Privacy notice
1. Who we are
SMARTLINK is made by David Perkins, known as Kanzooie. For the data described here, he is the "controller" under UK data protection law, and he's called "we" and "us" here. Contact: kanzooie00@gmail.com.
2. What stays on your PC
These are kept in your Windows profile (the SmartLink folder in AppData) and are never sent to us:
- VoiceLink: your voice is recognised on your PC. No audio and no words you say ever leave it.
- Debrief: your logbook, flight tracks and statistics.
- The Hangar: the list of your add-ons and folders.
- Dispatch: your plans and briefings, and your SimBrief username.
- Sim health: what it reads about your sim and PC (crash files, frame times, memory), unless you compare a crash, below.
- The app's log, unless you choose to send it with feedback.
SMARTLINK never records or keeps what you type, and never reads other programs' windows or their memory. Push-to-talk and shortcut keys watch the keyboard only to spot the keys you chose.
3. What reaches our server, and how long we keep it
Our server is the SMARTLINK relay at smartlink.perkins-smartops.com, rented from DigitalOcean in their London data centre. Your copy of SMARTLINK makes a random ID when it's first installed. We never store that ID itself, only one-way scrambled forms of it, which can't be turned back into the original. Its "install ID", shown in SMARTLINK under Settings, About, is one of those. The random ID is kept in the SmartLink folder on your PC, and SMARTLINK reads it when it connects. Wherever we say "scrambled ID" below, we mean one of these forms; the install count, crash comparisons and cockpit controls scramble it once more with a secret key, so those records are kept without your name.
You don't have to give us any of this. A pilot name, group flights and every kind of sharing are your choice, and if you choose Not now, SMARTLINK stays offline and the parts that work on your PC carry on.
Every time SMARTLINK connects
What: your pilot name from Settings (if you've set one), the app's version, its install ID, and when the connection opened and how it ended.
Why: to tell you about updates, to keep the service working and to find out why connections fail.
Kept: 7 days in the connection record, then overwritten. A count of installs (scrambled ID, when first seen, last version) is kept for as long as SMARTLINK runs, without your name.
WingLink group flights
What: your pilot name, your aircraft's position, height, speed, heading and type, your route, and your landings (rate, G, speed, airport and score) unless you turn Share my landings off. All of it goes to the other pilots in your group.
Why: that's what a group flight is.
Kept: positions are kept in the relay's memory only, while the group is open, and gone when it closes. Group joins and landings (your pilot name, the airport, the landing rate and who it was shared with) are also noted in the connection record, kept for 7 days then overwritten. During a planned server restart, a short file of who was in which group, with no positions or landings, is kept for up to 10 minutes so you aren't thrown out.
In other pilots' logbooks: the other pilots' copies of SMARTLINK keep your pilot name and landing scores from flights you shared in their own logbook, on their own PC. We can't see or delete those copies.
Please note: other pilots can stream, film or screenshot what they see, including your name and landings. That's outside our control, so don't treat a group flight as private.
Feedback you send
What: your message, your pilot name, the app's version, the time and the scrambled ID. If you tick Send activity log, also SMARTLINK's report for the time you choose: what the app, sim and group were doing, its settings, and its log, which includes folder paths that can show your Windows username. SMARTLINK holds no passwords, and the group keys in its settings are blanked out of the report.
Why: so we can read it, fix what you found and get back to you.
Kept: until we've dealt with it, then deleted, and never more than 2 years, or less if you ask us to delete it.
Comparing a crash (Sim health)
What: only if you've switched Sim health on and Compare my crashes is on: the crash's signature (the sim, its build, Steam or Store, the program and place it crashed in), the error code, the step the sim was on, the scrambled ID and when.
Why: to tell you how many other pilots had the same crash, and what's known about it.
Kept: until you ask us to delete it. Only the last 30 days are used in answers.
Sharing a cockpit control (Routines)
What: when you teach a routine an aircraft's control with Share on: the aircraft's identifier and title, the action, the control's name and value, the scrambled ID and when.
Why: once three different installs agree, the control is offered to other pilots in the same aircraft.
Kept: until you ask us to delete it.
"Not handcrafted?" reports (the maps)
What: the airport code, the scrambled ID and when.
Why: when three installs report an airport, it's no longer shown as handcrafted.
Kept: until you ask us to delete it.
Our web server's log
What: every request that reaches our server, whether from the app connecting, a download or a page: your IP address, the time, what was asked for, and your app's or browser's name.
Why: to keep the server safe, find faults and count downloads.
Kept: up to 90 days, then deleted automatically.
If an app is blocked
What: the scrambled ID of a copy of SMARTLINK blocked under section 8 of the Terms of service, the IP address it connected from, and why.
Why: to keep the block in place and protect other pilots. The IP address stops a blocked pilot getting straight back in with a fresh install. It's only kept for blocks, never for anything else.
Kept: while the block lasts.
Donations
What: donations are taken by Stripe. We see what Stripe passes to us: your name, email address, the amount and the date. We never see your card details.
Why: to take the payment, send you a thank-you email, and deal with any refund.
Kept: 2 years in our Stripe account, for refunds and chargebacks. Stripe keeps its own records under Stripe's privacy policy.
Apart from that web server log and a block, the relay uses your IP address only in memory, to stop one address flooding the service. The connection record notes only a short tag made from it that changes every day.
Backups: our databases are copied to the same server each night, as 7 daily and 12 monthly copies. Something deleted from the database can stay in a backup until that copy is replaced, at most 12 months.
4. Services SMARTLINK talks to directly from your PC
Some features fetch things from other organisations straight from your PC. They see your IP address and what's asked for, under their own privacy policies. We don't receive any of it.
- SimBrief, when you get your plan: your SimBrief username.
- The US Aviation Weather Center (aviationweather.gov), for airport weather: the airport codes.
- adsb.lol, only when you paste a Flightradar24 link: the flight's callsign.
- GitHub and add-on makers' websites, when you check your add-ons for updates: the add-on's release page.
- Discord, stores and websites you open from SMARTLINK open in your own browser.
The maps are built into the app and fetch nothing.
5. Our reasons for using your data
- Legitimate interests for connections, group flights, update notices, the install count, download logs, shared controls, "Not handcrafted?" reports and nightly backups: running a service people have chosen to use, keeping it working and safe, and knowing roughly how many people use it.
- Consent for Sim health and crash comparisons (it asks before reading anything, and you can turn it off on Settings or its top bar), and for sending your activity log with feedback (a box you tick each time).
- Legitimate interests also for feedback: reading what you sent us, fixing it and replying.
- Legitimate interests for donations: taking the payment, saying thank you and dealing with any refund.
- Blocks rest on legitimate interests: keeping the service safe for everyone.
Nothing SMARTLINK works out about you has a legal or similarly significant effect on you. The automatic parts, such as offering a cockpit control once three installs agree or counting matching crashes, only decide what the app shows.
6. Who else sees it
Other pilots in your group see what section 3 says. Otherwise, we only share data with the companies that help us run SMARTLINK: hosting (DigitalOcean and Mythic Beasts, in the UK), donations (Stripe, under its own privacy policy as well as ours), email (Google), and the software tools we use to look after the server. They use it only to provide their service to us.
We don't sell, rent or share your data with anyone else, use it for adverts, or profile you. We'd only hand data over if the law required us to. If SMARTLINK is ever handed on to someone who will keep it running, the data would go with it under this notice, and we'd tell you first.
7. Keeping it safe
The app talks to our server over an encrypted connection (wss and https). Only Kanzooie can sign in to the server, with a key, and the databases can't be reached from the internet. Your copy's random ID is never stored, only scrambled forms of it. If something went wrong that put your data at risk, we'd report it to the Information Commissioner's Office within 72 hours where the law requires, and tell you if it was likely to harm you.
8. Where it's kept
Our servers are in the UK. Some of the companies in section 6 may handle data in other countries, such as the United States, under the safeguards in their own terms. The services in section 4 may be outside the UK (several are in the United States); your PC contacts them directly when you use those features.
9. Your rights
You can ask us to show you, correct or delete the data we hold about you, to stop using it, or to give you a copy. Because we store a scrambled ID rather than your name in most places, please send us your copy's ID from Settings, About, and your pilot name, so we can find it. Pilot names aren't secret, so before showing or deleting anything we may ask you to confirm the ID shown on your own PC. Please email kanzooie00@gmail.com. You can ask in the SMARTLINK Discord how to do this, but don't post your details there. We'll answer within a month.
You can object. Where we rely on legitimate interests (section 5), you can object at any time and we'll stop, unless we have a strong reason to carry on that outweighs yours, such as keeping a block in place to protect other pilots.
You can withdraw consent. Where we rely on your consent (Sim health, crash comparisons and sending your activity log), you can withdraw it at any time by switching the feature off. That doesn't affect anything done before.
You can also stop most sharing yourself: turn off Share my landings, switch Sim health or Compare my crashes off, turn Share off on a learnt control, leave a group, or uninstall SMARTLINK.
If you're unhappy with how we've handled your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint. We'd appreciate the chance to put it right first.
10. Children
SMARTLINK isn't meant for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their data. If you think a child has sent us something, contact us and we'll delete it.
11. Changes
If SMARTLINK starts sending or keeping something new, we'll update this notice first. The date at the top says when it last changed, and an important change will be mentioned in the app's What's new.
12. Cookies
This page, the terms and the download page set no cookies and use no analytics or trackers. The app keeps a few preferences (which tab you had open, for example) on your own PC, which we never see.