Privacy without the fog.

Who is responsible

SCRIBE is an independent documentary and research project operated by Gavin Lee in the United Kingdom. Contact is available through the Contact SCRIBE page.

Information collected on this website

Most of SCRIBE can be used without an account. If you remain signed out, SCRIBE does not collect your email address through the Research Hub; saved investigations and followed lenses are stored only in your browser. If you create an optional Research Hub account, SCRIBE processes your email address, optional display name, authentication identifiers and session information, plus the investigation IDs you save and the research-lens IDs you follow. When a signed-in user opens the external review form, the account history records only the investigation ID, time and review-form-opened status. It does not store the evidence notes, author details or source description typed before the Jotform hand-off.

Research Hub accounts and Supabase

Research Hub authentication and cloud sync are provided through a SCRIBE-controlled Supabase project. Supabase Auth handles passwords and sessions; SCRIBE does not receive or store plaintext passwords. The project database is provisioned in the London region (eu-west-2). Supabase processes account and service information as a technology provider under its own security, privacy, data-processing and subprocessor arrangements.

Cloud-synced account tables use row-level security so an authenticated user can read and change only their own profile, saved investigation IDs, followed lens IDs and contribution-history records. A separate authenticated deletion function allows the account holder to delete the account without contacting SCRIBE.

SCRIBE Evidence Brief signup

The Evidence Brief is separate from a Research Hub account. The live signup form is hosted by Jotform and asks for an email address, first name and an explicit confirmation that you want to receive the SCRIBE Evidence Brief and can unsubscribe at any time. Jotform processes the submitted form data as the form provider. SCRIBE has provisioned a separate Supabase subscriber ledger and tokenised unsubscribe service for this list. The controlled Jotform-to-Supabase intake is not yet operating end to end, and no Evidence Brief emails are currently being sent.

When the controlled intake is enabled, the subscriber ledger is limited to the information needed to administer the opt-in: SCRIBE list/segment, email address, first name, source form and submission identifiers, the consent record and opt-in time, subscription status, unsubscribe token and related timestamps. The Evidence Brief list is kept separate from the Hector Thrice and G. L. Rook reader lists; SCRIBE does not automatically enrol anyone across brands.

Purposes and lawful bases

For an optional Research Hub account, SCRIBE relies on contract because the account information is necessary to provide the sign-in and cross-device sync service you request. For the optional Evidence Brief, SCRIBE relies on your consent to register the signup and, once the delivery system is verified and enabled, to send the requested Evidence Brief emails. You can withdraw that consent at any time. SCRIBE does not use Research Hub account data, enquiries or research-contribution data to enrol anyone in the Evidence Brief. SCRIBE relies on legitimate interests for proportionate security, abuse prevention, fault diagnosis and maintaining the integrity of the research service. Direct enquiries and research contributions are used to respond, assess evidence, manage corrections and preserve necessary research or rights records.

Retention, withdrawal and account deletion

Research Hub account and sync data are kept while the account exists. You can use Account → Delete account in the Hub to remove the Supabase Auth account and the linked profile, saved investigations, followed lenses and Hub contribution-history rows. Signed-out device-only saves can be cleared in the Hub or by clearing browser storage.

Evidence Brief form records are retained only as long as needed to administer the requested signup, establish the consent record and operate or troubleshoot the controlled intake. Once a subscriber record is in the SCRIBE ledger, it is kept while the subscription is active. The unsubscribe service changes the record to unsubscribed and records the withdrawal time; a minimal suppression/consent record may be retained where necessary to honour the opt-out and demonstrate compliance. Until production delivery is enabled, you can withdraw an Evidence Brief signup through the SCRIBE contact route. Once delivery begins, every Evidence Brief email must provide a working unsubscribe link.

SCRIBE may retain separate Jotform, direct-email or research-audit records where they are still required for the stated enquiry, correction, rights, security or legal-record purpose; those records follow their own retention rules described below.

Service providers and international processing

Vercel provides website hosting and anonymous web analytics. Supabase provides Research Hub authentication and database infrastructure, plus the provisioned Evidence Brief subscriber ledger and unsubscribe service. Jotform provides the external research/contact forms and the Evidence Brief signup form. ImprovMX and Google support direct email delivery and the operator's working records. No outbound Evidence Brief mailing provider is currently connected or authorised for production sending. Before one is enabled, SCRIBE will verify sender identity, delivery records and end-to-end unsubscribe handling and will update this notice if the provider materially changes the processing described here.

Although the SCRIBE Supabase project is provisioned in London, these providers may use infrastructure, support teams or subprocessors in other countries. Their contractual and data-transfer safeguards apply to that processing; provider privacy and data-processing information is available from Supabase, Vercel and Jotform.

Anonymous interaction measurement

In addition to cookieless Vercel page-view analytics, SCRIBE keeps anonymous counts of selected interactions such as internal navigation, opening an external source or contribution link, opening the Research Hub account panel, and using Save, Follow or Share controls. These counters are sent to SCRIBE's Supabase project solely to understand which parts of the research service are useful and where navigation can be improved.

The SCRIBE interaction table stores the event category, the SCRIBE page path, a coarse destination path or external hostname where relevant, and a timestamp. It does not contain a user ID, email address, cookie ID or IP-address field, and query strings and URL fragments are not stored. The interaction endpoint is not used for advertising or individual profiling. Supabase may process technical request information as a service provider when delivering and securing the request.

SCRIBE relies on legitimate interests for this limited, proportionate service measurement. Browsers signalling Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control are excluded from SCRIBE's first-party interaction counter.

Website hosting and technical delivery

SCRIBE is hosted by Vercel. When you request a page, Vercel may process technical request information such as your IP address, browser or user-agent details, requested URL, date and time, response status, and security or diagnostic information needed to deliver and protect the service. SCRIBE also uses Vercel Web Analytics for anonymous page-view measurement. SCRIBE does not currently use Vercel Speed Insights.

Vercel processes short-lived operational and runtime logs under the current hosting configuration. SCRIBE does not use those logs as its long-term reader analytics record. SCRIBE does not intentionally send contact-form responses through Vercel and does not make permanent copies of routine request logs unless they are needed to investigate a fault or security incident.

Google account services

SCRIBE’s private working inbox and Drive records currently use the operator’s Google consumer account rather than a Google Workspace business tenant. Google processes account and service information under its consumer terms and privacy policy. SCRIBE applies its own purpose-based retention and access controls to messages and operational records.

Direct email

Messages sent to contact@scribeinvestigations.com are received through ImprovMX email forwarding and delivered to a private Google Gmail inbox used by SCRIBE. ImprovMX and Google may process routing and technical information needed to deliver the message.

SCRIBE uses the message and contact details only to respond, manage correspondence, or preserve a necessary correction, rights or audit record. Email addresses are not added to a marketing list. Do not send sensitive personal information unless it is essential to the enquiry.

Contact form

SCRIBE does not embed Jotform on this website. The structured form opens on Jotform in a separate tab only when you choose to follow the link. No Jotform form, script or frame is embedded on SCRIBE pages. When you open the form, Jotform’s own privacy and cookie controls apply. Jotform processes the details you submit so SCRIBE can assess and respond to corrections, source submissions, rights queries, reports and technical problems. SCRIBE uses those details only for the stated purpose and does not add them to a marketing list.

Jotform is configured to delete SCRIBE submissions one year after receipt. Any working email, Drive or audit copy is kept only for the applicable SCRIBE enquiry, correction, rights or legal-record purpose and is reviewed under the separate retention schedule. Do not submit sensitive personal information unless it is essential to the enquiry.

Storage technologies, cookies and analytics

SCRIBE uses Vercel Web Analytics to understand anonymous page views, popular pages and referral patterns. Vercel states that Web Analytics does not use cookies and does not associate analytics events with an individual or IP address. Anonymous data points may include the page URL, timestamp, referrer, approximate location, device type, browser and operating system. The Research Hub also uses browser local storage for onboarding state, signed-out saves and followed lenses, and for the signed-in account session/local sync cache. This functional storage is used to provide features the visitor requests, not for advertising. SCRIBE does not use advertising pixels and does not embed the Jotform form.

External services that you deliberately open—including Jotform, source publishers and future video hosts—may apply their own cookies, local storage or similar technologies on their own domains. Non-essential tracking will not be added to SCRIBE without an appropriate information and consent mechanism.

Your rights

Depending on the processing and lawful basis, you may have rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, objection and data portability. Research Hub account holders can delete the account directly in the Hub; other privacy requests can be made through direct email or the structured contact form. Evidence Brief consent can be withdrawn at any time; before production email delivery starts, use the SCRIBE contact route, and once delivery is enabled every message must include the list-specific unsubscribe link. Where SCRIBE relies on legitimate interests, you may object to that processing and SCRIBE will consider the circumstances and applicable law. You may also raise a concern with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office.

Changes

This notice reflects the live Evidence Brief signup and the provisioned subscriber/unsubscribe infrastructure. Production Evidence Brief delivery remains disabled until the controlled intake, sender identity, delivery provider and unsubscribe path are verified end to end. This notice will be updated before membership, advertising technology or another materially different use of personal information is introduced.