Privacy Policy

AI Advocate is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains what data we collect, why, and your rights under UK-GDPR and EU-GDPR.

Data Controller: AI Advocate Ltd. (Company No. 16612244, registered in England & Wales) · ICO Registration Number: ZC158457 · Contact: support@aiadvocate.co.uk

What we collect

• Account data: email, name, password hash (bcrypt), country, language preference.
• Usage data: which features you use, error logs, anonymous product analytics (cookie-consent gated).
• Lex chat content: your messages and Lex's responses. Encrypted at rest in our database using Fernet (AES-128 + HMAC).
• Case files: titles, summaries, uploaded documents. Summaries encrypted at rest.
• Vault items: encrypted on YOUR device with your PIN. We cannot read them.
• Recording features: audio files you record are sent to OpenAI Whisper for transcription, then DELETED from our servers. Transcript text is kept in your case files.
• Payment data: handled entirely by Stripe (PCI-DSS Level 1) or by Apple / Google billing. We never see your card number.
• Device fingerprint: a pseudonymous, non-cryptographic identifier per browser / device, used solely to throttle abusive signups (max 2 free accounts per device per 24h). Not linked to your real identity. See Terms §16.
• Feedback & suggestions: any text you submit via "Missing a legal area?" or other feedback forms — including your email address (so we can reply) — is stored to help us improve the service. See Terms §15.
• SOS / location data: only when you actively trigger the Emergency SOS button. Live-tracking window is user-selected (max 24h) and the audit log is deleted after 30 days. See Terms §4d.

Why we collect it

• To provide the legal-information service you signed up for (lawful basis: contract, UK GDPR Article 6(1)(b)).
• To prevent fraud, abuse, and account farming (lawful basis: legitimate interest, UK GDPR Article 6(1)(f)).
• To improve the product through anonymised aggregate analytics (lawful basis: consent via cookie banner, UK GDPR Article 6(1)(a) and PECR Reg 6).
• For Emergency SOS (lawful basis: vital interests, UK GDPR Article 6(1)(d) — you have actively triggered it yourself).
• To comply with tax / billing record-keeping (lawful basis: legal obligation, retention 6 years).

Third parties we share with

• Anthropic (Claude) — your messages are sent to Claude for processing. Anthropic does NOT train on Universal-Key API traffic.
• OpenAI — Whisper for audio transcription, GPT-5.2 for Plus-tier Lex responses, GPT Image for image generation. Audio deleted after processing.
• Google — Gemini for vision / extraction of contracts & photos.
• Tavily — real-time legal web-search grounding (RAG) for Lex citations. Only your query text is shared, not your identity.
• Stripe — payment processing for web subscriptions and one-time Top-ups.
• Apple / Google — if you use their sign-in: name, email, sub identifier. If you subscribe via the App Store / Play Store, billing is processed entirely by them.
• MongoDB Atlas (UK / EU regions) — our managed database provider.
• PostHog (EU region) — anonymous product analytics, cookie-consent gated. Honours browser Do-Not-Track.
• Sentry (EU region) — error monitoring and crash reporting, used only to fix bugs.
• Resend (if enabled) — transactional emails (password reset, receipts, security alerts).
• We do NOT sell your data to advertisers or data brokers, ever.

Your rights under GDPR / UK-GDPR

• Access: request a copy of all your data (Settings → Export My Data).
• Erasure: delete your account and all personal data (Settings → Delete My Account).
• Rectification: edit your profile.
• Portability: export as JSON.
• Objection / restriction: email support@aiadvocate.co.uk.
• Complaint: lodge a complaint with the ICO at ico.org.uk.

Security

TLS 1.3 in transit. Bcrypt for passwords. Fernet (AES-128 + HMAC) for sensitive fields at rest. Vault uses client-side AES-GCM-256 with PIN-derived keys (PBKDF2 250k iterations).

Children

The App is not for users under 18.

Data retention

Active accounts: indefinitely while you remain a user. Deleted accounts: personal data permanently erased within 30 days (subscription / billing records anonymised after 6 years).

International transfers

Our servers are in the EU. LLM processing may be in the US under Standard Contractual Clauses.

Contact

For any privacy question: support@aiadvocate.co.uk
Data Protection Officer: dpo@aiadvocate.co.uk