Privacy Policy

In one line: What AskPinoy collects, why, where it's kept, who can see it, and how to get it corrected or deleted.

Last updated October 3, 2026

Privacy officer: the founder of AskPinoy, Ramuel Batuigas · ramuel@askpinoy.com · 33 Cathy Jean Cres., Etobicoke, ON M9V 4T2, Canada. Write to us about anything on this page. We answer within 30 days, usually much faster.

The short version

• We collect as little as we can. Browsing needs nothing. An account needs an email. A review needs a display name. If you sign in with Google, that name starts as the name on your Google account, and you can change it before you post.
• Your data is stored in Canada. A few services we use to run the site are in the United States. They're listed below.
• We don't sell or rent your information. Ever.
• No ad trackers, no third-party analytics. Our own visit counting can't tell who you are.
• You can see, export, correct and delete what we hold. Email us and it's done — usually within days, always within 30.

1. What we collect, and why

Just browsing. No account needed. Our hosting provider keeps short-lived server logs, including your IP address, to run and protect the site. Our own visit counting uses a hash that discards your IP (section 8).

Signing in. Your email address, so we can send you a sign-in link and tell you about your own listings, reviews and requests. We never store a password.

Each time you ask for a sign-in link, we check the domain of your email address (the part after the @, like gmail.com) against a list of known throwaway domains built into our own software, so the people you meet here are real members of the community, not spam accounts made from disposable addresses. The check happens entirely on our servers: nothing is sent to any other company, nothing is looked up online, and we keep no record of it.

Signing in with Google. If you choose Google instead of an email link, Google gives us your email address, an account ID and the name on your Google account, and Google learns that you signed in to AskPinoy. We copy that name into your display name, which appears publicly next to your reviews. The review form shows you the name before you post, and you can change it there, or by emailing us, at any time. We don't copy your profile photo.

Your display name. The name that appears publicly next to your reviews. If you signed in with Google, it starts as the name on your Google account, so it can be your real name. If you signed in by email link, we ask you to choose one the first time something of yours would appear publicly, which is the review form. Either way, you decide what it says: change it on the review form before you post, or email us, any time.

Posting a review. Your rating, your review text, your first-hand attestation and the time. Public, with your display name. If you tick the box on the form, "via Google" appears next to your review too, to show that you signed in with Google; it's off unless you tick it. The form has a bot check (section 7).

Adding a business. The business's details (name, phone, address or area, postal code, category, languages, website, description, whether it's home-based), your answer to "Filipino-owned or Filipino-serving?" (a hint for our confirmation call: no label shows until the owner confirms it), whether you own or manage the business, plus your email address, which we use only to tell you what happened to your suggestion. If the city isn't live yet and you tick the box, we also record your consent to one launch email. The business's owner never sees who suggested the listing.

Claiming a listing. Your name, your role at the business, the best number to reach you after our confirmation call (the call itself goes to the number on the listing), your attestations, and optionally one business document: a licence, a utility bill or a registration. Please don't send photo ID or a SIN. If you do, we delete it. Documents are deleted 90 days after we decide the claim.

Managing your listing. What you put on your page (public); your owner contact details (private, so we can reach you); your licence details (the number becomes public only after we've checked it on the register); and your answers to the eligibility and scope questions.

Corrections, removal requests and reports. What you write, and your account or email if you give one, so we can tell you the outcome. The business owner never sees who sent a correction or a report.

Messaging a business (where a listing has a message form). Your name, an email or phone, and your message, which we send to that business so they can reply. We keep your details for 90 days, then clear them. We keep a hashed IP for 30 days to stop abuse.

Consent records. When you agree to receive an email from us, or unsubscribe, we keep a record: a hashed version of your email, what you agreed to, the exact wording you saw, when, a hashed IP and your browser type. This is how we prove we had your permission, and that you withdrew it.

On the phone or in person. When we call a business to confirm a listing, we note who we spoke to, what they confirmed, and any permissions they gave: the community label, showing the phone and address, using photos, one launch email. These notes are internal.

2. Where listing information comes from, and unclaimed listings

Many listings on AskPinoy are unclaimed: the business hasn't signed up yet. Here's how they get there:

• a kababayan suggested the business through "Add a business";
• one of us found the business by searching Google, then went to the business's own website, its own Facebook page, or a Google Business Profile the business manages, and noted the details there;
• we met the business in person, or on the phone.

Before an unclaimed listing publishes, we phone the business to confirm the details and ask whether we may show its phone number and address. A listing shows the business's phone and address only when the business publishes them itself (a storefront, its own website or page) or told us we could. Home-based businesses never show an exact address, only the area they serve.

We never copy reviews, photos, descriptions or anything else from Google Maps, Yelp, Yellow Pages or any other directory. We don't use scraping tools, downloads or bulk exports. Photos on a listing come from the owner, from our visit day, or from the business's own website or Facebook page with the owner's recorded permission.

If the listing is you, a sole proprietor whose name is the business name or whose phone is a personal number, you can:

• claim it free, so the listing is yours;
• send a correction;
• ask us to remove it. We act within 5 business days, and a sole proprietor's listing is deleted, not just hidden.

The claim link is on every listing. For a correction or a removal, email ramuel@askpinoy.com and we act within 5 business days. We never show a personal email address on a listing.

3. Who sees what

Public: everything on a listing page, and — once you've posted a review that's live — your display name beside your rating and review text. Until then, your display name isn't shown anywhere. If you signed in with Google, your display name starts as the name on your Google account, so your real name can appear on a review unless you change it. The review form shows the name before you post, and you can change it there, or by emailing us, at any time. If you signed in by email link, we ask you to choose a name the first time it would appear publicly. If you tick the box on the review form, "via Google" appears next to your review as well.

The business owner sees: their own listing, their reviews with the reviewer's display name (and the "via Google" tag, if the reviewer chose to show it), and messages sent to them.

The owner never sees: who suggested their listing, who reported it or a review, or our internal notes. If you suggest a business, we use your email only to tell you what happened to your suggestion.

AskPinoy staff see: everything above plus internal notes, for moderation and verification.

"Staff" today means the founder. Every admin action is logged.

4. Where your data lives, and who helps us run the site

Our database and file storage run in Canada (the Canada Central region). All listing, account, review and claim data lives there.

The services below process some data on our behalf. We chose each for one job and share only what that job needs.

When we add a service (for example a payments provider when paid plans launch), we update this table before it goes live.

Outside Canada? You can add a business anywhere in the world, and anyone can sign in. Here is what that means for you.

• Why we hold your data: only because you gave it to us for something you asked for — to list a business, to tell you what happened to your suggestion, to run your account, or, if you ticked the box, to email you once when we launch in your city. We collect nothing for any other purpose.
• Where it goes: to Canada. It is stored there and handled under Canada's federal privacy law, PIPEDA. The European Commission recognises that law as giving adequate protection to personal data sent to commercial organisations in Canada. The table above lists the few services that help us from elsewhere.
• Your rights, wherever you live: to see, correct, export or erase your data, to withdraw a consent you gave, and to object to a use of it you don't agree with. Section 6 shows how; anything you can't do yourself, email us. You can also complain to the privacy authority where you live, and we'll cooperate with it.
• Contact: our privacy officer, in section 13. We answer within 30 days.

5. How long we keep things

6. Your rights, and how to use them

• See and export. Email ramuel@askpinoy.com from the address on your account, and we send you everything we hold about you as one file — within 30 days, usually much sooner.
• Correct. To change your display name or language, email us and it's done within 2 business days. To update your own listing, or to send a correction about any listing, email us too; we act within 5 business days.
• Delete. Email ramuel@askpinoy.com from the address on your account. We reply to confirm it's you, then delete within 30 days — usually within days. It removes your profile, claims and consent records. Your reviews are deleted by default. You can choose instead to keep them without your name, shown as "A past member", if they contain no personal information. We keep unsubscribe records, so we never email you again, and the log of admin actions.
• Withdraw a permission. Owners: email us to take the community label or the photo permission off your listing, and it's off within 2 business days. Members: email us and we take the "via Google" tag off your reviews in the same time.
• Stop emails. Every email that isn't about your own account or request has an unsubscribe link. One tap, and it takes effect at once.
• Ask us. Anything you can't do yourself, email ramuel@askpinoy.com. We answer within 30 days. If you're not happy with our answer, you can complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

7. Cookies and bot checks

• When you sign in, we set cookies that keep you signed in. Those are the only cookies we set.
• We don't set a cookie for analytics or ads, and we don't set a language cookie.
• The embedded map on business pages is loaded from Google. When you tap "View on map", Google may set its own cookies under Google's policy.
• Our forms use Cloudflare Turnstile to tell people from bots. Turnstile may store a small amount of data in your browser on those pages.
• To limit how many times one connection can submit a form, we keep a scrambled version of your network address. The scrambling key changes every day and is thrown away, so it can't be turned back into your address or linked from one day to the next.

8. How we count visits, and how to opt out

We count visits ourselves. No Google Analytics, no Meta pixel, nothing that follows you around the web.

Here is exactly how it works. When you view a listing, tap "call" or run a search, our server combines your IP address and browser type with a secret that changes every day, and stores only the scrambled result. Your IP address is never stored. The daily secret is thrown away, so even we can't reverse it, and tomorrow's count can't be linked to today's. Nothing is ever linked to your account, even when you're signed in. Search words that look like a phone number or an email are dropped before saving. Counts are deleted after 13 months.

Business owners see totals ("42 views this month, 7 call taps"), never who.

Opting out. There is no tracking cookie to switch off, because there isn't one. If you'd rather not be counted at all, block askpinoy.com/api/events with a content blocker in your browser. We don't work around blockers, and the site works fine without it.

9. Email and other messages

• About your own stuff, no permission needed: sign-in links, claim decisions, the outcome of a report or correction you sent, a reply to your review, a message you asked us to pass on, security notices, and an owner's monthly numbers with no promotion in them.
• Everything else, only with your recorded yes: newsletters, offers, a "we've launched in your city" email. Each one names AskPinoy, gives our mailing address, and has an unsubscribe link that works with one tap.
• No pre-ticked boxes. Consent is never buried in "I agree to the Terms".
• We don't sell, rent or trade email lists. We don't send text messages today.

10. How we protect your data

The site runs over HTTPS. The database enforces row-by-row access rules, so an owner can read only their own private data and a member only their own. Private fields (exact addresses, owner contact details, documents, internal notes) are kept apart from public listing data. Admin access is limited to the founder, and every admin action is logged.

If something goes wrong. If we learn of a breach that could cause you real harm, we will contain it, tell you what happened and what you can do, notify the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada where the law requires, and keep a record of it.

11. Children

AskPinoy is for adults. You must be 18 or older to create an account. If you think a child has given us personal information, email us and we'll delete it.

12. Changes

We post changes here with a new date. For a change that matters, such as a new processor or a new kind of data, we email account holders first.

13. Contact

Ramuel Batuigas, privacy officer · ramuel@askpinoy.com · 33 Cathy Jean Cres., Etobicoke, ON M9V 4T2, Canada

AskPinoy is a business name registered in Ontario by the same person, who runs it as a sole proprietor. Who we are, in full, is section 1 of the Terms of Service.