Last updated 12 October 2026

Privacy policy

This policy covers every product, website and service from Ben Counsell Consulting, Sweden ("we", "us"), including our apps, browser extensions and bencounsell.com. We are the data controller for the personal data described here.

The short version. We collect as little as possible. Our products have no accounts, analytics or tracking, and we never sell or share your data for advertising. Payments are handled by Creem, so we never see your card details.

What we collect and why

• Purchases. When you buy a licence, Creem (our merchant of record) shares your name, email address, country, order details and licence key with us. We use them to provide your licence, answer support requests and keep the records the law requires. Legal basis: performing our contract with you, and our legal obligations.
• Licence checks. Paid products check your licence with our licence server: they send your licence key and an instance ID or name, which we pass to Creem to confirm the licence is valid. To stop people guessing keys, the server keeps a count of recent requests against a one-way hash of your IP address. Nothing about how you use the product is included. Legal basis: performing our contract with you, and our legitimate interest in preventing abuse.
• Support emails. If you email us, we keep the conversation so we can help you. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in answering you, or our contract with you.
• Our websites. Our websites don't use analytics, advertising or tracking cookies. Like any website, our hosting provider records standard server logs (IP address, browser and pages requested) to keep the sites running and secure. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in running secure websites.

We don't use your data for automated decision-making or profiling, and we don't knowingly collect data from children.

Who we share it with

• Creem processes payments, tax, invoices and refunds as merchant of record, under its own privacy policy.
• Service providers that host our websites, licence server and email, acting only on our instructions.
• Authorities, only where the law requires it.

Some of these providers may process data outside the EU/EEA. When they do, we rely on safeguards such as the European Commission's standard contractual clauses or an adequacy decision.

How long we keep it

• Order and licence records: for as long as your licence is active, and as long as Swedish bookkeeping law requires (currently seven years).
• Support emails: until your question is resolved, and no longer than two years after we last heard from you.
• Server logs and rate-limit counts: a short time, for security only.

How our products handle your data

• Our apps and browser extensions run on your device. Content you work on with them is processed locally and never sent to us.
• Settings are stored on your device, or in your browser's or operating system's own storage, which may sync between your own devices if you've turned that on.
• Files you save or export stay on your device.
• The only requests our products make to our servers are the licence checks described above. Some features may load resources from third parties (for example, fonts from Google Fonts) or open another app you choose, such as an AI assistant. Anything you share there is governed by that service's own privacy policy.
• Browser extensions ask only for the permissions they need to work, and their store listings explain what each one is for.

Our browser extensions' use of information received from Chrome APIs adheres to the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Your rights

Under the GDPR you can ask for a copy of your personal data, and ask us to correct, delete or export it, or to restrict or object to how we use it. Email us and we'll reply within one month. You can also complain to the Swedish Authority for Privacy Protection (Integritetsskyddsmyndigheten, IMY) or the data protection authority where you live.

Changes

When we add a product or change how we handle data, we update this policy and the date at the top. For significant changes, we'll also mention it in the product or on our website.

Contact

Ben Counsell Consulting, Sweden. Email support@bencounsell.com.