Privacy Policy

What's worth protecting. Clara Caffrey Pancoast, Hill Country Bluebonnets (c. 1920s–30s), oil on canvas. Pancoast edited the San Antonio Express and the San Antonio Light in the 1910s–30s and was the city's first president of the Business and Professional Women's Club — a newspaperwoman who painted Texas on the weekends. Image in the public domain.

Date of Last Revision: July 1, 2026

Howdy, reader. Thank you for joining us in our corner of the Texas internet. Barbed Wire Media, A Public Benefit Corporation, doing business as The Barbed Wire (“The Barbed Wire,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), is committed to protecting your privacy and to being transparent about how we handle your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, how we use it, how we share it, and the choices and rights you have.

1. Scope

This Privacy Policy applies to personal information we process about visitors, readers, subscribers, members, and others who interact with us, including through our website at thebarbedwire.com and our related newsletters, applications, and offerings (collectively, the “Services”). By using our Services, you agree to the practices described in this Privacy Policy.

2. Personal Information We Collect

The categories of personal information we collect depend on how you interact with us and on applicable law. We collect information you provide directly, information collected automatically when you use the Services, and, in limited cases, information from other sources.

A. Information You Provide to Us Directly

Accounts, subscriptions, and memberships. When you create an account, subscribe to a newsletter, or become a paying member, we collect information such as your name, email address, and (for paid memberships) billing details.
Payments. Payments for memberships and subscriptions are processed by Stripe, and payments for merchandise are processed by Fourthwall. We do not collect or store full payment card numbers; those are handled directly by our payment processors. See “How We Share Your Information” below.
Your communications with us. When you contact us, respond to a survey, apply for a job, or otherwise communicate with us, we collect the information you choose to share, such as your name, email address, and the contents of your message.
Comments and public contributions. If you submit a comment or use a public or social feature of the Services, the information you choose to make public will be treated as public and is not subject to the protections of this Privacy Policy.
Job applications. If you apply for a posted role, we collect the information in your application, résumé, and any cover letter to evaluate your candidacy.

B. Information Collected Automatically

When you use our Services, we and our service providers may automatically collect limited technical information, such as your IP address, browser and device type, referring and exit pages, and general usage information. We use this information to operate, secure, and improve the Services.

Cookies and similar technologies. We use a small number of cookies and similar technologies that are necessary to operate the Services (for example, to keep you signed in and to remember your preferences) and to understand site performance through privacy-focused analytics. We do not use cookies or tracking technologies to build advertising profiles or to serve interest-based advertising.

Analytics. We use The Barbed Wire’s built-in, privacy-focused website analytics (provided through our publishing platform, Ghost) to understand how our Services are used in the aggregate. We may add or change privacy-focused analytics providers over time and will update this Policy accordingly.

C. Information From Other Sources

We may receive limited information about you from service providers that help us operate the Services (for example, our payment processors confirming a transaction) or from publicly available sources. We do not purchase personal information for advertising or profiling.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use personal information for the following purposes:

To provide, maintain, and improve the Services, including managing your account, subscription, or membership.
To deliver newsletters, alerts, and other communications you have requested, and to send service and transactional messages (such as receipts and policy updates).
To process payments through our payment processors.
To respond to your inquiries and provide customer support.
To evaluate job applications.
To maintain the security and integrity of the Services, prevent fraud and abuse, and debug and fix problems.
To understand, in the aggregate, how our Services are used.
To comply with our legal obligations and enforce our terms and policies.
For any other purpose disclosed to you at the time we collect the information or with your consent.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral or targeted advertising. We share personal information only in the limited circumstances described below.

Service providers. We share personal information with vendors that perform services on our behalf and are permitted to use it only to provide those services to us. These include our publishing and email platform (Ghost), our payment processor for memberships and subscriptions (Stripe), and our merchandise provider (Fourthwall), as well as providers of hosting, security, and similar infrastructure.
Legal and safety. We may disclose information when we believe in good faith that doing so is necessary to comply with applicable law or legal process, to enforce our agreements and policies, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of The Barbed Wire, our users, or others.
Business transfers. If The Barbed Wire is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, bankruptcy, or sale of all or part of its assets, personal information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will require that any successor honor the commitments in this Privacy Policy or provide notice and choice as required by law.

5. Your Privacy Choices and Rights

A. Communication Choices

Email. You can unsubscribe from marketing or newsletter emails at any time using the unsubscribe link in those messages. You may still receive non-promotional, service-related messages (such as receipts and notices about changes to our Services or policies).

Opt-out preference signals. Some browsers and extensions let you broadcast an opt-out preference signal, such as Global Privacy Control (GPC). Where required by applicable law, we honor a recognized opt-out preference signal as a valid request to opt out of any sale or sharing of personal information for that browser or device. (As noted above, we do not sell or share personal information for targeted advertising.)

B. Your Rights

Depending on where you live and subject to applicable law, you may have some or all of the following rights regarding your personal information:

Right to confirm and access. To confirm whether we process your personal information and to obtain a copy of it.
Right to correct. To correct inaccuracies in your personal information.
Right to delete. To request deletion of personal information we have collected from you.
Right to data portability. To obtain a copy of your personal information in a portable, readily usable format, where technically feasible.
Right to opt out. To opt out of the sale of personal information, sharing for targeted advertising, and certain profiling. As described above, we do not engage in these activities.
Right against discrimination. We will not discriminate or retaliate against you for exercising any of these rights.

C. How to Exercise Your Rights

To submit a request, email us at support@thebarbedwire.com with the nature of your request. We will take reasonable steps to verify your identity before responding, and we may ask for information sufficient to confirm that you are the person to whom the data relates. You may use an authorized agent to submit a request where permitted by law.

There is no charge for a first request within a given period. We will respond within the time required by applicable law — generally within 45 days — and may extend that period where the law permits, with notice to you.

D. Appeals (Texas and Certain Other States)

If we decline to take action on your request, you may appeal our decision by replying to our response or by emailing support@thebarbedwire.com with the subject line “Privacy Appeal.” We will respond to your appeal within the time required by applicable law — generally within 60 days — and will explain the reasons for our decision. If your appeal is denied, you may contact the Texas Attorney General to submit a complaint at texasattorneygeneral.gov, or the applicable authority in your state.

6. Security of Your Information

We take reasonable administrative, technical, and physical measures designed to protect your personal information. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, however, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. If we become aware of a security incident affecting your personal information, we will notify you and applicable authorities as required by law.

7. Retention of Personal Information

We retain personal information for as long as your account, subscription, or membership is active and for a reasonable period afterward to operate our business, and longer where retention is required to meet legal, tax, accounting, or regulatory obligations or to resolve disputes and enforce our agreements. When personal information is no longer needed, we take reasonable steps to delete or de-identify it.

8. U.S.-Based Operations

The Barbed Wire is based in the United States, and the information we collect is governed by U.S. law and processed in the United States. If you access the Services from outside the United States, you understand that your information will be processed in the United States, which may have data-protection rules different from those where you live.

9. Children’s Information

The Services are intended for a general audience and are not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. We do not knowingly process the personal information of any minor for targeted advertising, sale, or profiling — activities we do not engage in for any user. If you believe a child has provided us personal information, please contact us at support@thebarbedwire.com and we will take appropriate steps to delete it as required by law.

10. Other Provisions

Third-party services. Our Services may link to or integrate with third-party websites and services (for example, Stripe and Fourthwall checkout flows) that we do not control. This Privacy Policy does not apply to those third parties, and we encourage you to review their privacy policies.

Changes to this Privacy Policy. We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will provide notice as required by law, such as by updating the Effective Date above and, where appropriate, by posting a notice on our website or sending you an email. Your continued use of the Services after an updated Policy takes effect means you accept the changes.

11. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, or to exercise your rights, contact us at support@thebarbedwire.com.