How to Read a Website Privacy Policy in Under 2 Minutes

Privacy policies are long because they're written for lawyers. You don't need to read every word to learn what matters. With a few searches and a known order, two minutes is enough to decide whether you're comfortable.

Seconds 0-20: find the basics

Look at the date the policy was last updated and who the company is. Then scan the headings. Most policies follow the same pattern: what they collect, how they use it, who they share it with, how long they keep it, and your rights.

Seconds 20-80: search for key words

Press Ctrl + F and search for each of these:

• "sell" and "share": whether your data is sold or shared for advertising.
• "third part": catches "third party" and "third parties", and shows who else receives data.
• "advertis": whether data is used for targeted ads.
• "location": whether precise location is collected.
• "retain" or "retention": how long data is kept.
• "delete": whether you can ask for deletion.
• "AI" or "train": whether your content may be used to train AI models.

Seconds 80-110: check for red flags

• Selling or sharing data with "partners" without naming types of partners.
• Collecting precise location, contacts or biometric data without a clear reason.
• Keeping data "as long as necessary" with no limits.
• Broad rights to use your content for any purpose.
• Changes allowed at any time without notice.

Seconds 110-120: find your choices

Look for an opt-out section, a "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information" link (required for many US companies under California law), or a privacy settings page. Note the contact for privacy requests.

Shortcuts

• ToS;DR rates and summarizes the terms and privacy policies of many popular services.
• AI summaries can help, but check anything important against the policy itself. See fact-checking AI answers.
• Old versions: to see what changed, see finding old terms and policies.

Policies vs practice

A policy tells you what a company says it does. Trackers on the page tell you more. Reject non-essential cookies, and consider Ghost Browser, which makes random background visits so profiles built from your browsing are less accurate. See what browsing metadata reveals.