Privacy Policy

Effective date: September 26, 2026 · Applies to thecostofityt.com and The Cost of It Uploader

1. Who we are

“The Cost of It” is an education-only YouTube channel (youtube.com/@TheCostofItYT) run by Gennaro Gatto (“we”, “us”). This policy covers two things we operate:

• The website at https://thecostofityt.com (the “Site”); and
• The Cost of It Uploader (the “Uploader”), an internal command-line tool the channel owner uses to upload and schedule videos to the channel’s own YouTube account.

You can reach us at gatto.ytfinance@gmail.com.

2. The website

The Site is a set of static pages. It does not use cookies, local storage, or similar technologies. It has no analytics, tracking pixels, advertising, embedded videos, or third-party scripts or fonts, and it has no forms or accounts. We do not collect personal information through the Site.

The Site is hosted on Cloudflare Pages. Like any web host, Cloudflare processes standard technical information about each request (such as IP address, browser type, and the page requested) in order to deliver the pages and protect the Site from abuse. Cloudflare handles that information under its own privacy policy (cloudflare.com/privacypolicy). We do not add any tracking of our own.

If you email us, we receive your email address and whatever you choose to write. We use it only to reply, and we do not share it.

Links to YouTube or other sites take you to services that have their own privacy policies.

3. The Cost of It Uploader and YouTube API Services

The Uploader uses YouTube API Services. By using the Uploader, you agree to be bound by the YouTube Terms of Service. Data processed by Google and YouTube is governed by the Google Privacy Policy (http://www.google.com/policies/privacy).

The Uploader is not available to the public. Its only user is the channel owner, and it only acts on The Cost of It’s own YouTube channel. The owner signs in through Google’s own sign-in page. The Uploader never sees or stores a Google or YouTube password.

What the Uploader accesses

With the owner’s authorization, the Uploader requests only two Google OAuth scopes: youtube.upload and youtube.readonly. With them it:

• uploads video files the owner selects from a computer the operator controls, together with the details the owner enters (title, description, tags, category, audience setting, altered or synthetic content disclosure, privacy status, and scheduled publish time);
• reads basic information about the authorized channel (the channel ID and channel name) to confirm it is uploading to the intended channel; and
• reads the upload, processing, and privacy status of videos it uploaded.

It does not access comments, subscribers, analytics, other channels, or any other person’s data.

How the information is used

The information is used only to perform the upload the owner asked for and to show the owner the result on their own screen. The Uploader sends the values the owner entered without adding to or rewriting them. It does not build profiles, create derived metrics, or use the data for any other purpose. Use of information received from Google APIs follows the Google API Services User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements.

What the Uploader stores

• OAuth token: the Uploader stores its Google OAuth access and refresh token in a local file on a computer the operator controls, readable only by the user account that runs the Uploader. It is kept until the owner revokes access (see section 5).
• API responses: not stored. Responses from YouTube (for example a new video’s ID and status) are shown on screen and then discarded.
• The video files and their text details are the owner’s own files and stay on the owner’s computer. The Uploader does not copy them anywhere except to YouTube.

No data from the Uploader is stored on this website or on any server we run.

How the information is shared

The Uploader sends data only to Google/YouTube, through the YouTube API Services, to carry out the owner’s uploads. We do not share, sell, rent, or transfer any data to anyone else, either internally or externally. The Uploader shows no advertising and does not allow any third party to serve content. It places no cookies and collects no information from anyone’s device, apart from the local token file described above, which sits on a computer the operator controls.

4. Security

All communication between the Uploader and Google uses HTTPS. The token file is readable only by the user account that runs the Uploader and is never published, emailed, or committed to source control.

5. Revoking access and deleting data

• From the Uploader: the Uploader’s revoke command revokes the token with Google right away and deletes the local token file. The Uploader stores no other data, so nothing else is left to delete.
• From your Google account: you can revoke the Uploader’s access at any time on the Google security settings page: https://security.google.com/settings/security/permissions. Once access is revoked there, the stored token stops working and the Uploader can no longer reach the account. The leftover local token file is then useless, and the owner deletes it (the revoke command also removes it).

Revoking access or deleting the Uploader’s token does not delete anything on YouTube. Videos that were already uploaded stay on the channel until they are deleted in YouTube or YouTube Studio.

6. Children

The Site and the Uploader are not directed to children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

7. Changes to this policy

If what the Site or the Uploader does with data changes, we will update this page and its effective date before the change takes effect.

8. Contact

Questions or complaints about this policy or our privacy practices: gatto.ytfinance@gmail.com.