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    Privacy Policy

    Last Updated: April 01, 2026

    Quick Summary — what you should know upfront
    What we collect Pages you visit, device info, rough location (country/city), email if you subscribe, and what you put in contact forms.
    Why we collect it To make the site work better, send newsletters you asked for, serve ads that keep the site free, and meet legal requirements.
    Who we share with Ad networks (Google AdSense), analytics tools (Google Analytics), our email platform, and affiliate programs (Amazon). We don’t sell your data.
    Your rights Access, correct, or delete your data. Opt out of personalized ads. Unsubscribe anytime. GDPR and CCPA rights fully honored.
    Contact [email protected] — we respond within 30 days.

    Who We Are

    Technical Master (thetechnicalmaster.com) is a technology publication operated by Technicalmaster Inc., based in Montréal, Canada. We publish how-to guides, device fixes, and tech explainers on Windows, Android, iPhone, and consumer devices in general.

    This privacy policy explains what data we collect when you visit, why we collect it, who we share it with, and what you can do about it. We’ve written it to be clear and direct, not to bury important stuff in legal jargon. It applies to all visitors and users of thetechnicalmaster.com, regardless of where you are located in the world. If something isn’t clear, reach out at [email protected].

    What Information We Collect

    Information You Give Us Directly

    Most visitors never provide anything personally identifiable, but just read and leave. But if you interact with the site in certain ways, here’s what we collect:

    • Newsletter sign-ups: your email address and name if you choose to include it.
    • Comments: your name, email address, and whatever you write in the comment box.
    • Contact form submissions: anything you include when you message us.
    • Guest author applications: your name, email, professional background, and writing samples if you pitch us an article.

    We don’t ask for payment details, social security numbers, or anything sensitive like that. When you send a contact message, only include what you’re comfortable sharing.

    Information Collected Automatically

    Like every website on the internet, we collect some data automatically whenever someone visits. This happens no matter if you’ve logged in or not, and it’s standard across the industry.

    • Pages and content you view, how long you stay, which articles you read, and how you got to us (search engine, direct link, social media, etc.).
    • Device and browser info: your browser type and version, operating system, screen resolution, and general device type (desktop vs. mobile).
    • IP address: used to approximate your location at the country and city level. We don’t track your street address or precise GPS location.
    • Interaction data: which links you click, do you watch embedded videos, and how far you scroll down a page. All this helps us understand what content is really useful.

    None of this is connected to your real name unless you’ve also filled out a form or subscribed. It’s aggregate data used to improve the site.

    Cookies and Tracking Technologies

    We use cookies — small text files your browser stores on your device — along with similar tools like web beacons and pixels. Here’s what each type does:

    • Essential cookies: keep the site functioning. It remembers your preferences, maintains session state, and performs security checks. You can’t opt out of these without breaking parts of the site.
    • Analytics cookies: track how visitors use the site, like which pages get traffic, where users drop off, and what content performs well. We use Google Analytics for this (see the Third-Party Services section below).
    • Advertising cookies: used by our ad partners to show you ads that are relevant to your browsing history. If you’ve ever noticed the same product following you around the web, that’s the reason.
    • Social media cookies: placed when you interact with embedded content like YouTube videos, tweets, and Instagram posts. Those platforms drop their own cookies when their content loads on our pages.

    You can manage cookies through your browser settings. Most browsers let you block third-party cookies specifically, which limits ad tracking without breaking the site. You can also use our cookie consent tool (the banner that appears on your first visit) to set preferences by category.

    How We Use Your Information

    We use collected data for only the following purposes:

    • Publishing and improving content: to understand what people read and find useful, so we can write more of that.
    • Sending newsletters: if you subscribed, we’ll email you new content and occasional updates. Every email has a link to unsubscribe if you don’t want to receive emails from Technical Master.
    • Responding to you: if you use the contact form or email us, we use your info to reply.
    • Displaying ads: to run ads to keep the site free. Ad partners use your data to serve relevant ads. We explain this in detail below.
    • Security and abuse prevention: to detect spam, bots, and fraudulent activity.
      Legal compliance: to meet our obligations under applicable laws.

    We don’t sell your personal information, build profiles to sell to data brokers, or use your data for anything we haven’t listed here.

    Third-Party Services We Use

    Running a modern website means using third-party tools. Here’s exactly what we use, what data they get, and where you can read their privacy policies.

    Advertising — Google AdSense

    We use Google AdSense to display ads. Google and its partners may use cookies and similar technologies to show ads based on your previous visits to this site and other sites. This is called interest-based or behavioral advertising.

    You have a few ways to opt out:

    If you opt out of personalized ads, it doesn’t mean no ads at all; it means the ads you see won’t be based on your browsing history, but they will be less targeted.

    Analytics — Google Analytics

    We use Google Analytics to understand site traffic. It tells us things like which articles get the most readers, where our traffic comes from, and which devices people use. The data is aggregated and anonymized — Google Analytics doesn’t tell us who you are, just broad patterns across all visitors.

    We’ve enabled IP anonymization in our Google Analytics setup, which means your full IP address is never stored. If you want to block Analytics tracking entirely, Google offers an official browser opt-out add-on. Analytics data is retained for 26 months, after which it will be automatically deleted from our account.

    Email — MailChimp

    When you subscribe to our newsletter, your email address (and name, if provided) is stored with our email service provider. We use this service only to send you the content you signed up for and manage your subscription preferences.

    We use a data agreement with our email provider, and they can’t use your email for their own marketing. You can always unsubscribe from the link at the bottom of our emails or by contacting us.

    Affiliate Programs — Amazon and Others

    Some of our articles might contain affiliate links, primarily through the Amazon Associates program. When you click an affiliate link and make a purchase, we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

    When you click through to a retailer, that retailer’s own tracking and privacy policies apply. We receive confirmation that a referred sale has occurred, but we don’t get your name, address, payment info, or any other personal details from the transaction.

    Embedded Social Media Content

    Our articles sometimes include embedded content from YouTube, Twitter/X, and Instagram. When that content loads on the page, those platforms may set their own cookies and collect data about your visit according to their own policies:

    If you’re logged into any of these platforms while browsing our site, they may associate your visit with your account. We have no control over what these platforms collect or how they use it.

    Cookie Consent Management

    We use a cookie consent platform to manage your cookie preferences when you first visit the site. This tool records your consent choices so we can honor them on future visits. The platform itself processes minimal data (your consent record and timestamp) to fulfill this task.

    How Long Do We Keep Your Data

    We don’t hold onto data longer than we need to. Here’s how long we keep different types:

    • Analytics data: 26 months, then automatically purged.
    • Newsletter subscriptions: until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete your record.
    • Contact form submissions: up to 2 years, unless you request earlier deletion.
    • Server and security logs: typically 90 days to monitor and debug security.

    When we delete data, we actually delete it. We remove it from our systems, not just hide it, and we ask any third-party processors that hold it on our behalf to delete it too.

    Your Rights and How to Use Them

    Depending on where you live, you have real, enforceable rights over your personal data. Here’s what you can ask for and how to ask:

    Access and Portability

    You can request a copy of whatever personal information we hold about you. We’ll provide it in a readable format within 30 days. Just email [email protected] with the subject line ‘Data Access Request,’ and we’ll take it from there.

    Correction

    If something we have is wrong — your email address on our newsletter list, for example — you can ask us to fix it. For newsletter preferences, you can often update these directly through the email you received from us.

    Deletion

    You can request that we delete your personal data. We’ll comply with requests except where we’re legally required to retain certain records (financial records, legal disputes, etc.). Email us at [email protected] with ‘Data Deletion Request’ in the subject line.

    Global Privacy Control (GPC) and Do Not Track

    Some browsers send a Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal to indicate that you don’t want your data sold or shared. We honor GPC signals as a valid opt-out request for data sharing with advertising partners where this is legally required (California, Colorado, Connecticut, etc.).

    Old ‘Do Not Track’ (DNT) browser signals are a different matter because there’s still no accepted industry standard for how websites should respond to them, so we don’t treat DNT signals as an automatic opt-out. If you want to opt out of tracking, the specific opt-out tools listed above are more reliable.

    European Users — GDPR

    If you’re in the European Economic Area (EEA) or the UK, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applies to how we handle your data. Here’s the legal basis for each type of processing we do:

    • Consent: newsletter subscriptions, non-essential cookies. You give this explicitly and can withdraw it anytime.
    • Legitimate interests: analytics, site security, and content optimization. We have a genuine interest in understanding how our site performs; this doesn’t override your rights.
    • Legal compliance: tax records, response to legal requests.

    You have all the rights described in the section above (access, correction, deletion, portability) plus the right to restrict or object to certain processing, and the right to withdraw consent at any time without affecting anything we did before you withdrew it.

    If you’re unhappy with how we’ve processed your data and we haven’t resolved it to your satisfaction, you have the right to complain to your national data protection authority. You can find your country’s authority through the European Data Protection Board member directory.

    California Residents — CCPA

    The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) gives California residents specific rights over their personal information:

    • Right to know: you can ask what personal info we’ve collected about you, where it came from, what we use it for, and whether we’ve disclosed it to third parties.
    • Right to delete: you can ask us to delete your personal info (with some legal exceptions).
    • Right to opt out of sale: we don’t sell personal data in the traditional sense. However, sharing data with advertising partners for behavioral advertising may qualify as a ‘sale’ under CCPA. You can opt out using the links in the Advertising section.
    • Right to non-discrimination: we won’t treat you differently or provide worse service if you exercise your privacy rights.

    To submit a California privacy request, email [email protected] with ‘California Privacy Rights’ in the subject line. We’ll respond within 45 days as required by law.

    Other US States

    Virginia (VCDPA), Colorado (CPA), Connecticut (CTDPA), Utah (UCPA), and a growing list of other states have passed their own privacy laws. The rights they provide are broadly similar to CCPA — access, deletion, correction, opt-out from targeted ads, and non-discrimination. If you’re in any of these states, you can exercise your rights using the same contact details above.

    International Users

    Our servers and operations are based in Canada. If you’re visiting from outside Canada, your data may be transferred to, stored in, and processed in Canada. Canadian data protection law (PIPEDA and Quebec Law 25) governs how we handle personal data, and these frameworks are largely aligned with international privacy standards including GDPR.

    If you’re an EEA or UK user, we rely on standard contractual clauses with our service providers to ensure your data remains protected to GDPR standards when processed outside the EU. If you have questions about cross-border data transfers, email [email protected].

    Children’s Privacy

    This site is intended for adults and is not aimed at children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect personal information from them. If we find out that a child under 13 has given us their information, we delete it straight away. If you’re a parent or guardian and you believe your child has submitted personal information to us, email us at [email protected], and we will investigate and delete the relevant data.

    Under Quebec’s Law 25, we apply extra care when it comes to individuals under 14. We don’t serve behaviorally targeted ads to users we know to be under 14, and we don’t use their details for anything beyond delivering the content they requested. The same goes for users between 14 and 17; their data won’t be used for behavioral advertising either.

    Security

    We take reasonable steps to protect the data we hold:

    • HTTPS across the entire site, so data in transit is encrypted.
    • Secure, regularly-backed-up hosting infrastructure.
    • Keep access logs to identify and investigate anomalous activity.
    • Access controls so only the people who need to see data can see it.
    • Regular security monitoring and software updates.

    No security system is perfect. If there’s a data breach that could create a real risk of serious harm, we’ll act immediately. Under PIPEDA and Quebec’s Law 25, we’re required to notify the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and the Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec (CAI) as soon as we become aware of the breach, and to notify affected people directly. We also keep an internal log of all security incidents involving personal data, as required by Law 25.

    Changes to This Policy

    We’ll update this policy when our practices change, when we add new tools or partners, or when laws require it. The CCPA, for example, requires an annual policy review at a minimum.

    When we make major changes, we’ll post a notice on the site. Minor updates (fixing a link, clarifying language) will just update the ‘Last Updated’ date at the top. Continued use of the site after an updated policy indicates your acceptance of the changes. If you don’t agree with a change, ask us to delete your information at [email protected].

    Contact Us

    For any privacy-related question, request, or complaint:

    We aim to respond to all requests within 30 days. CCPA requests get a response within 45 days. If you’re not satisfied with our response, you have the right to escalate to your relevant data protection authority.