance of our terms with you, your consent (for the newsletter and other optional email), and our legitimate interests in operating and securing the service. We do not sell your personal information, and we do not send marketing email without consent.
Who processes your data
We use a small set of service providers to run the site. They process data on our behalf under their own security and privacy commitments:
- Clerk — authentication and account management.
- Resend — transactional email and newsletter delivery.
- Rocket.net — hosting for the publication.
- Vercel — hosting for the dashboard.
- Cloudflare — DNS, CDN, and security.
- Google — site analytics (Google Analytics).
- Hetzner — database hosting (servers in the EU).
- Upstash — rate limiting.
- DreamHost — inbound email for our contact addresses.
Because some providers are located outside Australia (including in the United States and the European Union), your information may be stored and processed overseas. We take reasonable steps to ensure these providers handle it consistently with this policy.
Advertising and affiliate links
We do not currently run advertising or affiliate links. If we introduce them, they will be clearly labelled where they appear, this policy will be updated before they go live, and they will not involve selling your personal information. Sponsored content is always marked as sponsored.
Your rights and controls
- Access and portability — export everything tied to your account as a file from your account settings.
- Erasure — delete your account from account settings. This permanently removes your account and all associated watchlists, alerts, annotations, and saved screeners.
- Correction — update your details in account settings, or email us if anything is inaccurate.
- Unsubscribe — every newsletter and digest email includes a working one-click unsubscribe.
If you are in the EU or UK, you also have the right to object to or restrict certain processing and to lodge a complaint with your local data-protection authority. In Australia, you may complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). If you are a California resident: we do not sell or share personal information as defined by the CCPA/CPRA, and you may exercise your access, deletion, and correction rights by emailing contact@thedistributed.co. We do not discriminate against anyone for exercising a privacy right.
Retention
We keep your account information for as long as your account is active. When you delete your account, your personal data is removed. We may retain a minimal, de-identified audit record (with no personal identifier linked back to you) for security and integrity purposes, and retain information where the law requires it. Newsletter addresses are removed from the active list immediately on unsubscribe.
Children
The site is not directed to, and accounts may not be created by, anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from minors.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as the service evolves. Material changes will be reflected in the “last updated” date at the top, and where appropriate we will notify you. Questions about any of it: contact@thedistributed.co.