Privacy Policy

• Account information. Your name, email address and sign-in details (a password, or your Google account if you sign in with Google), and which House you belong to.
• Audio. Recordings of interviews and conversations you make or upload, including phone and live voice interviews with Nel.
• Transcripts. The written text of those recordings, and the stories, people, family ties and open questions drawn from them.
• What you add yourself. People and their details (names, relationships, phone numbers, dates), photographs, memorial pages, paperwork notes, and your questions to Nel.
• Access requests. Waitlist names and email addresses, signup approvals, and legacy-transfer applications including the uploaded proof of passing.
• Technical information. Basic records our hosting providers keep to run and protect the service, such as IP address, browser type and the time of a request.

Recordings often include other people: the relative being interviewed and anyone they mention. Please record someone only with their knowledge and agreement.

You are interacting with an artificial intelligence system. Interview and background-recording sessions are recorded and processed by AI. Sealed Letters audio is stored privately without AI transcription.

Nel, the interviewer and assistant in House NEL, is software, not a person. When Nel speaks on a phone call or in the app, the voice is computer-generated. What Nel writes, including transcripts, summaries and answers, is produced by AI and may contain mistakes.

Before a microphone is switched on, the app shows a notice that recording is starting. By continuing, you confirm that everyone taking part has agreed to be recorded. Some places require the consent of every person in a conversation; it is your responsibility to follow the law where you and they are.

We use your data to provide the archive, and for nothing else. In particular we use AI services to:

• turn recordings into transcripts;
• find the stories, people and family ties in a transcript, for you to review and save;
• hold a spoken interview, where Nel asks questions and listens;
• answer your questions using your own House's records.

We do not sell your data, and we do not use it for advertising.

AI training. House NEL uses OpenAI for chat and organizing stories, with Google's Gemini as a backup and for voice and transcription. When Gemini's free service is used, Google may use what it receives to improve its products, and its staff may review it. Only record what you are comfortable sharing on those terms.

If your House's founder adds its own OpenAI or Gemini key, supported chat and extraction requests use that account. A House's Gemini key also supports recording transcription. Live voice, and transcription when the House selects an OpenAI key, continue to use the House NEL service. Your own provider account's terms apply to requests made with your key.

• Isolation between Houses. Every record belongs to one House. Database and file-storage rules, and every request our servers handle, check that you are a member of that House before anything is read. Members of one House cannot see another's records.
• Encryption. Data travels over encrypted connections (HTTPS). Our database and file storage providers encrypt stored data at rest. A House's own AI key is additionally encrypted with AES-256 before it is saved and can never be read back from the browser.
• Limited staff access. The platform dashboard shows House statistics, waitlist applicants and account-transfer requests, including uploaded proof reviewed by platform administrators. It does not provide access to family stories, transcripts or recordings.
• Public memorial pages. A memorial page is private until your House chooses to publish it. Once published, anyone with its link can see what you placed on it.

No system is perfectly secure. If we learn of a breach affecting your data, we will tell you.

These companies process data on our behalf so the service can work. Which ones handle your data depends on the features you use.

• Google Firebase and Google Cloud: sign-in, the database, and file storage.
• Resend: invitation and approval emails.
• Vercel: hosting of the website and its servers.
• Google Gemini and OpenAI: commercial API providers used for default processing. OpenAI handles chat and organizing stories; Google Gemini provides backup processing, live voice and transcription. A House may optionally supply its own key for supported features; live voice still uses the House NEL service. Applicable data-use terms depend on the provider and service tier, as explained above.
• Groq: AI text processing as a backup to the above.
• LiveKit: real-time audio for live voice interviews in the browser.
• Backblaze: storage of recordings, where enabled.
• Vapi and Twilio: phone interviews and WhatsApp messages to relatives, where enabled.
• 9jaLingo: transcription of Nigerian languages, where enabled.

Some of these companies are outside your country, so your data may be processed abroad.

• Access. Everything in your House is visible to you in the app.
• Correction. You can edit people, stories and your own profile at any time.
• Export and deletion. Users can export their data and permanently delete their account directly within Settings.
• Objection and complaint. You may ask us to stop processing your data, and you may complain to your local data protection authority.

If you are a relative who was recorded or named in a House and want something removed, ask the family member who runs that House, or contact us.

House NEL is intended for use by adults (18+). We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children under 13. Founders are responsible for obtaining consent for any family members who appear in recordings. If you believe a child has given us personal information directly, contact us and we will delete it.

We will update this page when our practices change, and change the date at the top. See also our Terms of Service and Cookie Policy.

Contact the person who runs your House NEL service, who gave you access to it.