Privacy Policy for brendanhart.com
brendanhart.com — Effective April 16, 2026
Brendan Hart ("we," "us," or "our") respects your privacy and is committed to handling personal information responsibly and in compliance with applicable law. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard personal information when you visit brendanhart.com (the "Site"), subscribe to our newsletter, create an account, or otherwise interact with us.
This Policy applies to all visitors to the Site and supplements any additional notices that may be provided in specific contexts. If you do not agree with the practices described in this Policy, please do not use the Site.
1. Information We Collect
We collect personal information in three principal ways: information you provide directly, information collected automatically through your interactions with the Site, and information received from third-party services.
1.1 Information You Provide Directly
Newsletter and Email Subscriptions. When you subscribe to our newsletter, we collect your email address and, where applicable, your name. We may also collect preferences that you specify regarding the content you wish to receive.
Account Information. If you create a user account or join a membership area on the Site, we collect the information you submit during registration, which may include your name, email address, password, professional affiliation, and any other information you choose to provide.
Correspondence. If you contact us by email or through any form on the Site, we collect the information you include in your message, such as your name, email address, and the content of the communication.
1.2 Information Collected Automatically
When you visit the Site, we and our third-party service providers may automatically collect certain technical information, including your Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, operating system, device identifiers, referring and exit pages, the pages you visit on the Site, the date and time of your visit, and the approximate geographic location derived from your IP address.
We collect this information through cookies, pixel tags, local storage, and similar technologies. A cookie is a small text file placed on your device that allows a website to recognize your browser and remember certain information. You may set your browser to refuse cookies or to alert you when cookies are being sent, although some parts of the Site may not function properly without them.
1.3 Information from Third Parties
We may receive information about you from third-party services you use to interact with the Site, such as analytics providers, email service providers, or social media platforms where our content is embedded. The information we receive from such third parties depends on your settings with those services and the permissions you have granted them.
2. How We Use Personal Information
We use personal information for the following purposes:
To operate, maintain, and improve the Site and its features, including user accounts and membership areas.
To deliver newsletters, updates, and other communications you have requested, and to manage your subscription preferences.
To respond to inquiries, provide customer support, and communicate with you about your account or activity on the Site.
To analyze Site usage, understand reader interests, measure the effectiveness of our content, and improve our editorial and product decisions.
To prevent, detect, and investigate fraud, security incidents, violations of our Terms of Use, and other unlawful activity, and to protect the rights, property, and safety of the Site, our users, and the public.
To comply with legal obligations, respond to lawful requests from public authorities, and establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.
3. Legal Bases for Processing (EU and UK Users)
If you are located in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, we process your personal information only where we have a valid legal basis under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the UK GDPR. The legal bases on which we rely include:
Consent. Where you have given us clear and affirmative consent to process your personal information for a specific purpose, such as subscribing to our newsletter. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.
Contract. Where processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party, such as providing access to a user account or membership feature you have registered for.
Legitimate Interests. Where processing is necessary for our legitimate interests or those of a third party, provided such interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. Our legitimate interests include operating and securing the Site, analyzing usage patterns, and communicating with our audience.
Legal Obligation. Where processing is necessary to comply with a legal obligation to which we are subject.
Where we rely on legitimate interests as our legal basis, you have the right to object to that processing, and we will comply with your objection unless we demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds to continue or the processing is necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.
4. Third-Party Service Providers and Disclosure
We do not sell your personal information. We share personal information only in the circumstances described below.
Service Providers. We engage trusted third-party service providers to perform functions on our behalf, including website hosting, analytics, email delivery, payment processing (where applicable), and content distribution. These providers are authorized to use your personal information only as necessary to provide services to us and are contractually required to protect your information in accordance with this Policy and applicable law. The principal categories of service providers we use include:
Analytics providers, such as Google Analytics, which help us understand how visitors use the Site. These providers may set cookies and collect technical information about your visit.
Email service providers, which deliver our newsletter and manage subscriber lists.
Content embedding and hosting services, such as social media platforms and video providers whose content is embedded on the Site. When you interact with embedded content, the relevant third party may collect information about your activity.
Legal and Safety. We may disclose personal information if we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to comply with a legal obligation, to respond to lawful requests from public authorities, to enforce our Terms of Use, to protect the rights, property, or safety of Brendan Hart, our users, or others, or to prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the Site.
Business Transfers. If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, bankruptcy, or sale of assets, your personal information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you before your personal information is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.
With Your Consent. We may share your personal information for any other purpose disclosed to you at the time we collect the information or with your consent.
5. International Data Transfers
The Site is operated from the United States, and the information we collect is stored and processed in the United States and other countries in which we or our service providers operate. These countries may have data protection laws that differ from the laws of your country of residence.
When we transfer personal information from the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland to countries that have not been deemed to provide an adequate level of data protection, we rely on appropriate safeguards, including the Standard Contractual Clauses adopted by the European Commission and, where applicable, the UK International Data Transfer Addendum. You may request a copy of the relevant safeguards by contacting us at engagements@brendanhart.com.
6. Data Retention
We retain personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, including to satisfy any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. The criteria we use to determine retention periods include the nature and sensitivity of the information, the purposes for which we process it, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure, and applicable legal requirements.
Newsletter subscriber information is retained until you unsubscribe or request deletion. Account information is retained for the duration of your account plus a reasonable period thereafter for legitimate business and legal purposes. Analytics data is retained in accordance with the settings and policies of our analytics providers.
7. Your Rights
Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have certain rights with respect to your personal information. We honor the rights described below for all users where applicable law so requires, and we extend similar rights as a matter of policy to users in other jurisdictions where feasible.
7.1 Rights Available to All Users
You may unsubscribe from our newsletter at any time using the unsubscribe link in each email or by contacting us at engagements@brendanhart.com. You may also update your account information by logging into your account, or request that we correct or delete personal information we hold about you by contacting us at the same address.
7.2 Rights of Users in the European Union and United Kingdom
If you are located in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, you have the following rights under the GDPR or the UK GDPR:
The right of access, allowing you to obtain confirmation of whether we process personal information about you and, if so, to receive a copy of that information.
The right to rectification of inaccurate or incomplete personal information.
The right to erasure, sometimes known as the "right to be forgotten," allowing you to request deletion of your personal information in certain circumstances.
The right to restriction of processing in certain circumstances.
The right to data portability, allowing you to receive your personal information in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format and to transmit that information to another controller.
The right to object to processing carried out on the basis of our legitimate interests or for direct marketing purposes.
The right to withdraw consent at any time, where processing is based on consent.
The right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. In the United Kingdom, the relevant authority is the Information Commissioner's Office. In the European Economic Area, you may contact the data protection authority of your country of residence, place of work, or the place of the alleged infringement.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at engagements@brendanhart.com. We may need to verify your identity before acting on your request and will respond within the time periods required by applicable law, generally within one month.
7.3 Rights of California Residents
If you are a California resident, you have certain rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (collectively, the "CCPA"). These rights apply to personal information as defined by the CCPA.
The right to know the categories of personal information we have collected about you, the categories of sources from which the personal information was collected, the business or commercial purpose for collecting the information, the categories of third parties with whom we share the information, and the specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you.
The right to delete personal information that we have collected from you, subject to certain exceptions.
The right to correct inaccurate personal information that we maintain about you.
The right to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information. As noted above, we do not sell personal information. We may share certain limited information with analytics providers and other service providers, which under the broad definition of "sharing" in the CCPA could be considered sharing for cross-context behavioral advertising purposes. To opt out, please contact us at engagements@brendanhart.com or use any opt-out mechanism made available on the Site, such as the Global Privacy Control signal recognized by your browser.
The right to limit the use of sensitive personal information. We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information for purposes that would trigger this right under the CCPA.
The right to non-discrimination for exercising any of your CCPA rights. We will not deny you goods or services, charge you different prices, or provide a different level or quality of service because you exercised your rights.
To exercise your rights under the CCPA, please contact us at engagements@brendanhart.com. We will verify your identity using the information we have on file before responding to your request. You may designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf, subject to proof of authorization and verification of your identity.
In the twelve months preceding the effective date of this Policy, we may have collected the following categories of personal information: identifiers (such as name, email address, IP address), internet or other electronic network activity information (such as browsing behavior on the Site), and inferences drawn from the foregoing to create a profile reflecting reader preferences. We collect this information from you directly, from your interactions with the Site, and from our service providers. We disclose these categories of information to service providers and, where legally required, to public authorities.
7.4 Rights of Residents of Other U.S. States
Residents of other U.S. states that have enacted comprehensive privacy laws, including Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, Texas, Oregon, and others, may have rights similar to those described above for California residents, including rights of access, correction, deletion, and opt-out of targeted advertising or sales. To exercise any such rights, please contact us at engagements@brendanhart.com.
8. Cookies and Tracking Technologies
We use cookies and similar technologies to operate the Site, to understand how the Site is used, and to improve your experience. The categories of cookies we use include:
Strictly Necessary Cookies, which are required for the Site to function, including for authentication, account security, and navigation.
Performance and Analytics Cookies, which collect information about how visitors use the Site, such as the pages visited and any errors encountered. We use this information to improve the Site.
Functional Cookies, which remember your preferences and personalize your experience.
You may manage your cookie preferences through your browser settings or, where available, through a cookie preference tool on the Site. Disabling cookies may affect the functionality of certain features. Most browsers also allow you to communicate a Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signal. We honor Global Privacy Control signals as an opt-out of sale or sharing of personal information for California residents and residents of other jurisdictions that recognize this signal.
9. Data Security
We implement reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information against unauthorized access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure. No method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is entirely secure, however, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of any password used to access your account and for notifying us promptly of any unauthorized use.
10. Children's Privacy
The Site is not directed to children under the age of sixteen (16), and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under sixteen. If we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under sixteen without verifiable parental consent, we will take steps to delete that information as soon as reasonably practicable. If you believe a child has provided personal information to us, please contact engagements@brendanhart.com.
11. Third-Party Links
The Site may contain links to websites and services operated by third parties. This Policy does not apply to those third-party sites, and we are not responsible for their privacy practices. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party sites you visit.
12. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or other factors. When we make material changes, we will post the revised Policy on the Site and update the "Effective" date above. Where required by law, we will also notify you of material changes by email or other appropriate means. Your continued use of the Site after the effective date of any revised Policy constitutes your acceptance of the changes.
13. Contact Us
If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us at:
Brendan Hart Email: engagements@brendanhart.com Website: brendanhart.com
We will respond to your inquiry within a reasonable time and within any period required by applicable law.
