Privacy Policy of Black Metal Zine

Here you find how we handle your information.

Privacy Policy of Black Metal Zine
Photo by Elliott Engelmann / Unsplash

Last Updated: November 22, 2025

Black Metal Zine ("we," "us," or "our") operates the website https://blackmetalzine.com (the "Service"). This page informs you of our policies regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of Personal Information when you use our Service and the choices you have associated with that data.

We use your data to provide and improve the Service. By using the Service, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy.

1. Information Collection and Use

We collect several different types of information for various purposes to provide and improve our Service to you.

1.1 Personal Data

While using our Service, we may ask you to provide us with certain personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify you ("Personal Data"). Personally identifiable information we collect includes:

  • Account Registration Data:
    • Email address (Required for account creation and login).
    • Name (Optional, provided by you).
    • Password (Encrypted/hashed, used solely for authentication and kept confidential).
  • User Contributions: Any data you voluntarily submit, such as comments on articles or reviews.
  • Newsletter Preference: Your consent status regarding receiving our newsletter.
  • Payment Information (for Supporter Tier): We do not directly store your full credit card details. We store transaction details, such as the date, amount, and a secure payment ID linked to your Supporter subscription.

1.2 Usage Data

We also collect information about how the Service is accessed and used ("Usage Data"). This Usage Data may include information such as your computer's Internet Protocol address (IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of our Service that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers, and other diagnostic data.

1.3 Tracking & Usage Analysis

We use cookies and similar technologies primarily for session management, and we use a non-cookie-based analytics tool provided by our platform, Ghost, for usage analysis.

  • Cookies: Cookies are files with a small amount of data which may include an anonymous unique identifier. We use cookies strictly to manage your login session and store functional preferences (e.g., dark mode settings).
  • Usage Analysis (Non-Cookie Based): We use the built-in analytics feature of the Ghost platform. This tool collects Usage Data (as described in Section 1.2) without relying on browser cookies for tracking, thus minimizing your privacy impact while allowing us to understand site performance.

2. Use of Data

Black Metal Zine uses the collected data for various purposes:

  • To provide and maintain the Service.
  • To notify you about changes to our Service.
  • To allow you to participate in interactive features (like commenting) when you choose to do so.
  • To provide customer care and support.
  • To manage your Supporter subscription and process donation payments.
  • To send you our newsletter, based on your opt-in status (which you can change via your account settings).
  • To monitor the usage of the Service and detect, prevent, and address technical issues.

3. Transfer and Disclosure of Data

Your information, including Personal Data, may be transferred to — and maintained on — computers located outside of your state, province, country, or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ from those of your jurisdiction.

3.1 Service Providers

We employ the following key third-party companies and individuals to facilitate our Service ("Service Providers"). These third parties have access to your Personal Data only to perform these tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose.

  • Platform & Newsletter: We utilize the Ghost platform to host our website and manage the subscriber newsletter. Your Email address and newsletter preference are managed and stored by Ghost. You can review the Ghost privacy policy for more details on their data handling practices.
  • Payment Processors: Payments for the Supporter tier are processed by Stripe. We do not directly store your credit card details. Stripe handles all payment card information and is subject to their own privacy policy. We only store transaction details (such as date, amount, and a secure payment ID) needed to manage your subscription status.

Black Metal Zine may disclose your Personal Data in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to:

  • Comply with a legal obligation or court order.
  • Protect and defend the rights or property of Black Metal Zine.
  • Prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the Service.
  • Protect the personal safety of users of the Service or the public.
  • Protect against legal liability.

4. Security of Data

The security of your data is important to us. We strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your Personal Data, including storing passwords in a hashed format. However, no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use acceptable means to protect your Personal Data, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

5. Your Data Protection Rights

You have the right to access, update, or to delete the information we have on you. Whenever made possible, you can access, update or request deletion of your Personal Data directly within your account settings section. If you are unable to perform these actions yourself, please contact us to assist you.

You also have the right to:

  • Withdraw Consent: You can opt-out of receiving our newsletter at any time via your account settings.
  • Request Deletion: You have the right to request that we delete or remove Personal Data when there is no good reason for us to continue processing it.

6. Children's Privacy

Our Service is not intended for use by anyone under the age of 13 ("Children").

We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your Children has provided us with Personal Data, please contact us. If we become aware that we have collected Personal Data from children without verification of parental consent, we take steps to remove that information from our servers.

7. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last Updated" date at the top of this Privacy Policy.

8. Contact Information

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us: info at blackmetalzine dot com