Privacy Policy

Last updated: November 1, 2026

Your privacy matters to us. This Privacy Policy explains what personal information AI for Small Businesses (https://smartbizaitools.com) collects, why we collect it, how we use and protect it, who we share it with, and the choices and rights you have. It applies to everything you do on the site: reading, commenting, rating, contacting us and subscribing to our newsletter.

1. Who is responsible for your information

The site is operated by Small Business AI Tools, 123 Financial Center, Panama City, Panama ("we", "us", "our"), who is the controller of the personal information described here. For any privacy question or request, contact us at [email protected]. This contact is also our designated person responsible for the protection of personal information.

2. What we collect

Information you give us

Comments: your name, email address and comment. Your name and comment are shown publicly once approved. Your email address is never shown or published.
Ratings: the score you choose.
Contact form: your name, email address, subject and message.
Newsletter: your email address, and a record of your consent.

Information collected automatically

Consent and security records: a scrambled (hashed) form of your IP address, stored with comments, ratings and newsletter signups, and used to limit spam and make sure each person rates an article once. We also record the date and time of your consent and the page where you signed up for the newsletter. We do not store your raw IP address in our database.
Server logs: IP address, browser and device type, pages requested, referring page and time of visit. These are kept for security and troubleshooting.
Cookies and similar technologies: described in our Cookie Policy.
Advertising and analytics data: if you consent where required, Google and its partners may collect information such as your IP address, device identifiers and pages viewed (see section 5).

We do not knowingly collect sensitive personal information, and we ask you not to include it in comments or messages.

3. Why we use it, and our legal bases

Purpose	Information	Legal basis (GDPR and UK GDPR)
Publish approved comments and ratings	Name, comment, score	Consent
Reply to your messages	Name, email, message	Steps you ask us to take; our legitimate interests in responding
Send our newsletter	Email address, consent record	Consent
Protect the site from spam, abuse and attacks	Hashed IP, logs, Turnstile check	Our legitimate interests in security
Keep the site working and improve it	Logs, analytics (if enabled)	Our legitimate interests; consent for analytics cookies where required
Show and measure advertising	Cookie and device data	Consent where required; otherwise our legitimate interests
Meet legal obligations and handle legal claims	Records as needed	Legal obligation; legitimate interests

Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time without affecting what happened before. We do not use your information for automated decision-making that has legal or similarly significant effects.

4. Who we share information with

We do not sell your personal information for money. We share it only with:

Service providers who process data for us: our hosting provider (servers and backups); Mailgun (sending and delivering email); Cloudflare (Turnstile spam and bot protection).
Google, for advertising and analytics if enabled (section 5).
Authorities or advisers, when the law requires it or to protect our rights, safety or property.
A successor, if the site is sold or reorganised, subject to this policy.

Comments you post are public and can be seen, copied and indexed by anyone.

5. International transfers

We and our providers may process information in countries other than your own, including Canada and the United States, where data protection laws may differ. Where the law requires, we rely on safeguards such as adequacy decisions, standard contractual clauses or a provider's participation in a recognised data-transfer framework.

6. How long we keep information

Information	Retention
Newsletter email and consent record	Until you unsubscribe. After that we keep a minimal record (email, consent and unsubscribe dates) for up to 3 years, to honor your unsubscribe and to prove consent if challenged.
Comments (including name and email)	Until you ask us to remove them or we delete them.
Ratings	Kept in aggregate for as long as the article is published.
Contact messages	Up to 24 months after our last reply.
Spam-protection and rate-limit records	About 24 hours.
Server logs	About 14 days.
Backups	Up to 30 days after deletion from the live site.

We then delete or anonymise information, unless the law requires us to keep it longer.

7. Your rights

You can contact us at [email protected] to use any of the rights below. We may need to verify your identity first, and we will respond within the time the law requires (generally 30 days, extendable in some cases).

Everyone: access your information, correct it, ask us to delete it, and unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time using the link in every message.

European Economic Area, United Kingdom and Switzerland: you also have the right to restrict or object to processing, to data portability, to withdraw consent, and to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority (in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office).

Canada: under the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and applicable provincial laws, you can access and correct your information and withdraw consent, subject to legal limits. If you live in Quebec, Law 25 also gives you rights such as data portability and, in some cases, to have us stop disseminating your information. You can complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, or to your provincial regulator such as the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec.

United States: residents of states with comprehensive privacy laws (such as California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia and others) may have the right to know what we collect, access, correct and delete their information, opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information and of targeted advertising, and not be discriminated against for exercising these rights. You may use an authorised agent to make a request, and you may appeal a refusal by replying to our decision.

Categories of personal information collected in the last 12 months (California): identifiers (name, email, hashed IP address); internet activity (pages viewed, ad interactions, if consent is given); and the content of your communications with us. We collect these from you and your device, use them for the purposes in section 3, and disclose them to the service providers in section 4. We do not collect sensitive personal information as defined by California law, and we do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of anyone under 16.

8. Email marketing

We send marketing emails only with your express consent, identify ourselves clearly, include our mailing address, and put a working unsubscribe link in every message, in line with Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL), the US CAN-SPAM Act and the GDPR. We confirm each subscription through a confirmation email (double opt-in). You can unsubscribe at any time. We may still send you essential messages, such as a reply to something you asked us.

9. Children

The site is not directed at children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

10. Security

We protect information with measures such as HTTPS encryption in transit, hashed administrator passwords, access controls, spam and abuse protection, and regular backups and updates. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. If a breach creates a real risk of harm to you, we will notify you and the relevant authorities as the law requires.

11. Links to other sites

The site links to third-party websites and tools. We are not responsible for their privacy practices, so please read their policies.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date above shows the current version, and we will highlight significant changes on this page or by email where the law requires.

13. Contact us

Small Business AI Tools 123 Financial Center, Panama City, Panama Email: [email protected]