Privacy Policy

Last updated: March 2026

At The Laughing Professor, we are committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations regarding the collection, use, and protection of personal data. This policy explains what data we collect, how we process it, who has access to it, and how you can request its deletion.

This policy covers two distinct contexts: (1) data we collect directly from visitors to our own websites and services, and (2) visitor data collected on behalf of clients who subscribe to our Traffic Intelligence service.

1. Data We Collect — Our Own Services

When you interact with The Laughing Professor directly — by placing an order, making an enquiry, or subscribing to a service — we may collect:

Name
Email address
Phone number
Postal address
Payment details (processed securely via PayPal over SSL — we do not store card data)

This data is collected solely to process orders, deliver services, and provide customer support. We will never sell or share your personal information with marketing companies or unrelated third parties.

2. Traffic Intelligence — Visitor Tracking Service

The Laughing Professor provides a website visitor analytics service called Traffic Intelligence to business clients. When a client subscribes to this service, a lightweight tracking script is installed on their website to collect visitor data on their behalf.

Important: Visitor data collected through Traffic Intelligence belongs to the client whose website is being tracked. The Laughing Professor acts as a data processor on the client's behalf and processes this data solely to provide the analytics dashboard service.

What visitor data is collected:

IP address (stored in anonymised binary format)
Browser user agent string (device/browser type)
Pages visited and URLs requested
Date and time of visit
HTTP referrer (where the visitor came from)
Session duration (time spent on page)
HTTP status codes (e.g. 200, 404)
Bot/AI crawler classification where detected
Approximate country (derived from IP, where available)

What is NOT collected:

Names, email addresses, or any personally identifiable information entered by website visitors
Payment or financial data
Passwords or login credentials
Form submissions or user-entered content
Cookies are not used by the tracking script

Who has access to this data:

The Laughing Professor — to operate, maintain, and support the analytics service
The subscribed client — via their private password-protected dashboard
No third parties — visitor data is never sold, shared, transferred, or disclosed to any external party for any purpose

Where data is stored:

All visitor data is stored in a dedicated, client-specific database hosted on The Laughing Professor's secure server. Each client's data is isolated in its own database — no client can access another client's data.

Data retention:

Visitor data is retained for the duration of the client's active subscription. Upon cancellation or expiry of a subscription, data is retained for 30 days to allow for final exports, after which it may be deleted. Clients may request earlier deletion at any time.

Client obligations:

Clients who install the Traffic Intelligence tracking script on their website are responsible for ensuring their own privacy policy discloses the use of visitor analytics and complies with applicable data protection laws including GDPR, CCPA, and any other regulations relevant to their jurisdiction and audience.

3. How We Process Your Data

Data is processed in accordance with applicable laws and solely for the purposes described in this policy:

To process orders and deliver services
To provide customer support
To operate and improve our analytics services
To detect and prevent abuse or unauthorised access

4. Cookies & Tracking on Our Own Sites

Our own websites may use Google Analytics to understand general traffic patterns. Google Analytics uses cookies and is governed by Google's own privacy policy. The Traffic Intelligence script installed on client websites does not use cookies.

5. Your Right to Data Deletion

You have the right to request deletion of your personal data at any time. To submit a request, please use our contact form or email us directly. We will review and act upon all requests promptly and in compliance with applicable data protection law.

If you are a visitor to a client website tracked by Traffic Intelligence and wish to request deletion of any data associated with your visit, please contact the website owner directly. You may also contact us and we will assist in facilitating the request.

6. Data Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect all data against unauthorised access, loss, or disclosure. Client dashboards are protected by IP whitelisting and password authentication. All data transmissions are encrypted via SSL/HTTPS.

7. Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. The date at the top of this page indicates when it was last revised. Continued use of our services following any update constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.