Privacy notice

1. Who is responsible for your data

Smokeshow is run personally by Mary-Kate Harrington, known as MK, in London. She is the data controller for everything you submit. There is no company behind the service and no third-party matchmaking platform involved.

You can reach her at mk@smokeshow.love about anything on this page.

2. What we collect

Only what you type into the sign-up form. That is your name, email address, phone number and Instagram handle; your age and the age range you are open to; who you are interested in dating and which part of London suits you; and your written answers about what you love, your type, your dealbreakers, your love language, your availability and anything else you choose to add.

If you choose to share them, the form also asks your political leanings and your religion, and whether a different answer is a deal breaker for you. Both questions offer “Prefer not to say”, and that is a full answer.

The form also records whether you found MK through social media or a mutual friend, and which pack of dates you chose.

We do not collect payment card details. The fee is paid by card on a page run by Stripe, who handle the card themselves; this site only learns that the payment went through.

3. What it is used for

Matching you with someone, and arranging the date. That is the only purpose. Your answers are read by MK and by nobody else.

Your political leanings and religion, if you shared them, are used only to match you: if you, or the other person, said a different answer is a deal breaker, MK will not pair you. They are never shown to your date.

When a match is made, you receive an email confirming the date and a calendar invitation. Your date is told your first name and the arrangements. Your form answers, your contact details and your written responses are never passed to them.

Your information is never sold, never rented, never used for advertising, and never shared outside the service.

4. Our lawful basis

Nothing you type is saved until you ask for it to be, or until you send the form. On the first step there is a box marked “Save my progress”. Tick it and what you have entered so far is kept from that point on, on the basis of that consent; leave it unticked and nothing is stored until the end. Untick it again and what was saved is deleted.

Once you send the form, we rely on the steps needed to set up the arrangement you are asking for, and on your consent to matching, which you give by ticking the box on the “Manners” step. If you reach the payment step and stop there, what you have entered is held on that consent so that MK can see you started.

Political opinions and religious beliefs are special category data under UK data protection law. We hold them only with your explicit consent: the box on the “Manners” step names them, and they are saved only when you send the form, never with “Save my progress”. Answering is optional (choose “Prefer not to say”), and you can ask MK to remove them at any time without affecting the rest of your sign-up.

You can withdraw consent at any time by writing to MK. Withdrawing it does not affect anything already done, but it does stop any further matching.

5. How long we keep it

For as long as you are on the books and want to be matched, and no longer than is needed after that.

If you start the form and do not finish it, anything you chose to save, including photos, is deleted automatically after 90 days without activity. Photos you upload without saving your progress are deleted on the same schedule.

Ask to be deleted and you will be deleted, along with your form response. If MK has to keep a minimal record of a payment for tax reasons she will keep only that, and nothing about your dating preferences.

6. Who else can see it

Your form responses are stored in this site’s own database, and the photos you upload in private object storage (Amazon S3), both run on MK’s behalf. Confirmation email and calendar invitations are sent through an email provider. Those services process the data on MK’s instructions in order to run the service.

Nobody else has access. There is no analytics profiling, no advertising network, and no data broker.

7. Your rights

Under UK data protection law you can ask for a copy of what we hold, ask us to correct it, ask us to delete it, ask us to restrict what we do with it, and object to us using it. There is no charge and we will respond within one month.

Email mk@smokeshow.love and say what you want. If you are not satisfied with the answer, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk.

8. Keeping it safe

Access is limited to MK. Accounts holding your data are protected by strong, unique passwords and two-factor authentication.

No system is perfect. If a breach ever affects your rights we will tell you, and the Information Commissioner’s Office, without delay.

9. Children

The service is for adults. You must be 18 or over to sign up. If we learn that someone under 18 has submitted a form we delete it.