Privacy

Effective 15 October 2026

In Lay Terms sets no cookies, carries no advertising, and sells or shares no reader data. It measures a short, fixed list of things about how stories are read, without knowing who you are. If you would rather it did not, you can switch that off on this page.

Who publishes this site

In Lay Terms is an independent publication edited by Ithran Olivacce, Founder & Editor-in-Chief.

In Lay Terms has not yet published the legal entity that operates it. This page will name it once it exists, rather than name something that does not.

No postal address is published yet, for the same reason.

In Lay Terms has not appointed a representative in the European Union. Whether one is required depends on how regularly the publication comes to direct its activities at readers there; the question is open and is recorded rather than answered.

Nor has one been appointed in the United Kingdom, for the same reason and subject to the same open question.

What is stored on your device

No cookies. The site sets none, on any page. A few small items may be kept in this browser’s storage, each only in the situation described:

ilt_distinct_id: A random identifier used so a returning reader is not counted as a new one. It is not derived from anything about you and is never linked to a name or email address. It is created only once measurement is permitted — so if you are reading from the UK or EU/EEA it does not exist unless you allow analytics, and it is deleted if you later withdraw.
ilt_analytics_opt_out: Set only if you turn measurement off on this page. It is the record of that choice.
ilt_analytics_consent: Set only for readers in the UK or EU/EEA, where measurement is off until you allow it. It records your answer — allowed or declined — so you are not asked again.
ilt_analytics_regime: Which of the two sets of rules applies to you: the one where measurement needs your permission, or the one where it does not. It holds that word and nothing else — no country, no location. It is cleared when you close the tab.

Clearing site data in your browser removes them. Doing so does not affect your reading in any way.

What is measured

Reading is measured with PostHog. There is no autocapture, no session recording, no heatmaps, no surveys, and no advertising or cross-site tracking — none of those are switched on, and the site does not load the PostHog SDK that would make them possible. Exactly these events are recorded, and nothing else:

that one of the main pages was opened — the home page, Explore, Series, Start Here or Subscribe — and which of them it was
that a story page was opened, and which story and series it was
that the page was scrolled about halfway through a story
that the page was scrolled to near the end of a story
that the subscribe button was pressed, and where on the site it was
that a subscription was accepted, and where on the site it started
that a subscription attempt failed, why in general terms (for example an invalid address), and where on the site it happened — never the address itself
that a link to the subscription form was pressed, and where on the site it was
that a recommended story or series link was pressed, which module it was in, its position, and which story it pointed to
that an explanation of a term was expanded, and which term it was
that a share control was used, and which one — X, LinkedIn, email, copying the link or your device’s share menu
that the link to email us feedback at the end of a story was pressed, and which story it was — never what you write

Each event is accompanied by:

the address of the page, with anything after the ? removed
the address of the page you arrived from, with anything after the ? removed
whether the screen was phone-, tablet- or desktop-sized
whether the visit was to the live site or to a test environment
if you followed a campaign link, the utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign and utm_content values written in that link

Not collected: your name, your email address, your IP address, your precise location, and anything about what you do on other websites. No attempt is made to identify you, and the random identifier is never joined to a subscriber record.

Measurement events are currently retained for up to 84 months.

Where you are reading from

In Lay Terms is open to readers everywhere, and the rules about measurement are not the same everywhere. So the site asks the hosting platform which country your request arrived from, classifies that into one of two categories, and uses only the category. The country itself is never sent to your browser and never stored, and no location more precise than a country is ever involved. There is no geolocation service, and nothing has been added to the page to work out where you are.

Reading from the UK or the EU/EEA: Measurement is off until you allow it. Before you do, no identifier is created in your browser and no measurement is sent — including for the page you arrive on. You are asked once, plainly, and continuing to read is not taken as an answer. You can change your mind below at any time.
Reading from anywhere else: Measurement is on, described in full above, and you can turn it off below. You are not interrupted to be asked, because you already have the notice and the control.

If your country cannot be determined, In Lay Terms treats you as though consent is required and measures nothing until you say otherwise. Not knowing is not a reason to assume yes.

Why the UK is treated the same as the EU: UK guidance recognises a narrower exception for some purely statistical analytics. This site keeps a persistent identifier in your browser and uses it to tell a returning reader from a new one, which is not clearly within that exception. Rather than rely on one it may not qualify for, In Lay Terms asks.

When something breaks

If a page fails to load, the browser sends a short fault report so the failure is visible to us rather than only to you: the error message, an internal reference that links it to our server logs, and the path of the page it happened on. It carries no identifier and nothing about you, and it is not connected to the measurement above. Without it, a broken page is something only the reader ever sees.

Your choice about measurement

Your current setting, and the control to change it, are shown in the card at the bottom of this page. It applies to this browser on this device.

If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track signal, In Lay Terms honours it automatically, wherever you are reading from. You are not asked — being asked again is a way of not listening — and nothing is recorded.

If you subscribe

Subscribing sends your email address to beehiiv, which delivers the newsletter. Along with it goes the part of the site you subscribed from and, if you arrived by a campaign link, that link’s utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign values — so it is possible to tell which efforts actually bring readers.

Your email address is not written to server logs, is never sent to PostHog, and is not connected to the reading measurement described above. Every email carries an unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing takes effect without needing to contact anyone.

Who else handles this data

Vercel — Hosting and delivery (United States): Standard web-server logs, which include the IP address your request came from, for delivering pages and protecting the site from abuse.
PostHog — Reading measurement (United States): The events listed above, each tagged with a random identifier from your browser. The project is configured to discard IP addresses on arrival, so no location is derived from them.
beehiiv — Newsletter delivery (United States): Your email address and subscription status if you subscribe, plus the delivery record for emails sent to you — whether each was delivered, opened, and which links were clicked.
Sanity — Content management (United States / European Union): The articles themselves. It holds no reader data: your browser never talks to it.

No reader data is sold, rented, or shared for anyone else’s advertising. There are no advertising trackers on this site.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to ask what is held about you, to have it corrected or deleted, and to object to its use. For the newsletter that means your email address, which you can remove yourself at any time using the unsubscribe link in any email. For reading measurement there is no way to look you up — the identifier is random and held only in your browser — so the effective remedies are to switch measurement off above and to clear this site’s data in your browser.

Changes to this notice

If what is described here changes, this page changes with it and the effective date at the top is updated. Material changes will be noted in the newsletter rather than made quietly.

Contact

Questions about this notice, or a request to see, correct or delete what is held about you, go to hello@inlayterms.com.

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