What's stored, and why
Plain Systems is a software studio in London. It is the trading name of Harry Purcell, a sole trader, who is the data controller for this site. A postal address is available on request by email. Questions or requests go to plainsystems@outlook.com, and you'll get a reply.
Your account
- Your email address, your name if you give one, and your time zone. These are used to log you in and to show your days in your own time.
- Your password, stored only as a salted hash that can't be turned back into the password.
- Your licence key, if you've added one.
- A session cookie that keeps you logged in for 30 days. There are no tracking or advertising cookies on this site.
Time Wheel
The app on your computer reads ActivityWatch, which runs locally, and sorts your windows into your projects on your computer. The only things sent to your account are:
- project names, with seconds per project per day;
- the name you gave each computer, and when it last synced.
Window titles, app names, websites and screenshots are never sent. The app doesn't take screenshots at all. Time you add by hand is stored with your account.
Keeping the service safe
To stop repeated attempts at logging in, signing up, pairing a computer or joining the waitlist, the site counts requests from each IP address, and log-in attempts for each email address. These counts are deleted after about a day.
The waitlist
If you join the waitlist, Plain Systems keeps your email and the boxes you ticked, and only uses them to tell you when those things are ready. No newsletter. They're kept until everything you ticked is ready and you've been told, or until you leave the list. You can leave at any time by emailing plainsystems@outlook.com.
If you ask about a service
If you email about an idea, an audit or a build, Plain Systems keeps your message and contact details to reply and quote. If work goes ahead, they're also kept to do the work and for the business records the law requires. If no work goes ahead, they're deleted after 12 months.
Where it lives, and for how long
The site and its database run on Cloudflare. Email, including service enquiries, is handled by Microsoft Outlook. Purchases are handled by Gumroad, and when you enter a licence key it is checked with Gumroad. Fonts are loaded from Google Fonts, which sees your IP address when a page loads. Some of these providers may process data outside the UK, including in the United States. Where they do, they use the safeguards UK data protection law requires for transfers, such as standard contract clauses.
Account data is kept for as long as the account exists. When you delete your account from the Account page, its data is deleted straight away. Backups roll off within 30 days.
Your rights
You can export or delete everything, and change your name and time zone, from the Account page. To change your email, or anything else, email plainsystems@outlook.com. If you're unhappy with how your data has been handled, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk).
Legal basis
Account and Time Wheel data are processed to provide the service you signed up for, under contract. The waitlist is processed on your consent, which you can withdraw by email at any time. Service enquiries are processed to reply to you and to take the steps you ask for before any contract. Counting requests by IP address is done to keep the service secure, which is a legitimate interest.