Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

This Privacy Policy explains how HafidWatch (“we,” “us,” or “our”) collects, uses, and protects your information when you use our website at hafidwatch.com and our related services, including The Hafid Brief newsletter, the Intelligence Report, Premium Alerts, and the Sentiment API.

HafidWatch is operated by Ivan Pipitone, an individual based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is the data controller responsible for the personal information described in this policy.

2. Information We Collect

Information You Provide

• Newsletter subscription: Your email address when you subscribe to The Hafid Brief.
• Account registration: Username, email address, first name, and last name when you create an account for paid services.
• Payment information: When you purchase a subscription, payment is processed by PayPal. We receive your name, email address, and transaction details. We do not receive or store your credit card number, bank account details, or PayPal password.
• Contact forms: Your name, email address, and message content when you submit a form on our site. Messages are delivered to our email inbox and are not stored on the website.

Information Collected Automatically

• Usage data: Pages visited, time spent on pages, browser type, device type, and approximate location, collected through Google Analytics.
• Server logs: Our hosting provider keeps standard server logs, which include IP addresses, for security and troubleshooting.
• Newsletter activity: Our newsletter platform may record whether an email was opened and which links were clicked.
• Link clicks: Links in our social media posts pass through go.hafidwatch.com, which counts clicks. It does not record your IP address.
• Fonts and icons: Our pages load fonts from Google Fonts and icons from the Simple Icons content delivery network. Your browser connects to those servers to fetch them, which shares your IP address with them.
• Cookies: Small text files stored on your device for site functionality, analytics and, where ads are shown, advertising. See Sections 7 and 8 for details.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your information for the purposes below. For readers in the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom, the legal basis for each use is shown in brackets.

• To deliver our services: Sending the newsletter, providing access to paid subscriptions, managing Premium Alerts access, and authenticating API requests. (Your consent for the newsletter; performance of a contract for paid services.)
• To process payments: Coordinating with PayPal to manage subscriptions, billing, and renewals. (Performance of a contract.)
• To communicate with you: Responding to inquiries and sending service-related notifications. (Our legitimate interest in answering you; performance of a contract.)
• To improve the Service: Analyzing usage patterns to understand how our content and products perform. (Your consent where the law requires it; otherwise our legitimate interest in improving the site.)
• To show advertising: Where ads are displayed, as described in Section 8. (Your consent where the law requires it.)
• To keep the site secure: Detecting abuse and fixing technical problems. (Our legitimate interest in running a secure service.)
• To comply with legal obligations: Retaining records as required by applicable law. (Legal obligation.)

We do not build advertising profiles of our readers ourselves, and we do not make automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you. Our articles are written with AI, but no reader or subscriber data is sent to the AI provider.

4. Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services to operate HafidWatch:

We do not share your personal information with any other third parties except as described in this policy or as required by law.

5. Newsletter: The Hafid Brief

The Hafid Brief is our free daily newsletter, managed through Ghost and delivered via Resend.

• Subscription: You provide your email address to subscribe. No other information is required.
• Activity: The newsletter platform may record whether an email was opened and which links were clicked, so we can see which content is useful.
• Unsubscribe: Every email includes an unsubscribe link. You can also contact us at hafidwatch.news@gmail.com to request removal.
• Data: Upon unsubscribing, your email address is removed from our active mailing list. To have it deleted entirely, ask us.

We do not share your newsletter email address with advertisers, sponsors, or any third party for marketing purposes.

6. Paid Subscriptions

• Your account and subscription status are stored in our WordPress database.
• Payment is processed by PayPal. We do not store payment credentials.
• For Premium Alerts, we use your PayPal email to send the Telegram channel invitation. No Telegram account data is stored by us.
• For the Sentiment API, your API key is generated and associated with your account. API usage logs are retained for rate limiting and billing purposes.

7. Cookies

HafidWatch uses cookies for the following purposes:

• Essential cookies: WordPress login session cookies required for account functionality.
• Analytics cookies: Google Analytics cookies to measure site performance and traffic patterns.
• Advertising cookies: Where ads are displayed, Google and its advertising partners set cookies to choose and measure ads. See Section 8.

You can control cookies through your browser settings, opt out of Google Analytics with Google’s opt-out add-on, and manage personalized advertising as described in Section 8. Disabling essential cookies may affect your ability to log in to your account.

8. Advertising

HafidWatch may display advertising served by Google AdSense. Where ads are displayed:

• Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website or other websites.
• Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to this site and/or other sites on the Internet.
• You may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Ads Settings. You can also opt out of some third-party vendors’ use of cookies for personalized advertising at www.aboutads.info/choices.

We do not give advertisers your name, email address or account details. Under California law, the use of cookies for personalized advertising may be considered “sharing” of personal information. You can opt out using the controls above.

Sponsored content and affiliate links are separate from this advertising. They are labeled where they appear, as described in our Editorial Policy.

9. Data Retention

• Newsletter subscribers: Your email is retained until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete it.
• Registered accounts: Your account data is retained while your account is active. Account deletion requests are processed within 30 days.
• Payment records: Transaction history is retained for a minimum of 5 years for accounting and tax compliance.
• Usage data: Google Analytics data is retained for up to 14 months.
• Contact messages: Emails and contact form messages are retained for up to 2 years.
• API usage logs: Retained for the duration of your subscription plus 90 days after cancellation.
• Server logs: Kept for a limited period set by our hosting provider.

10. Your Rights

For all users

• Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Correction: Request correction of inaccurate data.
• Deletion: Request deletion of your personal data (subject to legal retention requirements).
• Unsubscribe: Remove yourself from our newsletter at any time.

For EU/EEA and UK residents (GDPR)

• Right to data portability
• Right to restrict processing
• Right to object to processing based on legitimate interests
• Right to withdraw consent at any time
• Right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority

For California residents (CCPA/CPRA)

• Right to know what personal information we collect, use, and share
• Right to delete and to correct your personal information
• Right to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information. We do not sell personal information; see Section 8 for advertising cookies.
• Non-discrimination for exercising your privacy rights

For residents of Argentina (Law 25.326)

You may access your personal data free of charge at intervals of no less than six months, unless you show a legitimate interest in doing so sooner, and you may ask for it to be corrected, updated or deleted. The Agencia de Acceso a la Información Pública, as the supervisory authority for Law 25.326, hears complaints from anyone who believes their data protection rights have been affected.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at hafidwatch.news@gmail.com. We will respond within 30 days, or sooner where the law that applies to you requires it.

11. International Data Transfers

HafidWatch is operated from Argentina, which the European Commission recognises as providing an adequate level of data protection. Your data may also be processed in other countries where our service providers operate, including the United States (PayPal, Google, Ghost, Resend) and the countries where Hostinger runs its servers.

Where your data is transferred outside your country, we rely on the safeguards those providers put in place, such as standard contractual clauses.

12. Children’s Privacy

The Service is not intended for anyone under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, contact us and we will delete it promptly.

13. Data Security

We implement reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your data, including encrypted connections (HTTPS), access controls, and secure authentication. However, no method of electronic storage or transmission is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security of your data.

If a security incident affects your personal data and the law requires it, we will notify you and the relevant authority.

14. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be communicated via email to newsletter subscribers and registered users. The “Last updated” date at the top of this page will be updated accordingly, and the revised policy applies from that date.

15. Contact

Privacy questions and requests are handled by Ivan Pipitone, founder of HafidWatch, Buenos Aires, Argentina.