Privacy Policy

Effective Date: April 2, 2025

1. Introduction

Welcome to Simple Online Converter ("Site", "Service", "we", "us", "our"), accessible at simple-online-converter.com. We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it. This Privacy Policy explains how we handle information in connection with your use of our Service, which includes file conversion, compression, audio extraction, and timezone comparison tools.

This policy applies to information we process via the Service. Please read this policy carefully.

2. Information We Process

We process different types of information for various purposes to provide and improve our Service to you.

Files You Upload ("User Content"): When you use our conversion or compression tools, you upload files to our Service.
- These files are processed automatically by our software (e.g., ImageMagick, FFmpeg, Ghostscript) hosted on Google Cloud Platform infrastructure.
- We process these files solely for the purpose of performing the conversion or compression task you requested.
- We do **not** manually access, view, or share your uploaded files or the resulting converted/compressed files, except as strictly necessary for technical troubleshooting or as required by law.
- **Crucially, we only store these files temporarily. We employ automated processes designed to permanently delete both the uploaded files and the resulting output files from our active servers approximately one (1) hour after processing is complete.**
- You must ensure you have the necessary rights and permissions for any files you upload (see our Terms of Service).
Log Data:** Like most website operators, we collect information that your browser sends whenever you visit our Service ("Log Data"). This Log Data may include information such as your computer's Internet Protocol ("IP") address (often anonymized or truncated), browser type, browser version, the pages of our Service that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages, and other standard statistics. This data is used for monitoring system performance, security analysis, debugging, and understanding usage patterns to improve our Service.

Cookies and Tracking Technologies:** We and our third-party partners (like Google AdSense) use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track activity on our Service and hold certain information.

Cookies are files with a small amount of data which may include an anonymous unique identifier. Cookies are sent to your browser from a website and stored on your device.

**Google AdSense:** We use Google AdSense to display advertisements on our Site, which helps support the Service. Google AdSense uses cookies (like the DoubleClick cookie) to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to our website or other websites. Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to our users based on their visit to our Site and/or other sites on the Internet.

You can learn more about how Google uses data when you use our partners' sites or apps here: https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites

You may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google's Ads Settings: https://www.google.com/settings/ads. Alternatively, you can opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies for personalized advertising by visiting www.aboutads.info/choices.

**Consent Management:** For users in the European Economic Area (EEA), the UK, and Switzerland, we utilize a Consent Management Platform (CMP) provided by Google (or another Google-certified provider) to obtain your consent for the use of cookies and processing of personal data for advertising personalization and other non-essential purposes, as required by GDPR and similar regulations. You can manage your consent preferences through the CMP banner or tool presented during your visit.

You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept cookies, some portions of our Service may not function properly.

Timezone Tool Data:** When you use the timezone comparison tool, the selected timezones and time inputs are processed directly in your browser using JavaScript. This information is used solely to perform the requested calculation and is **not** sent to or stored on our servers.

We do **not** knowingly collect personally identifiable information like your name or email address unless you voluntarily provide it to us (e.g., by contacting us directly via email).

3. How We Use Information

We use the collected information for various purposes:

To provide and maintain our Service (including processing your files).

To monitor the usage of our Service for improvements, security, and debugging.

To display advertising to support the Service (subject to user consent where required).

To comply with legal obligations.

4. Data Storage, Security, and Retention

Your uploaded files and generated output files are temporarily stored on Google Cloud Platform infrastructure located in secure data centers.

We implement reasonable security measures appropriate to the nature of the data we handle. However, no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

As stated above, uploaded and generated files are subject to an automated deletion process designed to remove them approximately **one hour** after processing.

Log Data may be retained for a longer period (e.g., days or months) as necessary for security, analytics, and operational purposes, after which it may be deleted or anonymized.

5. Disclosure of Information to Third Parties

We do not sell or rent your personal information.

**Service Providers:** We use third-party service providers like Google Cloud Platform to host our infrastructure and store files temporarily. These providers have access to data only to perform tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for other purposes.

**Advertising Partners:** We use Google AdSense. As described above, Google and its partners collect data via cookies and other technologies to serve personalized ads, subject to your consent choices via our CMP where applicable. Refer to Google's policies for details on their data usage.

**Legal Requirements:** We may disclose information if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g., a court or a government agency).

We do **not** share your uploaded files or their content with third parties, except for the temporary storage with our cloud provider as necessary to provide the Service.

6. Your Data Protection Rights (GDPR, CCPA, PIPEDA, etc.)

Depending on your location, you may have certain data protection rights. We aim to take reasonable steps to allow you to manage your information.

**Access, Update, Deletion:** Since we automatically delete files shortly after processing and do not typically collect other personal information like account details, rights related to accessing, updating, or deleting stored personal data may be limited. Log data associated with IP addresses may be subject to access or deletion requests under applicable law, where feasible.

**Cookie Consent:** Users in applicable regions (EEA, UK, Switzerland, California, etc.) can manage their consent for non-essential cookies and data processing for advertising via the Consent Management Platform presented on our site.

**Opt-Out of Sale (CCPA/CPRA):** We do not "sell" personal information in the traditional sense. However, the use of advertising cookies might be considered a "sale" or "sharing" under California law. California residents can opt-out via the CMP or global privacy controls recognised by our CMP.

Please contact us at [Your Contact Email] if you wish to inquire about any rights you may have under applicable data protection laws. We will respond in accordance with the law.

Residents of Canada have rights under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and applicable provincial legislation (like BC's PIPA). Residents of the European Economic Area (EEA) and UK have rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

7. Children's Privacy

Our Service is not intended for use by children under the age of 13 (or a higher age threshold if applicable in your jurisdiction). We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under this age. If you become aware that a child has provided us with Personal Information, please contact us. If we become aware that we have collected Personal Information from children without verification of parental consent, we take steps to remove that information from our servers.

8. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page. We will let you know via a prominent notice on our Service, prior to the change becoming effective and update the "effective date" at the top of this Privacy Policy.

You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.