Privacy

Privacy notice

Last updated 1 November 2026.

The controller is Arun Saraswat. Email hello@arunsaraswat.ai. Postal address: 115 Matador Dr., Irving, TX 75063, USA.

This notice describes arunsaraswat.ai as the code works today. It does not describe a future feature as if it were already running.

Cookies and the banner

A banner at the bottom of the page asks you to accept or decline analytics cookies. Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity load only after you accept, and only on a production deploy of arunsaraswat.ai or www.arunsaraswat.ai. Preview deploys can show the banner, but they do not load those tags. If you decline, the tags are not loaded.

Your choice is stored in this browser under the key cookie-consent, with a version and a time. That entry is first-party and is there so the site can remember the choice. It is necessary for that purpose. The footer link Cookie settings opens the banner again. If the version of the notice changes, the banner is shown again. If you change an accepted choice to declined, the site stops loading the tags on later visits and deletes the _ga, _ga_*, _clck, and _clsk cookies it can see for this domain.

Before any tag is loaded, the page sets Google Consent Mode defaults to denied for ad storage, ad user data, ad personalization, and analytics storage. Accept grants analytics storage only. The ad signals stay denied. No analytics request is sent to Google or Microsoft before you accept.

Speaking inquiries

The speaking form collects your name, email address, organization, event name, event date, audience size, format, topic, an optional budget, and your message. A hidden field is used only to catch automated submissions and is not stored. The form posts to a function on this site, which emails the inquiry to Arun through Resend. It is not stored in Netlify Forms. The reply-to address is the email you typed. The site does not send you an automatic reply.

The purpose is to answer the inquiry and, if you go ahead, to take steps before a contract. The lawful bases are legitimate interests and steps taken at your request before a contract. The processor is Resend, Inc. in the United States. Resend's data processing terms use standard contractual clauses for international transfers. Arun keeps the inquiry only as long as he needs it to deal with the request, and he deletes it within 24 months. The site does not delete that mailbox automatically.

Newsletter, reader, book, and self-assessment signups

The signup forms collect an email address and the page you used: newsletter, reader, book-notify, or scorecard. The function sends a confirmation email through Resend. You are added to the list only after you press the confirm button. That is the consent. After you confirm, a short welcome series arrives, and then one email a week. You can unsubscribe from a link in each of those emails. After you unsubscribe, Resend keeps a suppression record so the list does not add you again by mistake. The contact is kept until you unsubscribe.

The self-assessment does not email a result and does not store a score or a result band. A signup from that page is only for The Autonomy Brief. With JavaScript off, the form still posts to the same function, which sends the confirmation email. Netlify Forms does not store these addresses.

The lawful basis is consent. The processor is Resend, Inc. in the United States, under standard contractual clauses. Analytics events for a signup are sent only after you accept analytics cookies, and they do not include your email address or the text you typed.

Google Analytics 4

Google Analytics 4 runs only after you accept, and only on the production host. The tag uses analytics storage. Ad storage, ad user data, and ad personalization stay denied. The cookies are named _ga and _ga_ followed by the measurement id. The property is operated with a 14 month retention period and with Google data sharing turned off. Those two settings are in the Google Analytics admin, not in this website's code. Google LLC is certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. Where that framework does not apply, Google's standard contractual clauses do. The lawful basis is consent. You can also use the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

Microsoft Clarity

Microsoft Clarity runs only after you accept, and only on the production host. It records how the page is used, including session replay and heatmaps. Masking is set to Strict in the Clarity project, so page text is masked in recordings. The self-assessment also marks the result, the band, and the answers in the page so Clarity masks them. Form fields are marked the same way. The project is linked to Google Analytics 4. After you accept, the page calls clarity consent.

Clarity documents these cookies: _clck (about a year, the Clarity user id on this site), _clsk (about a day, ties page views into one session), CLID, MUID, MR, ANONCHK, and SM, which Microsoft uses to recognize a browser across Microsoft services. This site does not use them for advertising. Microsoft Corporation is certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. The lawful basis is consent. Microsoft describes this in the Microsoft Privacy Statement.

Hosting and functions

Netlify, Inc. hosts the site and runs the functions. Netlify keeps server logs, which can include your IP address, the request, and the time, for security and delivery. The speaking and signup functions also read the IP address to limit repeated submissions. The lawful basis is legitimate interests. Netlify is in the United States. Its data processing addendum uses standard contractual clauses.

Payments

Checkout is not open. When the digital edition goes on sale, Stripe will process the card payment. This site is built to receive the email address on the paid session so it can send a download link. It does not receive your card number. A purchase does not add you to the newsletter unless you ask. That processing is not active yet. Stripe, Inc. is certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. The lawful basis, once checkout is open, will be the contract to supply the files.

Your rights

If data protection law applies to you, you can ask for access, correction, erasure, restriction, or a copy of your data, and you can object to processing based on legitimate interests. You can withdraw analytics consent with Cookie settings, and you can withdraw newsletter consent with the unsubscribe link. Email hello@arunsaraswat.ai to exercise a right. You can also complain to a supervisory authority. In the United Kingdom that is the Information Commissioner's Office. In the European Union it is the authority in your country.

California residents: Arun does not sell personal information and does not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.

The site does not make decisions about you by automated means alone. It is not directed at children under 16.