Privacy Notice

This Privacy Notice explains how Hardik Nareshkumar Bhatt, trading as TheLinkAI Academy ("we", "us") collects, uses, shares and protects your personal data when you use our website and register for workshops. We act as the data controller for the personal data described here.

1. Data we collect

• Registration details — name, WhatsApp number, email address, whether you are a student or professional, and your college or profession.
• Enquiries and support messages — messages you send us via forms or WhatsApp.
• Usage and technical data — pages visited, referring links/UTM parameters, device and browser information, and IP address.

Payment card and billing details are collected and processed directly by Paddle (our Merchant of Record); we do not store your card details.

2. Why we use it and our legal basis

• To provide the service — creating and managing your registration, assigning your seat, and sending workshop details (performance of a contract).
• Customer support — responding to your questions and verifying payments (performance of a contract and legitimate interests).
• Security and fraud prevention — protecting registrations and payments (legitimate interests and legal obligation).
• Product improvement and analytics — understanding how the site is used (legitimate interests; consent where required).
• Updates and marketing — telling you about batches you've registered for or asked about (consent or legitimate interests; you can opt out at any time).

3. Who we share data with

• Merchant of Record (Paddle) — for the sale of our products, subscription and order management, payment processing, tax compliance and invoicing.
• Service providers / subprocessors — hosting, database, analytics and communication tooling (e.g. our cloud backend, Google Sheets for registration records, and WhatsApp for messaging) who process data on our instructions.
• Professional advisers — legal and accounting advisers where needed.
• Authorities — where disclosure is required by law.

4. Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as needed for the purposes above — typically the duration of your registration and a reasonable period afterwards for records, tax and legal requirements. Data is deleted or anonymised when no longer needed.

5. Your rights

Under applicable law you may have the right to access, correct or erase your personal data, restrict or object to processing, withdraw consent, and receive a copy of your data. To exercise any of these rights, contact us via our contact page and we will respond within one month. You also have the right to complain to your data protection authority.

6. Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data, including encryption in transit, access controls, and limiting access to those who need it.

7. International transfers

Some of our service providers process data outside India. Where data is transferred internationally, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as contractual protections offered by those providers.

8. Cookies and analytics

We use essential storage needed for the site to function and, where configured, analytics cookies to understand site usage. You can control cookies through your browser settings; blocking essential cookies may affect how the site works.

9. Changes and contact

We may update this notice from time to time and will post the current version here with its date. Questions? Contact us via our contact page.