Your information should earn its place here.

Who is responsible

The reader panel is operated by Thoughtful Traveller Guides in Australia. Privacy questions and requests can be sent to thoughtfultraveller@proton.me.

What we collect

When you apply, we collect your preferred name, email address, country or region, travel background, reading interests, referral information and your answers about why and how you would participate. If accepted, we also keep your chapter assignments, download and progress status, questionnaire answers, permissions and our editorial consideration of your feedback.

We record limited operational information needed to protect and run the service, including verification records, delivery status, audit events and security information supplied by Cloudflare. Please do not include sensitive personal information in free-text answers.

Why we use it

We use this information to assess applications, choose and support suitable readers, distribute protected manuscript material, collect developmental feedback, analyse responses and keep an accountable record of editorial decisions. Optional consent for future opportunities is separate from participation in the current campaign.

Sharing and overseas processing

We do not sell reader information or use it for unrelated advertising. Cloudflare provides hosting, security, database and private-file services. Resend provides transactional email delivery. These providers may process information outside Australia under their own security and privacy arrangements. Information may also be disclosed where required by law.

Retention

• Unverified applications are removed after 30 days.
• Rejected, expired or withdrawn applications that never became reader records are removed after 90 days.
• Waitlisted applications are retained for no more than 12 months.
• Active reader records and identifiable feedback are retained while the relevant book is being developed and for up to 24 months after the reader’s last activity, unless a longer period is genuinely required to resolve an issue.
• Completed transactional-email records are removed after 90 days.

Information no longer needed is deleted or, where useful feedback can safely be retained, de-identified so it can no longer reasonably identify the reader.

Your choices

You may ask what information we hold, request a correction, withdraw from the panel, withdraw optional future-contact consent, or request deletion. A withdrawal closes manuscript access immediately. A deletion request is reviewed before removal so that we can verify the request and avoid deleting the wrong person’s records.

If you have a private reader link, you can submit a withdrawal or deletion request from that page. You can also email thoughtfultraveller@proton.me. We aim to acknowledge requests promptly and complete them within 30 days.

Security and concerns

Administrative access is restricted, manuscript files are private, reader links use high-entropy tokens stored only as hashes, and material changes are audited. No internet service can promise absolute security. If you believe your information has been mishandled, contact us first so the concern can be investigated and answered.