Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

TermsWatchdog is an independent AI transparency service operated by Barbieri Technology Group. We analyze publicly available terms of service, privacy policies, and data agreements for AI tools and present the results as plain-English transparency reports. We are not a law firm and do not provide legal advice.

Questions about this policy can be directed to barbieri.biz.

2. Information We Collect

2a. Information you provide voluntarily

• Email address — collected only if you choose to subscribe to notifications about a specific AI tool’s transparency report. This is entirely optional. You may skip this step at any time.
• Payment information — if you make a voluntary donation, payment is processed entirely by Stripe, Inc. We never see, store, or have access to your card number, billing address, or any other payment credentials. Stripe’s privacy policy governs that data.

2b. Information collected automatically

• IP address — recorded transiently in our rate-limiting system (Upstash Redis) to enforce a limit of 10 new analyses per IP address per hour. IP addresses are used solely for this purpose and are not stored in our primary database or linked to any profile.
• Standard server logs — our hosting provider (Vercel) collects standard HTTP request logs (URL, timestamp, response code, IP). These logs are retained per Vercel’s own data retention policies.

2c. What we do NOT collect

• We do not create user accounts or require login for any public feature.
• We do not use advertising trackers, third-party analytics scripts, or pixel tags.
• We do not sell, rent, or trade any personal data to any party.

3. How We Use Your Information

• Email address: Used only to send you notifications when the transparency report for a specific AI tool you subscribed to is updated. We do not send marketing emails, newsletters, or share your address with third parties for any purpose.
• IP address: Used only to enforce hourly rate limits on new analyses. Not used for tracking, profiling, or any other purpose.
• Donation data: We retain a record of the transaction amount and date for internal accounting. No payment credentials are retained.

4. Third-Party Services

Operating this service requires us to share certain data with the following third-party providers. Each provider’s own privacy policy governs their handling of your data.

5. Cookies and Local Storage

We do not use advertising or tracking cookies. The only cookie we set is a short-lived, server-only session cookie used exclusively for the password-protected administrator dashboard. This cookie is never set for regular visitors and expires after 24 hours.

6. Data Retention

• Email addresses: Retained until you request deletion.
• Transparency cards: Retained indefinitely as they are based on publicly available information. Cards are updated periodically as tool policies change.
• Error logs: Automatically deleted after 30 days.
• Rate-limit data (IP): Automatically expires within 1 hour.

7. Your Rights and Choices

• Unsubscribe / delete email: You may request removal of your email address from our subscriber list at any time by contacting us through barbieri.biz.
• Access / correction: You may request a copy of any personal data we hold about you or request correction of inaccurate information.
• Opt-out of notification emails: Each notification email includes an unsubscribe mechanism.

If you are a resident of the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom, or California, additional rights may apply to you under the GDPR, UK GDPR, or CCPA respectively. Please contact us to exercise these rights.

8. Children’s Privacy

TermsWatchdog is not directed at children under the age of 13 (or 16 in the EEA). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has submitted information to us, please contact us immediately.

9. Security

We implement reasonable technical safeguards including encrypted connections (HTTPS), server-side authentication for administrative functions, and access controls on our database. No system is perfectly secure. In the event of a data breach affecting your personal information, we will notify you as required by applicable law.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The effective date at the top of this page will reflect the most recent revision. Continued use of the service after a change constitutes acceptance of the updated policy. For significant changes, we will make reasonable efforts to notify subscribers by email.

11. Contact

For privacy-related questions or requests, please contact Barbieri Technology Group through barbieri.biz.