Terms of Use
The terms that apply to reading these pages, stated plainly and without a wall of capitals
Accepting these terms
Using this website means accepting what follows. If you do not accept it, the remedy is immediate and complete: stop reading and close the page. There is no account to delete, no subscription to cancel and nothing held that would survive you leaving.
What this website is
It is a set of informational pages about paid-search records and the disputes in which they appear, published by me, Bill Hartzer, in connection with my work as an expert witness. It is written for attorneys assessing whether an examination of that kind of record is worth commissioning in a matter they are handling.
It is general information. It has not been fitted to your matter, it does not know your facts, and it is not a substitute for the judgment of someone who does know them.
Not legal advice, and no relationship is created
I am not an attorney. Nothing published here is legal advice, an opinion on the merits of any claim or defense, or a recommendation about what to do in a proceeding. Whether a set of facts supports a claim is a question for counsel.
Reading these pages does not retain me, does not create an expert engagement and does not make me your consultant. Neither does sending a message through the contact page or by email. An engagement exists only when it has been agreed in writing, after a conflict check, and not a moment before. Until that point nothing you send carries any duty of confidentiality that I would owe an engaged client, and you should treat anything sent as unprotected.
Accuracy, currency and the read date
Factual statements here — retention windows, platform behavior, reporting fields, published policy — are accurate to the best of my knowledge as of the date they were checked, and that date is given alongside the fact. Advertising platforms change their documentation and their behavior on their own schedule, sometimes without an announcement. Two of the retention windows described on this site changed within the last twelve months.
Nothing here is maintained as a live reference and no undertaking is made to update it. Verify any figure against the platform's current documentation before relying on it in a filing. Where a statement here conflicts with what the platform's own documentation says today, the platform is right and this page is stale.
Links and references to other sources
Some pages cite or link to outside material: platform documentation, published measurement standards, court rules, regulator releases. Those are cited because they are the primary source for a fact, not because of any relationship with the organizations that publish them. I do not control that material, I am not responsible for its content or its availability, and a link is not an endorsement.
Where a source is quoted, the quoted words belong to that source and are reproduced so the fact can be checked rather than taken on trust.
Intellectual property
The text, structure and original graphics of this website are mine and are protected by copyright. You may read them, print a page for your own use, and quote a reasonable extract with attribution and, where you are able, a link back. You may not republish a page in substantial part, present the material as your own work, or reproduce it inside a commercial product or service.
Trademarks, product names and platform names appearing here — among them Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising and Meta — belong to their respective owners and are used descriptively to identify the products under discussion. Their appearance implies no affiliation with, sponsorship by, or endorsement from any of those companies.
Acceptable use
Do not attempt to interfere with the operation or security of this website, and do not use automated retrieval at a volume that burdens the server. Ordinary crawling by search engines is expected and welcome. Beyond that there is very little here to misuse: the site takes no input, holds no accounts and stores nothing.
No warranty, and limits on liability
The site is provided as it is, without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including any implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy or non-infringement. I do not warrant that it will be available without interruption or free of error.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, I am not liable for any loss or damage arising out of use of, or reliance on, anything published here — including a decision taken in a matter on the basis of a general description that did not account for the facts of that matter. Where liability cannot lawfully be excluded, it is limited to the minimum the law permits.
Changes, and what happens if a clause fails
These terms may be revised. A revision takes effect when it is published on this page, and continued use of the site afterward means accepting the revised version. If any provision is found unenforceable, that provision is severed and the remainder continues to apply.