Last updated: October 14, 2026
This policy explains what deprogrammer.org (“we”, “us”) collects when you visit the site, including the Deprogramming channel network at deprogrammer.org/network, what we do with it, and the choices you have. We keep it short and specific. We do not sell your personal information.
1. What we collect
If you create a Deprogramming account
An account is optional. You can browse and watch everything without one. If you sign in, we store:
- Your email address and name. With Google sign-in, Google tells us your name, email address and an account identifier after you agree on Google’s screen. We don’t receive your Google password or anything else from your Google account. With the email option, we only have the address you type in.
- What you choose in the network: the channels you follow, the videos you save for later, and how you’ve arranged the page with “Edit this page”.
- A sign-in cookie that keeps you signed in on that browser until you sign out.
There is no password. Email sign-in links work once and expire after 20 minutes. Your profile picture, if shown, comes from Gravatar based on your email address.
If you suggest a channel
The suggestion form collects the channel, a category, your reason and, only if you give it, your email address so we can let you know what we decided. To stop spam we also keep a one-way hash of your IP address and your browser’s user-agent string, and we erase both after 30 days. Submissions are checked for spam by Akismet (Automattic).
If you subscribe to email updates
Newsletter subscriptions are handled by Jetpack and WordPress.com (Automattic), which store your email address and send a confirmation email before anything else. Every email has an unsubscribe link. Signing in to the network never subscribes you unless you tick the box for it.
When you visit any page
- Analytics. We use Google Analytics and Jetpack Stats to count visits and see which parts of the site are used: pages viewed, which videos are played, filters chosen, rough location, device and browser type, and the site that referred you. We use this only to improve the site.
- Videos. Videos play from YouTube in its privacy-enhanced mode (youtube-nocookie.com). When you press play, YouTube receives your IP address and may set cookies under Google’s privacy policy. Thumbnails and channel images are loaded from YouTube’s servers.
- Server logs. Our host keeps standard web server logs (IP address, time, page requested) for security and troubleshooting.
2. How we use it
- To run your account: sign you in, and remember your follows and saved videos.
- To send the emails you ask for: sign-in links, and the newsletter if you subscribe.
- To review channel suggestions and keep spam out.
- To understand how the site is used and make it better.
- To keep the site secure and meet legal obligations.
3. Who else handles it
We share information only with the services that run the site: our web host (Namecheap), Google (sign-in, Analytics, YouTube), and Automattic (Jetpack, WordPress.com subscriptions, Akismet, Gravatar). Each uses it under its own privacy policy. We may also disclose information if the law requires it. We don’t sell or rent personal information, and we don’t share it for advertising.
4. Cookies
We use a sign-in cookie if you have an account, and analytics cookies. If you don’t have an account, your light or dark theme and your “Edit this page” layout are remembered in your browser’s local storage and never sent to us. YouTube may set cookies when you play a video. You can manage analytics cookies with the cookie banner, and block or delete cookies in your browser. If you block cookies you can still browse, but you won’t stay signed in.
5. How long we keep it
- Account data: until you delete your account. Up to 200 saved videos are kept.
- Suggestions: kept as a record of what was suggested; the IP hash and browser details are erased after 30 days.
- Newsletter: until you unsubscribe.
- Analytics: under Google Analytics’ and Jetpack’s own retention settings.
6. Your choices and rights
- Delete your account yourself: sign in, open the account menu (your picture, top right) and choose “Delete my account”. Your email address, name, follows and saved videos are removed straight away.
- Unsubscribe from any email with the link at the bottom.
- Ask for a copy, a correction or deletion of anything else we hold about you, such as a suggestion you sent, using the contact form below. Depending on where you live (for example California, the EU or the UK), you may have further rights to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to the use of your data, and to complain to a data protection authority. We’ll honor these requests wherever you live.
7. Security
The site runs over HTTPS. Sign-in links are random, single-use and short-lived, and only a hash of each link is stored. No method of storage or transmission is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable care to protect what we hold.
8. Where your data is processed
The site is run from, and hosted in, the United States. If you visit from elsewhere, your information is transferred to and processed in the United States.
9. Children
The site is not intended for anyone under 18, and we don’t knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we’ll delete it.
10. Changes
If we change this policy we’ll update the date at the top. If a change affects account holders significantly, we’ll say so on the network page.
11. Contact
Questions or requests about your data: