Privacy Policy

Effective October 10, 2026

Hacker Lights Studio (“the studio”) is a free web application at afabian.com/hackerlights for designing light patterns for LED strips and compiling them for the Hacker Lights controller. It is run by Andrew J. Fabian as a personal project. This page explains what information the studio collects, how it is used, and the choices you have.

What the studio collects

From your Google account, when you sign in

The studio uses “Sign in with Google” and asks Google only for the basic openid, email and profile permissions. From these it stores:

your Google account identifier (a number Google assigns, used to recognise you when you return);
your email address;
your first and last name, which you can change on your Account page.

Google also offers your profile picture with these permissions; the studio does not store it. The studio never sees your Google password and has no access to your Gmail, contacts, Drive, calendar or any other Google data.

What you create

The layouts, patterns, timelines and projects you make, the images you upload for them (pattern images and layout background photos), and the files the studio generates from them (previews and compiled LED files).

Collected automatically

One cookie, named hackerlights, which keeps you signed in. It is strictly necessary for the studio to work, holds no personal information itself, and is deleted when you close your browser or sign out. The studio sets no other cookies.
When your account was created and when you last signed in.
Web server logs kept by the hosting provider, which record the IP address, the page requested, the time and your browser’s identification for each request, as is standard for websites.

The studio uses no analytics, no advertising and no tracking of any kind.

How the information is used

Only to run the studio: to sign you in, to show you and store your work, to generate previews and LED files, and to diagnose problems with the service. Your work is private to your account; it is not published or shown to other users.

Your information is not sold, rented or shared with anyone for their own purposes. The only other parties involved are the services the studio runs on:

IONOS, which hosts the website and its database and stores everything described above;
Google, which handles signing in;
Google Hosted Libraries and Cloudflare cdnjs, from which studio pages load standard JavaScript libraries (jQuery). As with any website that loads files from them, these services receive your IP address and browser information when a page loads.

Information may also be disclosed if required by law.

Google user data

Hacker Lights Studio’s use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Information from your Google account is used only to identify you and display your name and email address within the studio, and is not used for advertising or transferred to anyone else.

Keeping and deleting your information

Your account and work are kept until you delete them. You can delete individual layouts, patterns, timelines and projects at any time, and you can delete your whole account from the Account page. Deleting your account immediately removes your account details and everything you created from the studio’s database and file storage. Copies may remain in the hosting provider’s routine backups for a limited time until they are overwritten.

You can also remove the studio’s access to your Google account at any time from your Google account settings. That stops future sign-ins but does not delete your studio account; delete that from the Account page first.

To ask for a copy of your information, a correction, or deletion, email andy@afabian.com.

Security

The studio is served only over HTTPS. Uploaded and generated files are stored outside the public website and are served only to the account that owns them. No method of storage or transmission is perfectly secure, but reasonable care is taken to protect your information.

Children

The studio is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect information from them. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account, email andy@afabian.com and it will be deleted.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted here with a new effective date.

Contact

Questions about this policy or your information: andy@afabian.com.