Privacy & Data Policy

Last updated: 29 August 2026

Canonical document. Published at aifirstnation.org/privacy-policy; linked from every static ecosystem site. Last updated: 29 August 2026.

I run the AI-First Nation (AIFN) family of sites as a sole operator based in Singapore. This policy says what data the sites collect, why, where it goes, and what you can make me do with it. It is written to describe what the sites actually do — not what a template says they might do.

1. Who is responsible

The data controller is Laurence Liew (sole operator), Singapore. For anything data-related — access, correction, deletion, questions — contact me through the contact form on any of these sites. For the purposes of Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), I am also the data protection contact for these sites.

2. Which sites this document covers

The AIFN ecosystem has two kinds of sites:

Static sites (covered by this policy in full): these are generated as plain HTML, run on Cloudflare’s network, have no user accounts, no databases, and no server-side code beyond form handlers. They collect nothing unless you fill in a form.

• aifirstnation.org — the AI-First Nation book site and AIFN Insights essays
• airi.foundation — the AI Readiness Index framework
• ai4sme.org — AI for small and medium enterprises
• aifirstcourse.org — short courses (coming soon)

WordPress sites (with their own privacy notices): these have user accounts, plugins, analytics, and their own data collection. They are not covered by this policy beyond the links below.

• aiready.sg — the course platform (LMS, assessments, student accounts). Its own privacy notice, published on that site, covers everything that happens there.
• community.aifirstnation.org — the AIFN community (forums, member profiles). Its own privacy notice, published on that site, covers everything that happens there.

If you are unsure which kind of site you are on: if it has a login or a forum, it is a WordPress site with its own policy. If it is articles, downloads, and a newsletter sign-up, it is a static site covered here.

3. What the static sites collect

3.1 Browsing — essentially nothing

The static sites run no analytics, no advertising, no social-media pixels, and set no cookies of their own. There is no consent banner because there is nothing to consent to. Fonts and assets are served from the sites themselves, not Google. Cloudflare, the content network these sites run on, processes request data (including IP addresses) as a service provider under its own privacy policy to serve pages and block abuse.

If we add measurement later, it will be the cookieless kind (such as Cloudflare Web Analytics, which stores no cookies and no personal data), and this page will say so on the day it goes live.

3.2 Newsletter and download sign-up

The static sites offer email sign-ups (AIFN Insights newsletter, book downloads, framework downloads). If you use them:

• Collected: your first name, last name and email address, and the fact that you ticked the consent box on that form.
• Where it goes: the form posts to the site you are on, which forwards it to the central AIFN mailing list on our own infrastructure. It is not sold, shared, or used for anything else.
• Double opt-in: you receive a confirmation email first. Nothing is sent to you until you click it. That confirmation record is our proof you asked to be subscribed.
• Purpose and basis: sending you the newsletter and download links you asked for. Legal basis: your consent (under both GDPR and PDPA). Withdraw it any time via the unsubscribe link in every email, or by contacting me.
• Retention: until you unsubscribe; contacts inactive for around two years are pruned.

3.3 The emails we send

Our mailing system records whether an email we sent you was opened and which links in it were clicked, tied to your contact record. This is used to stop sending mail to dead addresses and to see which content is read.

Signed download links emailed to you are unique to you and expire after seven days.

3.4 Contact forms and spam screening

The static sites have contact forms. Messages are relayed by our email provider to the site mailbox and answered by me. On sites where CleanTalk is configured, submissions pass a spam check by CleanTalk (a security service), which receives the submitted email address, name, your IP address, browser type and the page you came from to judge whether the submission is spam.

3.5 Embedded video

Some essays embed YouTube videos behind a click-to-play panel. The preview image loads from Google’s image servers (i.ytimg.com) when you scroll to it; the video itself loads in Google’s privacy-enhanced embed (youtube-nocookie.com) only after you click play. From that point Google’s own terms and privacy policy apply to that interaction.

4. No accounts on the static sites

The static sites have no logins, no profiles, no quizzes and no tracking of anything you read. Accounts exist only on aiready.sg (courses) and community.aifirstnation.org (community), each governed by its own notice.

5. Children and young people

The ecosystem’s courses and community are intended for learners aged 16 and over. Under 16, a parent or guardian must enrol you and consent on your behalf; we do not accept sign-ups from anyone under 13. The static sites themselves collect nothing from anyone, of any age, beyond what is described in section 3.

6. Where your data is processed

Service providers involved in the above: Cloudflare (site delivery, security; a US company participating in the EU–US Data Privacy Framework), CleanTalk (spam screening on form submissions; receives only what is listed in 3.4), and Google (only if you load a YouTube panel in 3.5). The mailing list runs on AIFN’s own infrastructure. If any cross-border transfer mechanism these providers rely on is legally disturbed, I will suspend that flow rather than carry on unprotected.

7. Your rights

Wherever GDPR or the PDPA gives you rights over your data, you have them here: access (what I hold), correction, deletion, a copy of your data, withdrawing consent (unsubscribe at any time), objecting to processing, and restricting it. Send your concerns and queries via the contact form; I will answer within 7 business days, normally much sooner.

For data held by the WordPress sites (aiready.sg, community.aifirstnation.org), exercise your rights through the mechanisms described in their own privacy notices.

8. Changes

When this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it, and material changes are announced in AIFN Insights. The live page always describes the live sites; where the two could ever disagree, fixing the gap is on me, not you.