Understanding No-thing

Privacy

This page explains, in plain terms, what happens to the information you give this website. It covers the website in general and, in more detail, the Companion on the Continue the Conversation page.

Who is responsible

This website is the companion site for the book Understanding No-thing by Chris Creaghan, who is responsible for how your information is used here. [Chris to confirm: the name to use (his own name, or a trading name), and a postal address if he wants one shown.] Contact: [Chris’s contact email address].

The website was built and is maintained by Wakefield Website Design (info@wakefieldwebsitedesign.co.uk), who look after the technical side on the author’s behalf.

The Companion (Continue the Conversation)

The Companion lets you ask questions about Understanding No-thing. When you press Ask, the question you typed, together with your last few exchanges in the same visit, is sent to an AI provider so that it can write the answer. The provider is Anthropic, PBC, whose service is used through its programming interface (API). The answers are produced by AI. They are not written by the author, and the Companion cannot assess or advise on anyone’s health or personal situation.

Please do not include names or other details that could identify you or anyone else. The Companion does not need them to answer, and you should not rely on it for medical, legal or personal advice.

What this website stores

  • Your questions and the answers are not saved by this website. The recent exchanges are held only in your browser while you are on the page, and are gone when you close or reload it.
  • Rate limiting. To stop the service being overused, the website keeps a scrambled (hashed) form of your internet address for up to one hour, so that it can count how many questions have come from it (the limit is 12 an hour per visitor). It cannot be turned back into your address and is not used for anything else. A simple site-wide daily total is also kept, with no link to any person.
  • Technical logs. When the Companion answers, the website records only the size of the exchange (the number of tokens used) so that running costs can be monitored. It does not record the question or the answer. If something goes wrong, an error message may be recorded in the website’s error log; these do not contain your question.
  • Standard web hosting logs. Like any website, the hosting company keeps routine server logs (for example, your IP address, the page requested and the time) for security and fault-finding. [Wakefield Website Design to confirm the host and its log retention period.]
  • No tracking. The website does not use advertising or analytics cookies, does not load fonts or scripts from other companies, and does not track you across other websites. [Update this line if a visitor counter or analytics tool is added later.]

What the AI provider does with it

Anthropic receives your question and recent exchanges in order to produce the reply. Under its published policy for business and API customers, it automatically deletes API inputs and outputs within 30 days, and by default does not use them to train its models. Longer retention can apply where its usage policy has been breached or where the law requires it. This website does not control Anthropic’s handling of the data; see Anthropic’s own policy at anthropic.com/legal/privacy.

Anthropic is a US company, so your question is processed outside the UK. [Chris / Wakefield to confirm the transfer wording against Anthropic’s current data processing terms.]

Why this is allowed (legal basis)

Your question is processed because you choose to submit it in order to receive an answer, and for the legitimate purpose of keeping the service secure and affordable (the rate limiting above). [Chris to confirm this wording with anyone who advises him on data protection.]

Other information you send

If you contact the author by email, he will use your address and message only to reply. [Chris to confirm; delete this section if there is no contact email or form.]

Your rights, and contact

Under UK data protection law you can ask what personal information is held about you, ask for it to be corrected or deleted, and complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk). Because this website does not keep your questions, there is normally nothing on it to retrieve. Requests about data held by Anthropic are best made to Anthropic directly.

To contact the author about any of this: [Chris’s contact email address].

Last updated: [date this page goes live]