Privacy Policy

Effective Date: May 15, 2025
Last Updated: April 7, 2026

We respect your privacy and are committed to being transparent about the information we collect and how it is used. This Privacy Policy explains how your information is collected, used, and protected when you visit our website, sign up for our newsletter, participate in our events (including Above the Canal Experiences), or use any of our services.

1. Information We Collect

Voluntarily Provided

Email address: Collected when you sign up for our newsletter or register for an event
Phone number: Collected when you opt in to receive SMS notifications related to your participation in events or services. Providing your phone number is always optional and is never a condition of any purchase or service.
Name and other profile information: Collected when you complete a subscriber survey, register for an event, or fill out a form on our website

Automatically Collected (via tracking and analytics tools)

We and our third-party service providers may collect:

IP address
Browser and device type
Operating system
Pages visited and time spent on site
Scroll depth and click interactions
Referral source
Interactions with forms, buttons, and navigation elements
Campaign tracking parameters (UTM codes)
Approximate geographic region
Session recordings and heatmap data (anonymized)
Newsletter subscriber identifiers passed via link decoration when you click through from our emails to our website

2. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

Send our newsletter
Provide event-related services and communications (including Above the Canal Experiences event confirmations, reminders, venue details, and updates)
Improve website performance and user experience through analytics and behavior analysis
Measure marketing campaign performance
Match newsletter subscriber activity to website browsing sessions for internal analytics purposes
Identify website usability issues through session recordings and heatmaps

SMS Notifications

We send SMS notifications only to users who have explicitly opted in. These messages may include:

Event confirmations
Event reminders
Venue details and updates
Important service-related notifications
Occasional promotional messages about upcoming events

SMS Privacy: Mobile opt-in data and consent will not be shared with or sold to any third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. No mobile information will be shared with third parties or lead generators at any time.

We do not sell or share your personal data with third parties for their own marketing purposes.

3. Email & SMS Delivery

We use third-party providers to deliver communications:

Email: We use Listmonk (self-hosted) with Amazon Simple Email Service (SES) to send our newsletter and transactional emails. Amazon Web Services processes your data solely for the purpose of delivering emails on our behalf.
SMS: We use Twilio and Telnyx to deliver text messages. These providers process your phone number and message data solely for the purpose of delivering messages you have opted into.

These providers store and process your data solely for the purpose of delivering communications you have opted into.

4. Website Analytics and Tracking

Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

We use Google Analytics 4 to collect data including:

Page views and navigation paths
Session duration and engagement time
Click interactions with links, buttons, and other elements
Scroll depth
Device type and browser
Geographic region (approximate)
Traffic source and referral data
Newsletter signup conversions
Custom events (outbound link clicks, form submissions, file downloads)

Google Analytics uses cookies and similar technologies. Learn more: policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites

Google Tag Manager (GTM)

We use Google Tag Manager to manage analytics tags and tracking scripts deployed on our website. GTM itself does not collect personal data but facilitates the deployment of tools that may.

Microsoft Clarity

We use Microsoft Clarity to understand how visitors interact with our website. Clarity collects:

Session recordings (anonymized replays of user interactions)
Heatmaps (aggregated click, scroll, and attention data)
Dead click and rage click detection
Scroll depth tracking

Microsoft may use anonymized data from Clarity to improve its products and services. Learn more: clarity.microsoft.com/terms

Newsletter Subscriber Identification via Link Decoration

When you click a link in our newsletter, the URL may contain an identifier (such as a hashed subscriber ID) that allows us to associate your website browsing session with your newsletter subscriber profile. This helps us understand which content our subscribers engage with most. This data is used solely for internal analytics and is not shared with third parties for marketing purposes.

5. Facebook Ads and Tracking

We use Meta tools such as the Facebook Pixel and Conversions API to measure ad performance. These tools may collect:

IP address
Device and browser data
Pages visited and interactions
Referral and campaign data

See Meta's privacy policy: facebook.com/policy.php

6. Cloudflare

Our website is served through Cloudflare, which may collect limited technical data (such as IP addresses and request headers) for the purposes of security, performance optimization, and bot protection. Cloudflare's privacy policy: cloudflare.com/privacypolicy

7. Your Choices

Unsubscribe (Email): Use the unsubscribe link in any email
SMS Opt-Out: Reply STOP to any message to unsubscribe from text messages. You will receive a final confirmation message.
SMS Help: Reply HELP for assistance or contact Mike@AboveTheCanal.com
Cookies: Manage via your browser settings
Ad Preferences: facebook.com/adpreferences
Google Analytics Opt-Out: Install the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

8. Data Security

We take reasonable measures to protect your information, including using encrypted connections (HTTPS), secure email delivery infrastructure, and access controls on our databases. However, no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

9. Data Retention

We retain your personal data for as long as you remain a subscriber or event participant. If you unsubscribe or request deletion, we will remove your data from active systems within a reasonable timeframe. Certain data may be retained as required by law or for legitimate business purposes (such as honoring opt-out requests).

10. Children's Privacy

Our services are not directed to individuals under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The “Last Updated” date at the top reflects the most recent revision.

12. Contact

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, please use our contact form.