Effective date: October 18, 2026
This Privacy Policy explains how SmartJots ("we", "us") collects, uses, and shares information when you visit smartjots.com (the "Site"), subscribe to our newsletter, or comment.
Contact
Questions or requests about your data: [email protected]
Information we collect
- Account and newsletter data: if you sign up, your email address and the name you give us, your newsletter subscription, and when you joined.
- Signup source: when you sign up, Ghost records the page you signed up from and the site that referred you, using your browser's session storage.
- Email engagement: whether you open our newsletter emails and which links you click.
- Comments: if you comment, your comment and your name are shown publicly next to it.
- Usage and device data: pages visited, referring site, approximate location derived from IP address, browser and device type, and similar technical data collected by our cookieless analytics and our hosting and security providers.
- Information you send us: if you email us, we receive your email address and whatever you choose to include, and use it only to reply.
People quoted in our reports
SmartJots reports summarize comments that people posted publicly on TikTok, Reddit, and other platforms. We do not publish commenters' usernames or profile details, and we paraphrase or shorten quotes so the reports are about what was said, not who said it. If you believe a report quotes you and you want it changed or removed, email [email protected] with the page and the comment, and we will review it.
Cookies and similar technologies
Some reports embed TikTok videos and Reddit posts. Those embeds let TikTok and Reddit set their own cookies, so we load them only if you accept. Until then each embed shows as a plain quote with a link, and a button that loads that one embed if you choose. You can change your choice at any time using the Privacy choices link in the site footer. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, we treat it as a refusal.
| Name | Provider | Purpose | Type | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
smartjots_consent | SmartJots (first party) | Remembers your choice about embeds | Strictly necessary | 6 months |
selected-theme (local storage) | SmartJots (first party) | Remembers light/dark mode | Strictly necessary | Until cleared |
ghost-members-ssr, ghost-members-ssr.sig | SmartJots (first party, Ghost) | Keeps you signed in as a member | Strictly necessary | Up to 6 months, or until you sign out |
ghost-history (session storage) | SmartJots (first party, Ghost) | Records the pages that led to a signup | Strictly necessary for signup attribution | Until you close the tab |
ttwid, tt_csrf_token, msToken and others | TikTok | Set by TikTok's embedded player | Third-party content (consent) | Up to 1 year, set by TikTok |
loid, session_tracker, csrf_token, token_v2 and others | Set by Reddit's embedded posts | Third-party content (consent) | Up to 2 years, set by Reddit |
We also use privacy-friendly analytics that do not set cookies and do not identify you: Ghost's built-in analytics, a self-hosted instance of Umami (which also honors your browser's Do Not Track setting), and Cloudflare Web Analytics.
Affiliate links
Some product links on the Site are Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, SmartJots earns from qualifying purchases. Clicking one takes you to Amazon, which may set its own cookies to attribute the purchase. That happens on Amazon's site under Amazon's Privacy Notice. We receive commission reports from Amazon, but not your name or what you bought.
How we use information
- To send the newsletter you subscribed to, and emails you need to sign in.
- To show your comments and manage the comment section.
- To understand what content is read and improve the Site.
- To keep the Site secure and prevent abuse.
- To respond to you when you contact us.
We do not sell your personal information for money, and we never share your email address with advertisers. Loading TikTok or Reddit embeds may count as "sharing" for cross-context advertising under some US state laws, so they load only if you accept or click a single embed's button.
Service providers we share data with
- Ghost: publishing software that runs this Site, including memberships, newsletters, comments, and its cookieless built-in analytics.
- PikaPods: hosts the Site, its database, and our self-hosted Umami analytics.
- Cloudflare: content delivery, security, and cookieless web analytics (Cloudflare Web Analytics) for all Site traffic.
- Umami: cookieless, self-hosted analytics running on PikaPods.
- Mailgun: delivers our newsletter emails and reports opens and clicks.
- jsDelivr: delivers the scripts for Ghost's signup, search, and comments features. Your browser requests these files directly, which shares your IP address with jsDelivr's network.
- TikTok and Reddit: embedded videos and posts, with your consent.
- Amazon Associates: affiliate links, as described above.
The Site's share buttons are plain links to X, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Nothing is sent to them unless you click one, and what happens next is governed by that network's privacy policy.
Some of these providers process data in the United States and other countries. Where required, they rely on safeguards such as the EU Standard Contractual Clauses or the EU–US Data Privacy Framework.
Legal bases (EEA and UK visitors)
- Contract: to provide the newsletter, membership, and comments you sign up for.
- Consent: for TikTok and Reddit embeds. You can withdraw consent at any time.
- Legitimate interests: for cookieless aggregate analytics, email engagement statistics, security, publishing reports based on public comments, and replying to messages you send us.
How long we keep data
- Member and newsletter data: until you delete your account or ask us to delete it. Unsubscribing stops emails; deleting your account removes your member record.
- Comments: until you or we delete them, or you delete your account.
- Cookieless analytics (Ghost, Umami, Cloudflare): kept as aggregate statistics that do not identify you.
- Emails you send us: kept as long as needed to respond and for our records, or until you ask us to delete them.
Your choices and rights
- Embeds and cookies: change your choice any time via Privacy choices.
- Emails: every newsletter has an unsubscribe link, and you can manage your subscription from your account.
- Access, correction, deletion, portability, objection: email [email protected]. We respond within 30 days (45 days where California law applies).
- Opt out of sale/sharing (California and other US states): reject embeds, or turn on Global Privacy Control in your browser.
- We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights.
- EEA and UK residents may also complain to their local data protection authority.
Children
This Site is not directed to children under 13 (or under 16 in the EEA), and we do not knowingly collect their personal information. If you believe a child has signed up, email us and we will delete the account.
Security
All traffic is encrypted with HTTPS, and members sign in with one-time email links rather than passwords.
Changes to this policy
We will post any changes on this page and update the effective date above. If a change materially affects members, we will also email them.