Privacy Policy
Last updated: May 7, 2026
Contents
1. Introduction
Welcome to The Life Before Me ("we," "our," or "us"). We are committed to protecting your privacy and the deeply personal stories you entrust to our care.
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our website and services at thelifebeforeme.com (the "Service"). Privacy is fundamental to our mission of helping families preserve meaningful memories.
Data Controller: The Life Before Me, LLC
Contact: Use the contact form below
By using our Service, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, please do not use our Service.
2. Information We Collect
Information You Provide
- Account Information: Email address, phone number, and/or password when you create an account. If you sign in with your phone number, we collect it for verification purposes.
- Profile Information: Name, relationship to the storyteller (e.g., "son," "daughter"), and, when provided, the storyteller's birth year and birthplace
- Story Content: Written responses, photographs, and other materials you or your family members upload
- Voice and Audio Recordings: When you use our voice interview feature, we record your audio. These recordings are stored securely in our cloud infrastructure and accessed via time-limited signed URLs. See Section 3 for full details on how voice data is collected, processed, and protected.
- AI-Derived Insights: When processing your stories, our AI analyzes the linguistic patterns, vocabulary, sentence structure, and narrative style of your responses to create a voice profile. This profile helps us generate memoir prose that authentically reflects how you tell your stories. These insights are derived from the text of your transcribed recordings, not from acoustic analysis of the audio itself.
- Payment Information: Billing details are processed securely by our payment provider; we do not store complete credit card numbers
- Communications: Messages you send to our support team or feedback you provide
Information Collected Automatically
- Device Information: Browser type, operating system, and device identifiers
- Usage Data: Pages visited, features used, and session duration
- Log Data: IP address, access times, and referring URLs
- Cookies: Small data files stored on your device (see Section 11)
3. Voice Recording and AI Processing
Because your voice carries so much of who you are, we want to be completely transparent about how we handle voice recordings throughout the memoir creation process.
What We Record and Store
- Audio recordings of your voice interview sessions are captured when you use the Conversational Studio or phone-based storytelling features.
- Recordings are stored in our secure cloud infrastructure and are encrypted both in transit and at rest.
- Access to your recordings is protected by time-limited signed URLs. This means each link to your audio expires after a short period, so only you and those you authorize can listen.
How We Process Voice Data with AI
Your voice recordings go through several AI processing steps to create your memoir:
- Transcription: Your audio is sent to a third-party speech-to-text transcription provider for conversion. The provider receives the audio data, produces a text transcript, and does not retain your audio after processing. The provider's data-usage policies apply to this step.
- Voice Profiling: After transcription, our AI analyzes the text of your stories to build a "voice profile." This captures your vocabulary, sentence rhythms, storytelling patterns, and personal expressions. The goal is to make your memoir sound like you, not like a generic AI. This analysis is performed on the transcribed text, not on the raw audio.
- Paralinguistic Signal Extraction: Our system may identify emotional cues, pacing, and emphasis from your transcribed responses to enrich the narrative. For example, if you paused while describing a meaningful moment, that context may help our AI capture the weight of that memory in writing.
- Narrative Generation: Your transcripts, voice profile, and extracted signals feed into our memoir generation pipeline, which uses multiple AI models (see Section 12) to compose, structure, and polish your memoir chapters.
Guide Voice (Text-to-Speech)
During interviews, our AI guide speaks to you using a third-party text-to-speech synthesis provider. The guide's voice is pre-generated; your voice is never cloned or replicated. The synthesis provider receives only the text of the guide's prompts, never your recordings or personal data.
What We Do Not Do with Your Voice Data
- We do not sell or license your voice recordings to anyone.
- We do not use your recordings to train AI models.
- We do not create voice clones or synthetic replicas of your voice.
- We do not share raw audio with third parties except for transcription as described above.
Deleting Your Voice Data
You can request deletion of your voice recordings at any time. When you request deletion, we remove the audio files from our storage, the associated transcripts, and any voice profile data derived from those recordings. To request voice data deletion, use the contact form below and select "Privacy question" as the subject. We will process your request within 30 days.
4. How We Use Your Information
Lawful Bases for Processing (GDPR)
- Contract Performance: To provide the Service, process orders, and deliver products you've purchased
- Legitimate Interests: To improve our services, ensure security, and prevent fraud
- Consent: For marketing communications where required by law
- Legal Obligations: To comply with tax, accounting, and legal requirements
Specific Uses
- Create and manage your account
- Process and deliver your orders (printed books, digital products)
- Transcribe audio and video recordings to text
- Provide optional AI-powered narrative enhancement features
- Analyze the linguistic patterns and style of your stories to create a voice profile that helps preserve your authentic voice in the memoir
- Identify themes, emotional arcs, and narrative threads across your story sessions to improve memoir structure and depth
- Send service-related communications (order confirmations, reminders)
- Respond to your support requests
- Improve and optimize our services
- Prevent fraud, abuse, and unauthorized access
6. Data Retention
We retain your data for different periods based on your plan:
Voice recordings, transcripts, and voice profile data follow the same retention schedule as your plan tier. You may request early deletion of voice data at any time (see Section 3). When your retention period expires or you request deletion, we permanently remove the audio files, transcripts, and derived voice profiles from our systems.
7. Data Security
We implement comprehensive security measures to protect your personal information and precious memories:
- Encryption in Transit: All data transmitted to and from our servers is encrypted using TLS/SSL
- Encryption at Rest: Your stories and media are encrypted when stored
- Access Controls: Strict authentication and authorization protocols
- Regular Assessments: Periodic security reviews and vulnerability testing
- Incident Response: Documented procedures for responding to security incidents
While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your information, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security.
8. Your Privacy Rights
All Users
- Access: Request a copy of your personal data
- Correction: Request correction of inaccurate data
- Deletion: Request deletion of your data
- Data Portability: Export your data in a common format
- Withdraw Consent: Opt out of marketing communications
Additional Rights for EU/UK/EEA Residents (GDPR)
- Right to restriction of processing
- Right to object to processing based on legitimate interests
- Right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority
- Right not to be subject to automated decision-making with legal effects
Additional Rights for California Residents (CCPA/CPRA)
- Right to know what personal information is collected
- Right to know whether personal information is sold or disclosed
- Right to opt-out of sale of personal information (we do not sell your data)
- Right to non-discrimination for exercising your privacy rights
- Right to limit the use and disclosure of sensitive personal information
Sensitive Personal Information (CPRA)
We process voice recordings that you voluntarily provide as part of the memoir creation service. We use this data solely to deliver the Service you requested (transcription, narrative enhancement, and memoir generation). We do not use voice recordings for purposes beyond providing the Service, and we do not sell or share this data for cross-context behavioral advertising. If you wish to limit how we use your voice recordings, please contact us using the form below.
How to Exercise Your Rights
Use the contact form below and select "Privacy question" as the subject.
We will respond within 30 days. For complex requests, we may extend this to 45 days with notice.
9. International Data Transfers
Your information is stored on servers located in the United States. If you are accessing our Service from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States.
For users in the European Union, United Kingdom, and European Economic Area, we rely on Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission to ensure appropriate safeguards for international data transfers.
By using our Service, you consent to the transfer of your information to the United States and other countries where we or our service providers operate.
10. Children's Privacy
Our Service is not directed to individuals under the age of 13 (or 16 in certain jurisdictions). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.
If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information without your consent, please contact us immediately. We will take steps to delete such information from our systems.
12. Third-Party AI and Service Providers
We work with carefully selected third-party service providers (sub-processors) who help us deliver the Service. We disclose the categories of providers below and what data each category receives. Specific vendors within each category are selected based on their data-protection practices, security posture, and contractual commitments.
Categories of AI providers
- Speech-to-text transcription: receives your voice audio for transcription only. Audio is processed and not retained by the provider after the transcription is returned to us. We select providers contractually committed to not using your audio for model training.
- Large language models (text generation and analysis): receive transcribed text for voice profiling, narrative enhancement, photo descriptions, and memoir generation. We select providers contractually committed to not using your text for model training when accessed through their commercial APIs.
- Text-to-speech synthesis: receives only the text of our AI guide's prompts for voice synthesis. Never receives your voice recordings, transcripts, or personal data.
Categories of infrastructure and business providers
- Cloud hosting and storage: secure database, application hosting, and file storage for all data including voice recordings.
- Payment processing: processes purchases on our behalf. We do not store your payment-card details on our systems.
- Phone verification and telephony: delivers SMS verification codes and connects phone-based storytelling sessions. Receives your phone number for these purposes only.
- Email delivery: sends transactional and reminder emails on our behalf.
- Print and fulfillment: prints and ships hardcover books. Receives only the order details and content needed for printing and shipping.
A current list of specific sub-processors within these categories is available on request — please contact us using the form below if you need it for procurement or compliance purposes. We update the list as vendors change.
All sub-processors are bound by data-protection agreements consistent with GDPR/CCPA requirements. We select providers who maintain strong data-protection practices and, where possible, contractual commitments not to use your data for their own training purposes.
13. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will:
- Update the "Last updated" date at the top of this policy
- Notify you via email or prominent notice on our Service
- For significant changes, request your acknowledgment where required by law
Your continued use of the Service after changes become effective constitutes acceptance of the updated policy. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.
14. Contact Us
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, reach out using the form below:
For privacy-related complaints, EU/UK residents may also contact their local data protection authority.