Privacy, analytics, and email

Long Research uses optional behavior analytics to understand which pages are useful, where visitors click, how far they scroll, and how long they actively engage with a page.

Analytics are disabled until a visitor allows them. A declined preference is respected, along with supported Global Privacy Control and Do Not Track browser signals.

When enabled, Microsoft Clarity provides aggregated heatmaps and reconstructed session interactions. Form inputs and dropdown values are masked. Long Research does not intentionally attach names, email addresses, portfolio information, or financial profiles to analytics events.

Visitors can change their choice by clearing site data for edwardlong.net in their browser and returning to the site.

If a visitor submits the weekly digest form, Long Research sends the normalized email address to Buttondown, the email service used to manage confirmation, subscription status, delivery, and unsubscribe requests. Long Research does not store a separate copy of the subscriber list in the website database.

Subscription uses double confirmation. Buttondown sends a confirmation message, and the address is not subscribed until its owner follows the confirmation link. Every digest includes an unsubscribe link.

Buttondown may process the email address, subscription and delivery status, timestamps, and standard request data needed to prevent abuse and deliver email. Confirmation pages and email links may also provide Buttondown with ordinary request information such as an IP address and browser details.

The email address is used only for the Long Research weekly digest and operational messages about that subscription. It is not used to build a financial profile or sold by Long Research.

Visitors who enable research alerts can receive the same release through the in-app inbox, browser push, and a separately confirmed macro-alert email subscription. Long Research stores those alert email subscriptions in its website data store so it can deliver and manage them. This is separate from the Buttondown weekly digest.

To keep read and archived status synchronized, the site uses a signed, essential browser cookie containing a pseudonymous account identifier. The cookie is HTTP-only and does not contain an email address. A confirmed alert email link can associate that browser with a stable, one-way derived identifier so inbox state can follow the subscriber without exposing the address in the browser state.

The alert store may retain notification identifiers, read or archived status, delivery-channel status, timestamps, and a cryptographic hash of a browser push endpoint. This operational data is used to deliver alerts, synchronize state, troubleshoot delivery, and prevent duplicate work. It is not used for advertising or sold by Long Research.

Browser notification permission can be removed in browser settings, and macro-alert emails include an unsubscribe link. Clearing site data removes the browser identity cookie and its local offline copy; previously synchronized server records may remain for operational continuity and abuse prevention.