Privacy Policy
- Who we are
- What we collect
- What we do not do
- Third parties
- Legal basis
- Retention
- Your rights
- Children
- Security
- Changes
- Contact
Who we are
StudentStack is a directory of student deals on AI and software tools, run by Woosung Choi and Yoonwoo Lee, two college students. It is not a company and has no employees. When this policy says "we", it means the two of us. We are the data controller for the small amount of personal information described below.
What we collect, and why
We designed the site to need as little as possible. There are no accounts, no passwords, no comments, no uploads, and no advertising trackers. Here is everything, in full.
1. The email list (only if you subscribe)
| Data | Why | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Your email address | To send the newsletter you asked for | Buttondown, the email service we use (United States) |
The page you subscribed from (for example /deals/notion) | To learn which pages people find useful | Stored with your subscription in Buttondown |
| Your IP address at the moment you subscribed | Spam prevention and a record that you subscribed yourself | Sent to Buttondown as part of the subscription record |
| A hidden "honeypot" field and a timing check | To reject automated bots | Checked and discarded, never stored |
Subscribing is the only way onto the list, and it takes two steps: you enter your address, then click the confirmation link we email you. Nothing is sent until you do. We never buy, scrape, or import addresses, and we never add anyone who emailed us for another reason. Every email we send carries an unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing takes effect immediately.
2. Site analytics (everyone)
We use Cloudflare Web Analytics to see how many people visit and which pages they read. It is a cookieless service: it sets no cookies, stores nothing on your device, and does not follow you to other sites. It records the page URL, the referring site, your browser and device type, the country your connection appears to come from, and page-speed measurements. We see only aggregate counts, never an individual visitor.
3. Hosting logs (everyone)
The site is served by Cloudflare. Like every web host, Cloudflare processes your IP address and request details to deliver pages and block abuse, under Cloudflare's privacy policy. We do not run our own server logs and do not store visitor IP addresses ourselves.
4. Browser storage (everyone)
The site keeps one small value in your browser's local storage: a flag recording that you closed the "we email when prices change" bar, so it stays closed. It never leaves your device, does not identify you, and clearing your browser data removes it. Web addresses on this site carry parameters only to select browse filters, redirect old deal links, and pick the product on the checkout page; they are not stored or forwarded as tracking data. Details are in the Cookie Policy.
5. Purchases (only if we ever sell something)
Nothing is for sale on StudentStack today. The site contains a checkout page for possible future "lifetime deal" offers. If we ever enable one, PayPal would process the payment under its own privacy policy; we would receive the order ID, the item bought, and the email address PayPal shares for the receipt, and keep that record for accounting. We would never see or store card numbers or your PayPal password. This policy will be updated before any such offer goes live.
6. Email you send us
If you write to us, we keep the message for as long as needed to answer it and to keep a record of what was agreed.
What we do not do
- We do not sell, rent, or share your personal information with anyone for their own marketing, and never have. In the words of the California Consumer Privacy Act, we do not "sell" or "share" personal information.
- We do not use advertising pixels, retargeting, or cross-site tracking of any kind.
- We do not collect biometric data, precise location, government IDs, or payment card numbers.
- We do not make automated decisions about you or build profiles of you.
- We serve fonts and company logos from our own domain, so reading this site does not create requests to Google or other third parties on your behalf.
Third parties we rely on
| Service | Role | Data it handles |
|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare | Hosting, security, cookieless analytics | IP address and request details in transit; aggregate analytics |
| Buttondown | Sending the newsletter | Email address, subscription source page, IP at signup |
| PayPal | Payment processing, only if a purchase is ever offered | Payment details, handled entirely by PayPal |
Every deal on the site links to the company's own website. Once you leave StudentStack, that company's privacy policy applies, and some of those links are affiliate links that may let the company know you arrived from us.
Legal basis and international transfers
If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or another place with similar rules: we process your email address on the basis of your consent, which you can withdraw at any time by unsubscribing; we process analytics and security data on the basis of our legitimate interest in running a working, safe website. Our services are located in the United States, so your data is processed there.
How long we keep things
- Email list: until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete you. Buttondown keeps a minimal unsubscribe record so we can honor your choice.
- Analytics: held by Cloudflare in aggregate form; we keep no individual-level analytics.
- Purchase records, if any ever exist: seven years, for accounting.
- Email correspondence: as long as needed to resolve it.
Your rights and choices
- Unsubscribe from the email list at any time using the link in any email.
- Access, correct, or delete the information we hold about you by contacting us. We will confirm your identity by replying to the email address on file, and act within 30 days.
- California residents have the right to know what personal information we collect and how it is used (it is all on this page), to delete it, and not to be discriminated against for exercising those rights. We do not sell or share personal information, so there is nothing to opt out of.
- Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control: we do not track you across sites, so these signals change nothing; the site already behaves as if they were on.
- Complaints: if you are in the EEA or UK you can complain to your data-protection authority; we would rather hear from you first.
Children
StudentStack is written for college and university students and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13, and the email list requires you to be at least 16. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.
Security
The whole site is served over HTTPS. Service credentials are held in Cloudflare's encrypted environment, never in our code. We keep no database of visitors. The realistic risks are the ones inherent in any email service, and we have chosen a provider that supports one-click unsubscribe and data deletion.
Changes to this policy
If we change what we collect, we will update this page and the effective date at the top before the change takes effect. Material changes to the email list will also be announced in the newsletter itself.
Contact
Email is the fastest route for any privacy, copyright, or accuracy request. A dedicated address for StudentStack is being set up; until it is listed here, reply to any email StudentStack has sent you, and it reaches us. We answer within 10 business days, usually much sooner.