Privacy Policy

Effective date: October 1, 2026

Fritz Search collects only the personal information reasonably necessary to operate and improve the service. We do not sell our users' personal information — such as names, email addresses, account preferences, or saved items — to third parties, and advertisers do not receive your identity from us. This policy describes the information we handle, how we use it, and the choices available to you.

1. Who we are

Fritz Search is a search and discovery service for books, authors, contributors, and publicly attributed book endorsements.

The controller or operator of Fritz Search is:

Marc Swikull, an individual doing business as "Fritz Search" (a sole proprietorship, United States)
Website: fritzsearch.com
Privacy contact: privacy@fritzsearch.com
Contact form: https://fritzsearch.com/contact

In this policy, "Fritz Search," "we," "us," and "our" refer to the controller identified above.

This policy explains how we handle:

• Publicly sourced information about authors, editors, contributors, endorsers, and other people associated with books;
• Information generated when visitors use the site;
• Information provided by account holders;
• Messages submitted through our contact form; and
• Information used in connection with any advertising displayed on the site.

2. Publicly sourced information about people

Fritz Search indexes information about people associated with books, including authors, editors, contributors, and people whose endorsements have been publicly attributed to them.

Where individual notice to each person would involve disproportionate effort, this policy also serves as our public notice to individuals whose information we process from publicly accessible sources.

Information we may publish

Depending on what is available and relevant, a profile may include:

• A person's name;
• A professional byline, title, role, or institutional affiliation;
• Brief professional or biographical information summarized from public sources;
• Books the person has authored, edited, translated, illustrated, or otherwise contributed to;
• Publicly attributed book endorsements or limited excerpts from them;
• Relationships among books, contributors, endorsers, publishers, subjects, and editions; and
• Citations or links identifying the public sources from which information was derived.

We do not intentionally publish private contact information, financial information, government identification numbers, medical information, or information obtained from private or restricted sources.

Where the information comes from

We obtain this information from publicly accessible sources, which may include:

• Publisher catalogs and book-detail pages;
• Book jackets and other published book materials;
• Retailer and distributor listings;
• Library and bibliographic records;
• Public professional, faculty, staff, or institutional pages;
• A person's public professional website; and
• Publicly accessible reference works.

We do not currently purchase personal profiles from data brokers.

Why we use this information

We use publicly sourced information to build and operate a searchable bibliographic and professional reference service, improve the accuracy and usefulness of search results, connect books with their contributors and publicly attributed endorsements, help users discover relevant books and subject-matter experts, and develop related features and analyses of the service's bibliographic data.

Where European or UK data-protection law applies, we generally rely on our legitimate interests in operating an accurate and useful search, indexing, and reference service. Those interests include organizing publicly available bibliographic and professional information, preserving accurate attribution, and enabling readers to locate books and related public information.

Religious books and publishers

Some books and publishers indexed by Fritz Search concern religion. A person's inclusion in the index reflects only a publicly documented bibliographic or professional relationship, such as authorship, contribution, or a publicly attributed endorsement. It does not mean that the person endorses Fritz Search, agrees with every view expressed in a book, or has any particular religious belief or affiliation.

We do not intentionally assign or infer an individual's religious beliefs solely from the books, publishers, authors, or endorsers with which that person is associated, and we do not maintain a field categorizing individuals by personal religious belief.

Where information reflecting a bibliographic or professional relationship could be regarded as touching on a special category of personal data, we process it only to the extent that the relationship has been manifestly made public — for example, through a published endorsement, byline, or contribution — or another lawful basis applies.

Accuracy, correction, objection, and removal requests

We welcome substantiated reports of:

• Incorrect biographical information;
• Misidentified or combined individuals;
• Incorrectly attributed books or contributions;
• Misattributed or materially inaccurate endorsements;
• Quotations presented with materially incorrect wording or context; and
• Broken or unreliable source references.

We will review supporting information and, where appropriate, correct, annotate, restrict, merge, separate, or remove information.

A correction, objection, or removal request does not automatically require removal of accurate information and does not give the requester ownership of, or editorial control over, Fritz Search, its database, its search results, or its presentation of publicly available information.

Subject to applicable law, Fritz Search determines how information is selected, summarized, organized, indexed, ranked, displayed, corrected, and maintained. When considering an objection or removal request, we may take into account:

• Whether the information is accurate;
• The nature and reliability of its sources;
• Whether it remains relevant to a bibliographic or professional reference service;
• The requester's particular circumstances;
• Any risk of material harm, confusion, or misidentification;
• Our legitimate interests and the interests of readers;
• The rights and interests of other people;
• Freedom of expression and access to information; and
• Our obligations under applicable law.

We may decline to remove information that is accurate, relevant, publicly available, and lawfully processed when applicable law permits us to retain and publish it. We may nevertheless modify or remove content as an exercise of our editorial discretion.

Information about submitting a privacy request appears in Section 12. Copyright, trademark, or other intellectual-property complaints are evaluated separately from privacy requests and should be submitted through the contact form at https://fritzsearch.com/contact, clearly identified as an intellectual-property complaint.

3. Information collected when you visit the site

Server and security information

Like most websites, our servers necessarily receive limited technical information in order to deliver the site and protect it from misuse. This may include:

• IP address;
• Date and time of a request;
• Requested page or resource;
• Browser and device information;
• Referring page or domain;
• Error and diagnostic information; and
• Security events, such as failed login attempts or suspected abusive traffic.

We use this information to operate the site, diagnose errors, maintain security, prevent fraud and abuse, enforce reasonable usage limits, enforce our Terms of Use, and investigate technical incidents.

Where European or UK data-protection law applies, we generally rely on our legitimate interests in providing, maintaining, troubleshooting, and securing the service.

Server and security logs are ordinarily retained for no more than 90 days unless a longer period is reasonably needed to investigate an incident, prevent abuse, comply with law, or establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

Audience measurement

We use a self-hosted installation of the open-source Matomo analytics platform. It is operated under our control using contracted cloud infrastructure. We configure Matomo to operate without analytics cookies and to mask IP addresses before they are stored as analytics data.

Matomo may process information such as:

• Pages viewed and actions taken on the site;
• Approximate visit date and time;
• Referring page or domain;
• General browser, operating-system, and device category;
• Site-search activity, if analytics for site searches is enabled; and
• A shortened or masked version of the visitor's IP address.

Our web servers necessarily receive an IP address when a device connects to the site; masking is applied before analytics storage.

We use analytics to understand site usage, evaluate site performance, improve navigation and search, identify technical problems, and measure the delivery and aggregate performance of features and of any advertising displayed on the site. We do not use analytics to track visitors across unrelated websites, and we do not disclose analytics data that identifies an individual visitor to advertisers.

Detailed analytics visit data is ordinarily deleted or anonymized within 14 months. Aggregated statistical reports that are not intended to identify individual visitors may be retained for a longer period.

Cookies and similar technologies

We do not use third-party advertising cookies, social-media tracking pixels, or cookies for cross-site behavioral advertising.

We may use first-party cookies or similar local-storage technologies to:

• Keep an account holder signed in;
• Protect forms and accounts against unauthorized activity;
• Maintain session and security settings;
• Remember an analytics opt-out or another preference; and
• Support site features, measure site usage, or deliver and cap on-site advertising, where permitted by applicable law and subject to any legally required notice or consent.

Disabling necessary browser storage may prevent account or security features from working properly.

Analytics opt-out

Visitors may opt out of Matomo audience measurement using the control below:

The opt-out mechanism may need to store a preference in the visitor's browser so that the choice can be remembered.

Do Not Track, Global Privacy Control, and cross-site tracking

We do not collect information about a visitor's activities over time across unrelated websites for advertising or cross-context behavioral advertising.

Because we do not sell users' personal information or disclose it for cross-context behavioral advertising, opt-out preference signals such as the Global Privacy Control (GPC) do not currently change how we process visitor information; there is no sale or sharing from which to opt out. If our practices change in a way that gives such signals legal effect, we will update this policy and honor applicable signals as required by law.

Because browser "Do Not Track" signals are not implemented consistently, the site may not respond to every such signal as a technical command. Visitors may instead use the analytics opt-out control above.

Other parties are not permitted to use Fritz Search to collect personal information about visitors' activities over time across unrelated websites for targeted advertising.

4. Account information

You may use the principal search and browsing features of Fritz Search without creating an account.

If you create an account, we may collect:

• Your email address;
• An optional first and last name;
• A securely hashed representation of your password;
• Account verification and password-reset information;
• The books or people you choose to star or save;
• Account settings and preferences;
• Account creation, update, and deletion dates; and
• Limited login and security information needed to protect the account.

We use this information to create and administer the account, authenticate you, save your selections, provide password resets, confirm important account changes, prevent unauthorized access, provide service or security notices, personalize the content and features we display to you, and — if we introduce on-site advertising — select which advertisements to display to you, as described in Section 6. We do not disclose your account information to advertisers.

Where European or UK data-protection law applies:

• Processing necessary to create and operate the account is generally based on performance of our agreement with you; and
• Security, fraud prevention, troubleshooting, personalization, recordkeeping, and related purposes are generally based on our legitimate interests or, where applicable, compliance with legal obligations or consent.

We may send account holders messages about the service, including service, security, feature, and administrative notices. If we send promotional email, we will provide any choice or opt-out required by applicable law, and promotional messages will include an unsubscribe mechanism.

You may delete your account through the account page. Deletion removes or de-identifies the account from active systems, subject to limited retention for security, fraud prevention, legal obligations, dispute resolution, and backup rotation.

5. Contact-form messages

When you use the contact form, we may ask for:

• Your name;
• Your email address;
• The subject or category of your request;
• Your message; and
• Documents or other information that you choose to provide.

The message is delivered to our email system. It may therefore be processed and temporarily logged by our email-delivery, hosting, spam-filtering, and security providers even if it is not stored in the principal website database.

We use contact information to respond to the request, investigate reported errors, administer accounts, document privacy or legal requests, prevent misuse of the contact system, and maintain an appropriate record of our response.

Where European or UK data-protection law applies, this processing is generally based on our legitimate interests in communicating with users and administering the service, steps taken at your request, or compliance with legal obligations.

Please do not include sensitive personal information that is not necessary for us to handle your request.

6. Advertising

Fritz Search may display advertising, including advertisements from publishers and other advertisers who sign up to advertise on the site.

If we display advertising, it works as follows:

• Advertisements are delivered by Fritz Search, not by third-party advertising networks operating on our pages.
• We may select advertisements based on the content of the page you are viewing, your searches and activity on Fritz Search, and, for account holders, your saved items and preferences.
• Advertisers do not receive your name, email address, account information, browsing activity, or other personal information from us. We may provide advertisers with aggregated or de-identified statistics, such as the number of times an advertisement was displayed or clicked.
• If you click an advertisement, you will leave Fritz Search for the advertiser's website or another external destination. From that point, the advertiser or destination site collects information directly from you under its own privacy practices, including any information you choose to provide by making a purchase or creating an account there. We do not control, and this policy does not govern, that collection.

We do not sell users' personal information to advertisers, and we do not disclose users' personal information to advertisers for cross-context behavioral advertising.

Where European or UK data-protection law applies, advertising-related processing is generally based on our legitimate interests in funding and operating a free service, or on consent where consent is required.

7. How we disclose information

We do not sell users' personal information — such as names, email addresses, account preferences, saved items, or browsing activity — to third parties, and we do not disclose it for cross-context behavioral advertising.

We may provide limited information to service providers that help us operate the site, including providers of:

• Cloud hosting and computing;
• Database and object storage;
• Backups;
• Transactional email delivery;
• Email hosting and spam filtering;
• Website security and abuse prevention;
• Domain-name and network services; and
• Technical monitoring and error diagnosis.

These providers may process information on our behalf to provide their services and for limited purposes such as security, fraud prevention, billing, service administration, and legal compliance, subject to their contracts and applicable law.

We may disclose aggregated or de-identified information that does not identify an individual — for example, usage statistics, advertising performance reports, or analyses of the service's bibliographic data — for any lawful purpose.

We may also disclose information:

• When reasonably necessary to comply with a valid legal obligation, court order, or lawful government request;
• To investigate or prevent fraud, abuse, security incidents, or unlawful conduct;
• To protect the rights, safety, and security of Fritz Search, its users, or others;
• To enforce our Terms of Use or other agreements;
• To establish, exercise, or defend legal claims; or
• In connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, or transfer of all or part of the service, subject to appropriate confidentiality and notice where required.

Our self-hosted analytics installation is not operated as an independent advertising or third-party analytics service, although the infrastructure providers hosting it process data on our behalf.

8. International processing

Fritz Search and some of its service providers operate in the United States and may operate in other countries. Personal information may therefore be processed in a country other than the one in which the individual lives.

Where applicable law requires a safeguard for an international transfer, we use or require an appropriate legally recognized mechanism, which may include an adequacy decision, approved standard contractual clauses, or another authorized safeguard.

Information about an applicable safeguard may be requested through the privacy contact listed in Section 1.

9. Data security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures intended to protect personal information. These may include access controls, password hashing, encrypted network connections, security logging, software updates, backups, and restrictions on administrative access.

No method of internet transmission or electronic storage is completely secure. We therefore cannot guarantee that unauthorized access, loss, or misuse will never occur.

Account holders are responsible for using a strong, unique password and protecting their login credentials.

10. How long we retain information

We retain information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this policy, subject to applicable law.

Typical retention criteria are:

• Published bibliographic and professional information: for as long as it remains relevant to the books, editions, endorsements, or professional relationships indexed by the service, unless we determine that it should be corrected, restricted, archived, or removed.
• Source and correction records: for as long as reasonably needed to document attribution, resolve disputes, avoid repeating a known error, maintain database integrity, or establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.
• Account information: for the life of the account, followed by deletion or de-identification from active systems, subject to limited legal, security, and backup retention.
• Starred or saved items: until the account holder removes them or deletes the account.
• Detailed analytics data: ordinarily no more than 14 months.
• Aggregated analytics, usage, and advertising reports: potentially longer when they are not intended to identify individual visitors.
• Server and security logs: ordinarily no more than 90 days, with longer retention where reasonably necessary for a security incident, abuse investigation, or legal claim.
• Contact messages: for as long as reasonably needed to respond, document the matter, handle follow-up questions, or satisfy legal and recordkeeping obligations.
• Backups: until overwritten or deleted under our normal backup rotation schedule.

Removal from public display does not necessarily require immediate deletion from every internal system. Subject to applicable law, we may retain a limited nonpublic record when necessary to document a decision, prevent republication of an error, honor an objection, maintain security, comply with law, or handle a legal claim.

11. Automated decisions

Fritz Search may use automated systems to organize, match, rank, personalize, or display books, related information, and advertising.

We do not use personal information to make solely automated decisions that produce legal effects, or similarly significant effects, concerning account holders or people included in published profiles.

12. Privacy rights and requests

Privacy rights vary depending on where a person lives and which laws apply. Nothing in this section limits a right that cannot lawfully be limited.

Depending on applicable law, a person may have the right to request:

• Access to personal information about them;
• Correction of inaccurate personal information;
• Deletion or erasure in circumstances recognized by law;
• Restriction of certain processing;
• Objection to processing based on legitimate interests;
• A portable copy of certain information that the person provided to us;
• Information about categories of information, sources, purposes, or recipients; or
• Withdrawal of consent where processing is based on consent.

These rights are subject to applicable conditions, exceptions, verification requirements, and the rights of other people.

In particular, a right to object or request erasure does not necessarily create an unconditional right to remove accurate public information. Where permitted by applicable law, we may continue processing when we have compelling legitimate grounds that override the requester's interests, rights, and freedoms; when processing is necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims; or when another applicable exception applies, including protection of freedom of expression and access to information.

To submit a request, email privacy@fritzsearch.com or use the contact form and select the data correction topic for a correction request, or the legal or other concern topic for any other privacy request, including removal.

A request concerning a published person should identify:

• The relevant profile or page;
• The specific information at issue;
• The requested correction or action;
• The reason for the request; and
• Any reasonably available supporting sources or documentation.

We may request information reasonably necessary to verify identity, authority, or the accuracy of the request. We will not ordinarily require identity documents when a less intrusive verification method is sufficient.

An authorized agent may submit a request where applicable law permits it, but we may require evidence of the agent's authority and may verify the request directly with the person concerned.

We will respond within the period required by applicable law. We may extend the response period, charge a permitted fee, or decline a request when applicable law allows us to do so. If we decline or limit a request, we will provide the explanation and appeal or complaint information required by applicable law.

Residents of the European Economic Area or United Kingdom may have the right to complain to the data-protection authority in the country where they live or work.

California disclosures

California residents may submit requests concerning their personal information using the methods above. Where the California Consumer Privacy Act applies to Fritz Search and the particular information, California residents may have rights to know, access, correct, delete, or obtain information about the use and disclosure of their personal information, subject to statutory exceptions, including the exclusion of publicly available information from the definition of personal information.

We will not unlawfully discriminate against a person for exercising an applicable privacy right.

We do not sell users' personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. Advertising displayed on Fritz Search, if any, is delivered by us without disclosing users' personal information to advertisers, as described in Section 6. Because there is no sale or sharing, opt-out preference signals such as the Global Privacy Control do not currently have legal effect for this site; if that changes, we will update this policy and honor applicable signals as required by law.

For purposes of California online-privacy disclosures:

• The categories of information collected are described in Sections 2 through 6;
• The categories of third parties or service providers to which information may be disclosed are described in Sections 6 and 7;
• The process for reviewing or requesting changes is described in this section;
• Our response to browser tracking signals is described in Section 3; and
• The effective date and process for policy changes appear at the beginning of this policy and in Section 15.

13. Children

The general search and browsing portions of Fritz Search may be viewed without creating an account. The account and contact-form features are not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect account or contact information from children under 13.

If you believe that a child under 13 has provided personal information through an account or contact form, contact us so that we can investigate and take appropriate action.

14. External links

Fritz Search may link to publishers, retailers, libraries, institutions, authors, advertisers, and other external websites. Those sites are operated independently and have their own privacy and data practices. This policy does not govern information collected directly by an external site. Links to Bookshop.org carry our affiliate identifier so that Bookshop.org can credit us with a commission if you make a purchase. We do not send Bookshop.org any personal information about you, and those links do not pass the address of the page you came from. Bookshop.org's own privacy practices govern what it collects when you visit it.

15. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy to reflect changes to the site, our practices, our service providers, or applicable law.

When we make a change, we will post the revised policy and update the effective date. If a change materially alters how we use information already collected, we will provide any additional notice or choice required by applicable law.

Unless applicable law requires otherwise, publication of this policy does not create contractual rights beyond those expressly stated in it or waive any rights, defenses, exceptions, or remedies available to Fritz Search.

16. Contact us

Questions, privacy requests, and reports of inaccurate personal information may be submitted to:

Marc Swikull, doing business as "Fritz Search"
Email: privacy@fritzsearch.com
Contact form: https://fritzsearch.com/contact