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Privacy Policy

Our Privacy Policy

The Intelligence Community Design System brings together experts and users from across SIS (also known as MI6) , MI5 , GCHQ and a number of partners. We've open-sourced the Design System to give an insight into what we do, and work with experts across a number of topics.

To do this, we work with contributors who don't work for or with SIS, MI5, GCHQ or our partners. That means we may need to collect some personal data from them.

The Design System is run by SIS, MI5 and GCHQ, but SIS is the responsible entity for the website.

Read SIS's entry in the Data Protection Public Register for accurate contact details .

What data we collect on the Design System

Contributing on GitHub

If you choose to contribute to the Design System using your GitHub account, you will associate your GitHub identity with us.

When you contribute, the data we might therefore collect includes:

  • Your name.

  • User profile on GitHub and associated tools and platforms.

If you choose to submit a 'pull request' (code contribution) to the Design System using your GitHub account, you will be asked to sign our Contributor's License Agreement.

Where you provide consent, the data we collect includes:

  • Your name.

  • Your email address.

  • User profile on GitHub and associated tools and platforms.

  • Your consent to be contacted (or not) for career opportunities.

  • Your consent to be contacted (or not) regarding a token of gratitude.

For more information, please read GitHub's Privacy Statement .

How long we keep your data

We will only keep your personal data for as long as:

  • The law requires us to.

  • We need for the purposes listed above.

Providers we use

SIS does not store your personal data we collect on our own services. We use data processors who provide us with:

  • Software collaboration platforms when you share research, feedback or make a contribution.

  • Web analytics services.

We take all reasonable steps to make sure your data on these platforms is secure. For more information, read GitHub and Google's privacy statements using the links above.

We will not:

  • Sell or rent your data to third parties.

  • Share your data with third parties for marketing purposes.

We will share your data if we’re required to do so by law – for example, by court order, or to prevent fraud or other crime.

Questions and complaints

SIS, along with MI5 and GCHQ, is one of the UK Intelligence Agencies. SIS runs this Design System website.

For full information on the Privacy Policy of each Intelligence Agency, please see the respective page:

  • SIS Privacy Policy

  • MI5 Privacy Policy

  • GCHQ Privacy Policy

Limitations and amendments

This statement only covers the Design System website at design.sis.gov.uk. This statement does not cover third party websites to which we may link. It does not cover the main SIS website.

Changes to this notice

We may change this privacy notice. When we make changes to this notice, the 'last updated' date at the bottom of this page will also change. Any changes to this privacy notice will apply to you and your data immediately. If these changes affect how your personal data is processed, SIS will take reasonable steps to make sure you know.


Last reviewed 15 November 2022 .
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