Privacy

Who we are

KNIKO (kniko.io) is run by Makuxi, a sole proprietorship established in the Netherlands and registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce (KvK 34344394). Correspondence address: Via Nazario Sauro 24F, 40121 Bologna (BO), Italy. Email: [email protected]. Makuxi is responsible (the "controller") for the personal data described here.

The short version

You do not need an account. KNIKO has no advertising, no third-party analytics and no tracking cookies, and does not sell data. Most of what KNIKO stores is not tied to your name or contact details; some of it is pseudonymous, which the law still treats as personal data, and this page says exactly what.

What we process, why, and on what basis

• Words you search for. A word that KNIKO finds is stored with the picture made for it, so it can be shown again to anyone. A search that finds nothing is stored as text, with a count and dates, without any ID or IP address, so we know which words to research next. Basis: our legitimate interest in running KNIKO and improving its coverage. Please do not type personal information into the search field.
• How KNIKO is used. When a result is shown, or you share it or ask for another word, your browser sends a short note to KNIKO with a random ID that exists only for that page and is never stored on your device. It lets us count how KNIKO is used without counting the same page twice, and it cannot be linked to your later visits. Basis: our legitimate interest in understanding and improving KNIKO.
• Your reactions. Only when you deliberately react to a result or mark that you would want it on a product, your browser creates a random ID, keeps it in its local storage and sends it with that reaction, so it counts once and you can change or withdraw it. It is not created otherwise and contains no name or IP address. Basis: storing it is necessary for the function you used; processing your reaction is our legitimate interest. You can delete it by clearing this site's data in your browser.
• Your language choice, in a cookie called kniko_locale, set only when you choose a language and kept for one year. It is necessary to show KNIKO in that language.
• Your IP address. Cloudflare, which carries all traffic to KNIKO, processes it to deliver and protect the site. When you start a new picture, KNIKO also keeps your IP address in server memory to stop any one visitor from using up the shared daily image budget; KNIKO does not write it to disk or to its logs, and it is removed within about one hour. Basis: our legitimate interest in preventing abuse and sharing a limited budget fairly.
• Technical server logs, recording events such as "a picture was made". They are designed not to contain your IP address or what you searched for; when an error occurs, an entry may include the content of the failed request. Basis: our legitimate interest in keeping KNIKO secure and working.
• Emails you send to us, to answer them. Basis: our legitimate interest, or the contract if your email is about an order.
• Orders, if you buy something in the shop: your name, delivery address, email address and what you ordered. Payment details go directly to Stripe; KNIKO never sees your card number. Basis: performing the contract, and our obligations under Dutch tax law.

Your right to object

Where we rely on our legitimate interest, you may object at any time, on grounds relating to your situation, by writing to [email protected]. We then stop, unless we have compelling grounds that override your interests or need the data for a legal claim.

Who else receives data

• Hetzner (Germany) hosts our servers and database, on our behalf.
• Cloudflare delivers and protects all traffic and forwards emails sent to our address, on our behalf. It may set strictly necessary security cookies, such as __cf_bm.
• OpenRouter and the AI model providers it routes to, such as Google, make the pictures and help us research new words. For pictures they receive only an image description built from KNIKO's own word data. For research they may receive the text of searches that found nothing. They never receive your IP address.
• Stripe handles payments in the shop as an independent controller, also for fraud prevention and its own legal obligations (stripe.com/privacy). The checkout loads Stripe in your browser; Stripe may set its own cookies to prevent fraud.
• Printful prints and ships orders on our behalf, and receives your name, delivery address and email for that purpose.
• Our mailbox provider stores the emails you send us.

Cloudflare, Stripe, Printful and OpenRouter may process data in the United States. They do so under the EU–US Data Privacy Framework or the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses; ask us for a copy of the safeguards.

How long we keep it

• Reactions linked to a random browser ID: 24 months, then deleted automatically.
• Searches that found nothing: deleted 24 months after the word was last searched. If you typed something personal, ask us to delete it sooner.
• IP addresses for the image limit: in memory only, removed within about one hour.
• Server logs: 30 days.
• Emails: up to 2 years, or as long as tax law requires if they concern an order.
• Orders: 7 years, because Dutch tax law requires it.
• Backups: deleted data can remain in backups for up to about 10 weeks before they rotate out.

What you have to give us

Nothing, to use KNIKO. To place an order, we need your name, delivery address and email, because we cannot deliver without them. We make no decisions about you by automated means, and we do not profile you.

Your rights

You have the right to access, correct or delete your personal data, to restrict its use, to object (see above), and to receive it in a portable form. Write to [email protected]. Because KNIKO has no accounts, we may need your order number or your browser ID to find your data.

You can also complain to a data protection authority: in the Netherlands the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl), or the authority where you live, such as the Garante per la protezione dei dati personali in Italy (garanteprivacy.it).

Children

KNIKO is not aimed at children under 16. If you think a child has given us personal data, write to us and we will delete it.

Changes

If we change what KNIKO collects, we update this page and the date at the top. Earlier versions are available on request.