Privacy Policy
Effective Date: October 9, 2026
Company: Western Trail Ventures, LLC
Website: https://neilhoyne.com
Western Trail Ventures, LLC (“we,” “us,” or “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our website, https://neilhoyne.com (the “Website”), and interact with our services, including our contact forms and newsletters.
Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. If you do not agree with the terms of this Privacy Policy, please do not access the Website.
1. Information We Collect
We only collect information about you if we have a reason to do so—for example, to provide our services, to communicate with you, or to make our Website better. We collect information in two primary ways:
Information You Voluntarily Provide
We collect information you provide directly to us when you fill out a form or sign up for our communications. This includes:
Contact Information: Your name and email address when you submit inquiries through our contact form.
Newsletter Data: If you sign up for our newsletter, your email address is collected. Please note that our newsletter is managed through Substack. Your use of the newsletter service is also governed by Substack’s privacy policy, available at https://substack.com/privacy.
Information Collected Automatically
When you access our Website, we may automatically collect certain information about your device and usage using cookies and similar tracking technologies. This includes:
Device and Usage Data: Information such as your IP address, browser type, operating system, referring URLs, and how you interact with our Website.
Sensitive Data: We do not intentionally collect or process any sensitive personal information (such as health data, racial/ethnic origin, religious beliefs, or biometrics).
2. How We Use Your Information
We use the personal information we collect for the following business purposes:
Communications: To respond to your inquiries submitted via our contact form and to send you our newsletter.
Website Improvement: To analyze user behavior (via Google Analytics) to optimize, improve, and maintain the functionality and user experience of our Website.
Security and Compliance: To protect against unauthorized access and to comply with applicable legal obligations.
3. How We Share Your Information
We respect your privacy and only share your data with trusted third parties necessary to operate our Website and deliver our services. We share data with:
Substack: To manage our newsletter subscriptions and email distributions.
Google Analytics: To track and report website traffic and user engagement. Google Analytics collects data such as your IP address and usage patterns.
No Sale of Personal Information: We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to any third parties for monetary or other valuable consideration.
4. Cookies and Tracking Technologies
We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track activity on our Website and store certain information. Cookies are files with a small amount of data which may include an anonymous unique identifier.
You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our Website.
5. Data Retention and Security
Data Retention: We retain your personal information only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy, to secure our data, and to comply with our legal obligations.
Data Security: Your data is protected using commercially acceptable means to prevent loss, theft, and unauthorized access. Our Website is hosted by Framer, and we rely on their underlying security infrastructure and frameworks to help protect the data transmitted through our Website. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, remember that no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure.
6. Global Privacy Rights (GDPR & CCPA/CPRA)
As our audience is global, we extend the following rights to all our users, ensuring compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for UK and European Economic Area (EEA) residents, and the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) for California residents.
Depending on your location, you have the right to:
Right to Know and Access: Request confirmation of whether we process your personal data and obtain a copy of the specific pieces of data we have collected about you.
Right to Correction/Rectification: Request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal information we hold about you.
Right to Deletion/Erasure: Request the deletion of your personal data, subject to certain legal exceptions.
Right to Opt-Out of Sharing: While we do not sell your data, we do use Google Analytics. You have the right to opt-out of the sharing of your personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising.
Right to Restrict Processing (GDPR): Request that we limit the processing of your personal data under certain conditions.
Right to Data Portability (GDPR): Request to receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format.
Right to Non-Discrimination: You will not receive discriminatory treatment from us for exercising your privacy rights.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at legal@westerntrailventures.com. We may need to verify your identity before processing your request.
7. Children’s Privacy (COPPA Compliance)
Our Website is not directed to, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from, children under the age of 13 (or 16 in certain jurisdictions such as the EU and California). If we become aware that we have collected personal data from a child under the relevant age of consent without verification of parental consent, we will take steps to remove that information from our servers.
8. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the “Effective Date” at the top. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically.
9. Contact Us
If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at:
Western Trail Ventures, LLC
Email: legal@westerntrailventures.com