Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

ComedySpeaker.com ("we," "us," or "our") operates the comedy speaker booking marketplace at comedyspeaker.com. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, share, and protect information about you when you use our website and services.

2. Information We Collect

a) Information You Provide

• Account Registration: Email address, password (hashed), role (speaker or planner)
• Speaker Profile: Name, headshot photo, biography, comedy styles, speaking fee, location, social media links, YouTube video URLs, testimonials, past clients
• Planner Profile: Name, organization, location, contact details
• Booking & Booking Request Data: Event details, dates, budgets, messages exchanged through the platform
• Payment Information: Payment is processed by PayPal. We do not store credit card numbers. We receive confirmation of payment status and your PayPal subscription ID.
• Contact Form: Name, email, and message content when you contact support

b) Automatically Collected Information

• IP address and approximate location
• Browser type and operating system
• Pages viewed and time spent on the Site
• Referring URLs
• Session data (stored server-side via PHP sessions)

c) Analytics

We may use Google Analytics to understand aggregate traffic patterns. Google Analytics uses cookies and may transfer data to Google servers. You can opt out via the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.

3. How We Use Your Information

• Create and manage your account
• Display your speaker profile to event planners
• Facilitate bookings, booking requests, and messaging between users
• Process subscription payments via PayPal
• Send transactional emails (booking confirmations, messages, password resets)
• Respond to support requests and contact form submissions
• Improve the platform based on aggregate usage data
• Enforce our Terms of Service and prevent fraud
• Comply with legal obligations

4. How We Share Your Information

We do not sell your personal information. We share information only in these limited circumstances:

• Other Platform Users: Speaker profile information (name, bio, photo, videos, fee, location) is visible to all visitors. Contact details and private messages are only shared with confirmed booking parties.
• Service Providers: We use third-party services including PayPal (payments) and email delivery providers. These partners receive only the minimum data needed to provide their services.
• Legal Requirements: We may disclose information if required by law, subpoena, or government request.
• Business Transfer: In the event of a merger or acquisition, user data may be transferred to the new owner, who will be bound by this Privacy Policy.

5. Cookies

We use cookies for:

• Session management — Keeping you logged in (PHP session cookie)
• CSRF protection — Security tokens to prevent cross-site request forgery
• Analytics — Google Analytics tracking (if enabled by the site administrator)

You can disable cookies in your browser settings, but some features (including login) will not work without session cookies.

6. Data Retention

• Account data is retained as long as your account is active.
• Booking and message history is retained for 7 years for dispute resolution and tax purposes.
• Email logs are retained for 90 days.
• When you delete your account, we anonymize or delete personal data within 30 days, except where retention is legally required.

7. Security

We take reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your data, including:

• HTTPS encryption on all pages
• Passwords stored using bcrypt hashing (never in plaintext)
• CSRF token protection on all forms
• Parameterized database queries to prevent SQL injection
• Admin panel access restricted by role

No method of internet transmission is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security.

8. Your Rights

Depending on your location, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Access: Request a copy of the data we hold about you.
• Correction: Update or correct inaccurate information — much of this can be done directly in your profile settings without contacting us.
• Portability: Request a structured export of your data. We will provide this in JSON format upon request, processed by our team within 30 days.
• Objection: Object to certain types of processing.
• Deletion / Account Closure: See Section 8B below for a full explanation of what happens and your options.

To exercise these rights, contact us. We will respond within 30 days.

8B. Account Closure & What Happens to Your Data

Can I close my account?

Yes. Log in to your dashboard and navigate to Close Account in the left navigation. Submit your request — our team will review it and process it within 3–5 business days. You will receive a confirmation email when complete.

You cannot close your own account instantly — all closures are reviewed by our admin team to confirm there are no outstanding bookings, pending payments, or unpaid commission balances that need to be resolved first.

You have two options

What is kept after permanent closure?

If your account has any history on the platform — bookings, booking requests, payments, or reviews — certain records are retained even after closure. This is required by law and is necessary to protect all parties:

• Booking, payment, and commission records are retained indefinitely for accounting and tax purposes.
• Your email address is anonymised — it is replaced in our system with a reference code. We retain the original email only for legal dispute resolution.
• Reviews you wrote or received remain on the platform attributed to an anonymised account.
• Your public profile, photo, and personal details are removed from all public-facing pages.

Accounts with no booking, payment, or review history may be permanently and fully deleted at your request.

Outstanding obligations

Account closure does not cancel financial obligations. Any unpaid platform commissions remain due. Accrued payout balances owed to performers will be held and released on provision of a valid payment account, even after profile deactivation. See our Terms of Service — Payout Policy for details.

9. Children's Privacy

ComedySpeaker.com is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we learn we have collected such information, we will delete it promptly.

10. Third-Party Links

Speaker profiles may contain links to external websites (YouTube videos, social media profiles). We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those external sites.

11. California Privacy Rights (CCPA)

If you are a California resident, you have the right to know what personal information we collect and whether we sell or disclose it. We do not sell personal information. To exercise your California privacy rights, contact us at the address below.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify registered users of material changes by email. The "Effective Date" at the top of this page indicates when the policy was last updated.

13. Contact Us

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding your privacy, please contact us.