This Privacy Policy explains what Sageview Software, LLC (“Sageview,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) does and does not collect in connection with the Italics desktop application (“the App”) and the website at useitalics.com (“the Site”).
The short version. Italics is software that runs on your computer, not a service you log into. There are no accounts. Your documents never leave your machine — we do not receive them, cannot read them, and have built nothing capable of doing so. The App reaches the internet for two narrow purposes: checking for updates, and validating a license key if you bought one. Everything else in this policy is about the website and about buying a license.
The long version follows, because “we collect almost nothing” still takes a few pages to say precisely.
If you have questions, contact us at legal@useitalics.com or:
Sageview Software, LLC729 Grapevine Hwy, Unit #3321
Hurst, TX 76054
United States
1. Scope: Three Separate Situations
Most privacy policies describe a single system. This one describes three that barely touch each other, and it is much easier to follow if you keep them apart:
- The App (Section 2) — software on your computer. Almost nothing happens here.
- The Site (Section 3) — an ordinary marketing website, with the ordinary small amount of data that implies.
- Buying a license (Section 4) — handled by a third-party payment provider, which collects more than we do and is largely responsible for it.
This policy does not apply to anything you do with your files after Italics writes them — if you email a document, sync it to a cloud drive, or publish it, that is between you and whoever provides that service.
2. The Italics Desktop App
2.1 What stays on your computer
Italics writes several things to your own disk. None of them are transmitted anywhere. We list them so you know they exist, not because we receive them:
- Your documents — opened from and saved to locations you choose.
- Backup copies — a
.bakfile written alongside a document before Italics overwrites it. - Crash-recovery snapshots — unsaved work, preserved so it can be restored if the App or your computer stops unexpectedly.
- Debug logs — local diagnostic output used for troubleshooting.
- Preferences — theme, fonts, zoom, window size and position, recently opened files, and your license key if you have one.
All of it lives in your user profile on your machine and is removed when you uninstall the App, except your own documents and their backups, which we leave alone.
2.2 What leaves your computer
The App makes network requests in exactly two situations:
Update checks
Italics can check whether a newer version is available by retrieving a small signed file from our public releases host, and downloads the installer from the same place. Like any web request, this reveals your IP address, the version of Italics you are running, and basic request information such as your operating system, to the company hosting our releases. We do not receive an individualized report of who checked for updates; we see only aggregate download counts.
You control whether this happens automatically. The App has a setting for automatic update checks. Turn it off and Italics makes no update request until you ask it to — at which point the App is, as far as the network is concerned, entirely silent.
License validation
If you purchase a Pro license, the App verifies your license key. Some keys are verified entirely offline using cryptography built into the App, with no network request at all. Others are checked against our payment provider’s licensing service, which transmits your license key and information identifying the installation. It does not transmit anything about your files.
2.3 What the App never does
To be unambiguous, the App does not:
- Upload, transmit, copy, or read the contents of your documents.
- Send usage analytics, event tracking, or behavioral telemetry of any kind.
- Send crash reports or stack traces to us or to anyone else.
- Require, offer, or create an account.
- Ask for your name, email address, or any other personal detail.
- Contain advertising, trackers, or third-party marketing code.
- Use your files, or anything derived from them, to train machine learning models.
3. The useitalics.com Website
3.1 Server logs
Our web host records standard server logs when you load a page: IP address, browser user agent, the page requested, referring page, and timestamp. These are used for security and to keep the site running, and are retained for a short period by the host.
3.2 If you give us your email address
The Site offers a way to be notified about releases and product news. If you sign up, we collect your email address and the date you subscribed, and store them with an email service provider.
We use it to send you product announcements and nothing else. We do not sell, rent, or share your address. Every message includes an unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing removes you promptly. You can also ask us to remove you by emailing legal@useitalics.com.
3.3 Website analytics
We use a privacy-focused, cookieless analytics service to understand how many people visit the Site and which pages they read. It aggregates measurements without cookies, without cross-site tracking, and without building a profile of you. We see counts and trends, not individuals.
3.4 Cookies and similar technologies
The App is not a web browser and uses no cookies. As for the Site:
- We set no advertising cookies, no tracking pixels, and no social media widgets.
- Our analytics is cookieless by design (Section 3.3).
- A referral or affiliate link may set a cookie to attribute a purchase (Section 3.5).
If we ever add cookies that are not strictly necessary, we will update this policy and, where the law requires it, ask for your consent before setting them. Your browser also lets you block or delete cookies at any time; doing so will not break the Site.
3.5 Referral and affiliate tracking
We may run a referral or affiliate program through our payment provider, so that people who recommend Italics can be credited for a purchase. If you arrive through such a link, a referral identifier may be stored in your browser or carried through to checkout. It identifies who referred you — not you. Affiliates receive aggregate credit for sales, never your personal information.
4. Buying a License
Purchases are processed by a third-party payment provider acting as merchant of record. That provider is the seller of record for your transaction and is an independent controller of the information you give it.
4.1 What the payment provider collects
Typically your name, email address, billing address or country, payment card or method details, and tax status. We never see or store your full payment card number. The provider’s own privacy policy governs what it does with this, and it is shown to you at checkout.
4.2 What we receive
From the provider we receive order records: your name, email address, country, the product purchased, the amount, the date, and the license key issued. We use these to issue and support your license, to honor refunds, and to keep the financial records the law requires us to keep.
4.3 Support conversations
If you email us, we keep the message and your address so we can reply and so we have a record if the issue comes back.
5. How We Use Information, and Why We Are Allowed To
| What we do | Information used | Legal basis (GDPR / UK GDPR) |
|---|---|---|
| Deliver the App and its updates | IP address, App version | Contract; legitimate interests (distributing working, secure software) |
| Issue and validate license keys | Order record, license key | Contract |
| Process purchases and refunds | Order record | Contract |
| Answer support requests | Email address, message contents | Contract; legitimate interests |
| Send product announcements | Email address | Consent (withdraw any time via unsubscribe) |
| Measure site traffic | Aggregate, cookieless analytics | Legitimate interests (understanding whether the site works) |
| Keep tax and accounting records | Order record | Legal obligation |
| Protect against fraud, abuse, and license piracy | Order record, license key, server logs | Legitimate interests |
We do not engage in automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects.
6. Who We Share Information With
6.1 Service providers
We use a small number of vendors, each limited to a specific job:
| Provider | What it does | What it sees |
|---|---|---|
| Releases and update host | Distributes the App and its updates | IP address, user agent, App version |
| Payment provider (merchant of record) | Processes purchases, issues license keys, runs the affiliate program | Name, email, billing details, payment method, tax status |
| Email service provider | Stores the mailing list and sends announcements | Email address, subscription date, delivery events |
| Website analytics | Aggregate visit measurement, cookieless | Aggregated page views; no personal profile |
| Web host | Serves useitalics.com | Server logs, including IP address |
6.2 Legal and safety disclosures
We may disclose information if we are required to by law, subpoena, or court order, or where we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, investigate fraud or license abuse, or protect the safety of any person. We will push back on requests that appear overbroad or improper, and will notify you where we are legally free to do so.
6.3 Business transfers
If Sageview is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets, information may be transferred as part of that transaction. Any acquirer remains bound by this policy for information collected under it, unless and until you are given notice of a change.
6.4 What we never do
- We do not sell your personal information, and we never have.
- We do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.
- We do not run advertising or remarketing pixels.
- We do not use your information to train machine learning models.
7. International Transfers
Sageview is based in the United States, and our vendors are primarily US-based. If you are outside the US, information described in this policy will be transferred to and processed in the United States, which may have data protection laws different from those in your country. Where required, transfers from the EEA, UK, or Switzerland rely on the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses or another approved mechanism in our agreements with those vendors.
8. How Long We Keep Things
| Information | Kept for |
|---|---|
| Anything in the App on your computer | Until you delete it or uninstall — we hold no copy and cannot delete it for you |
| Order and license records | Approximately 7 years, to satisfy tax and accounting requirements |
| Mailing list subscription | Until you unsubscribe or ask us to remove you |
| Support email | Approximately 2 years after the conversation ends |
| Web server logs | A short period set by our host, typically weeks |
| Aggregate analytics | Indefinitely — it identifies no one |
9. Your Privacy Rights
Because we hold so little, most requests we receive can be answered in a sentence. Email legal@useitalics.com and we will respond within the time the applicable law allows — 45 days under California law, 30 days under the GDPR. We will not charge you, and we will not treat you differently for asking.
9.1 California residents (CCPA / CPRA)
You have the right to know what personal information we have collected about you and how we use it, to request deletion, to request correction, and to opt out of sale or sharing. We do not sell or share personal information, so there is nothing to opt out of and we display no “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” link. We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information for purposes requiring a right to limit. We do not knowingly collect or sell the personal information of anyone under 16.
Under California’s “Shine the Light” law, you may request information about disclosures to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. We make no such disclosures.
9.2 EEA, UK, and Swiss residents (GDPR / UK GDPR)
You have the right to access your personal data, to correct it, to have it erased, to restrict or object to processing, to data portability, and to withdraw consent at any time without affecting processing already carried out. Where we rely on legitimate interests, you may object and we will stop unless we have compelling grounds to continue.
You may also lodge a complaint with your national supervisory authority. In the UK, that is the Information Commissioner’s Office. We would rather hear from you first, but that is your right regardless.
9.3 Other US states
Residents of states with comprehensive privacy laws — including Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Utah, Texas, Oregon, and Montana — have broadly similar rights of access, correction, deletion, and portability, and the right to appeal a refused request. Use the same address above.
10. Security
We use HTTPS across the Site, cryptographic signing on App releases so that a tampered update will not install, and access controls on the small amount of order data we hold. Payment card details are handled entirely by our payment provider and never reach us.
No system is perfectly secure, and we will not claim otherwise. What we can say is that the most sensitive thing in this picture — the contents of your documents — is not in our custody at all, and so cannot be exposed by any failure on our side.
11. Children’s Privacy
The App collects no personal information from anyone, of any age. The Site is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If you believe a child has given us personal information, email legal@useitalics.com and we will delete it promptly.
12. Third-Party Links
The Site and the App may link to third-party websites — documentation, our releases host, our payment provider’s checkout. Opening a document in Italics that contains links does not follow them; that only happens if you click. Once you leave, the destination’s own privacy policy applies, and we are not responsible for it.
13. Changes to This Policy
We may update this policy. When we do, we will change the “Last updated” date, add an entry to the revision history at the bottom, and — for changes that materially reduce your privacy — post notice on the Site at least 30 days in advance and email anyone on our mailing list.
If we ever add data collection to the App itself, it will be announced before the release that contains it, and it will be opt-in. We consider that a commitment, not a formality.
14. Contact Us
Sageview Software, LLCAttn: Privacy
729 Grapevine Hwy, Unit #3321
Hurst, TX 76054
United States
Email: legal@useitalics.com
Revision history
- Version 2.0 — August 5, 2026. Rewritten for Italics desktop software. Restructured around the App, the Site, and purchases; removed all stakeholder, survey, and account provisions; replaced the subprocessor list; absorbed the retired standalone Cookie Policy into Section 3.4.
- Version 1.0 — April 25, 2026. Initial version, inherited from a hosted software-as-a-service product.