Privacy & Fiction Notice

LAST UPDATED: JUNE 2026 - LOCKKEEPER GAMES

This is a work of fiction

Silence at the North Sea is an Alternate Reality Game (ARG): a fictional story that plays out against the backdrop of the real world. All characters and organisations in the story - including but not limited to Elias Doorn, Nanneke Wiersma, Thorne-Vogel and the facilities and entities connected to them - are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to real persons or companies is coincidental and unintended.

Because the game uses real-world tools, maps and locations, you may encounter real people, businesses or organisations during your research. Never contact, visit, question or otherwise disturb real persons or companies in connection with this game - or ever. No part of any puzzle requires contacting anyone in the real world. If you think a puzzle is asking you to do that, you have taken a wrong turn: everything you need can be found online.

Trespassing, harassment or unwanted contact in connection with this game may lead to a permanent ban without refund, and where applicable, a report to the authorities.

All game content, including but not limited to the story, characters, puzzles, documents, audio, websites and the Silence at the North Sea name, is the intellectual property of Lockkeeper Games. You may not reproduce, distribute, publish or create derivative works from any part of this game without prior written permission.

1. Who we are

This website is operated by Lockkeeper Games (the maker of Silence at the North Sea). For all privacy questions and requests, contact: hq@lockkeeper.world. Full company details (Chamber of Commerce number, VAT number, address) are listed on our Terms of Service page.

2. What data we collect, and why

Account data: your chosen handle, email address and a securely hashed password (we cannot read your password). Needed to provide your account and let you resume your investigation. Legal basis: performance of a contract.
Game progress: your level, score and chat history with the game. Needed to run the game. Legal basis: performance of a contract.
Purchase email: when you buy an access key, the email address you provide at checkout is used once to send you your key. Legal basis: performance of a contract.
Problem reports: if you use the "Report an issue" button on our public pages, we receive your message, the page you were on, and - only if you choose to provide it - your email address (so we can reply). A Telegram notification with your message and page only (no IP address or email) also alerts us instantly; the full report, including your email address if given, only goes to us by email. Legal basis: legitimate interest (responding to support requests).
Technical logs: our web server briefly logs IP addresses for security purposes (abuse and attack prevention). Logs are automatically deleted after 14 days. Legal basis: legitimate interest.

We do not collect names, addresses, dates of birth or any other personal details. We do not use analytics or tracking services. We never sell or share your data for marketing purposes.

3. Payments

Payments are handled entirely by Stripe (Stripe privacy policy). We never see or store your card details. Stripe shares only your email address with us, so we can deliver your access key.

4. Who processes your data

Stripe: payment processing (privacy policy)
Postmark: delivery of access keys, account confirmations and problem-report replies sent from hq@lockkeeper.world (EU privacy commitments)
Telegram: if you use the "Report an issue" button, your message and the page you were on (nothing else) are forwarded to us via a private Telegram notification, so we can respond quickly
Oracle Cloud: runs the server this website lives on, hosted in the Amsterdam (Netherlands) region, within the EU/EEA (services privacy policy)
Strato: our domain registrar and DNS provider, and forwards email sent to hq@lockkeeper.world to us (privacy policy)

Stripe and Postmark are both US-based companies and may process data on servers outside the EU/EEA. Both commit to Standard Contractual Clauses and other GDPR-required safeguards for this; see Stripe's privacy policy and Postmark's EU privacy commitments for their own, up-to-date descriptions of these safeguards. Telegram's data processing location is not fully transparent to us; we minimise what we send it (see above) to limit this exposure.

5. How long we keep your data

Accounts: kept while you are active. Accounts that have not logged in for 12 months are deleted automatically, including all game data. This check runs weekly.
Used access keys: purchase records are deleted 12 months after use.
Server logs: deleted after 14 days.
Problem reports: we do not store these ourselves. They are forwarded to Telegram and Postmark as described above and retained there under those services' own retention policies.

6. Cookies

We use a single functional session cookie to keep you logged in. No tracking, advertising or analytics cookies are used. All fonts and other resources are served from our own server - your visit is not shared with third parties.

7. Your rights

Under the GDPR (AVG) you have the right to access, correct, export or delete your personal data, and to restrict or object to our processing of it. Email hq@lockkeeper.world from the address linked to your account and we will respond within 30 days. Deleting your account erases your handle, email and all game progress permanently.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Dutch data protection authority, the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens.

8. Right of withdrawal

Under EU Directive 2011/83/EU you normally have a 14-day right of withdrawal from the date of purchase. For digital products that are delivered immediately, this right is forfeited once delivery has begun, provided you gave prior explicit consent and acknowledged this consequence at the time of purchase (Art. 16(m)).

When you buy a Loom access key, you must tick a checkbox confirming that you agree to immediate delivery and understand that the right of withdrawal is forfeited as soon as delivery has begun or the key has been activated - the purchase button stays disabled until you do. This confirmation is recorded with your order, and the same waiver is restated in your access-key email.

If you have any questions about your order, email hq@lockkeeper.world with your order details. We will respond within 5 business days.

9. Use of AI in building this site

Parts of this website's code were built with the help of an AI coding assistant (Claude Code), reviewed and published by Lockkeeper Games. The game itself does not use AI: puzzle content, character dialogue and answer-checking are all pre-written and rule-based, not generated or evaluated by AI at runtime, and no AI is involved in our own processing of the personal data described in this policy.