Last updated: 24 August 2026
This policy explains how Brendan Thomas Quinn collects and uses personal data through brendanthomasquinn.com, the Cultural Friction newsletter and podcast, the Cultural Assessment, and events hosted on LinkedIn or similar platforms.
1. Who we are
Data controller: Brendan Thomas Quinn
C/ Guàrdia 4, 08001 Barcelona, Spain
NIE: Y6996893P
Contact: hello@brendanthomasquinn.com
2. What we collect, why, and on what legal basis
| What we collect | When | Why | Legal basis (GDPR Art. 6) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name, email, message, organisation | You submit the contact form | To respond to your enquiry and, if it leads to work, to scope it | Steps at your request prior to a contract (6(1)(b)); legitimate interest in responding to enquiries (6(1)(f)) |
| Name, email | You sign up for the Cultural Friction newsletter | To send the newsletter | Consent (6(1)(a)) |
| Name, email, LinkedIn profile data, job title, organisation | You register for or attend an event | To confirm registration, run the session, and send follow-up resources | Contract (6(1)(b)) for the event; consent (6(1)(a)) for follow-up marketing |
| Your responses and results | You complete the Cultural Assessment | To generate and return your results | Consent (6(1)(a)) for the free version; contract (6(1)(b)) where commissioned by your employer |
| Client contact details, engagement records, invoices | You engage us for services | To deliver the engagement and meet accounting and tax obligations | Contract (6(1)(b)); legal obligation (6(1)(c)) |
| Device, browser, approximate location, pages viewed | You browse the site with analytics consent given | To understand how the site is used | Consent (6(1)(a)), via the consent banner |
| Aggregate download and listening statistics | You listen to the podcast | To understand audience reach | Legitimate interest (6(1)(f)) |
We do not buy personal data from third parties.
3. How long we keep it
| Data | Retention |
|---|---|
| Contact form enquiries that do not lead to work | 24 months from last contact |
| Newsletter subscribers | Until you unsubscribe, then a suppression record only |
| Event registrations | 24 months from the event, unless you become a subscriber or client |
| Cultural Assessment — free public version | 12 months |
| Cultural Assessment — commissioned or contracted | 24 months from the end of the engagement |
| Client engagement records | 6 years, to meet Spanish commercial and tax record-keeping requirements |
| Analytics data | As configured in Google Analytics (currently 14 months) |
4. Who we share it with
We do not sell, rent or trade your personal data, and we do not share it for third-party advertising.
We use the following service providers, who process data on our behalf under contract:
| Provider | Purpose | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Webempresa | Hosting of the website and the Cultural Assessment, and delivery of email sent by the site | Spain (EU) |
| Zoho Campaigns | Newsletter delivery and subscriber management | EU |
| Google (Analytics, Site Kit) | Website analytics | US |
| Buzzsprout | Podcast hosting and download statistics | US |
| Wordfence | Website security and abuse prevention | US |
We may also disclose data to our accountant, or to a public authority or court where we are legally required to do so.
5. International transfers
Some providers above are based outside the European Economic Area, principally in the United States. Where data is transferred outside the EEA it is protected by the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses, by the provider’s certification under the EU–US Data Privacy Framework, or by another safeguard permitted under Chapter V of the GDPR.
You can request details of the safeguard applying to a specific transfer at hello@brendanthomasquinn.com.
6. Your rights
Under the GDPR you have the right to:
- Access — obtain a copy of the personal data we hold about you
- Rectification — have inaccurate or incomplete data corrected
- Erasure — ask us to delete your data, where no overriding legal obligation applies
- Restriction — ask us to limit how we use your data while a query is resolved
- Portability — receive data you gave us in a structured, machine-readable format, or have it transferred to another controller
- Object — object to processing based on legitimate interest, including any form of profiling
- Withdraw consent — at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal
To exercise any of these, contact hello@brendanthomasquinn.com. We respond within one month.
You can unsubscribe from the newsletter using the link at the foot of every email.
If you are not satisfied with how we handle your data, you may lodge a complaint with the Spanish Data Protection Authority (Agencia Española de Protección de Datos), www.aepd.es.
7. Automated decision-making
The Cultural Assessment produces indicative feedback based on the answers you give. It does not make decisions producing legal or similarly significant effects, and results are always interpreted alongside human input. We do not carry out profiling for advertising purposes.
8. Cookies
The site uses cookies for functionality and, with your consent, analytics. Consent is managed through the banner shown on your first visit and can be changed at any time from the link in the footer. Full detail is in our Cookie Policy.
9. Security
We apply appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data, including HTTPS throughout, two-factor authentication on administrative accounts, a web application firewall, and access limited to those who need it.
10. Changes
We may update this policy. The date at the top shows when it was last revised; material changes will be flagged to newsletter subscribers.
11. Data processing for clients
Where we process personal data belonging to a client’s staff or participants during an engagement, the client is the controller and we act as processor. See section 10 of our Terms of Engagement.