Privacy Policy

Last updated: February 2026

1. Introduction

Lightning Parking ("we", "us", "our") operates a parking payment service that allows users to pay for parking using the Bitcoin Lightning Network. We are committed to protecting your personal data in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (Regulation (EU) 2016/679).

2. Data Controller

Lightning Parking is the data controller responsible for your personal data collected through this service.

3. Data We Collect

When you use our service, we collect and process the following personal data:

License plate number – required to register your parking session with the municipal parking system.
Parking zone – the selected zone where you are parking.
Timestamp – the date and time your parking session is initiated and its duration.
Payment data – Lightning Network invoice and payment hash (no personal financial information such as bank accounts or credit card numbers is collected).

4. Purpose and Legal Basis for Processing

We process your data for the following purposes:

To provide the parking payment service – your license plate, zone, and timestamp are transmitted to the parking authority to activate your parking session. The legal basis is performance of a contract (Article 6(1)(b) GDPR).
To process your payment – payment data is processed via the Lightning Network to complete your transaction. The legal basis is performance of a contract (Article 6(1)(b) GDPR).

5. Data Sharing

Your parking data (license plate, zone, and duration) is shared with the parking authority via SMS to register your parking session. We do not sell, trade, or otherwise share your personal data with third parties for marketing purposes.

6. Data Retention

We do not operate a persistent database. Parking session data is transmitted to the parking authority in real time and is not stored on our servers beyond the duration of your active session. Payment records may be retained by the Lightning Network payment provider (LNbits) according to their own retention policies.

7. Local Storage & Cookies

This website does not use cookies or tracking technologies. However, if you enable the “Remember my plate” option, your license plate number is saved in your browser’s local storage (localStorage) for your convenience on future visits. This data:

Is stored only on your device – it is never transmitted to or stored on our servers.
Is saved only with your explicit consent (by toggling the option on). The legal basis is consent (Article 6(1)(a) GDPR).
Can be removed at any time by toggling the option off, which immediately deletes the stored plate from your device.
Can also be cleared by using your browser’s “Clear site data” function.

8. Location Data

This website may request access to your device’s location (via your browser’s Geolocation API) to automatically detect which parking zone you are in. It is important to understand how this works:

Your location is processed entirely on your device – your GPS coordinates are used locally in your browser to match your position against known parking zone boundaries. Your location is never transmitted to our servers or any third party.
No location data is stored – your coordinates are used once for zone detection and are not saved anywhere, neither on your device nor on our servers.
Location access is optional – if you deny the browser’s location permission prompt, the service will continue to work normally and you can select your parking zone manually from the dropdown.
Browser-level control – you can revoke location permission at any time through your browser’s site settings.

To be absolutely clear: we have no ability to see, collect, or store your geographic location. The zone detection happens entirely within your browser using JavaScript, and only the parking zone name you select (not your coordinates) is ever sent to our server.

9. Your Rights Under GDPR

Under the GDPR, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:

Right of access – you may request a copy of the data we hold about you.
Right to rectification – you may request correction of inaccurate data.
Right to erasure – you may request deletion of your data where there is no compelling reason for its continued processing.
Right to restriction of processing – you may request that we limit how we use your data.
Right to data portability – you may request your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
Right to object – you may object to the processing of your data.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details provided below.

10. Data Security

We use HTTPS encryption for all communications between your browser and our servers. Payment is processed via the Bitcoin Lightning Network, which does not require you to share any traditional financial information.

11. Contact

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or wish to exercise your data protection rights, please contact us at the address provided on the main website.