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Privacy policy
How we handle your information when you read, subscribe, contribute, or work with Strictly Internal.
Last updated — October 9, 2026
At a glance
- Optiversion AS in Norway operates SI and is responsible for the information described here.
- We use subscription details to send the newsletters you request. Optional profile answers and engagement information can help personalize them, including country-specific editions.
- Optional engagement tracking needs the consent explained below. You can withdraw consent, unsubscribe, or ask about your information at Email us.
- Sponsors receive aggregate campaign statistics, not our subscriber list or individual reading histories.
- We use providers including Beehiiv, Stripe, and Attio. Some information is processed outside Europe.
- We keep information for the periods described below. We do not collect CVs or job applications; linked providers handle applications and bookings.
Introduction
Strictly Internal publishes articles, newsletters, a job board, a third-party Calendar, a courses and training overview, and research for internal communications practitioners. This policy explains how we handle personal information when you read our website, subscribe, contact us, contribute, take part in research, or work with us commercially.
Who is responsible
Strictly Internal is operated by Optiversion AS, a company registered in Norway, organization number 921 882 246, at Eiler Baanruds veg 2, 2212 Kongsvinger, Norway. Optiversion AS is the controller responsible for the personal information described here.
For questions or requests about your information, email Email us or write to the address above.
Information we collect
Newsletter subscriptions. We collect your email address, subscription status, signup source, preferences, and records of your consent and unsubscribe requests. Our email provider also processes information needed to deliver messages, including delivery failures and spam complaints.
Optional subscriber questions. After subscribing, you may be invited to tell us your name, country, organization, career level, content interests, purchasing role, investment plans, and other information you choose to share. You are already subscribed at this point and can skip the questionnaire. Some questions may need answers if you choose to submit it. These answers are connected to your subscriber profile; this questionnaire is not anonymous.
Messages and commercial enquiries. When you contact us, submit a job, event, course, or training opportunity, or discuss sponsorship, we collect the details you provide. These may include your name, work email, role, organization, message, listing information, and our correspondence. If you buy a placement or another agreed service, we also keep the order, billing, payment-status, and accounting information needed to manage it.
Payments and paid services. We use Stripe for sponsorship and paid-placement payments and for any paid subscriptions, memberships, or products we introduce. We and Stripe process the contact, billing, order, and transaction information needed to take payment, administer the purchase, prevent fraud, handle refunds or disputes, and meet legal requirements. For recurring services, we also keep subscription status and billing information needed to manage renewals and cancellations.
Contributions and practitioner profiles. If you contribute an article, interview, case, or other material, we handle your contact details, correspondence, submitted material, and the biography, portrait, attribution, or professional details agreed for publication. Published information can be read, shared, and indexed by search engines.
Research and reports. A research questionnaire may collect professional background, responsibilities, compensation, skills, working practices, and opinions. Each study has its own participant notice explaining what is collected, whether answers can be linked to you, who can access them, and how long they are retained. If you request a report or an update, we collect the contact details needed to provide it.
Technical information. Our hosting and service providers process information such as IP addresses, browser and device details, requested pages, timestamps, and error or security logs to deliver and protect the website. Analytics and email measurement are explained below.
Information from public sources. We may collect professional information from employer websites, published job listings, event pages, course and training directories, and other public professional sources when preparing listings, reporting, or relevant business enquiries. This can include a named contact's role and business contact details. We do not treat public availability as permission for unrestricted reuse. Where required, we provide the person with information about our use and the source.
We do not collect CVs or job applications. Apply through the employer or recruiter linked in the listing. Registrations and bookings for listed events, courses, and training are handled by the relevant third-party provider, not SI.
Please do not send confidential employer information, another person's private information, or sensitive personal information unless we have agreed a suitable way to handle it.
How and why we use information
Where European or UK data protection law applies, we use the following legal bases:
| Purpose | Information used | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Send the newsletter and optional email updates you requested | Email address, signup and consent records, preferences | Consent |
| Understand the professional audience and make publishing more relevant | Optional subscriber questionnaire answers | Consent to the uses explained on the questionnaire |
| Respond to enquiries and review proposed listings or contributions | Contact details, messages, submitted material | Legitimate interests in running the publication and responding to people; steps toward a contract when you request a paid service |
| Process payments and deliver purchased services, including any paid subscription, membership, or product | Order, contact, billing, transaction, and subscription-status information | Contract where you are the contracting party; legitimate interests in administering a business contract where you represent an organization |
| Maintain business relationships | Professional contact details and relevant correspondence | Legitimate interests in managing those relationships, subject to applicable marketing rules |
| Publish agreed contributions and professional profiles | Material and attribution intended for publication | Contract where processing is necessary to perform our agreement with you; otherwise legitimate interests in publishing professional reporting and agreed attribution, subject to applicable journalism rules; consent for optional uses for which we request it |
| Prepare public-source listings and professional reporting | Relevant public professional information and named business contacts | Legitimate interests in providing useful professional listings and reporting, subject to a purpose-specific assessment and applicable journalism rules |
| Measure newsletter engagement and sponsored-link performance | Subscriber-linked open and click events and associated technical information | Consent for optional subscriber-linked engagement measurement; legitimate interests for necessary delivery, security, and fraud-prevention records, subject to any applicable tracking-consent requirement |
| Personalize newsletter content using engagement | Subscriber preferences, optional profile details, and identifiable engagement | Consent for engagement-based personalization and optional profile information; consent to the requested newsletter for the preferences you select |
| Carry out research | Answers and any separately collected contact details | The legal basis specified in the study notice; consent for voluntary identifiable survey participation unless that notice establishes another lawful basis |
| Deliver a requested report | Contact details and request record | Legitimate interests in fulfilling your request, or contract where applicable; separate consent for subsequent marketing |
| Operate and secure the website; measure website readership and signup country where accepted | Technical logs and service information | Legitimate interests for reliable delivery and security; consent for optional website analytics and approximate signup-country collection |
| Meet accounting, tax, and other legal duties | Relevant transaction and business records | Legal obligation |
| Handle complaints and establish or defend legal claims | Relevant correspondence and records | Legitimate interests in protecting legal rights, or legal obligation where applicable |
When we rely on legitimate interests, we consider your rights and reasonable expectations. You can object to that processing. You can withdraw consent at any time; this does not affect processing that was lawful before withdrawal.
Your email address is needed to send the newsletter. Other required fields are identified where we ask for them. Without information necessary for an enquiry, purchase, or submission, we may be unable to complete it. Optional professional questions are not a condition of newsletter subscription.
Newsletter delivery and measurement
We use Beehiiv to manage subscriptions, send newsletters, and record preferences, consent, delivery, and unsubscribe information. Moving our public website to a different platform does not by itself change your newsletter subscription or the choices you have made.
Beehiiv measures email opens through a small tracking image and clicks through tracked links. These events can be linked to your subscriber profile and include interaction times and technical information such as IP-derived location and browser or device details. We use this information to understand readership and editorial and sponsored-link performance. Email privacy features and automated security checks can create events without a person reading or clicking. The website privacy choice does not control email measurement or provide consent for it.
We may use your stated preferences, optional professional profile information and newsletter engagement to group subscribers and personalize newsletter content or messages, including country-specific editions. Country may come from an answer you provide, an approximate Cloudflare lookup if you accept website analytics and subscribe, or Beehiiv email measurement. Inferred locations can be inaccurate. Our signup lookup does not overwrite the country you enter in the questionnaire. This processing concerns our publication; it does not determine employment, credit or other similarly significant outcomes.
Contact contact@strictlyinternal.com to discuss email measurement, withdraw consent or object to direct-marketing profiling. We handle these requests individually and explain which controls Beehiiv supports and how the request affects delivery. Necessary delivery, security, unsubscribe and consent records are separate. Consent to receive a newsletter does not by itself authorize unrelated advertising, third-party marketing or tracking.
You can unsubscribe through the link in each newsletter or contact Email us. Unsubscribing stops newsletter messages. We may retain a limited suppression record so we do not add you back by mistake, along with records needed to document your choices. Unsubscribing is different from requesting deletion of other information we hold.
Research, sponsors, and data sharing
We publish research findings in aggregate form and take steps to avoid identifying participants through small groups or combinations of answers. We do not call a study anonymous if identifiers, logs, or answer combinations allow responses to be linked to a person.
We give sponsors aggregate campaign statistics: newsletter open rates, click rates, website pageviews, and ad clicks. We do not give them our subscriber list, identifiable research answers, or records showing which individual read or clicked a particular item.
We withhold or combine statistics where small groups or other details could reasonably identify a person.
We do not give sponsors personal information for their own marketing.
A report request or survey response does not subscribe you to a sponsor's emails. A named quote or case is published only on the basis explained and agreed for that contribution.
Service providers and other recipients
Webflow hosts our public website and CMS and receives and stores form submissions. Beehiiv manages subscribers, preferences, suppression, newsletter delivery and the email measurement described above. Vercel and Supabase run our private signup-transfer service and hold encrypted working records and operational history. Cloudflare provides Turnstile form protection, serves our privacy-control files and, only after website acceptance and signup, estimates country. PostHog provides optional website measurement through our US Cloud project. Google Workspace and Composio support business email and internal transfer-failure notices, which can include the submitted contact details and answers needed to investigate a problem.
Stripe handles agreed payments and Attio supports commercial relationship management. Providers receive information needed for their role. A study notice identifies any additional research provider relevant to that study. Contact us for details about providers handling your information.
Beehiiv processes subscriber information on our instructions for core newsletter services. It also processes some information for its own purposes, including service security and any applicable optional features, as explained in its privacy policy. Our policy remains the notice for our own use of your information.
Stripe processes payment information to provide payment services and, where applicable, for its own purposes such as fraud prevention and legal compliance, as explained in its privacy policy. Stripe collects payment credentials through its payment services. We receive information needed to administer your purchase, such as billing details, payment status, transaction references, subscription status, and limited payment-method details, rather than your full payment-card number or security code.
We may disclose relevant information to professional advisers, authorities, or other recipients when necessary to comply with law or establish, exercise, or defend legal rights. If Strictly Internal is sold or reorganized, relevant records may transfer to the new operator under appropriate safeguards. We would explain any material change to the controller or use of your information; a transfer does not remove your rights or create new marketing consent.
International processing
Some providers may process information outside the European Economic Area or the UK. Where required, we use a recognized adequacy decision or appropriate safeguards, such as the European Commission's standard contractual clauses and the relevant UK mechanism, with additional measures where necessary.
Our Supabase operational database is hosted in the EU. This does not mean every copy stays in Europe: Webflow, Beehiiv, Vercel, Cloudflare, Google, Composio and their service providers may process information internationally, including in the United States. Our PostHog project uses US Cloud. Beehiiv's data protection addendum includes standard contractual clauses and the UK addendum where required. Stripe and other providers can also process information internationally.
Contact Email us for information about the safeguards applicable to your data, including how to obtain a copy.
How long we keep information
We retain personal information for the periods or criteria below. Where a legal duty or specific legal claim requires longer retention, we restrict the retained information to that purpose.
| Record | Retention |
|---|---|
| Active newsletter profile and optional subscriber answers | During your subscription, with an annual review of unnecessary optional profile details; after unsubscribe, we normally remove optional answers and unnecessary working copies within 90 days. Minimal consent and suppression records are handled separately |
| Newsletter open/click events | Normally up to 12 months for identifiable history used by SI to assess readership and campaign performance, after which we remove it or retain aggregate statistics instead |
| Consent and suppression records | Consent evidence during the period we rely on it and normally for three years after withdrawal, unless an identified legal need requires longer. Minimal suppression information is kept while needed to prevent renewed contact or reimport into our mailing list, with annual review; it is not used to resume marketing |
| General enquiries and unsuccessful listing/contribution proposals | Normally 12 months after the matter closes; longer only for an identified legal or contractual need |
| Commercial contacts and correspondence | During an active relationship; dormant prospect records are normally removed 24 months after the last relevant interaction, unless an identified legal or contractual need justifies longer |
| Invoices and primary accounting records | Normally five years after the end of the relevant financial year under Norwegian bookkeeping rules; other records follow their applicable statutory period |
| Contracts and dispute records | While needed to perform the agreement and handle applicable legal claims, with only necessary records retained |
| Published articles, profiles, and agreed attribution | While maintained as part of the editorial archive, subject to applicable rights and editorial/legal review |
| Identifiable research answers and study contact information | The period stated in each study's participant notice |
| Website logs, form records and optional website analytics | The 180-day browser privacy choice is not an analytics-deletion period. Our current PostHog paid plan provides seven years of event history; this is not a promise of automatic deletion at that point. Withdrawal stops new collection and clears browser analytics identifiers but does not itself delete earlier events. Contact us about information already collected or a deletion request. Routine technical logs controlled by SI are normally kept for no more than 90 days unless a specific security incident or legal need requires longer. Enquiry records follow the enquiry period above; newsletter form and working records follow the subscription purposes above. Providers may retain separate security and legal records under their policies. |
| Backups | Until overwritten or deleted through the provider's backup cycle; information awaiting removal is restricted from ordinary use, and deletions are reapplied if a backup is restored |
We may keep properly anonymized research and aggregate statistics for longer because they no longer identify you.
Your choices and rights
Depending on the law and circumstances, you can ask to access your personal information, correct it, delete it, restrict its use, or receive a portable copy. You can withdraw consent and object to processing based on legitimate interests. You can object to direct marketing at any time, including related profiling.
Some rights have exceptions. For example, we may need to retain accounting records, and requests concerning published journalism may require us to consider freedom of expression, public interest, and other people's rights. We will explain any applicable restriction.
Send requests to Email us. We may ask for proportionate information to confirm your identity. We normally respond within one month under European and UK data protection law; if a lawful extension is needed, we explain why. Requests are normally free of charge.
You can complain to a relevant data protection authority, including Datatilsynet in Norway, CNIL in France, or the authority where you live or work. In the UK, you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office. You do not need to contact us before making a complaint.
Our newsletter segmentation and personalization do not make decisions about employment, credit, eligibility for public services, or other matters with legal or similarly significant effects. We do not operate an automated job-application or candidate-selection service.
Security and younger readers
We use appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect information and limit access to people who need it for their work. No online system can guarantee absolute security.
Strictly Internal is a professional publication. Our subscription, submission, research, and commercial services are intended for adults aged 18 or over. If you believe a child has provided personal information, contact Email us so we can investigate and take appropriate action.
Changes to this policy
We update this page when our practices change and show the date above. For material changes affecting people whose information we hold, we provide an appropriate notice. Where a new use requires consent, we ask for it; continued use of the website does not substitute for that consent.