Privacy, terms, disclaimer, ethics, access

Privacy policy

The Control Group is a non-commercial informational publication based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. We publish summaries and criticism of published preclinical research — work carried out in rodents and in cultured cells — for general education. We sell nothing, supply nothing, and recommend no compound to anyone, which means we have no commercial reason to build a profile of you and have not built the machinery to do it. What follows describes the small amount of information this site handles and what happens to it.

Information we collect

There are two categories, and they are both narrow.

• If you subscribe to the newsletter, we collect the email address you enter and the date you confirmed the subscription. Nothing else — no name, no location, no job, no interests.
• If you write to us at any of our addresses, we hold that correspondence and whatever you chose to put in it, in an ordinary mailbox, for as long as the matter is open and afterwards in an archive.
• Our hosting provider keeps standard server logs, which typically include an IP address, a timestamp, the page requested, and a browser user-agent string. These are generated automatically by the act of serving a web page and are not linked to subscribers or to any other record.

Cookies and analytics

This site sets no advertising cookies and no tracking cookies. We use a single privacy-respecting analytics tool that counts page views in aggregate without setting persistent identifiers, without following readers between sites, and without collecting anything that identifies an individual. It tells us that a page was read a certain number of times and roughly where in the world the traffic came from. It cannot tell us that you read it, and we would not want it to.

There are no advertising networks on this site, no retargeting pixels, no social media tracking widgets, and no third-party scripts of any kind beyond the web font service that delivers the typefaces this page is set in.

How we use information

Email addresses are used to send the newsletter and nothing else. Correspondence is used to answer correspondence. Aggregate analytics are used to understand which pieces get read, which informs what we commission. Server logs are used for security and diagnostics by our host.

What we don’t do

• We do not sell, rent, trade, or otherwise transfer your information to anyone.
• We do not work with advertising networks, ad exchanges, or data brokers.
• We do not build behavioural profiles or segment readers for any purpose.
• We do not track readers across other websites or match them to activity elsewhere.
• We do not use your correspondence in published work without asking you first.

Third-party services

Running even a small site means relying on a few outside providers. Our web host serves these pages and maintains server logs. Our email delivery provider stores the subscriber list and sends the newsletter. Our analytics provider processes aggregate page-view data. A web font service delivers the typefaces. Each of these providers operates under its own privacy terms, and each has access only to the narrow slice of data required to perform its function. We do not grant any of them permission to use reader data for their own purposes.

Data retention

Subscriber email addresses are retained until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete them, after which they are removed from the active list within seven days and from backups within thirty. Correspondence is retained for two years after a matter closes, except for correction requests, which we keep indefinitely because they form part of the published record. Server logs are retained by our host on a rolling basis, typically for thirty days.

Your rights

Whatever jurisdiction you read from, you may ask us to do any of the following, and we will do it without requiring a reason:

• Access — ask what information we hold about you. Given how little we collect, the answer is usually one line.
• Correction — ask us to fix an inaccurate record.
• Deletion — ask us to erase your subscription and correspondence.
• Unsubscribe — every newsletter carries a one-click unsubscribe link that works immediately and requires no explanation.

Write to hello@the-control-group.org for any of these. We aim to complete requests within seven working days and will tell you when it is done.

Children’s privacy

This publication is written for an adult general readership and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has subscribed, write to hello@the-control-group.org and we will remove the record promptly.

International readers

We are based in the United States and our providers may process data in the United States and elsewhere. If you read from a jurisdiction with statutory data protection rights, such as the United Kingdom, the European Economic Area, or a state with its own privacy legislation, we extend the access, correction, and deletion rights described above to you regardless of whether we are strictly required to. We would rather apply one standard than sort readers by passport.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes we will update the date at the top of this page and describe the change in the following newsletter. We will not make a material change to how reader data is handled without saying so plainly.

Contact

Privacy questions go to hello@the-control-group.org, or by post to The Control Group, 214 South Fourth Avenue, Studio 2, Ann Arbor, MI 48104.

Terms of use

By using this site you agree to the terms below. They are the ordinary terms a small publisher needs, written in plain language rather than borrowed wholesale from a template.

Acceptable use

Read the site, quote it, argue with it, teach from it, send it to people. Do not attempt to disrupt or gain unauthorised access to the site or its infrastructure; do not scrape it in a manner that degrades service for other readers; do not use it to harass anyone; and do not represent our work as endorsing any product, seller, protocol, or human use of any compound. That last item is not decorative. Our content is regularly misused as a credibility prop by parties selling things, and doing so violates these terms.

Intellectual property and republication

All text, illustration, and design on this site is the property of The Control Group unless otherwise noted. You may quote up to 200 words with clear attribution and, online, a link to the source page — no permission needed. Educational use in a classroom or reading group is welcome without asking.

Full or substantial republication requires written permission from editors@the-control-group.org. We grant it readily for non-commercial, educational, and journalistic purposes. We refuse it, without exception, where the material would appear alongside the promotion or sale of any compound, or in any context implying that this publication endorses a product or a supplier.

User submissions

If you send us a pitch, a correction request, a tip, or a letter, you keep ownership of it. By sending it you give us permission to read it, act on it, and quote from it in a published correction or letters selection — but we will ask you before publishing your words in any other context, and we will honour a request to stay unnamed. Do not send confidential material you are not free to share. We cannot guarantee the confidentiality of unsolicited correspondence, and we do not accept material subject to a non-disclosure agreement.

No warranty

This site is provided as it is. We write carefully, we fact-check, and we correct errors in public, but we make no warranty that every statement here is accurate, complete, or current. Scientific literature moves, our summaries reflect our reading at the time of publication, and readers should consult primary sources before relying on any characterisation we offer.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, The Control Group and its contributors are not liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or special damages arising from use of this site or reliance on its content. This is educational writing about laboratory research. It is not advice of any kind, and it must not be used as a basis for decisions about health, treatment, or the handling of any substance.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless The Control Group and its contributors from any claim or demand, including reasonable legal fees, arising out of your misuse of this site, your breach of these terms, or your violation of the rights of a third party.

Severability

If any provision of these terms is found unenforceable, that provision is severed and the remaining provisions continue in full effect.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Michigan, without regard to conflict of law principles. Any dispute arising under them shall be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Washtenaw County, Michigan.

Changes to these terms

We may revise these terms. Revisions take effect when posted, with the date at the top of this page updated accordingly. Continued use of the site after a revision constitutes acceptance of it.

Medical disclaimer

This disclaimer applies to every page of this site, including the Library, all dispatches, and any correspondence we publish. It is repeated in the footer of every page for the same reason we repeat the species and the model in every summary: the thing most likely to be skipped is usually the thing that most needed saying.

Editorial ethics & corrections

Independence is the only asset this publication has. These are the practices that protect it.

Sourcing standards

We work from published primary literature and from established reporting and methodology guidance. Nobody here prints an identifier for a paper they have not read in full; where we describe a body of work at the level of models, species, and period rather than by individual citation, that is a deliberate signal about the depth of our reading. We do not fabricate references, and we do not manufacture the appearance of precision by attaching numbers to claims that do not have them. Where a finding cannot be verified against a source we have read, we describe the research area instead of asserting a result.

Conflicts of interest

No one who writes for The Control Group may hold a financial interest in a company that manufactures, distributes, sells, or markets research compounds, or in any business adjacent to that trade. Contributors declare relevant relationships before assignment, including consulting work, speaking fees, equity, and family connections. Where a relationship exists we decline the assignment rather than disclosing it and proceeding. Editors are subject to the same rule with no exception for seniority.

No advertising or sponsored content

This site carries no display advertising, no sponsored articles, no native advertising, no affiliate links, and no paid placement. We accept no product samples, no press trips, and no gifts from any party with a commercial interest in what we cover. Nothing on this site has been reviewed, approved, or influenced by an outside party before publication, and nothing ever will be.

How corrections are handled

Errors are corrected in public. A correction is appended to the foot of the affected article with the date, a description of what was wrong, and the accurate statement. The original wording remains visible. We do not silently edit published work, we do not delete pieces that have aged poorly, and we do not treat a correction as an embarrassment to be minimised — a publication that quietly repairs its own record does not have a record.

Where an error is significant enough to change the conclusion of a piece, we say so at the top of the article as well as the bottom, and we note it in the following newsletter.

Requesting a correction

Write to corrections@the-control-group.org with the article, the specific passage, and what you believe the accurate statement to be. Supporting sources help but are not required; we do the checking regardless. We triage correction requests within two working days and respond to every one, including those we decline, with our reasoning. Correction requests are retained indefinitely as part of the published record.

Accessibility statement

This site is built to be usable by everyone who wants to read it. In practice that means semantic HTML, a single clear heading structure on each page, descriptive alternative text on every image, visible keyboard focus, a skip link to the main content, colour contrast that meets or exceeds the WCAG 2.1 AA thresholds for text, and layouts that reflow rather than break when text is enlarged. Nothing on this site requires JavaScript to read; all content, navigation, and layout work with it disabled. Motion is minimal by design and reduced further when a device requests it.

We test with a keyboard and with a screen reader before publishing structural changes, and we know that testing of that kind catches less than it should. If you hit a barrier — anything that makes a page difficult or impossible to use — please tell us at hello@the-control-group.org. Describe what happened and what you were using; we will acknowledge within two working days, tell you honestly whether and when we can fix it, and send the content another way in the meantime if that helps.