Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) explains how National Speakers League, Inc. (“NSL,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) collects, uses, discloses, and protects personal information when you visit www.commonsusa.com (the “Site”), submit one of our web forms, subscribe to our newsletter, or interact with our “Ask NSL” artificial-intelligence assistant (the “AI Assistant”) (collectively, the “Services”). By using the Services, you acknowledge the practices described in this Policy. Residents of California, and certain other U.S. states should review the additional disclosures in Section 9.

1. Information We Collect and Sources

We collect only the information a visitor voluntarily submits through a form or the AI Assistant, plus standard technical data that our hosting infrastructure records automatically.

A. Information you provide to us

• Identity and contact information— full name, email address, and organization name.
• Free-text information— your message or notes, reason for contact, role, and organization type.
• Context information (varies by form)— mailing or organization address, city and state, audience-size and timeline estimates, partnership or investment interest, and newsletter opt-in selections.
• AI Assistant inputs— the text you type into the “Ask NSL” chat feature.

B. Information collected automatically

• Server-log data— IP address, browser/user-agent string, and request timestamps, recorded automatically when our infrastructure serves pages.
• Analytics data (consent-based)— pageviews and feature-usage events collected through PostHog, but only after you click “Accept” on our cookie banner. Analytics are off by default; no analytics cookies are set and no events are captured until you consent.

C. Information we do not collect

We do not knowingly collect the personal information of children under 13 years of age, consistent with the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). We do not collect sensitive or special-category data (such as Social Security numbers, financial account information, health, or biometric information). Please do not submit such information through the Services.

D. Sources

We collect personal information directly from you when you submit it; automatically from our hosting infrastructure when you use the Site; and from the service providers that help us operate the Services.

2. How We Use Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Provide, manage, secure and improve the Site and Services;
• Respond to your inquiries and provide the information you request;
• Evaluate and manage partner or sponsor applications and requests;
• Send newsletters and updates to people who have opted in;
• Operate the AI Assistant and answer questions about our programs;
• Understand site usage through privacy-respecting analytics (only after consent);
• Maintain the security and proper functioning of the Site and Services; and
• Comply with our legal obligations and enforce our terms.

We do not sell personal data and do not use it for third-party advertising.

3. How We Disclose Information; Service Providers

We do not sell your personal information. We process it only as described herein.

Service providers (processors). We use the following providers, each of which processes data on our behalf under its own terms and data-processing agreement:

Legal and protective disclosures. We may disclose personal information to comply with applicable law, legal process, or lawful government requests; to enforce our agreements and policies; to protect the rights, property, or safety of NSL, our users, or others; or in connection with a merger, financing, acquisition, or sale of all or part of our business or assets.

Social sharing. If you use a social share button, you will be directed to a third-party platform (such as X, Facebook, or LinkedIn) that handles your information under its own policies. Otherwise we do not disclose your personal information for third-party advertising.

4. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

A cookie-consent banner appears on your first visit with “Accept” and “Decline” options. It gates all analytics on your choice and remembers your choice for one year. Strictly necessary cookies are always present; analytics cookies are set only if you click “Accept.” Declining (or ignoring) the banner keeps analytics fully off. We do not use advertising or ad-targeting cookies or third-party ad pixels.

For ordinary visitors, only the two strictly necessary cookies are set before consent; the PostHog cookie is set only after you click “Accept.” You can also manage cookies through your browser settings.

5. The “Ask NSL” AI Assistant

When you use the AI Assistant, your messages are sent to Anthropic to generate replies and to Voyage AI to embed your query for knowledge-base retrieval. You are interacting with artificial intelligence, not a human. AI Assistant conversations are session-only — they are not persisted by NSL after your session and are not used to build advertising profiles. Please do not enter sensitive or confidential information into the AI Assistant. See our Terms of Use for additional information about the AI Assistant.

Inputs you provide to the AI Assistant are processed only to generate a response and retrieve relevant information for your current session. They are not used by NSL or its AI service providers (Anthropic or Voyage AI) to train, fine-tune, or improve any AI models.

6. Data Retention

We retain personal information for as long as needed to provide the Services, to pursue a legitimate business need, or to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. Form and CRM data are stored in a managed PostgreSQL database; newsletter opt-ins are stored in our email provider’s audience until you unsubscribe; and server logs are retained according to our host’s standard retention period. You may request deletion of your information as described in Section 9.

7. Data Security

We take reasonable and appropriate steps to protect personal information including administrative, physical and technical security measures consistent with industry norms. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, however, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. In the event of a data breach, we will provide notice as required by applicable law.

8. No Sale of Personal Information; No Targeted Advertising

We do not sell personal information for monetary consideration, and we do not engage in “targeted advertising” or “sharing” for cross-context behavioral advertising, as those terms are defined under applicable U.S. state privacy laws. We do not use advertising networks or ad pixels on the Site.

9. Your Privacy Rights and Choices

A. Choices available to everyone

• Update your information— contact us to correct or update information you have submitted.
• Unsubscribe— use the unsubscribe link in any newsletter email or contact us to stop receiving marketing messages.
• Cookie controls— use the cookie banner and your browser settings to manage analytics and other cookies.

B. State privacy rights

Depending on your state of residence, you may have some or all of the following rights, subject to the conditions and exceptions in the applicable law:

• The right to confirm whether we process your personal information and to access it;
• The right to correct inaccuracies in your personal information;
• The right to request deletion of your personal information;
• The right to obtain a portable copy of your personal information; and
• The right to opt out of the sale of personal information, targeted advertising, or certain profiling — although, as noted above, we do not sell personal information, engage in targeted advertising, or conduct such profiling.

Some of these laws apply only to businesses that meet certain revenue or data-volume thresholds, which NSL may not meet; nevertheless, we will honor reasonable, verifiable requests consistent with applicable law.

How to exercise your rights. You or your authorized agent may submit a request by contacting us at privacy@nationalspeakersleague.com. We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling a request. We will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights. If we decline your request, you may appeal by replying to our response; we will inform you of the outcome of any appeal as required by applicable law.

California “Shine the Light.” We do not disclose personal information to third parties for their own direct-marketing purposes.

10. Children’s Privacy

The Services are designed for a general, adult audience and are not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13, consistent with the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). If you believe a child under 13 has provided us personal information, please contact us and we will delete it. Any separate NSL youth, student, or competition platform that may involve minors is governed by its own terms and privacy notice, which address the applicable requirements for that program.

11. Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control

Because we do not engage in cross-site tracking for advertising, our Services operate consistently regardless of any “Do Not Track” browser signal. Where required by applicable law, we will treat a recognized opt-out preference signal (such as Global Privacy Control) as a valid opt-out of any processing to which the opt-out right applies.

12. International Users and Data Location

Our service providers (Railway, Supabase, Resend, Anthropic, Voyage AI, and PostHog) are based in the United States, and information you submit is processed and stored in the United States. If you access the Services from outside the United States, you understand that your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States, which may have different data-protection laws than your jurisdiction.

13. Third-Party Links

The Services may link to third-party websites or platforms whose privacy practices differ from ours. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those third parties, and we encourage you to review their privacy policies.

14. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the “Effective Date” above and, for material changes, provide additional notice where required by law. We encourage you to review this Policy periodically.

15. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us at:
National Speakers League, Inc.
Email: support@nationalspeakersleague.com