Cookie policy
Skarn's use of cookies
In order to comply with data protection laws in the EU, we must inform you about what data we store and process about your interaction with the Skarn Associates website. Cookies are small pieces of text and code that allow us to manage the way you navigate the website.
This website (www.skarnassociates.com) does not store cookies on your browser. Cookies are stored when you use the Skarn Intelligence portal (intelligence.skarnassociates.com), for example when you log in or open a free account with us, and are limited to the following:
- Session information keeps you logged in as you move between pages. It expires after two hours.
- Request forgery protection prevents another website from pretending to be you and filling out form information on your behalf. It expires after two hours.
Because these cookies are set for skarnassociates.com, your browser also sends them to this website once you have used the portal. We do not read or use them here.
Google Analytics
We use Google Analytics on the Skarn Intelligence portal so that we can analyse how customers use it. This allows us to monitor what links are clicked, how long you spend on each page, what approximate location you are accessing the portal from, and what browser and operating system you use. Google Analytics stores its own cookies to do this.
The information we gather through Google Analytics is exclusively used for internal measurements and site improvements. We do not sell or publish any analytics data.
We do not use Google Analytics on this website.
Managing cookies
You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of the Skarn Intelligence portal may become inaccessible or not function properly.
Ask Skarn (AI assistant)
Ask Skarn is the assistant available from the “Ask Skarn” button on this website. It uses artificial intelligence to answer questions from Skarn's published pages. This section explains what happens to the questions you ask. It should be read together with our privacy policy.
No cookies
Ask Skarn does not set cookies and does not use your browser's local storage or any similar technology. Your conversation is held in your browser's memory only and is cleared when you reload or leave the site.
How your questions are processed
When you ask a question, it is sent to Amazon Bedrock, an AI service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS), which generates an answer from Skarn's published content. AWS acts as our data processor and processes your question only on our instructions. The service is hosted in AWS data centres in Europe. Your questions are not used to train the underlying AI models.
What we keep, and for how long
We keep a record of the questions asked so that we can improve the answers. Each record contains the text of the question, the date and time, the topic, and technical information about how the question was handled. We do not record your name, your IP address, the answer given, or any identifier that links one question to another. Email addresses and telephone numbers are automatically removed from a question before it is stored. Records are deleted automatically after 90 days.
Your IP address is used briefly to limit the number of questions that can be sent from one connection, to protect the service from misuse. It is not stored.
Please do not include personal information
Ask Skarn is for questions about Skarn's products, data and services. Please do not enter personal, confidential or commercially sensitive information about yourself or anyone else.
Lawful basis
Where a question contains personal data, Skarn Associates Limited is the controller. We process it on the basis of our legitimate interests in answering enquiries about our products and services and in improving the quality of the assistant. Before you ask your first question we show you a short notice and ask you to accept it; you can decline and contact us directly instead.
AI-generated answers
Answers are generated automatically and may contain errors. They are for general information only, do not constitute advice, and should not be relied on without checking important details against the relevant page or with us. Ask Skarn does not make decisions about you.
Your rights
You have the rights described in our privacy policy, including the right to object to processing based on legitimate interests and the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (www.ico.org.uk). Because questions are stored without your name or IP address, we will usually be unable to identify which records, if any, relate to you unless you can tell us what you asked and when. To exercise your rights, contact hello@skarnassociates.com.