Privacy Policy

The Quantum Disciple ("we," "us," or "our") respects your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, how we use and protect it, and the choices you have. We have tried to write it in plain language rather than legal boilerplate.

The short version: The Quantum Disciple website is a static publication. We do not run advertising, we do not use analytics or tracking pixels, we do not set cookies of our own, we have no user accounts or sign-in, and we do not sell your personal information to anyone — ever. Our only use of Google OAuth is a private back-office tool that publishes our own podcast episodes to our own YouTube channel; it collects nothing from you as a visitor. See Section 4.

1. Who We Are

The Quantum Disciple is an independent Christian apologetics publication producing written papers, podcasts, and study resources. This policy is operated by The Quantum Disciple (the "Operator") and applies to the website at quantumdisciple.com and to any applications we publish that link to this policy.

2. Scope of This Policy

This policy covers:

• The public website at quantumdisciple.com, including all articles, papers, podcast pages, and the Study Center.
• The Tech Unfiltered Publishing Automation, an internal tool we operate that uses Google OAuth to publish our own podcast episodes to our own YouTube channel (collectively with the website, the "Service").

This policy does not cover third-party websites or services we link to. Those services have their own privacy policies, and we encourage you to read them.

3. Information We Collect

3.1 Information you provide directly

The website itself contains no contact forms, no newsletter signup, no comment system, and no user accounts, and there is nothing on it for you to sign in to. Unless you send us an email, you do not provide us with any personal information.

3.2 Information collected automatically

Like virtually all websites, our web server records standard technical information in its access logs when a page is requested. This may include your IP address, the date and time of the request, the page requested, the referring page, and your browser's user-agent string. These logs exist for security, abuse prevention, and diagnosing server problems. We do not use them to build profiles of individual visitors, and we do not combine them with any other data.

3.3 Cookies and local storage

The Quantum Disciple does not set its own cookies and does not store your activity in your browser's local storage. However, third-party content embedded in our pages — such as YouTube video players, the Facebook feed, and the donation widget — may set their own cookies or use similar technologies. See Section 8 for details, and note that you can block or delete these through your browser settings.

4. Google User Data

This website does not offer sign-in, and visitors are never asked to connect a Google Account. Our only use of Google OAuth is an internal back-office tool, described below.

4.1 What the tool is

We operate a private publishing automation that uploads finished episodes of the Tech Unfiltered with Dr. Mike podcast to that show's own YouTube channel — setting each episode's title, description, thumbnail, playlist placement, and scheduled release time through the YouTube Data API instead of by hand in YouTube Studio. A full description of the application, its features, and its scope justifications is published at Tech Unfiltered Publishing Automation.

This tool is not offered to the public. There is no sign-up and no user accounts. The only Google Account that ever authorizes it is the account that owns the channel — the operator authorizing access to their own channel.

4.2 Scopes we request and why

When the operator authorizes the tool, Google presents a consent screen listing exactly what is being approved. We request only these scopes:

• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube.upload — required to upload the finished episode video file to the channel. No narrower scope permits uploading.
• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube — required to apply episode metadata and artwork after upload, insert the episode into the series playlist, and set its scheduled publish time. The upload scope alone does not permit these follow-up operations.

Access reaches only the authorizing account's own channel. The tool cannot read or modify any other person's YouTube channel, videos, playlists, or account.

4.3 What we do not access

We do not request access to Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, Google Photos, or any Google service other than the YouTube Data API. We do not access YouTube Analytics or revenue data, and we do not read or moderate viewer comments.

4.4 What we do with it

The OAuth access and refresh tokens are stored on the operator's own machine, restricted to the operator's user account, and used solely to make YouTube Data API calls for publishing episodes. They are never transmitted to any third party. The tool also keeps operation logs — video IDs, timestamps, and success or failure — which contain no personal information about any viewer or third party.

We never use Google user data for advertising, we never sell it, and we never use it to train machine learning or AI models.

Because this application has no end users other than the operator, it collects no personal data from you as a visitor to this website.

5. Limited Use Disclosure

In practice, this means we commit that data obtained through Google APIs will be:

• Used only to provide or improve the user-facing features that you granted access for;
• Never transferred to third parties except as necessary to provide those features, to comply with applicable law, or as part of a merger or acquisition (with notice to you);
• Never used for serving advertisements of any kind, including retargeting or personalized advertising;
• Never read by humans, unless we have your explicit consent for a specific narrow purpose, it is necessary for security purposes such as investigating abuse, it is required to comply with applicable law, or the data has been aggregated and anonymized.

6. How We Use Information

We use the limited information we hold only for the following purposes:

• To operate the Service — serving the website, and publishing our own podcast episodes to our own YouTube channel through the automation described in Section 4.
• To communicate with you — responding to messages you send us, and sending essential service notices (such as a security or policy change). We do not send marketing email.
• To keep the Service secure — detecting, investigating, and preventing abuse, fraud, and technical attacks.
• To comply with the law — meeting legal obligations and responding to valid legal process.

We do not use your information for automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

7. How We Share Information

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. We share information only in these narrow circumstances:

• Service providers — vendors who host our site or process donations, acting on our instructions and bound to protect your data.
• Legal requirements — when required by law, subpoena, or other valid legal process, or to protect the rights, safety, and property of The Quantum Disciple or others.
• Business transfer — if the Service is ever transferred to another operator, your information may transfer with it. We will provide notice before your information becomes subject to a different privacy policy.
• With your consent — when you explicitly direct us to share it.

8. Third-Party Services

Our pages embed content and tools from the following third parties. When such content loads, that provider may receive your IP address and set its own cookies, and its own privacy policy governs that processing:

• Google Fonts — serves the typeface used across the site. Google Privacy Policy
• YouTube — embedded video and podcast players. YouTube is a Google service. Google Privacy Policy · YouTube Terms of Service
• Elfsight — powers the social media feed on our home page. Elfsight Privacy Policy
• Meta (Facebook / Instagram) — content displayed in that social feed originates from Meta platforms. Meta Privacy Policy
• Givebutter — processes donations made through our Give page. If you donate, your payment details are handled by Givebutter and its payment processors; we never see or store your card number. Givebutter Privacy Policy

9. Data Retention

We keep personal information only as long as we need it:

• Google OAuth tokens (operator only) — retained only while the publishing automation is in use. Revoking access invalidates them immediately, and they are deleted as described in Section 11.
• Server access logs — retained for a short period for security and troubleshooting, then rotated and discarded in the ordinary course.
• Email correspondence — retained as long as needed to resolve your inquiry and keep a record of it.

10. Your Choices and Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to request access to the personal information we hold about you, to correct inaccurate information, to request deletion, to object to or restrict certain processing, and to receive a copy of your information in a portable format. Residents of California, the European Economic Area, and the United Kingdom, among others, have such rights under laws including the CCPA/CPRA, the GDPR, and the UK GDPR.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details in Section 16. We will respond within the time required by applicable law. We will never charge you or discriminate against you for exercising a privacy right. Because we do not sell personal information, there is nothing to opt out of in that respect.

11. Revoking Access and Deleting Your Data

You are always in control of the access you have granted:

• To revoke the publishing automation's access to a Google account at any time, visit the Google Account permissions page at myaccount.google.com/permissions, select the application, and choose "Remove Access." This immediately invalidates its tokens and stops any further access. Stored tokens are then deleted from the operator's machine.
• To have the data we hold deleted, email us at the address in Section 16 with the subject line "Data Deletion Request." We will verify the request and delete the associated information, except anything we are legally required to keep. We aim to complete deletion requests within 30 days.

12. Security

The site is served over encrypted HTTPS connections, and we limit access to any stored account information to those who need it to operate the Service. We keep the amount of personal data we hold deliberately small, which is itself one of the strongest protections available. That said, no method of transmission or storage over the internet is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. If we become aware of a breach affecting your personal information, we will notify you and the appropriate authorities as required by law.

13. Children's Privacy

The Service is intended for a general audience and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.

14. International Visitors

The Quantum Disciple is operated from the United States, and any information we hold is processed there. If you access the Service from outside the United States, you understand that your information may be transferred to, stored in, and processed in the United States, where data protection laws may differ from those in your country.

15. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. If we make a material change to how we handle personal information, we will provide a more prominent notice. We encourage you to review this page periodically.

16. Contact Us