Privacy Policy

This policy explains what information LLMilestones (llmilestones.com, “the site”, “we”) collects, why, and what you can do about it.

Who we are. LLMilestones is an independent project run by an individual. For anything about this policy or your information, email hello@llmilestones.com.

The short version

• You can read the whole site without giving us any personal information.
• No accounts. At the moment there is no advertising, no analytics or tracking scripts and no cookies.
• We only receive personal information if you choose to send us a message, through the feedback form or by email.
• We may show ads in the future. If we do, we will update this policy first and, where the law requires it, ask for your consent before any advertising cookies are used.
• We never sell the messages you send us or your email address, and never pass them to advertisers.

What we collect

1. When you use the feedback form

If you send feedback (a content fix, a site problem or a business inquiry), we receive:

• the type of message and the text you write;
• the milestone it relates to, if you pick one;
• your email address, if you give it (required for business inquiries);
• your name and company, if you give them (business inquiries only);
• the address of the page you sent it from.

Please don’t include sensitive information (for example health or financial details, or identity documents) in your message.

2. When you email us

If you write to hello@llmilestones.com, we receive your email address, your name as it appears in your email, and whatever you put in the message and attachments.

3. Technical information

To protect the feedback form from abuse, our server briefly uses your IP address to limit how many messages can be sent in a short time. This is held only in the server’s memory for about 10 minutes and is not written to disk.

Like almost every website, our web server keeps standard access logs: your IP address, the time, the page requested, the referring page and your browser type. We use them only for security and troubleshooting, and keep them for no more than 90 days.

4. Stored in your own browser

The site remembers your dark/light mode choice (localStorage) and, for the current visit only, your language choice (sessionStorage). This stays on your device, is never sent to us, and is not used to identify or track you. These are not cookies, and you can clear them at any time in your browser settings.

How we use it

• to correct errors and improve the content and the site;
• to reply to you, if you gave us your email address;
• to discuss business inquiries you send us;
• to keep the site secure and prevent spam and abuse.

We do not use the information you send us for automated decision-making or profiling.

Legal basis (UK and EU visitors). We rely on our legitimate interests in running and improving the site, keeping it secure and answering messages people choose to send us. For business inquiries, we also rely on taking steps at your request before entering into a contract. If we introduce advertising cookies or similar technologies, we will rely on your consent for them.

Who processes it for us

We use a small number of service providers. Each only receives what it needs to provide its service:

• Tencent Cloud hosts the site on a server in Hong Kong. Everything you send through the site, and the access logs, are processed there.
• NetEase (163 Mail) delivers feedback-form messages to our inbox and stores them. NetEase’s mail servers are in mainland China.
• ImprovMX receives email sent to our @llmilestones.com address and forwards it to that inbox.
• Tencent Cloud DNSPod provides the domain name service (it does not see the content of your messages).

At present the site loads nothing from third parties: fonts and scripts are all served from our own server. Links to sources open external websites, which have their own privacy policies.

Advertising and sponsorship

Today: the site shows no ads and uses no advertising cookies or trackers.

In the future, to help cover the cost of running the site, we may show ads from an advertising network (for example Google AdSense) or carry sponsorships. If we do:

• we will update this page before ads appear, naming the advertising provider and linking to its privacy policy;
• the provider may use cookies or similar technologies to show ads, measure them, limit how often you see the same ad and prevent fraud. This can involve your IP address, device and browser information, and the pages you visit on this and other sites;
• UK and EU visitors will be asked for consent through a cookie banner before any non-essential advertising cookies are set. You can refuse, or change your mind at any time, and still use the whole site;
• visitors elsewhere will be able to turn off personalised ads through the provider’s own settings (for Google, adssettings.google.com) and industry opt-out tools;
• US visitors will be given a way to opt out of the “sale” or “sharing” of personal information for advertising where state law requires it, and we will treat a Global Privacy Control signal as that opt-out;
• ads and sponsored content will be clearly labelled and kept separate from the timeline’s editorial content. Sponsors do not receive any personal information about our visitors from us.

International transfers

Our server is in Hong Kong, and messages are stored with NetEase in mainland China. Email forwarding may be processed in other countries. If you contact us from the UK, the EU or elsewhere, your message will be transferred to and processed in these places, which may not have data protection laws equivalent to your own. We transfer it only so that we can receive and answer the message you chose to send, and we keep what we hold to a minimum.

How long we keep it

• Feedback and emails: for as long as needed to deal with them and for our records, and no longer than 24 months. Correspondence that leads to an ongoing business relationship may be kept for as long as that relationship lasts.
• Server access logs: no longer than 90 days.
• Rate-limiting data: about 10 minutes, in memory only.

You can ask us to delete your messages at any time.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct or delete the personal information we hold about you, to object to or restrict how we use it, and to receive a copy of it. To make a request, email hello@llmilestones.com. We may ask you to confirm it is your email address. We will respond within one month.

UK: you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk). EU: you can complain to your local data protection authority. We would appreciate the chance to sort out any concern first, so please contact us.

US visitors, including California: we do not currently sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioural advertising, and we do not use it for profiling. You may ask what we hold about you and ask us to delete it, and we will not treat you differently for doing so. Because we currently do no tracking, a “Do Not Track” or Global Privacy Control signal has nothing to switch off; if we introduce advertising, we will honour Global Privacy Control as described above.

Security

The site is served over HTTPS. The feedback form only accepts submissions from this site, limits size and frequency, and escapes what you write before it is emailed. No method of sending or storing information is completely secure, but we take reasonable steps to protect it.

Children

The site is not aimed at children, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 16. If you think a child has sent us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

Changes

If we change how we handle information, for example by adding advertising or a new service provider, we will update this page before the change takes effect.