Privacy & cookies

This policy explains what happens to your data when you visit Local AI (local-ai.net). We have tried to keep it short and readable. If anything is unclear, please get in touch.

Who we are

Local AI is run by Captivated Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales under company number 15936109, with its registered office at Electric Works, 3 Concourse Way, Sheffield, S1 2BJ, United Kingdom. We are the data controller for this site, which means we decide how and why your data is used. We handle any personal data in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. For anything in this policy, email us at [email protected].

The short version

• You can browse the whole site without giving us any personal information.
• We do not ask you to create an account. The only optional form is our newsletter signup; you can browse the whole site without it.
• We do not sell your data.
• Some outbound links, mainly to hardware, are affiliate links. They are disclosed where they appear and never influence our recommendations.
• We use privacy-friendly analytics (Plausible) that do not use cookies or collect any personal data.
• Two things on the site can set non-essential cookies: Google AdSense advertising, and the Amazon geo-routing that sends an affiliate link to your local Amazon store. Neither loads until you accept them in the cookie banner, and you can decline. You can change your choice at any time using the Cookie preferences link in the footer. We keep advertising off our interactive tools, the glossary, and our policy pages regardless.

What we collect

We collect no personal data directly except one thing you choose to give us: if you subscribe to our newsletter, we collect your email address, and nothing else (see Newsletter below). There are no accounts. Some links take you to other places, such as model pages, official documentation, or our sister sites, and each of those has its own privacy policy.

Your browser stores one small preference locally: whether you prefer light or dark mode. This stays in your browser (in local storage, not a cookie), is not sent to us, and you can clear it at any time through your browser settings. Our interactive tools, such as the hardware matrix and the cost calculator, run entirely in your browser; the figures you enter are not sent to us or to anyone else.

Newsletter

You can subscribe to our monthly digest by email. This is entirely optional. When you subscribe we collect your email address and use it only to send you that newsletter. Subscribing to this newsletter never adds you to any other list, and every email includes a one-click unsubscribe link.

We use a double opt-in: after you sign up we send a confirmation email, and you only join the list once you click the link in it. If you sign up but never confirm, we delete the email address you submitted after 90 days; this is deletion rather than a block, so you are free to subscribe again later if you wish. To protect the form from bots we use Cloudflare Turnstile, which processes limited technical information for that check and does not track you across sites.

The newsletter is sent through Mailgun, operating in its European region, with data held in the EU (Frankfurt, Dublin, and Amsterdam). Mailgun processes your email address on our behalf to deliver the emails and record basic delivery information. You can read more in Mailgun's privacy policy. Our lawful basis for the newsletter is your consent, which you give by confirming your subscription and can withdraw at any time by unsubscribing. We keep your email address until you unsubscribe, after which a suppression record may be retained so we do not email you again by mistake.

Hosting and security

The site is hosted on Cloudflare Pages and served through Cloudflare's global network. To deliver pages and protect the site from attacks, Cloudflare processes limited technical information such as your IP address and browser type. You can read more in Cloudflare's privacy policy.

Analytics

To understand how the site is used, we use Plausible Analytics, a privacy-focused, EU-hosted service. It does not use cookies, does not collect any personal data, and does not track you across other websites or over time. Everything it reports is aggregated and anonymous. You can read more in Plausible's data policy.

Advertising and cookies

We use Google AdSense to show advertising on some content pages. This helps cover the cost of hosting and the domain. To do this, Google may set cookies (small files stored in your browser) and use similar identifiers to serve ads, measure whether they work, and, with your consent, personalise them.

A cookie is a small text file a website asks your browser to store, so it can recognise your browser on later visits. The advertising cookies here are set by Google, not by us.

If you are in the UK, the EEA, or Switzerland, you will see a consent message the first time you visit, run through Google's certified consent management platform. You can consent, refuse, or choose exactly which purposes you allow. Refusing is as easy as accepting, and you can change your mind at any time.

You can also manage advertising directly with Google:

• Google My Ad Center to control the ads you see.
• How Google uses cookies in advertising for the full detail.
• Google's privacy policy.

You can also block or delete cookies in your browser settings. The site will still work, though you may still see adverts, only non-personalised ones.

Affiliate links

Some outbound links, primarily to hardware retailers, are affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if you buy through them at no extra cost to you. We mark them where they appear, and they never influence which products we recommend. When you follow one, the retailer's own site may set its own cookies, governed by that retailer's privacy policy rather than ours. How we handle these commercially is set out in our editorial policy.

Our lawful bases

Under UK GDPR we need a lawful basis to process personal data. We rely on our legitimate interests to operate and secure the site and to serve it reliably through our hosting provider. For advertising cookies and any personalised advertising shown to visitors in the UK, the EEA, and Switzerland, we rely on your consent, which you give or refuse through the consent message and can withdraw at any time. For the newsletter we also rely on your consent, given when you confirm your subscription and withdrawable at any time by unsubscribing.

How long we keep your data

Other than newsletter subscriptions, we do not hold personal data about you ourselves. If you subscribe, we keep your email address until you unsubscribe, as set out under Newsletter above. Our providers retain the limited technical data they process (such as Cloudflare's security logs, Google's advertising data, and Mailgun's delivery records) in line with their own retention practices, set out in their privacy policies linked here.

Where your data goes

Google and Cloudflare are global companies, so processing your data may involve transfers outside the UK. Both operate under safeguards designed to protect data transferred internationally, set out in their own privacy policies linked above. Newsletter email is processed by Mailgun in its European region, keeping that data in the EU.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to access the personal data held about you, to have it corrected or erased, to restrict or object to its use, and to data portability. Aside from a newsletter subscription we hold no personal data about you directly: for the newsletter you can exercise these rights by unsubscribing or by emailing us, and other requests will relate to our providers (Google, Cloudflare, and Mailgun), which we will help you direct appropriately.

If you have a concern, please contact us first so we can try to resolve it. You also have the right to complain to the UK's supervisory authority, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), at ico.org.uk.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the site grows, for example when we add new features. When we do, we will change the date at the top of this page.

Contact

Questions about this policy or your data? Email us at [email protected].

This policy is governed by the laws of England and Wales.