Privacy Policy

Version 1.0 – March 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 – AI processing takes place on Swiss territory, never sent to third parties
Swiss Hosting – All data resides exclusively 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)

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

AI processing: exclusively in Switzerland via Infomaniak’s AI systems, based on open source models.

4. What Biographies You Can Create

4.1 Autobiographies — The Living Biographical Document

You write the story of your own life. Your autobiography is a living document structured in chapters: after publishing your first chapter, you may add a new one after a minimum of 365 days. You are not required to do this every year — you may wait many years before adding a new chapter. Each chapter is immutable once published: your words remain exactly as written, forever.

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

⚠️ Data never leaves Swiss jurisdiction. No transfers to countries lacking adequate data protection standards.

Database: the definitive technology stack for the production database has not yet been finalised. The selected solution will be hosted exclusively on Swiss infrastructure. This Policy will be updated before the public launch.

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 – 100% Switzerland: all servers, backups and AI processing operate exclusively on Infomaniak infrastructure with data centres 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 is marked as “temporary” for the first 30 days. During this period:

The biography is public and visible to everyone, marked as “under temporary review”
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:

No reports received → the biography becomes definitive
Report received → the author receives a request to modify or remove the indicated content, assessed based on the nature and validity of the report

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, Creative Commons BY-NC-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. Published chapters are immutable but may be deleted together with the entire autobiography.

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

Corrects grammar and punctuation
Suggests clearer phrasing (you approve or reject every suggestion)
Helps structure and organise biographical chapters
Translates the biography (you always review the result)
Prompts memories with guided questions

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

All AI processing takes place in Switzerland via Infomaniak’s AI systems, based on open source models. No data is sent to third-party AI providers. Every suggestion is marked with the “AI Suggestion” badge. You may disable AI at any time.

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, language preferences, CSRF protection, privacy settings.

❌ 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
Backups	30 days, then permanent deletion

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

We do not transfer personal data outside of Switzerland.

User	Applicable Protection
Switzerland	nFADP
EU / EEA	GDPR (Switzerland–EU Adequacy Decision)
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: v1.0 — March 2026 — Initial version

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

Only the Biography Library Association may issue official W3C Verifiable Credentials certifications for biographies published on the platform.

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 English 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: 1.0 | March 2026 | Document licence: CC BY-SA 4.0