Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Bill G. Wolcott ("I," "me," or "the Owner") handles information on billgwolcott.com (the "Site"), including its AI features such as "Talk to Bill," "Ask Bill," the course "Trail Guide," and the site Help assistant (together, the "AI features"). I built this Site myself, and I care about treating the people who use it with respect. Please read this alongside the Terms of Service.

The short version

• I collect only what is needed to run the Site, the AI features, memberships, and purchases.
• What you type into an AI feature is sent to a third-party AI provider to generate a reply. That provider does not use your messages to train its models.
• The AI features are not therapy, and your conversations are not protected by HIPAA or any professional confidentiality.
• If you are signed in, the Site saves your reading place and your Talk to Bill history so you can pick up where you left off, and it records which pages and chapters you read. You can erase this.
• The Site uses Google Analytics with Google Signals, which set cookies and let Google give me aggregate estimates of audience age and gender. You can opt out (see Cookies and analytics).
• I do not sell your personal information.
• You can delete your saved conversations, notes, and account at any time, and you can ask me to delete your information.
• The Site is for adults 18 and older.

Information I collect

Information you give me

• Account information. If you create an account, I collect your name and email address, and membership details. If you sign in with Google or Apple, I receive basic profile information such as your name and email from that provider.
• Conversation content. The messages you type into the AI features, and any conversation you choose to save to your account.
• Course reflections. If you take the TRAIL Check course, the answers and reflections you save are stored in your account so you can return to them.
• Notes and highlights. Highlights, notes, and responses you create while reading. Some of these are public by design (see Public notes and highlights).
• Purchases. If you buy a chapter, pack, book, download, or an AI upgrade, payment is handled by a third-party payment processor. I receive a record of what you bought, but I do not receive or store your full card number.
• Messages you send me. Anything you submit through the contact form or by email, and your email address if you join the newsletter.

Information collected automatically

• My own private analytics. The Site keeps a simple, cookie-free count of visits on my own server. It records the page visited, the referring site, general device type, operating system, and browser. It does not store your raw IP address; instead it turns it into a one-way coded value so I can count returning visitors without identifying them.
• Signed-in activity. If you are signed in, that same analytics ties the pages and chapters you view to your account, along with how far you read (see Reading and course activity).
• Google Analytics and Search Console. The Site also uses Google Analytics (including Google Signals) and Google Search Console. These set cookies and share limited data with Google (see Cookies and analytics).

Cookies and analytics

• Essential cookies keep you logged in and remember basic preferences.
• My own analytics uses no cookies and no third party.
• Google Analytics sets cookies to measure traffic. With Google Signals turned on, Google can associate visits with signed-in, consented Google users and give me aggregate estimates of audience age and gender. These estimates are never tied to a specific person, and I do not use them to target ads at you.
• Your choices. You can block or delete cookies in your browser, install Google's Analytics opt-out add-on, or turn off ad personalization in your Google account. None of this affects your ability to use the Site.

Reading and course activity

If you are signed in, the Site records your reading so it can save your place and so I can understand which writing connects with readers. This includes which chapters, journal entries, essays, and pages you open, how far you scroll, and whether you finish. If you take the TRAIL Check course, your saved answers and your progress through the lessons are stored in your account. You can ask me to delete this at any time.

The AI features, specifically

• How replies are generated. To answer you, the words you type are sent securely to a third-party large-language-model provider, which generates the reply and returns it. If you turn on the read-aloud voice, the text of the reply is sent to a third-party text-to-speech provider to be turned into audio.
• Training. These providers act as my service providers and process your messages only to deliver the reply. They do not use your messages to train their AI models.
• Paid AI. Some AI features, such as the course Trail Guide, are a paid upgrade. The same handling described here applies to them.
• Sensitive topics. People often share painful and personal things with the AI features. Please share only what you are comfortable having processed as described here. Do not enter information you need kept strictly private, such as full legal names of other people, financial account numbers, or government identifiers.
• What is stored. The Owner may keep a private log of conversations to understand how the AI features are used and to improve them. If you are signed in and choose "Save this chat," that conversation is stored in your account until you delete it.
• Remembering you. If you are signed in, Talk to Bill keeps a private memory of who you are and learns from your conversations over time, for example the name you go by, your situation, and the people and dates that matter to you, so it can pick up where you left off on your next visit. You can erase all of it at any time with "Make Bill forget me" in your account. If you are not signed in, it does not remember you, and each conversation starts fresh.
• Not confidential like therapy. Your conversations are not protected by HIPAA and are not subject to any therapist, medical, or legal privilege.

Public notes and highlights

While reading, you can highlight passages and leave notes. Some marks and responses are public by design, which means other readers can see them along with the name on your account. Private notes are visible only to you. Do not put anything in a public note that you would not want others to read. You can edit or delete your own notes at any time, and I may remove notes that break the Terms.

How I use information

• To operate the Site and the AI features and respond to you.
• To maintain accounts, memberships, and purchases.
• To save your reading place and course progress.
• To understand which writing connects with readers and improve the Site and my work.
• To keep the Site secure, prevent abuse, and fix problems.
• To comply with the law, including the safety obligations described in the Terms.

How information is shared

I do not sell your personal information. I share it only with:

• Service providers who help run the Site under contract, including the AI and text-to-speech providers described above, hosting, email and newsletter delivery, membership, analytics (Google), and the payment processor. They may use the information only to provide their service to me.
• Sign-in providers (Google or Apple) if you choose to sign in with them.
• Legal and safety recipients when required by law, to enforce the Terms, or to protect someone's safety.

How long I keep information

I keep information only as long as needed for the purposes above. Saved conversations, notes, and course reflections remain until you delete them. Account information is kept while your account is active. My own analytics is kept for a limited period and then removed automatically. You can ask me to delete information sooner (see below). Some records, such as purchase records, may be retained where the law requires.

Your choices and rights

• Delete your conversations. In your account you can delete any saved conversation, or use "Delete all my conversations" to remove them all.
• Make Bill forget you. In your account, "Make Bill forget me" erases everything the AI has learned about you and deletes your saved conversations.
• Manage your notes and course data. You can edit or delete your notes and reset your course progress from your account.
• Opt out of Google Analytics using the tools listed under Cookies and analytics.
• Access, delete, or close your account. Email me at manager@billgwolcott.com or use the contact form and I will honor reasonable requests to access or delete your personal information or close your account.
• Email. You can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time using the link in any email.

Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights under laws such as the California Consumer Privacy Act or the GDPR. I will honor those rights where they apply. I do not knowingly "sell" or "share" personal information as those terms are defined under California law.

Security

The Site uses encryption in transit (HTTPS) and reasonable measures to protect information. No method of storage or transmission is perfectly secure, so I cannot guarantee absolute security.

Children

The Site and the Tool are intended for adults 18 and older. They are not directed to children, and I do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a minor has provided information, contact me and I will delete it.

Visitors outside the United States

The Site is operated in the United States and intended for a US audience. If you use it from elsewhere, your information will be processed in the United States.

Changes to this policy

I may update this policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date above will change when I do. Significant changes will be noted on the Site.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Email manager@billgwolcott.com or use the contact form.