Privacy Policy

How we collect, use, and protect your personal data.

This Privacy Policy explains how shakilr.com ("we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, and protects information about visitors to this website. We are committed to handling your personal data responsibly and in accordance with applicable laws, including the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the U.S. CAN-SPAM Act.

1. Who We Are

This website is operated by Dr. Shakil R., an independent author. You can reach us at shakilr@shakilr.com for any questions about this policy or your data.

2. What Information We Collect

We collect the following categories of information:

• Email address — provided by you when you subscribe to our newsletter or contact us.
• Name — if you choose to provide it when contacting us.
• Message content — anything you send us through a contact form or by email.
• Technical data — standard web server logs, including IP address, browser type, and pages visited. This data is collected by our hosting provider (Netlify) for security and analytics purposes.

We do not collect payment information. Book purchases take place on Amazon or other retailers, and are governed by their own privacy policies.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your information strictly for the purposes you consented to:

• To send you the newsletter — if you subscribe, we use your email address to send the monthly SR Thrillers dispatch.
• To respond to enquiries — if you contact us, we use your email address to reply.
• To improve the website — aggregated, anonymised technical data helps us understand which content is most useful.

We will never sell, rent, trade, or otherwise transfer your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes.

4. Newsletter and Email Marketing

Our newsletter is distributed through Sender.net, a third-party email service provider. When you subscribe:

• You confirm your subscription through a double opt-in confirmation email.
• Your email address is stored securely on Sender.net's servers.
• Every email includes a one-click unsubscribe link.
• When you unsubscribe, your email address is removed from our active list immediately.

You may withdraw your consent at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in any email, or by contacting us at shakilr@shakilr.com.

5. Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)

If you are located in the European Economic Area, our legal basis for processing your personal data is:

• Consent — for sending the newsletter. You provide this consent when you tick the consent box on our signup form and confirm your subscription.
• Legitimate interest — for responding to enquiries and maintaining website security.

6. Cookies and Tracking

This website uses minimal cookies necessary for functionality. We do not use advertising cookies or third-party tracking pixels. Our email service provider may use tracking pixels in emails to record open and click rates, which help us understand engagement and improve the newsletter. You may disable image loading in your email client if you prefer not to be tracked.

7. Data Retention

We retain your email address for as long as you remain subscribed to the newsletter. If you unsubscribe, your address is removed from the active list within 30 days. Contact form messages are retained only as long as needed to respond, and are deleted afterward unless there is an ongoing correspondence.

8. Your Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the following rights:

• Right of access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to rectification — request corrections to inaccurate data.
• Right to erasure — request deletion of your data.
• Right to restrict processing — request limits on how we use your data.
• Right to data portability — request your data in a machine-readable format.
• Right to withdraw consent — unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time.
• Right to lodge a complaint — with your local data protection authority.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at shakilr@shakilr.com. We will respond within 30 days.

9. Data Security

We use industry-standard measures to protect your information, including SSL encryption (HTTPS) across the entire site, secure storage with our email service provider, and restricted access to any personal data we hold. No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure, but we take reasonable steps to safeguard your data.

10. Third-Party Services

The following third-party services process data on our behalf:

• Netlify — website hosting. Privacy policy
• Sender.net — email newsletter delivery. Privacy policy
• GitHub — static asset hosting (images, PDFs). Privacy statement
• Google Fonts — typography. Privacy policy
• Font Awesome — icon library. Privacy policy

11. Children's Privacy

This website is not directed at children under 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so we can delete it.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Continued use of the website after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

13. Contact

For any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, or to exercise your data rights, please contact:

Dr. Shakil R.
shakilr@shakilr.com