Privacy Policy

1. Who is responsible

FaceDetective is operated by facedetective.io (https://facedetective.io) and is the controller for the personal data described here. For any privacy question, data request or complaint, write to privacy@facedetective.io.

2. What we process

Images you upload

When you start a scan you upload a photo. Where that photo contains a face, the facial features are analysed to create a temporary mathematical representation used solely to find visually similar public images. The upload is stored in a private storage area that only your own account can read.

Scan results

A report contains links, page titles, thumbnails and similarity values referring to publicly accessible web pages found for your image. Reports are stored against your account so you can open them again.

Account data

If you create an account we process your email address and an encrypted authentication credential. If you sign in with a third-party provider we receive the basic identifiers that provider releases.

Purchase data

For paid unlocks we store which product you bought, the amount, the currency, the status and a payment reference. Card data is handled by our payment provider and never reaches our servers.

Technical data

Our servers and infrastructure providers process request metadata such as IP address, timestamp, user agent, approximate region and error information, for security, abuse prevention and diagnostics.

3. Why we process it and on what legal basis

• Performance of a contract: running the scan you requested, storing your reports, providing your account and delivering purchased unlocks.
• Explicit consent: analysing biometric characteristics contained in a photo you upload for the purpose of a face search. You give this consent when you start a face scan, and you can withdraw it at any time by deleting the scan or your account.
• Legitimate interests: keeping the service secure, preventing abuse and fraud, measuring aggregate usage and improving accuracy.
• Legal obligation: retaining transaction records for tax and accounting purposes.

Where consent is the basis, withdrawing it stops future processing but does not affect processing that already took place lawfully.

4. What we do not do

• We do not sell your personal data.
• We do not use your uploaded photos for advertising.
• We do not build a permanent searchable index out of the photos our users upload.
• We do not notify or contact anyone whose image appears in a report.
• We do not publish your reports; a report is visible only to the account that created it.

5. How long we keep data

• Uploaded images and reports: kept while your account exists, until you delete them. Scans made without a completed account registration are removed automatically shortly after the scan.
• Account data: kept until you delete your account.
• Purchase records: kept for as long as tax and accounting law requires.
• Technical logs: kept for a short period for security and diagnostics, then deleted or aggregated.

Deleting a report deletes the associated image from our storage. Deleting your account deletes your reports and images.

6. Who we share data with

We use a small number of processors acting on our instructions: cloud hosting, database and storage, authentication, a payment provider, an image search infrastructure provider and error monitoring. Processors receive only what they need for their function and are bound by contract.

Some processors operate outside your country. Where that involves a transfer out of the EEA or UK, it is covered by an adequacy decision or by standard contractual clauses with supplementary safeguards.

We may disclose data where legally required, or where necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

7. How search results work

FaceDetective queries publicly accessible sources and returns links to pages that are already public. We do not access private accounts, we do not bypass logins or paywalls, and we do not store copies of the pages we link to. Thumbnails are loaded from their original locations. Where a result is inaccurate or should not be shown, use the removal request process.

8. Your rights

• Access a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Correct inaccurate data.
• Delete your data, including your uploads, reports and account.
• Restrict or object to certain processing.
• Receive your data in a portable format.
• Withdraw consent for biometric analysis at any time.
• Lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

Write to privacy@facedetective.io to exercise a right. We respond within one month and may ask for information needed to verify that the request comes from you.

9. Security

Data is transmitted over encrypted connections and stored with access controls that restrict each record to its owner. Uploaded images are held in private storage and served only through short-lived signed links. No system is completely secure, so we also limit what we collect and how long we keep it.

10. Children

The service is not intended for anyone under 18 and we do not knowingly process their data. If you believe a minor has used the service or that a minor's image is involved, contact us and we will delete the material.

11. Cookies

We use strictly necessary cookies and local storage to keep you signed in and to remember essential preferences. Details are in the Cookie Policy.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the service changes. The date at the top always reflects the current version. Material changes affecting your rights will be communicated by email or through a notice in the app before they take effect.