Privacy policy
This policy explains what personal information Spokenwork collects, why, where it is kept, and what rights you have. We follow British Columbia's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) and Canada's PIPEDA.
Effective 2026-10-06. Spokenwork, British Columbia, Canada.
This policy explains what personal information Spokenwork collects, why, where it is kept, and what rights you have. We follow British Columbia's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) and Canada's PIPEDA.
Who is responsible
Spokenwork is responsible for the personal information it controls. Our Privacy Officer is accountable for this policy and answers privacy questions, requests and complaints: [email protected], British Columbia, Canada.
What we collect, why, and for how long
| Information | Why | Kept for |
|---|---|---|
| Email address and password hash | To create and secure your account and to send account emails | Until you delete your account |
| Recordings you upload | To produce your transcript | Only while the job runs. Deleted as soon as transcription finishes, whether the job succeeds or fails |
| Transcripts, generated writing, file names, and names or terms you type as spelling hints | So you can view and download results, and to spell names correctly in that job | 30 days, then deleted automatically |
| Balance and transaction history (amounts, minutes, dates) | To run your prepaid credit and meet bookkeeping and tax obligations | At least 6 years after the end of the tax year they relate to, as the Canada Revenue Agency requires. They contain no recordings or writing |
| Support messages | To answer you | 2 years, or until you delete your account, whichever comes first |
| Technical logs (IP address, browser type, request timing) | Security, abuse prevention and debugging | Overwritten automatically by newer logs (a rolling limit of about 50 MB per service). Never archived |
We do not collect payment card numbers. Stripe handles payment and shares with us only the amount, currency and a reference.
How we use it, and your consent
We use personal information only to provide the service you asked for, keep it secure, bill you correctly and answer your messages. By creating an account and uploading a recording you consent to these uses. You can withdraw consent at any time by deleting your account; we then stop processing and erase what this policy says we erase.
We do not sell personal information and do not show advertising. We do not use your recordings, transcripts or results to train AI models, and we do not pass them to anyone for that purpose. The AI providers that process your job are bound by their own published terms; those terms are quoted and linked on the Security page.
Where it is stored and who we share it with
- Hosting: our server is run by Hetzner in Helsinki, Finland (European Union). Your account, transcripts and results are stored there.
- Cloudflare carries traffic between your browser and our server and protects it from attacks. It sees connection details such as your IP address.
- AI providers receive audio and transcript text only to produce your result: Groq for transcription, and OpenAI (Standard) or Anthropic (Premium) for writing, with one of these as a fallback if a writer is unavailable. Deepgram is used if it is enabled. With your own keys, the data goes to the providers whose keys you added.
- Stripe processes payments.
- Resend delivers account and support emails.
Several of these providers are outside Canada, mainly in the United States and the European Union, so your information may be processed in countries with different privacy laws and may be accessible to their courts and authorities. We share information with Canadian authorities only when the law requires it.
How we protect it
Encrypted connections (HTTPS) everywhere, hashed passwords, encrypted storage of any API keys you add, and access to the server limited to SSH keys. The Security page has the details.
If something goes wrong
If a breach of our security safeguards involving your personal information creates a real risk of significant harm to you, we will tell you and report it to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada as soon as feasible. We keep a record of every breach for at least 24 months.
Your choices and rights
- Download your results at any time from the job page.
- Delete your account from the Account page. Results, file names, spelling hints, support messages, keys and sign-in are erased immediately. Financial records are kept without your identity, as tax law requires.
- Ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, or ask us to correct it, by emailing [email protected]. We respond within 30 days.
- Complaints go to our Privacy Officer at the same address. If you are not satisfied with our answer, you can contact the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia or the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
Cookies
One cookie, used only to keep you signed in. No tracking or advertising cookies.
Recordings of other people
If your recording includes other people, you are responsible for having their consent to record and process it. Do not upload recordings that identify patients or clients.
Children
Spokenwork is for adults and businesses. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18.
Changes
We will post changes here with a new effective date and, for material changes, email account holders.
Contact
Privacy Officer: [email protected]. General support: [email protected]. Spokenwork, British Columbia, Canada.