Privacy Policy

Who we are

Hodgen AI is the software and consulting practice of Michael Hodgen, based in San Diego, California. We build internal operations software and AI systems for our own businesses and for a small number of client companies. Questions about this policy go to mike@hodgen.ai.

What this policy covers

This policy covers two things: the hodgen.ai website, and the internal applications we operate that connect to Google Workspace accounts belonging to us and to companies we work with. Those applications are used by named staff at those companies. They are not consumer products and are not offered to the general public.

Google user data we access

When an authorized user connects their Google account to one of our applications, we request only the access needed for the task that user is performing. Depending on the application, that may include:

• Gmail. Reading messages in the connected mailbox in order to file customer conversations against the right order or request inside our operations software, sending replies that the user writes or approves, and organizing the mailbox (labeling and archiving) at the user's direction.
• Drive, Docs, and Sheets. Reading and writing files the user directs us to, such as production spreadsheets and internal documents.
• Calendar. Reading and creating events for scheduling workflows.
• Basic profile. The email address of the connected account, so the application knows which mailbox it is acting on.

How we use it, and what we never do

Google user data is used solely to provide the features the connecting user asked for. Specifically:

• We do not sell, rent, or trade Google user data.
• We do not transfer Google user data to third parties except as needed to run the application (see Subprocessors below), or when required by law.
• We do not use Google user data to serve advertising, and we do not build advertising profiles from it.
• We do not allow humans to read Google user data except the account's own users and, where strictly necessary, our engineers for support and debugging with the account owner's knowledge.
• We do not use Google user data to develop, improve, or train generalized artificial intelligence or machine learning models. Where our software uses AI to draft a reply for a user to review, the relevant message content is sent to our AI provider solely to produce that draft for that user, and is not used by us to train models.

Our use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Storage, retention, and deletion

Access tokens are stored encrypted and are used only by the application that requested them. Message content synced into our operations software is retained for as long as the connected business needs it as an operating record, and is deleted on request. A user can disconnect at any time from their Google account permissions page, which immediately revokes our access. To request deletion of data already stored, email mike@hodgen.ai and we will action it and confirm.

Subprocessors

We run on a small set of vendors: Vercel (hosting), Supabase (database), Anthropic (AI drafting), Resend and Twilio (message delivery), and Google Cloud. Each processes data only to provide its service to us.

Security

Credentials are stored encrypted, access is limited to the people who operate each system, and applications are gated behind authentication. No system is perfectly secure, and we will notify affected account owners promptly if we become aware of a breach affecting their data.

Website visitors

The hodgen.ai website collects basic, privacy-friendly analytics (page views and referrers) and whatever you voluntarily submit through a contact or assessment form, which we use only to reply to you.

Changes

If this policy changes materially we will update the date above and, where the change affects connected accounts, notify the account owners directly.