‐About Living Proof
Living Proof New York LLC (referred to as “we” or “us”) operates a culture magazine and membership platform at livingproofnewyork.com from 153 Centre St, New York, NY 10013. We publish films, archives, books, magazines, and host a community of free and paid members. This policy explains what information we collect when you visit the site, sign up for our mailing list, or become a member, how we use that information, who we share it with, and what choices you have. If anything here is unclear or you have a question, write to [email protected].
‐What we collect and why
We collect information directly from you when you sign up for our mailing list, register for a free or paid membership, comment on a post, send a direct message, or fill out a contact form. Depending on what you do, this may include your email address, your name, an encrypted password, a postal shipping address (only if you choose a tier that ships a physical magazine or book), the content of any comment or message you send, and a timestamp of the interaction together with the IP address and browser user-agent it originated from. We also collect information automatically when you visit the site: standard web-server logs covering your IP address, the page you requested, when you requested it, and the referring page, plus aggregated playback telemetry from our video and audio provider when you stream a piece of media.
We use this information to operate the site and the membership platform, to fulfil the contract you enter into when you sign up for a paid tier (including charging your card and shipping physical items), to maintain the suppression and consent records the law requires us to keep, to investigate abuse and fraud, and to occasionally email you about new releases or material changes to this policy. We do not use your information to build advertising profiles, we do not sell it, and we do not share it with third-party ad networks.
If you were previously a patron of Triumph: Icons of Rap on Patreon (formerly Banlieue: Suburbs of Paris) and you sign up for an account here using the same email address, we link your old patronage to your new account so your tier and history carry over. We pull that information from the Patreon API on a read-only basis; we never push anything back to Patreon.
‐Payments
All payments are processed by Stripe. When you enter your card details they are submitted directly to Stripe through an embedded form; we never receive, see, or store your full card number, CVC, or expiration date. Stripe returns to us a customer token and a subscription identifier, which we use to renew your membership on each billing cycle and to display the last four digits of your card on your account page. Apple Pay and Google Pay, where available, route through Stripe in the same way and do not add any additional processor. If you want to update or delete your payment details, the change happens directly inside the Stripe-hosted form on your account page; we have no way to modify the underlying card data.
‐Cookies and tracking
We use a small number of strictly functional cookies: a login session cookie when you log in, a shopping-cart cookie if you buy something through the store, and a marker that records when you have completed mailing-list verification. We do not currently use any analytics product that sets a tracking cookie or builds a behavioural profile, and we do not run third-party advertising pixels or trackers. If we add analytics in the future we will use a cookie-less, privacy-respecting tool (such as Plausible) where possible, and we will update this policy before doing so. The web-server logs and CDN logs described above are not joined to your account unless we are investigating a specific security incident.
‐Who we share data with
We use a small set of established service providers to actually run the site, and they only see the information they need to do their job. Stripe processes payments. Brevo sends our transactional email (account verification, password reset, mailing-list welcome). Mailchimp is planned for bulk newsletter sending and is not yet active. DreamHost hosts the site and the database. Cloudflare provides our CDN and DDoS protection and sees the IP and request metadata of every visitor at the edge. Bunny.net serves our video and audio files and sees the IP of the device requesting playback. ShipStation receives the name and shipping address of members on physical-shipping tiers so we can mail their magazine or book. Patreon is a read-only source of historical patron data and never receives anything from us. None of these providers are authorised to use your information for their own marketing or to share it onward, beyond what is necessary to provide their service to us.
Beyond these service providers, we will only share your information with a third party if we are legally required to do so (for example, in response to a valid court order or subpoena), if it is necessary to investigate fraud, abuse, or a threat to safety, or in the context of a corporate transaction such as a merger or asset sale (in which case the recipient would be bound by terms at least as protective as this policy).
‐How long we keep things
We keep your mailing-list email for as long as you are subscribed; after you unsubscribe we erase the technical opt-in records (IP, user-agent) immediately and keep only the email itself on a suppression list so we do not accidentally re-add you. We keep your member account for as long as it exists; if you delete it from the Account page, we soft-delete it immediately and permanently erase it after a 30-day window (the window exists so accidental deletions can be reversed). We keep payment records for as long as tax and anti-fraud law requires (Stripe’s retention is typically five to seven years; we keep only the Stripe identifier on our side, on the same schedule). Comments and direct messages are kept indefinitely unless you ask us to delete them. Server logs are kept for roughly thirty to ninety days, per DreamHost’s standard rotation.
‐Your rights
Wherever you live, you can ask us to show you the information we hold about you, correct anything that is wrong (most of which you can edit directly inside your account), delete your account, unsubscribe from any of our mailing lists (every email we send carries an unsubscribe link), or object to a particular use of your information. If you are resident in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, you additionally have the right to receive your data in a portable, machine-readable format and the right to lodge a complaint with your national supervisory authority (in the United Kingdom that is the ICO; in the EEA it is your country’s data-protection authority). If you are resident in California you have the equivalent rights under the CCPA, including the right to know what categories of personal information we have collected in the past twelve months — those categories are listed in the “What we collect” section above. To exercise any of these rights, email [email protected] and we will respond within thirty days.
‐EU members and GDPR Article 27
Living Proof New York LLC is based in the United States. We do not currently have a designated EU representative under GDPR Article 27. EU and EEA members can address GDPR-related inquiries directly to [email protected] and we will respond within thirty days. As our international audience grows we may appoint a formal Article 27 representative; if and when we do, this section will be updated. None of this limits the rights you have under GDPR, including the right to access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, portability, and the right to lodge a complaint with your national supervisory authority.
‐International transfers
Because our hosting, CDN, payments processor, and most of our communications providers are US-based, signing up means your information is transferred to and stored in the United States. Our transactional email service Brevo is in the European Union, and our media provider Bunny.net operates globally. Where the law requires it, we rely on the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses (or the equivalent UK addendum) as the legal mechanism for these transfers.
‐Security
The site runs over HTTPS only. Passwords are hashed at rest and never stored in clear text. Payment data lives entirely with Stripe under PCI DSS controls. We do not access your direct messages unless you report a problem or we are investigating abuse. No online service is perfectly secure; if you believe you have discovered a vulnerability, please write to [email protected] and we will respond promptly.
‐Children
This site is directed at an adult audience and is not aimed at children under thirteen. We do not knowingly collect information from children under thirteen; if you believe we have, write to [email protected] and we will delete it.
‐Changes to this policy
If we make a material change to this policy — for example, adding a new sub-processor, changing how long we keep something, or adding a new use of information — we will update this page and send a notification email to verified mailing-list subscribers and active members. Minor clarifying edits will not trigger an email but will be reflected in the “Last updated” line below.
‐Contact
For anything privacy-related, and for account help, write to [email protected]. Postal mail can be sent to Living Proof New York LLC, 153 Centre St, New York, NY 10013.
Last updated May 11, 2026