Privacy

Two people, not one

Most privacy policies describe one relationship. We have two. There is the buyer, who orders the book and gives us the details. And there is the storyteller, the person we interview, who did not sign up for anything — a family member arranged it for them.

That puts an extra obligation on us, so the storyteller has rights here in their own name. They can use them directly, without going through the person who bought the gift.

What we collect

From the buyer:

• Your name and email address.
• Your payment goes straight to our payment processor. We are told what you bought and that it was paid; we never see or store your card number.
• Your storyteller’s name, how they are related to you, their phone number, their time zone, and the times of day that suit them.
• One or two photographs of your storyteller.
• What you would like the story to be about, the dedication you want printed, and the age of the child it is for.
• Your answers to the permission questions at the end of the form.

From the storyteller:

• A recording of the call, or the recording you make or send us.
• A written transcript of it.
• Whatever they choose to tell us, which is their story.
• Their answer to the recording question, kept with the time they gave it.

We ask for photographs of your storyteller only. We don’t ask for pictures of children, and please don’t send any. Our host keeps ordinary server logs, the sort every website has, so the site can be run and kept secure. There are no advertising or tracking cookies on this site.

Why we need it

• Your storyteller’s phone number, time zone and the times of day that suit them are how we schedule and place the call.
• The photographs are a reference, so the illustrations look like the person.
• The recording and the transcript are what the book is made from, and the recording is part of what you bought: it is yours to keep.
• Your email is how we send you the intake form, your proof, and the link to your order.
• The permission answers are our record that your storyteller agreed to be recorded.

We don’t use any of it for advertising, and we don’t sell personal information.

How long we keep it

The recording, the transcript, the photographs and your storyteller’s phone number are deleted ninety days after your book is delivered.

• The finished book — the text, the pictures, the audio, the PDF — we keep, so you can download it again or order more copies. We delete it if you ask.
• Your order record — your name, email, what you bought and what you paid — we keep as long as tax and accounting rules require.
• If you would rather we held on to the source material so you can reorder or make changes later, there is a box for that on the intake form. You can change your mind and have it deleted at any time.

Who else touches it

We use other companies to run the product, and each one gets only the part it needs: the telephony company that places and records the call, the AI company that turns the recording into text and draws the pictures, the AI company that shapes the text, the printer that makes and ships the hardcover, our payment processor, our email provider, and the hosting and database services the site runs on.

We don’t sell, rent or trade personal information or voice data to anyone. We use paid service tiers with the AI companies we work with; for the AI company that turns the recording into text and draws the pictures, those terms contractually exclude your material from training its models, and we are getting the same in writing from the others before we say it about all of them. That company keeps a safety log for up to fifty-five days; its reviewers can see a recording only if something in it is flagged.

We may also hand something over if the law requires it, or if the business is ever sold — in which case these same commitments go with it.

About the voice

Illinois law treats a voiceprint as biometric information, and we would rather be specific than reassuring.

• We record the call only with your storyteller’s permission. We ask at the start, before any part of their story is discussed, and we keep their answer with the time they gave it.
• If you record the story yourself or send us a recording you already have, you tell us on that screen that the person knew they were being recorded, that it wasn’t done in secret, and that it’s yours to share — and we keep your answer with the time you gave it.
• We don’t use anyone’s voice to identify them, and we don’t match it against any database.
• We don’t make a synthetic copy of anyone’s voice. If we ever offer that, it will be a separate question asked in plain words on the call, and saying no won’t change anything else about the order.
• The recording is deleted on the ninety-day schedule above, or sooner if anyone asks.

What you can ask for

Anyone — the buyer or the storyteller — can ask us to:

• Tell them what we hold about them, and send them a copy.
• Correct something that is wrong.
• Delete it, including the recording and the transcript.

Storytellers do not need to go through the person who bought the gift. Write to us and we will act on it and confirm to you when it is done. Depending on where you live you may have further rights under state law; we honor these requests wherever you live.

If your storyteller asks us to delete material we have already used to make the book, we will tell the buyer what that means for their order.

Keeping it safe

Everything travels encrypted. Your files — the recording, the pictures, the finished book — sit behind long web addresses that are not published or listed anywhere, and the order details behind them are not public at all. The deletion schedule above is the real protection: what we no longer hold cannot be lost. No system is perfectly secure and we won’t claim otherwise. If a breach affects your information we will tell you, as the law requires.

Children

The book is for a child, but the service is sold to adults and we do not knowingly collect anything about a child beyond the age band and the dedication the buyer writes. If you believe a child’s information has reached us, tell us and we will delete it. A child’s voice on a family recording is written down with the rest, used for nothing on its own, and goes with the recording on the ninety-day schedule.

Changes, and how to reach us

If we change this policy in a way that matters, we will post it here and email you if your order is still open. The date at the top is always the current version.