Privacy Policy

Version 1.3 – 19 October 2026

1. Who We Are

Biography Library is a Swiss non-profit association with registered offices in Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland, established under Articles 60 et seq. of the Swiss Civil Code.

Mission: to preserve human memory through a permanent, verified and universal archive of personal biographies.

Contact:

Website: biographylibrary.org
Email: support@biographylibrary.org
Address: Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland

2. Core Principles

This Privacy Policy is grounded in the Non-Negotiable Principles of our Manifesto:

Data Ownership – You own your story; we are merely its custodians
Privacy by Design – Maximum protection built into every layer of the platform
Ethical and Local AI – Writing takes place in Switzerland, on Infomaniak. During the beta the voice may be generated temporarily in the European Union
Swiss Hosting – The site is in Switzerland. During the beta, the database, sign-in, photos and email may sit outside for a time. When version 1 is published to the public, everything will be in Switzerland
Full Transparency – No sale or commercial sharing of your data, ever
User Control – You decide who can access your biography
Data Minimisation – We collect only the minimum data strictly necessary

3. What Data We Collect

3.1 Registration Data

First and last name
Email address
Password (stored in encrypted form — never readable by us)

WHAT WE NEVER COLLECT AT REGISTRATION:

❌ Identity documents (passport, national ID card)
❌ Birth, marriage or death certificates
❌ Biometric data

3.2 Identity Verification – Only Upon Report

At registration we rely exclusively on self-attestation. Only in the event of a report or reasonable concern may we request additional documentation.

Retention of verification documents:

Stored in offline archives only for the time needed (maximum 90 days)
Automatically deleted after verification is complete
Never shared with commercial third parties

3.3 Biographical Content

Biography text (no character limit)
Images and photographs
Voice recordings
Metadata (creation dates, edits, languages, chapter number)

When you upload photos, the server resizes and compresses them and removes location and other hidden metadata before storage.

3.4 Technical and Navigation Data

IP address (retained for 12 months)
Necessary technical cookies
Access logs (retained for 12 months)
Language preferences and user settings

3.5 AI-Generated Data

History of AI suggestions
Prompts and requests submitted to the AI assistant
Echo conversation memory: while you work on a biography, the AI assistant keeps the chat history, a running summary and short notes (for example people you mention, your preferences, decisions taken and topics still open). This memory may contain personal data of third parties mentioned in the conversation. It is used solely to let you resume your work and to suggest questions; it is never part of the biography and never visible to readers. It is erased when the biography is published and deleted if you turn off AI features or delete the biography or your account. It is not included in data exports but is provided on request at support@biographylibrary.org.

Writing is processed in Switzerland via Infomaniak’s AI systems, based on open source models. During the beta, the spoken voice may be generated temporarily in the European Union.

We record technical usage of AI features (model, purpose, token counts, timestamps) in `ai_token_usage` to enforce limits and operate the service. These records do not store the wording of your chat or biography text.

4. What Biographies You Can Create

4.1 Autobiographies — The Living Biographical Document

You write the story of your life on one sheet. Chapters are the titles you mark in the text. After the first publication, a new chapter may be added after at least 365 days. A published chapter is not rewritten, except for a change requested by a reviewer to protect a person who is named.

After your death, your autobiography is frozen at the last chapter you published. No one may add anything to your original voice. Your family members may honour your memory by writing a separate biography, linked to your autobiography on your personal page.

4.2 Biographies of Deceased Persons

These may be written exclusively by a direct family member of the deceased. Multiple family members may write separate biographies of the same person — each document reflects its author’s perspective. Biographies of deceased persons are subject to the 30-day temporary period (see Section 9).

WHAT YOU CANNOT DO:

❌ Create biographies of living persons other than yourself
❌ Create biographies of minors under 18 (even if deceased)
❌ Create biographies of deceased persons without a direct family connection
❌ Publish biographies without being able to prove the person’s death if requested

5. How We Use Your Data

5.1 Purposes of Processing

Providing the service
Managing the biographical chapter system
AI assistance
Account management
Security and abuse prevention
Automated and human content moderation
Legal compliance

5.2 What We Never Do

❌ We do not sell your data
❌ We do not use your data for advertising or commercial profiling
❌ We do not train commercial or proprietary AI models on your content
❌ We do not share data with governments (except where required by Swiss law)
❌ We do not retroactively amend this Policy to reduce your protections
❌ We do not collect identity documents without a concrete operational necessity
❌ We do not display advertising or sponsor logos on individual biographies

6. Legal Basis for Processing

Contract – To provide the service you have requested
Consent – For AI features (withdrawable at any time)
Legal Obligation – To comply with Swiss law (nFADP) and GDPR for EU users
Legitimate Interest – To prevent fraud and ensure platform security

7. With Whom We Share Your Data

7.1 Service Providers

Provider

Location

Role

Safeguards

Infomaniak SA

Switzerland

Hosting, infrastructure and AI

DPA compliant with nFADP/GDPR, data in CH

Supabase Inc.

European Union (temporary, beta phase)

Database, authentication, photo storage

GDPR compliant; temporary transfer, ends with version 1 in Switzerland

Resend

European Union (temporary, beta phase)

Sending transactional emails

GDPR compliant; temporary transfer, ends with version 1 in Switzerland

⚠️ If you use the voice, the spoken reply is generated in the European Union (France); you may choose not to use it. The assistant’s writing stays in Switzerland, on Infomaniak. The transfers to the European Union listed above are temporary: they end when version 1 is published to the public, when everything will be in Switzerland.

The app is online, in beta. Account and biography data stay on the infrastructure used for the service.

7.2 Family Access

Family members may access your content exclusively according to the permissions you have set.

7.3 Public Authorities

We share your data with government authorities only if required by a valid Swiss court order, necessary to prevent a serious crime, or mandatory under the nFADP or Swiss Criminal Code.

7.4 Sponsors

User data is never shared with sponsors. Sponsors cannot access personal data, cannot influence content moderation, and their logos never appear on individual biographies — only on the institutional website, the app and promotional materials.

8. Where Your Data Is Stored

Data residency – The site is hosted in Switzerland, on Infomaniak. During the beta, the database, sign-in and photos are on Supabase, email goes through Resend, and if you use the voice the spoken reply is generated in the European Union (France). The assistant’s writing stays in Switzerland. These steps outside Switzerland are temporary. They end when version 1 is published to the public, when everything will be in Switzerland.

Technical Security: encryption in transit (TLS 1.3+), encryption at rest, multi-factor authentication (MFA), daily encrypted backups, audit logs, verifiable open source code (AGPL v3).

9. Temporary Period for Biographies of Deceased Persons

When a family member publishes a biography of a deceased person, it stays public in the catalogue, marked “In the first 30 days”. That mark is not a separate status. During this period:

The biography stays published and readable
Anyone mentioned — or their direct family members — may file a report and request not to appear
The author may choose to notify cited persons directly but is not required to do so
The “Report” button is accessible to the entire community

At the end of 30 days:

The mark disappears and the biography stays published
A report can still be filed after the 30 days. If the biography is published again after a requested revision, the 30 days start again

Before publication, every biography undergoes automated scanning to detect content that violates the moderation levels defined in the Terms of Service.

10. Access Control

Privacy Level

Who Can Access

Private

You only

Family Only

You + family members you explicitly invite

Semi-private

Anyone with the direct link (not indexed by search engines)

Public

Everyone (indexed; licence chosen by the author: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 or BY-SA 4.0)

11. Account and Biography — Permanent Distinction

The Account is your personal operational tool. It remains dormant for as long as it is not used — with no consequences and no automatic deletion or archiving mechanism. The account remains available to the author indefinitely.

The Biography is the permanent archival content. It outlives the account, outlives the author, and belongs to the collective memory of humanity.

After the author’s death: the biography is frozen at the last published chapter. Direct family members may request account management by providing appropriate documentation. Biography Library will never unilaterally delete a biography. Deletion can only occur upon explicit request by the author, entitled family members, or in the event of a confirmed moderation violation.

12. Your Rights

12.1 Right of Access

You may request a copy of all personal data we hold about you.

12.2 Right of Rectification

You may correct inaccurate information at any time.

12.3 Right to Erasure

Autobiographies: complete deletion on request. Data erased within 90 days. A published chapter is not rewritten, except for a change requested by a reviewer to protect a person who is named. The whole autobiography may still be deleted.

When a biography or a chapter is deleted, the platform removes the prior version from archival storage, from the source content, from the version history, from exported documents, and from the fragments used for search. Copies already downloaded by others before deletion cannot be recalled.

The biography's permanent UM identifier is not deleted: it keeps responding to state that the identifier exists and was issued, even when the content is no longer publicly viewable.

Biographies of deceased persons in the temporary period: immediate deletion on request.

Definitive biographies of deceased persons: you have the right to request deletion. In exceptional cases — where a documented historical or archival interest exists — Biography Library may provide written justification for a different assessment. In case of disagreement, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the FDPIC.

12.4 Right to Data Portability

Export your content in the most common available formats at any time.

12.5 Right to Restriction, Objection and Withdrawal of Consent

You may restrict processing, object to processing based on legitimate interest, or withdraw AI consent at any time — without affecting the storage of your biographies.

12.6 Right to Lodge a Complaint

Switzerland: FDPIC — Feldeggweg 1, CH-3003 Bern — www.edoeb.admin.chEU: the data protection supervisory authority of your country of residence.

How to exercise your rights: support@biographylibrary.org — subject line: GDPR/nFADP RequestResponse provided as soon as possible and in any case within 30 days.

13. Artificial Intelligence

13.1 What AI Does

The optional writing assistant (Echo) and the formatting-bar tools help you with grammar checks, short summaries, clarity feedback, and questions that help you continue writing. Echo can propose wording that enters the page only if you accept it. The assistant can be wrong; you remain responsible for reviewing every suggestion before it becomes part of your biography. They do not publish for you.

Translations are written by the author (or someone the author trusts). Biography Library does not machine-translate biographies.

Before you approve the final PDF, you can run an optional final check that reviews the print-ready text. It does not replace the automated screening at publication and does not by itself publish the biography.

13.2 What AI Does NOT Do

❌ Does not invent facts or events
❌ Does not edit text without your explicit approval
❌ Does not auto-publish anything
❌ Does not use your content to train commercial or proprietary AI models

13.3 Local Processing and Transparency

The assistant’s writing runs in Switzerland through Infomaniak’s AI systems. If you use the voice, the spoken reply is generated by a service in the European Union (France). You can leave the voice off. This step is temporary and ends when version 1 is published to the public.

13.4 Public Biographies and External AI Systems

Biographies published as public are accessible on the internet. Biography Library explicitly states that archive content must not be used to train commercial or proprietary AI models. AI systems distributed under an OSI-recognised open source licence may access the public archive as a verified reference source, with mandatory attribution of the source and author. Private, semi-private and family biographies are technically inaccessible to any external system.

14. Reporting System

Every biography includes a “Report” button accessible to the entire community. Reports are handled as soon as possible and in any case within 30 days. For Level 1 content, removal is immediate and automatic. Full process details are set out in the Terms of Service.

15. Cookies and Tracking

Necessary technical cookies (no consent required): session token, CSRF protection, privacy settings. The chosen language is saved in the browser’s storage, not in a cookie.

❌ No profiling cookies on individual biography pages.

Should we implement traffic analytics, we will use exclusively self-hosted solutions in Switzerland, with prior notice to users.

16. Data Retention

Data Type

Retention Period

Account information

Permanently

Biographical content

Permanently (archival mission)

Access logs

12 months

IP addresses

12 months

Identity verification documents

Maximum 90 days

AI suggestions

Until the associated biography is deleted

Echo conversation memory

Until the biography is published; deleted earlier if AI features are turned off or the biography or account is deleted

Backups

30 days, then permanent deletion

Versioned archive package

Kept for every published version, alongside the biographical content

17. Protection of Minors

Biography Library is intended exclusively for persons aged 18 and over. Minors may not create accounts, write biographies or be the subject of biographies. Sole exception: a general mention of minor children within your own autobiography, without sensitive personal details.

18. International Data Transfers

During the beta, the database, sign-in and photos are on Supabase, email goes through Resend, and if you use the voice the spoken reply is generated in the European Union (France). The assistant’s writing stays in Switzerland, on Infomaniak. These steps outside Switzerland are temporary. They end when version 1 is published to the public, when everything will be in Switzerland.

User

Applicable Protection

Switzerland

nFADP

EU / EEA

GDPR (Switzerland–EU

Other countries

Swiss nFADP

19. Changes to this Policy

Email notification at least 30 days before the new version takes effect. Explicit acceptance required for material changes.

Non-retroactivity: we will never amend this Policy to reduce protections already granted to users.

Version history: v1.2 — 29 September 2026 — Photos, automatic check, UM identifier, licences, report lanes, providers and cookies aligned with the product. v1.1 — 28 September 2026 — During the beta some parts are still outside Switzerland, temporarily, and move to Switzerland when version 1 is published to the public. v1.0 — 25 September 2026 — platform online, first 30 days, app cookies

20. What Happens if Biography Library Closes

At least 6 months’ advance notice to all users
Data export in the most common available formats
Public source code (AGPL v3) — anyone may continue the project
Community fork actively encouraged

21. Open Source and Transparency

Biography Library is fully open source under AGPL v3: github.com/BiographyLibrary/Biography-Library

The permanent UM identifier for every published biography is issued exclusively by the Biography Library Association, under the public specification described in Section 10 of the Terms of Service; no other party is authorised to issue it.

22. Contact

Email: support@biographylibrary.org
Recommended subject: Privacy/GDPR/nFADP Request or Report
Response time: as soon as possible and in any case within 30 days

FDPIC: Feldeggweg 1, CH-3003 Bern — www.edoeb.admin.ch

23. Language and Jurisdiction

Available in: English, Italian, French, German. The Italian version is the legally binding version.

Applicable law: nFADP · GDPR (EU/EEA users) · Swiss Civil Code · Swiss Criminal Code

Jurisdiction: Courts of Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland. EU users retain the right to bring proceedings before the courts of their country of residence.

24. Acceptance

By using Biography Library, you accept this Privacy Policy. For any clarification: support@biographylibrary.org

Version: 1.2 | 29 September 2026 | Document licence: CC BY-SA 4.0

Biography Library is a non-profit, open-source archive of human memory.

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