Privacy Policy

1. Who is responsible and how to contact us

Taaly B.V., registered in the Netherlands, KvK 90383257, Padangstraat 25H, 1094 AN Amsterdam, Netherlands. Contact info@hiddenintel.ai for privacy questions, rights requests, security concerns, or a copy of applicable data-processing and transfer arrangements.

Taaly is the controller for its website, account administration, service security, customer support, and business records. When an organisation uses HiddenIntel to conduct its own research, that organisation normally determines the research purposes and is the controller for participant data; Taaly acts as its processor under the applicable data-processing agreement. If Taaly conducts its own research, Taaly is the research controller. The invitation or study organiser should identify the controller and provide study-specific information.

2. Data we handle

Website and technical data: IP address, request time, browser/device information, service errors, and information needed to detect misuse and keep the service working. Account data: name, email address, sign-in provider, verification status, account role, plan and usage. Google sign-in supplies account identity information; password sign-in is handled by Firebase Authentication.

Research data: study guides, objectives, participant name or chosen label, interview language, answers, transcripts, feedback, researcher notes, generated summaries, and timing or connection diagnostics. Microphone audio is processed during a voice interview even if saving an audio recording is switched off. A stored audio recording is optional and requires the separate recording choice shown before the interview. A voice recording is personal data; it is not used by this app to identify you through a voiceprint.

Support correspondence and billing or contractual records are handled when you contact us or purchase services. Stripe processes payment details, billing address, payment authorisation, and invoices. HiddenIntel stores Stripe customer and payment-method identifiers, the authorised price and currency, completion and payment status, and invoice links; it does not receive or store complete card numbers or card security codes. Administrator provider credentials are stored encrypted on the server. Do not put passwords, identity documents, health details, or other unnecessary sensitive information into a research guide or answer.

3. Purposes and legal bases

We process account and service data to provide requested services and administer our customer relationship (GDPR Article 6(1)(b)); for an organisation’s staff contacts, our legitimate interest is managing that business relationship (Article 6(1)(f)). Security, fraud prevention, troubleshooting, and defending legal claims rely on our legitimate interests in protecting users and operating a reliable service, balanced against their rights. Required financial and legal records are processed to meet legal obligations (Article 6(1)(c)).

The research controller must select and explain the lawful basis for its own study. Where a study relies on consent, participation must be informed and voluntary and consent can be withdrawn. Permission to use a microphone is a browser permission, not a substitute for a GDPR lawful basis. Optional stored recording requires a separate affirmative choice. Declining recording does not prevent the interview and does not stop the live processing and transcription needed for the conversation.

Where Taaly relies on consent for a separate optional purpose, we ask before that processing and explain how to withdraw. Providing basic account information is necessary to operate an account. Joining research is voluntary; you may skip a question or end the interview.

4. AI and human review

HiddenIntel uses AI to help prepare studies, recognise speech, generate spoken follow-up questions, and analyse transcripts. AI can be inaccurate or biased; researchers must check outputs against the original answers and context. We do not use this service to make decisions with legal or similarly significant effects about participants. Customers must not use it as the sole basis for decisions about employment, housing, credit, education, insurance, or comparable outcomes.

Taaly does not operate a general-purpose model-training pipeline using interview content. Do not assume that every external provider offers zero retention: provider security records and processing depend on the service and contract in use. Contact us before conducting research that requires special confidentiality, restricted regions, or particular retention guarantees.

5. Recipients and service providers

The study organiser and authorised members of its research workspace can access its study results, transcripts and any saved recordings. Taaly personnel may access data when needed for support, security, legal compliance or service administration, subject to appropriate access restrictions.

Stripe supplies payment processing and invoice delivery for account holders who authorise paid use; interview answers and recordings are not sent to Stripe. The standalone service uses Google/Firebase for authentication and Cloudflare for delivery, application hosting, database and recording storage. Depending on the enabled interview configuration, Deepgram processes speech and transcription, ElevenLabs generates voices and supplies speech recognition for Somali, and Microsoft Azure OpenAI processes interview context, study-planning requests and analysis. An optional Claude reasoning path is supplied through Deepgram. Providers receive only the content and technical data needed for the requested function; not every provider is used in every interview. Contact us for the current contractual subprocessor list and the configuration relevant to a study.

We may disclose necessary data to professional advisers or authorities where required by law, to establish or defend legal claims, or to a successor in a business transfer with appropriate safeguards and notice where required. We do not sell interview data or provide it for targeted advertising.

6. Locations and international transfers

The current standalone database and recording storage are configured in European regions. That does not mean all personal data remains in the EEA: authentication, speech, voice generation, reasoning, provider support and security processing may involve other countries, including the United States. The current voice configuration can use global endpoints.

Where a restricted international transfer occurs, the responsible exporter must use a valid GDPR Chapter V mechanism, such as an applicable adequacy decision or the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses with any necessary supplementary measures. Ask us for the applicable destination, mechanism and a copy or description of safeguards. An EU storage setting alone is not a transfer safeguard. Do not select the service for an EEA-only study without a separately confirmed configuration and contract.

7. Retention and deletion

Account data is retained while the account is needed to provide services and afterwards only as needed for closure, legal obligations, security or claims. Support and technical records are retained only for the period reasonably needed for their purpose, considering incident investigation, dispute and statutory requirements. Dutch financial records are generally retained for seven years; a longer statutory period applies where required.

For customer-controlled studies, the customer determines the research retention period and instructs Taaly about deletion under the data-processing agreement. There is currently no automatic expiry of stored transcripts or recordings; archiving a study closes participation but does not delete its results. Contact the organiser or info@hiddenintel.ai to request deletion or agree a retention schedule. We do not represent indefinite retention as necessary merely because a workspace remains open.

A deletion request may be limited by applicable legal duties, the controller’s lawful research obligations or the need to establish or defend claims. Where residual backup copies exist, they must remain protected and isolated from ordinary use until securely removed through the applicable backup lifecycle. We will explain any relevant limitation when handling a request.

8. Cookies and browser storage

HiddenIntel uses necessary authentication and participant-session cookies and browser storage for sign-in, draft recovery and interface preferences. Standalone sign-in cookies normally last up to the remaining lifetime of the Firebase ID token (typically about one hour); participant cookies last up to two hours. Firebase also maintains browser sign-in state to refresh authentication. Draft recovery can store guide text and conversation history in session storage; layout preferences use local storage. Browser storage may therefore contain research content on a shared device.

The optional public live demo processes your microphone audio and transcript using the same interview providers. No audio recording is stored for this demo. Demo transcripts are removed by an hourly cleanup after 24 hours (within 25 hours); daily abuse limits use a rotating keyed IP hash retained for no more than 25 hours. This demo is excluded from client billing. The local speaker test plays a generated test clip and does not send microphone audio or create an interview. The site does not require advertising cookies for its core functions. With your optional permission, Mixpanel receives product usage and performance events through its EU collection endpoint. A random browser identifier and your choice are stored locally for up to 180 days. We do not send names, emails, account identifiers, interview text, audio recordings or payment details, and do not use session replay. You can decline or withdraw through Privacy choices without losing access to the service. Blocking necessary storage can prevent sign-in or interview access; you can clear it through your browser settings, which may remove unsaved work.

9. Your rights and complaints

Depending on the lawful basis and circumstances, you may request access, correction, deletion, restriction, or portability, and object to processing based on legitimate interests. You may withdraw consent at any time without affecting processing that was lawful before withdrawal. These rights have legal limits. Contact the research organiser for customer-controlled study data, or contact Taaly using the details above; we will help route a request if necessary.

We normally respond within one month. A further two months may be allowed for complex or numerous requests; we will explain the extension within the first month. We may request proportionate identity verification, without asking for unnecessary identity documents. You may complain to the Dutch Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens at autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl or another competent supervisory authority. You do not need to contact us first to complain.

10. Security, children and updates

We use access controls, authenticated requests, encrypted transport, private recording storage and encrypted administrator credentials. No system can guarantee absolute security. An invitation link should be shared only with intended participants; a name or participant token does not make a study anonymous.

The service is intended for adult account holders and adult research participants. Do not invite minors or conduct special-category or otherwise high-risk research without a separately agreed lawful setup, suitable safeguards and required assessments. Taaly must be contacted before such use.

We update this notice when our practices or legal requirements change and identify the revision date. Material changes will be communicated where required. Changes do not retrospectively authorise a new incompatible purpose or replace any consent required by law.