Privacy Policy
Last updated: May 9, 2026
Introduction
Bellweather Studios ("we," "us," or "our") works to protect your privacy. This policy explains how we handle your data. It applies when you use bellweatherstudios.com and our services.
It also covers the choices you have. And it explains how to reach us with privacy questions or requests.
Information We Collect
Account Information
When you create an account, we collect your email address and name. Our sign-in provider, Clerk, handles this. We need it to give you access to your purchases and licenses.
Payment Information
Payments are processed by Stripe, our payment processor. We do not store your credit card number or full payment details. Stripe is PCI DSS Level 1 certified. We receive transaction details including purchase amount, currency, and order reference for our records.
License & Activation Data
When you activate a license, we collect four things: a machine ID, your machine name, your operating system, and the time of activation. The machine ID is a one-way hash made from your hardware. We use this data only to enforce license terms, which limit each license to 3 machines. Because the ID is a one-way hash, we cannot work out your exact hardware from it. We also store license keys and activation records so we can manage your licenses. Our plugins report their version, operating system, and plugin format to our servers once per session. This helps us give better support and send the right updates. It is strictly version tracking. We do not collect feature usage or session data. You can turn it off by setting enableVersionReporting to false in your Bellweather preferences file. Sometimes your hardware ID briefly cannot be read. This can happen after a transient platform error or an operating-system upgrade. In those cases, the plugin may add a small diagnostic note to the activation call. The note holds a non-personal reason code, a single-bit drift signal, and a count of recent activation attempts this session. It helps us fix activation problems without a support ticket. These fields hold no raw hardware data and no part of any hash. We process them to perform our contract and for our legitimate interest in preventing license fraud.
Weather Station
Weather Station is our desktop app. It connects to our servers to fetch the plugin catalog, check licenses, look for updates, and sync your account data. We log IP addresses to limit request rates and prevent abuse. We keep these logs for 30 days. Weather Station stores your sign-in tokens and license data on your machine, in an encrypted store.
Technical Data
When you visit our website, we automatically collect a few things. These are your browser type, operating system, and referral source. We use this data only to improve and secure the site.
How We Use Your Information
- Provide, operate, and maintain our services
- Process transactions and send related information
- Manage software licenses and activations
- Send product updates, security alerts, and support messages
- Respond to support requests and inquiries
- Improve our products and website experience
- Detect, prevent, and address fraud or technical issues
Data Sharing
We do not sell your personal data. We share it only with the service providers we need to run our business:
- Clerk - Authentication (SOC 2 compliant)
- Stripe - Payment processing (PCI DSS Level 1 certified)
- Neon - Database hosting (SOC 2 compliant)
- AWS - Infrastructure (ISO 27001 certified)
- Resend - Transactional email delivery
Your Rights
Under GDPR and other data protection laws, you have these rights:
- Access - Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
- Rectification - Request correction of inaccurate data
- Erasure - Ask us to delete your personal data. We must keep some records where the law requires it. For example, we keep transaction records for 7 years.
- Portability - Request transfer of your data in a machine-readable format
- Object - Object to processing of your data for marketing purposes
To exercise any of these rights, email keith@bellweatherstudios.com. We will respond within 30 days.
Data Retention
- Account data - Retained while your account is active
- Transaction records - Retained for 7 years for legal and tax compliance
- Support correspondence - Retained for 2 years
- Server logs - IP addresses retained for 30 days
- License activations - Retained while the license is active
Security
We use strong, industry-standard security. This includes TLS 1.3 encryption in transit, AES-256 encryption at rest, regular audits, and strict access controls. No system is fully secure, but we take reasonable steps to protect your data.
Cookies
We use only the essential cookies our services need to work:
- Authentication - Session cookies to keep you signed in
- Cart - Session cookie to maintain your shopping cart
- Security - CSRF protection tokens
All cookies are HttpOnly, Secure, and SameSite=Lax. We do not use tracking cookies or advertising cookies.
Children's Privacy
Our services are not directed to individuals under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we learn that we have collected data from a child under 13, we will delete that information promptly.
International Data Transfers
Bellweather Studios is based in the United States. You may use our services from the European Union or another region with data protection laws. If so, your data may be sent to and processed in the US. For EU data transfers, we rely on Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs). These help provide adequate protection for your personal data.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. For any material change, we will post the new policy here and update the "Last updated" date. If you keep using our services after we post a change, you accept the revised policy.
Contact Us
For privacy questions, or to use your data rights, contact us at: