What SPEAC knows about you.
And what it doesn't.
Written in plain language from the code as it runs today, so every line here can be checked against what SPEAC actually does. It has not yet been reviewed by legal counsel; it will be before SPEAC opens beyond the beta. It covers this website (speacsocial.com) and the closed beta feed (app.speacsocial.com).
Version 4 adds: a plain consent line, how your data is protected, the law that applies, correction, and where to take a complaint beyond SPEAC. Amended the same day: Google Analytics was removed from this website, so SPEAC now runs no analytics anywhere.
The short version
SPEAC doesn't ask who you are. There is no account, no login and no profile. The beta stores only what you choose to type. Nothing about you is sold, and there is no advertising in the beta.
Consent. By requesting access, entering the beta, or posting, commenting and reposting, you consent to SPEAC collecting, using and sharing what this page describes, for the purposes it states and no others. You can withdraw that consent at any time by asking for your data to be removed (see Your choices). SPEAC Social Inc. is in Canada, and Canada's federal private-sector privacy law (PIPEDA) applies to it.
What SPEAC collects, and why
- When you request early access: your email address and, if you fill it in, what you'd check first. Used only to send your invitation. Stored by Netlify Forms, which also emails a copy to Nathalie and records the IP address and browser the request came from.
- When you enter the beta: a shared password opens the door. SPEAC does not know who came in.
- When you post, comment or repost: the text, the display name you type (or “Anonymous” if you skip it), an optional handle, any link you attach, and the finding SPEAC adds. Stored in SPEAC's database, hosted by Netlify.
- When your post is checked: the text of the post and any source link you submit are sent to Anthropic, whose model reads the sources and runs the web searches. If Anthropic is unavailable, Google's Gemini is used instead. No name, no IP address and no identifier travels with the claim. The finding is kept under a random ID so the engine can be improved.
- When you attach a link: SPEAC's server fetches that page to build a preview card. The site you linked sees a request from SPEAC, not from you.
- Daily check limits: checks cost money, so SPEAC caps them per person per day. To count them it keeps a salted, one-day digest of your IP address. The address itself is never stored, and the digest cannot be turned back into it.
- Share cards: anyone in the beta can share a check publicly. A share card carries the claim, the finding, the note and the sources. It never carries your name or a link back to your post.
- Public showcase pages (This Week on SPEAC, Ottawa Votes): Nathalie's own posts. A tester's post appears there only with that tester's permission.
- Your browser: your language and light/dark theme choices are saved on your own device. SPEAC's own code sets no cookies on the beta feed.
- Operational logs: timing, cost, and the search queries the engine ran, which are derived from post text. SPEAC's code writes no names or addresses to its logs. Netlify keeps its own platform logs, including IP addresses, under Netlify's terms.
What SPEAC does not collect
No accounts, passwords or profiles. No analytics or advertising trackers, on this website or on the beta feed. No device fingerprinting. No payment data. Nothing from your device, files, email or accounts: the engine reads only the public web. Nothing is sold or shared with advertisers.
Who else sees your data
- Netlify (United States) Everything SPEAC stores: posts, comments, findings, the daily-limit digests and early-access emails. Netlify's own platform logs include IP addresses. Hosting, storage, forms
- Anthropic (United States) Post text and submitted source links, with no identity attached. Under Anthropic's standard API terms, what SPEAC sends is not used to train its models. The checking engine and its web searches
- Google (United States) The same, only when Anthropic is unavailable. Fallback engine (Gemini)
- Websites you link, or that the engine cites A page request from SPEAC's server, not from you. Preview cards, evidence retrieval
All of this is stored in the United States. Data held there is subject to US law and could be requested by US authorities under it. SPEAC has never received such a request, and would tell affected testers if the law allowed it to.
An honest note on identifiability
“We don't collect personal information” would not be a true statement, so SPEAC doesn't make it. In most cases a first name and an everyday post point to no one in particular. But you could be identified if you type your full name, or if a post describes something only you would know or do. The email you left to request access is seen only by Nathalie and never appears on SPEAC. If you would rather not be identifiable, skip the name field, post as Anonymous, and keep identifying details out of your posts.
How long things stay
- Posts, comments and findings stay on SPEAC while the beta runs, or until you ask for them to go.
- Early-access emails stay until your invitation is sent, or until you ask.
- Daily-limit digests are tied to a single day and cannot be reversed.
- Findings (the claim and its check, with no name attached) are kept to improve the engine.
How it is protected
- Everything between you and SPEAC, and between SPEAC and the services above, travels encrypted (HTTPS).
- The beta feed sits behind a password. The open web cannot read it. Only share cards and the showcase pages are public, and those never carry a tester's name.
- There are no account passwords to leak, because there are no accounts.
- The keys that let SPEAC talk to Anthropic and Google are held as server secrets, never in the website's code.
- Post and comment lengths are capped and checks are rate-limited, to blunt abuse. The daily-limit digest is salted and expires with the day.
- Stored data is protected by Netlify's own security under its terms, in the United States.
An honest limit: SPEAC is a one-person beta and has not yet had an independent security audit. If something goes wrong with your data, SPEAC will tell the testers affected, say what happened, and report it where the law requires.
Your choices
- Removal. Email ntrepanier@speacsocial.com and any post, comment or email of yours will be gone within a day.
- Ask what is held. Same address. Nathalie can look up what is stored under your display name or email and tell you.
- Correction. If something held about you is wrong, say so at the same address and it will be fixed or removed.
- Leave the beta at any time. Nothing is required of you.
- Questions or complaints. Nathalie Trépanier, founder, is the person responsible for privacy at SPEAC: ntrepanier@speacsocial.com. If you are not satisfied with the answer, you can complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
What's ahead
SPEAC plans to add accounts and profiles after the beta, so that a person's record of accuracy can belong to them. When that happens, this notice will be rewritten and published before the change goes live. What you share under this notice will not be put to a new use without telling you first.
Changes
This notice is dated and will change as the beta changes. Anything material will be announced in the feed.