Last updated: 20 August 2026
Purpose of this policy
Their War is operated in the United Kingdom and is currently running as a controlled family-history research pilot. This page explains the information the service may handle, why it is used and the choices available to participating families.
Information we may handle
- Details supplied about a historical person, such as names, dates, places, relatives, occupation and military service.
- Family memories and research notes supplied to help identify or understand that person.
- Family-provided photographs, scans and documents where a participant chooses to add them.
- Research results, source references, evidence assessments and generated story material created for the case.
- Contact details and historical-person clues submitted through the controlled-pilot request form.
- Limited technical and operational information needed for security, provider-cost monitoring and troubleshooting.
Please avoid supplying unnecessary sensitive information about living people. Their War is designed primarily to research historical persons.
How the information is used
Information is used to carry out the research requested by the participating family, distinguish possible identities, verify facts, preserve source provenance, produce the requested story or archive, and operate the service safely.
Their War does not sell family research data to advertisers and does not use the pilot as a data-broker service.
AI and research providers
The research workflow currently uses API services from Google (Gemini) and OpenAI for parts of discovery, verification and narrative generation. Information needed for a research request may therefore be sent to those providers. Their processing may take place outside the United Kingdom and is governed by the applicable provider arrangements and terms.
Third-party archives, search services and source websites may also receive ordinary web requests when a case is researched. Their own privacy and access policies apply to those services.
Public pilot requests
Submitting a pilot request does not trigger AI research. The contact details and historical-person clues you provide are stored privately so the operator can review the request. Unsuccessful or unwanted enquiries can be deleted from the operator console.
Storage and retention
Their War stores research cases and family archive material on the service's hosted system so that the research can be reviewed, corrected and preserved. Genuine family cases intended for preservation are retained until the family asks for deletion or the service is no longer able to provide that preservation. Test cases may be removed sooner. Operational logs are retained only as reasonably necessary for security, debugging and cost monitoring.
Before open public registration, the pilot retention rules will be reviewed and converted into a formal public retention schedule.
Cookies and tracking
The current controlled service uses essential session/security mechanisms for private operator access. It does not currently run advertising trackers or behavioural advertising analytics.
Your choices and rights
Pilot participants may ask for a copy or correction of information they have supplied, raise concerns about a research case, or ask for their case and family-provided material to be deleted, subject to any information we must retain for legal or security reasons.
People in the UK also have data-protection rights under applicable law and may raise concerns with the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.
Contact
During controlled validation, participants should use the contact address through which they were invited or corresponded with Their War. API, archive and partnership reviewers may reply to the contact address supplied in the relevant application. A dedicated public support address will be added before open registration.