Privacy Policy

1. Data Controller

AmpereBrain, operated by Charles H. Gayot (sole proprietorship), Denmark, is the data controller responsible for the processing of personal data described in this policy.

Contact: [email protected]

2. Local-First Principle

AmpereBrain is a desktop application that runs on your machine. Your design files stay on your own disk, and AmpereBrain does not host your project. All schematic parsing, analysis, and version control execute locally. The operations that do use our servers are listed below.

Data only leaves your device in the following explicit, user-initiated or clearly disclosed circumstances:

• Telemetry (when enabled — see Section 4)
• AI inference for the chat assistant, including the project context needed to answer (see Section 8)
• Document processing via the OCR service (see Section 5)
• Support / bug reports you voluntarily submit (see Section 6)
• License validation (see Section 3)

3. Device Fingerprint & Licensing (all tiers)

Upon activation, AmpereBrain generates an anonymous device fingerprint — a one-way SHA-256 hash derived from operating-system-level identifiers (machine ID, network interface addresses, hostname). This hash:

• Cannot be reversed to reveal your hardware serial numbers, name, or personal identity
• Is transmitted alongside your license key to our validation server solely to bind your license to a single installation
• Is stored locally at ~/.amperebrain/.device_id
• Applies to all tiers, including Enterprise

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR — necessary for the performance of the license agreement.

Retention: The fingerprint is stored on our licensing server for the duration of your license. Upon license expiration or termination, it is deleted within 30 days.

4. Telemetry (Free & Pro tiers)

AmpereBrain uses OpenTelemetry to collect operational data that helps us diagnose issues and improve the product. Telemetry is sent to our self-hosted SigNoz instance (no third-party analytics vendor).

During beta, data from your designs and AI interactions may be used to train and improve AmpereBrain's AI systems. This practice is part of the beta program and may change as the product moves toward general availability.

What we collect

• Application traces and performance metrics (request latency, error rates)
• Application logs, including error stack traces
• AI conversation metadata: conversation IDs, model names, token counts, and prompt/completion content (truncated)
• System metadata: OS type and version, application version
• Your anonymous device fingerprint (Section 3) and a random session UUID
• Frontend interaction data: page navigation, click events, fetch request timing

What we do NOT collect

• Your project files, schematics, or PCB layouts
• Personal identifiers such as your name or email address
• File paths or directory structures beyond application-internal routes

Opt-out

During the beta period, telemetry is enabled by default to ensure product stability and cannot be disabled from the current application settings. This will change to opt-in before general availability.

Enterprise tier: Telemetry is fully disabled. No operational data leaves your infrastructure.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR — legitimate interest in product quality and stability, balanced against your right to object (opt-out provided).

Retention: Telemetry data is retained for a maximum of 12 months, after which it is automatically purged.

5. Document Processing (OCR Service)

When AmpereBrain processes datasheets, errata, application notes, or reference manuals, the document files (PDF, PNG, or JPG, up to 100 MB) are submitted to our OCR service for text extraction and indexing.

What is transmitted

• The raw document file (typically a manufacturer datasheet PDF)
• A SHA-256 content hash for deduplication and integrity verification

What is stored

• The original uploaded document
• Extracted text (Markdown), bounding-box data, and image assets
• Processing metadata: timestamps, file size, processing status

Enterprise tier

Enterprise deployments run the OCR service entirely on-premises within your own infrastructure. No documents are transmitted to AmpereBrain servers. All processing, storage, and retention are under your sole control.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR — necessary for the performance of the service you requested (document parsing and indexing).

6. Support & Bug Reports

When you voluntarily submit a bug report through the application, the following data is packaged and transmitted to our support server:

• A copy of your current project directory (schematics, PCB files, libraries, project configuration)
• Application logs (application.log)
• Your anonymous device fingerprint (Section 3)
• The description you write in the report dialog

This transmission occurs only when you explicitly click "Submit" in the bug report dialog. The dialog clearly discloses what will be sent before you confirm.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR — your explicit consent, given by the affirmative act of submitting the report.

7. Website Analytics

This website uses Matomo, a self-hosted analytics platform, in a cookieless configuration. Matomo collects anonymized page-view data (IP addresses are truncated before storage) to help us understand site traffic. No cookies are set, no cross-site tracking occurs, and no personal data is collected.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR — legitimate interest in understanding website usage. No consent banner is required under the ePrivacy Directive due to the cookieless, anonymized configuration.

8. Third-Party Processors & Data Transfers

AmpereBrain operates its own infrastructure within the European Union, and all services (telemetry, OCR, licensing, support, website analytics) are self-hosted. The single exception is AI inference: those requests are processed by Google, acting as our processor, solely to return an answer. Google does not use them to train its models or for any purpose of its own, and retains them only under its standard API terms. Transfers outside the EU are covered by Google's data processing terms, including Standard Contractual Clauses.

AI inference for the chat assistant is performed by Google's AI service. Requests are routed through AmpereBrain's server, which logs them as described in Section 4. Enterprise deployments can route inference to their own models or private endpoints instead.

9. Your Rights Under GDPR

As a data subject in the EU/EEA, you have the right to:

• Access — request a copy of all personal data we hold about you
• Rectification — correct inaccurate personal data
• Erasure — request deletion of your personal data (right to be forgotten)
• Restriction — limit how we process your data
• Portability — receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format
• Objection — object to processing based on legitimate interest (including telemetry)
• Withdraw consent — withdraw consent for support data processing at any time

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at [email protected]. We will respond within one month.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Danish Data Protection Agency (Datatilsynet), Carl Jacobsens Vej 35, 2500 Valby, Denmark — www.datatilsynet.dk.

10. Data Retention Summary

11. Enterprise Tier — Self-Hosted Deployment

Enterprise customers deploy AmpereBrain entirely within their own infrastructure. In this configuration:

• The OCR service runs on-premises — no documents leave your network
• Telemetry is fully disabled — no operational data is transmitted
• AI inference can be routed to your own models or private endpoints
• The only data transmitted to AmpereBrain is the anonymous device fingerprint for license validation (Section 3)

As the operator of a self-hosted deployment, your organization acts as the data controller for any project data processed locally. AmpereBrain acts solely as a processor for the license validation described above.

12. Children's Privacy

AmpereBrain is a professional EDA tool not directed at individuals under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children.

13. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy as the product evolves. Material changes will be announced on this page with an updated revision date. Continued use of the application after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.