Privacy Policy

LIGHTCONE · thelightcone.space · effective 4 August 2026

LIGHTCONE is a small, independent game. We collect the least data we can get away with, we sell none of it, and this page tells you everything in plain words.

1 · Who is responsible

The data controller is the developer of LIGHTCONE:
Péter Kovács (independent developer, Hungary) · contact: hello@thelightcone.space

2 · What we collect, and why

E-mail address — your account identity. Used to sign you in, to send account e-mails (confirmation, password reset), and — if you leave it enabled — the Mind's daily digest letter. Legal basis: performance of contract (providing the game); the digest can be switched off in one click, in the game (⚙ CFG) or from any letter's footer.
Password — stored only as a modern salted hash (argon2). We cannot read it.
Gameplay data — your civilization's state: probes, colonies, names you give to stars, settings, event history. This is the game itself. Names you give may appear in shared, public game surfaces (for example the Galactic Record credits a first to "the people of your world's name"); your e-mail address is never shown to anyone.
Technical data — your IP address appears in standard server logs and in short-lived rate-limit counters (to keep bots and abuse out). Legal basis: legitimate interest in running a secure service. Logs rotate; we build no profiles.

3 · Cookies and local storage

LIGHTCONE uses exactly one cookie: fermi_session, which keeps you signed in. It is strictly necessary for the service and therefore requires no consent banner. Your browser's local storage holds interface preferences (which panels you opened, audio settings) — these never leave your device.

There is no third-party analytics, no advertising, no tracking, and no third-party cookie of any kind. The server keeps a single anonymous tally: a daily page-view count (date, page name, a number). Each page counts two numbers — one when it loads, one if the visitor stayed a few seconds and then scrolled, tapped, or typed, so we can tell readers from crawlers. No IP address, no user-agent, no identifier, no cookie is attached to either — the beacon is sent without credentials — it cannot describe you, only the crowd.

4 · Who else sees your data

Nobody, with one technical exception: e-mails are delivered through an SMTP provider, which processes your address for the sole purpose of delivering the message. We do not sell, rent, or share your data with anyone else.

5 · How long we keep it

Your data lives as long as your account does. Unconfirmed accounts are removed automatically after a grace period. If you ask us to delete your account, we delete your personal data (e-mail, password hash); the shared universe may retain the anonymous traces your civilization left in it — ruins keep no names.

6 · Your rights

Under the GDPR you may ask us at any time to: access the data we hold about you, correct it, delete it, restrict or object to its processing, or hand it over in a portable form. Write to hello@thelightcone.space and we will answer within 30 days. You may also lodge a complaint with your supervisory authority (in Hungary: NAIH, naih.hu).

7 · Changes

If this policy changes in any way that matters, we will say so in the in-game developer's notes and on this page, with a new effective date.

Plain summary: we keep your e-mail to run your account and optionally write you one honest letter a day; we keep your game because it is your game; we track nothing else. The dark answers slowly — and it does not spy.