Privacy Policy
What information is involved when you read Handshake or email us, and what this site doesn’t collect. Last updated October 12, 2026.
Draft. This page is a draft, not legal advice, and is to be reviewed by counsel before it takes effect.
Handshake News & Reviews is run by [Operator name] (“we”, “us”).
Placeholder operator. [Operator name] stands in for the legal name of the company that runs this site. Set SITE_OPERATOR_NAME in the environment to publish it.
Handshake is a read-only website. There are no accounts, no sign-ups, no comments and no forms, so you can read every page without giving us any personal information. This policy covers this site and email you send to us.
The short version
- You don’t need to give us any personal information to read this site.
- We don’t sell personal information, and we don’t share readers’ details with the companies we review.
- If you email us, we use your message to reply and, for corrections, to check and fix the page.
- You can ask us for a copy of anything you’ve emailed us, or ask us to delete it.
What information is involved
Because the site has no accounts or forms, the information involved is limited to what browsers send with every request and what you choose to email us.
Information your browser sends
Applies to: Everyone who visits this site. Like any website, this site receives the information a browser sends with each request: an IP address, the browser type, the page requested and the page that linked to it. The service that hosts the site may record this in standard server logs.
Searches
Applies to: People who use the site search. When you search, your search terms are sent as part of the page address (for example, /search?q=termite) and may appear in the same server logs. To write the Ask Handshake answer above the results, the question is also sent, without your IP address or any other identifier, to the service provider that generates it (Anthropic, directly or through our hosting provider). To limit abuse, Ask Handshake counts the questions asked from each IP address, and those counts are deleted within two days. Searches aren’t tied to an account, because there are no accounts.
Email you send us
Applies to: People who write to us. If you email us, we receive your email address, any name you include and the contents of your message, including any attachments.
How it’s used
We use this information to run the site and to answer the people who write to us, and for nothing else.
To run the site
Applies to: Server logs. Request logs are used to keep the site working, to investigate errors and to protect it from abuse, such as automated traffic that slows it down. We don’t use them to build profiles of individual readers.
To reply and correct the record
Applies to: Email you send us. We use what you send to answer you and, when you report an error, to check the source you point to and correct the page. We’ll ask before quoting you or naming you on the site.
What we don’t do
Applies to: All information. We don’t sell personal information, we don’t use it for advertising, and we don’t pass readers’ details to the companies we review.
When it’s shared
Information is shared only in the narrow cases below. The companies we review are never on this list.
With service providers
Applies to: Hosting, email and answer services. Services that host the site, handle our email or generate Ask Handshake answers process the information described here only to provide that service.
When the law requires it
Applies to: Valid legal demands only. We may disclose information if we receive a valid legal demand, such as a subpoena or court order.
More details
The rest of this policy covers cookies, links to other sites, how long information is kept and your choices.
Cookies
Applies to: All visitors. The site doesn’t set advertising or tracking cookies, and there is nothing to log in to. If that ever changes, this policy will be updated first.
Links to other sites
Applies to: Sources and company websites. Company pages link to the public sources behind each fact, such as review platforms, state registries, court records and company websites. Those sites have their own privacy policies.
How long information is kept
Applies to: Email and server logs. We keep email only as long as we need it to reply and to keep a record of corrections. Server logs are kept by the hosting service under its own retention schedule.
Your privacy choices
Applies to: Every reader. You can read the whole site without giving us any personal information, and you can block cookies in your browser without losing access to anything. If you’ve emailed us, you can ask for a copy of what we hold about you, ask us to correct it or ask us to delete it, using the address below.
Children’s privacy
Applies to: Visitors under 16. Handshake is written for adults making household decisions. We don’t knowingly collect personal information from children under 16, and we’ll delete it if we learn that we have.
Changes to this policy
Applies to: This document. If this policy changes, the date at the top of this page will change with it.
Questions
Questions about your privacy, or a request to see or delete what you’ve emailed us: see the contact page.