Who this is
The Voice is History is a classical reading library with spoken narration, study tools, and a paid membership. It is operated by the founder (Publius) at thevoiceishistory.com. This page describes what we collect and why. Membership and use of the library are on the Terms of Use. It is not legal advice.
What we collect
- Account. Email address, used for a magic-link sign-in. Optional display name and avatar if you set them on your profile.
- Membership. Whether you have an active trial or paid subscription, a Stripe customer id, and plan status. We do not store your full card number. Stripe does.
- Reading progress. If you are signed in, we may save which book and chapter you were on so you can pick up on another device.
- Study tools on this device. Bookmarks and notes live in your browser’s local storage unless we later sync them to your account.
- Preferences on this device. Things like reading theme and font size stay in local storage on that browser.
- Messages you send us. The contact form collects name, email, topic, optional organization, and your message. If email delivery is not configured, the form opens a mail draft to the same inbox instead.
- AI librarian (Grok). When you ask Grok about a passage, that question and the surrounding text are sent to xAI so it can reply. Do not put passwords, card numbers, or anyone else’s private data in that box.
- Hosting logs. Cloudflare may record standard request data (for example IP address, browser type, and the page requested) to run and protect the site.
- Private preview access. If a staging address is locked with Cloudflare Access, that gate uses the email you give it to send a one-time code.
You can read the texts without an account. We do not require a name or payment for that.
How we use it
- Sign you in and keep you signed in.
- Start a 7-day trial, take membership payment, and open the billing portal.
- Unlock the full library when a subscription is active.
- Remember reading progress and (on this device) bookmarks.
- Answer mail you send, including membership and partnership notes.
- Generate an AI reply when you ask Grok about a passage.
- Keep the site up, debug problems, and stop abuse.
We do not sell your personal information. We do not run advertising trackers or third-party ad networks on the library.
Who else sees it
We share information only with services that run the product:
- Cloudflare — hosting, media files, and optional Access codes. Privacy policy
- Supabase — accounts, profile, paid flag, and synced progress. Privacy policy
- Stripe — checkout, cards, invoices, and the customer portal. Privacy policy
- xAI — Grok replies. Privacy policy
- Resend — contact-form email, when that key is configured. Privacy policy
- Google Fonts — typefaces loaded from Google’s servers.
We may also share information if the law requires it, or to protect the site and the people who use it.
Cookies and local storage
We use cookies and similar storage that the site needs to work: your sign-in session, Cloudflare’s security, and the reading preferences and bookmarks kept in this browser. We do not use them to follow you around the rest of the web for ads.
How long we keep it
- Account and membership records while you have an account, and for a reasonable time after you cancel, so we can handle billing questions and abuse.
- Stripe keeps payment records under its own rules.
- Contact messages stay in the inbox as ordinary correspondence.
- Local bookmarks and preferences stay on your device until you clear the site data or remove them in the library.
Your choices
Write publius@thevoiceishistory.com to see, correct, or delete the account information we hold, or to close the account. You can cancel membership in the billing portal on your profile. You can clear local bookmarks and preferences in the browser. Some records (for example Stripe invoices) we have to keep for tax or legal reasons.
If you are in a place with extra privacy rights (including the EEA, UK, or California), you can use that same address to make those requests. We will not discriminate against you for asking.
Children
The library is written for a general adult audience. It is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you think a child gave us an email, tell us and we will delete it.
Security
Card data is handled by Stripe. Passwords for the library itself are not stored by us — sign-in is a magic link. Hosting and the database sit on Cloudflare and Supabase. No method is perfect; if we learn of a breach that affects you, we will say so.
Changes
If this policy changes in a material way, we will update this page and the date at the top. Continued use of the library after that date means the new policy applies.
Contact
Publius · The Voice is History
publius@thevoiceishistory.com
Contact form