Privacy Policy

Last updated: 3 July 2026

Perceptive.News is a personalised news service that scores and filters articles against the interests you tell us about. This policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, how we use and protect it, and the choices you have. We are based in New Zealand and handle personal information in accordance with the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020. Where we serve users elsewhere, we also aim to meet the standards of the EU/UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Perceptive.News is in beta. It’s a work in progress, and we take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or incorrect information. Please see our Terms of Service for the full details on beta status and liability.

Who we are

Perceptive.News is a service provided by Think Tank Consulting Limited, a company incorporated in New Zealand (“we”, “us”, “our”). We are the entity responsible for your personal information under this policy.

We take your privacy very seriously, it is central to the purpose of our design. We built this product so that you don’t have to share your interests with Big Tech. We will never serve you advertisements or use your personal data for anything other than serving you the news that you want according to your specifications.

If you have any questions about this policy or your personal information, contact us at support@perceptive.news.

Information we collect

Account information

Your username and, if you provide one, your email address.
If you register with an email and password, a securely hashed version of your password (we never store your password in plain text).

Google Sign-In

If you choose to sign up or log in with Google, Google shares a limited set of profile information with us based on the openid, email, and profile scopes: your name, email address, and a stable Google account identifier (used to recognise you on return). We do not receive your Google password, and we request no access to any other Google services or data.

Your interests and preferences

The topics and interests you enter so we can rank articles for you.
The feeds and categories you subscribe to and your display settings.

Activity and usage data

Which articles you open, read, or click, and related engagement signals, which we use to improve the relevance of what we show you.
Interactions with email digests we send you.
Technical log data such as your IP address, browser/user-agent, and timestamps, kept for security, abuse prevention, and diagnostics.

How we use your information

To create and secure your account and to authenticate you.
To personalise the articles, scores, and digests you receive based on your stated interests and engagement.
To send you the email digests and service notifications you have set up.
To operate, maintain, debug, and improve the service.
To detect, prevent, and respond to fraud, abuse, and security incidents.
To comply with our legal obligations.

We will never sell your personal data or use it to serve advertising. Under the GDPR, our legal bases are the performance of our contract with you (providing the service), your consent (where applicable), and our legitimate interests in operating and securing the service.

How articles are scored

We use Google’s Gemini AI models to summarise and score the content of news articles against your interest topics. The article text and your interest topics may be sent to this processor for that purpose. Scores and summaries are generated automatically and may be inaccurate; they are provided to help you prioritise reading, not as a statement of fact.

Importantly, the information we send for scoring is anonymised: it contains only the article content and your interest topics, with no personally identifiable information — no name, email, username, or account identifier. The AI model has no idea who it is scoring articles for.

When we share information

We do not sell your personal information. We share it only in these limited cases:

Service providers / processors who help us run the service, including Google (for Google Sign-In and the Gemini scoring models), our email/SMTP delivery provider, and our hosting provider. They may only process data on our instructions.
Legal reasons — where required by law, regulation, legal process, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of our users or the public.
Business transfers — if the service is ever transferred to another operator, subject to this policy.

Google user data. Our use of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements. We use Google Sign-In data solely to provide and improve the sign-in and personalisation features you request, and we do not transfer or use it for advertising.

Cookies

We use a single essential session cookie to keep you logged in. It is strictly necessary for the service to function. We do not use third-party advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.

How long we keep information

We retain your account information for as long as your account is active. Article and engagement data are retained on a rolling basis according to our operational retention settings and then pruned. When you delete your account, we delete your personal account data, except where we are required to retain limited records to meet legal obligations or resolve disputes.

Your rights and choices

Access and correction — you can view and update your account details and interests from your account settings, or request a copy of your information.
Deletion — you can delete your account from your account settings, or ask us to delete it.
Email preferences — you can adjust or stop digest emails at any time.
If you are in the EU/UK, you also have rights to restrict or object to certain processing and to data portability. To exercise any right, contact support@perceptive.news. You may also complain to the New Zealand Office of the Privacy Commissioner or your local data-protection authority.

Security

We protect your information with measures including encrypted connections (HTTPS), hashed passwords, and access controls. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to safeguard your information and to respond promptly to any incident.

International transfers

Some of our service providers (such as Google) may process data on servers outside New Zealand. Where that happens, we take reasonable steps to ensure your information remains protected to a comparable standard.

Children

Perceptive.News is not directed at children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect their personal information. If you believe a child has provided us information, please contact us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the “Last updated” date above and, for material changes, take reasonable steps to notify you.

Contact

Questions or requests about your privacy? Email us at support@perceptive.news.