This Privacy Policy describes how Hostease collects, uses, discloses, and protects personal data that you provide or that we collect when you visit our websites (hostease.com and cn.hostease.com), create an account, purchase or use our services, or contact our support team. Please read this Policy carefully. By using our websites or services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Policy.
1. Who we are
Hostease LLC is a limited liability company registered in the State of Delaware, USA. We are the data controller for personal data collected through hostease.com and cn.hostease.com. Our services include shared web hosting, virtual private servers (VPS), dedicated servers, domain registration, SSL certificates, business email, and related professional services.
For privacy-related questions or requests, please contact us at privacy@hostease.com.
2. Data we collect
We collect personal data in the following categories, depending on how you interact with us:
2.1 Account data
When you register for an account or purchase a service, we collect your full name, email address, company name (if applicable), billing address, and phone number. This information is necessary to create your account, issue invoices, and communicate with you about your services.
2.2 Payment data
We collect transaction IDs, payment amounts, and — where applicable — the last four digits of the payment card used. If you pay via PayPal or Alipay, we collect the email address or account identifier associated with those accounts. Hostease does not store raw card numbers, card verification codes, or full payment card details; these are processed directly by our payment processor and are not transmitted to or retained by Hostease.
2.3 Service data
In the course of providing your hosting services, we record data associated with your account, including domain names, hostnames, IP addresses assigned to your services, server configuration details, and related technical settings. This information is required to provision, operate, and maintain your services.
2.4 Usage and log data
When you visit our websites or access our client area or control panels, our servers automatically record certain technical data, including: the IP address of your device; browser type, version, and operating system; pages visited and time spent on those pages; referring URLs; and timestamps of access events. This data is used to operate and secure our services and to diagnose technical problems.
2.5 Support data
When you contact us for support — by submitting a ticket, using live chat, or sending an email — we collect and retain the content of those communications, including any personal data you choose to share with us in the course of seeking assistance.
2.6 Cookies and similar technologies
We use cookies and similar tracking technologies on our websites. Please refer to our Cookie Policy for full details on the cookies we use, their purposes, and how you can manage them.
3. How we use your data
We use the personal data we collect for the following purposes:
- Service provisioning and management: to set up, deliver, operate, and maintain the hosting services, domains, SSL certificates, and other products you have purchased.
- Billing and payment processing: to process payments, issue invoices and receipts, handle refunds, and prevent fraudulent transactions.
- Transactional communications: to send you invoices, renewal reminders, service expiry notices, security alerts, and other messages directly related to your account or services. These communications are not optional — they are necessary to operate your account.
- Support: to respond to your support tickets, live chat messages, and email enquiries, and to diagnose and resolve technical issues with your services.
- Legal compliance: to comply with applicable laws, regulations, court orders, and lawful requests from government authorities.
- Security and fraud prevention: to monitor for and respond to threats to the security of our infrastructure, our customers' data, and our services.
- Service improvement: to analyse aggregated and anonymised usage patterns in order to improve our website and service offerings. This analysis does not identify individual users.
- Marketing communications (with consent): if you have opted in to receive marketing emails from us, we may send you product announcements, promotional offers, and news about Hostease. You may withdraw your consent at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in any marketing email or by contacting us at privacy@hostease.com.
4. Legal basis for processing (GDPR)
If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA) or the United Kingdom, we process your personal data under the following legal bases as defined in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):
- Contract performance (Article 6(1)(b)): processing is necessary to perform the contract between you and Hostease — i.e., to deliver and manage the services you have purchased, process payments, and administer your account.
- Legal obligation (Article 6(1)(c)): processing is necessary to comply with our legal obligations, such as retaining financial records as required by tax law.
- Legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)): processing is in our legitimate interests and those interests are not overridden by your rights — for example, securing our infrastructure, preventing fraud, and sending you transactional service notifications.
- Consent (Article 6(1)(a)): we rely on your consent for sending optional marketing communications. You may withdraw consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing.
5. Data sharing and disclosure
We do not sell your personal data to third parties for their marketing purposes. We share your personal data only in the following circumstances:
- Payment processors: we share necessary transaction data with PayPal, Alipay, and other payment processors to facilitate payments. These processors operate under their own privacy policies and are independently responsible for your payment data.
- Data centre and infrastructure providers: your service data (such as IP addresses and server configurations) is shared with the data centre and network providers whose infrastructure hosts your services. These providers operate under data processing agreements and are contractually bound to protect your data.
- Domain registries and registrars: when you register or transfer a domain, we submit the required registration data (including your name and contact details, unless you use privacy protection) to the relevant domain registry and registrar.
- Legal and regulatory disclosures: we may disclose your personal data to law enforcement agencies, courts, regulators, or other government authorities where required by law or in response to a valid legal process. Where permitted, we will attempt to notify you before making such a disclosure.
- Business transfers: in the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or substantially all of Hostease's assets, your personal data may be transferred to the successor entity. We will notify you by email and/or prominent notice on our website before your data is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.
6. International data transfers
Hostease operates servers and infrastructure in the United States, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea. When you purchase a hosting service, your service data (such as files, databases, and email) is stored in the data centre you select or that is assigned to your plan. Account-level personal data (such as your name, email, and billing address) is primarily processed and stored by our systems in the United States.
If you are located in the EEA or the United Kingdom, your personal data may be transferred to and processed in countries outside the EEA/UK, including the United States, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea, where data protection laws may differ from those in your country. Where such transfers occur, we seek to ensure that appropriate contractual and organisational safeguards are in place with our service providers to protect your personal data. For enquiries about the specific safeguards applied to a transfer, please contact us at privacy@hostease.com.
7. Data retention
We retain your personal data for the following periods:
| Data category | Retention period | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Account data (name, email, address, phone) | Duration of the account + 3 years after account closure | Legal and billing obligations; dispute resolution |
| Payment records (transaction IDs, amounts) | 7 years from the date of the transaction | Tax and financial record-keeping requirements |
| Server and access log data | Up to 90 days | Security monitoring and incident investigation |
| Support tickets and correspondence | 3 years from date of last activity | Service quality and dispute resolution |
| Marketing consent records | Until consent is withdrawn + 3 years | Compliance with consent-based processing requirements |
When a retention period expires, we securely delete or anonymise the relevant data. We may retain data for longer periods if required by applicable law or if the data is the subject of a dispute or legal proceeding.
8. Your rights
Depending on your location, you may have the following rights with respect to your personal data:
8.1 Rights for all users
- Access: you may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
- Correction: you may request that we correct inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
- Deletion: you may request that we delete your personal data, subject to our legal obligations to retain certain data.
- Objection to marketing: you may opt out of marketing communications at any time.
8.2 Additional rights for EEA/UK users (GDPR/UK GDPR)
- Data portability: you may request a machine-readable copy of the personal data you have provided to us, where processing is based on consent or contract.
- Restriction of processing: you may request that we restrict our processing of your personal data in certain circumstances (e.g., while a correction request is being evaluated).
- Objection to processing: you may object to processing based on legitimate interests.
- Withdraw consent: where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.
- Lodge a complaint: you have the right to lodge a complaint with your national data protection supervisory authority.
8.3 Additional rights for California residents (CCPA/CPRA)
- Right to know: you may request disclosure of the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you, the purposes for which it is used, and the categories of third parties with whom it is shared.
- Right to delete: you may request deletion of personal information we have collected, subject to certain exceptions.
- Right to opt out of sale or sharing: we do not sell or share your personal information with third parties for cross-context behavioural advertising purposes. If this practice changes, we will notify you and provide a "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information" link.
- Right to non-discrimination: we will not discriminate against you for exercising your CCPA rights.
8.4 How to exercise your rights
To exercise any of the rights described above, please email privacy@hostease.com from the email address associated with your account. Please describe your request clearly and include your account number if available. We will respond within 30 days of receiving a verifiable request. In some cases, we may need to verify your identity before processing your request. We will not charge a fee for reasonable requests.
9. Cookies
Our websites use cookies and similar technologies to enable core site functionality, remember your preferences, and — subject to your consent — analyse usage patterns. For a full description of the cookies we use, their purposes, and how to manage or disable them, please see our Cookie Policy.
10. Security
We implement technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. These measures include: TLS 1.2+ encryption for data in transit; hashed storage of account passwords; role-based access controls limiting staff access to customer data on a need-to-know basis; and periodic security reviews of our infrastructure.
While we take reasonable precautions, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is completely secure. We cannot guarantee the absolute security of your data. If you believe your account has been compromised or you suspect unauthorised access to your personal data, please notify us immediately at privacy@hostease.com.
In the event of a personal data breach that is likely to result in a risk to your rights and freedoms, Hostease will notify affected customers without undue delay and, where required, will report the breach to the relevant supervisory authority in accordance with applicable law (including GDPR Article 33/34 and applicable U.S. state breach notification laws).
11. Children
Our services are not directed to individuals under the age of 18, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from minors. If you are a parent or guardian and believe that your child has provided us with personal data without your consent, please contact us at privacy@hostease.com and we will promptly delete the relevant information.
12. Changes to this Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or for other operational reasons. For material changes, we will provide at least 30 days' advance notice by email and by posting a prominent notice on our website before the change takes effect. Non-material changes (such as clarifications or corrections) will be noted by updating the "Last updated" date above. We encourage you to review this Policy periodically.
13. Contact
For privacy-related enquiries, data subject requests, or to report a
potential data protection concern:
Email: privacy@hostease.com
Hostease LLC
311 E Valley Blvd #112 PMB26
San Gabriel, CA 91776
United States