Trust
Written for anyone who has to describe this service in an ethics application, a data-protection assessment, or a note to a client. The paragraph under "For your ethics application" is meant to be copied.
Where the audio goes
Your browser sends the file to our server, which passes it straight through to AssemblyAI without writing it anywhere. There is no object storage in this system — it was removed on purpose, so there is no bucket to misconfigure and no retention setting to get wrong.
When the transcript is ready we delete the provider's copy and then check that it is gone, recording the result. A file whose deletion could not be confirmed is retried.
Sub-processors
AssemblyAI (United States) — speech-to-text and speaker separation. It receives the audio and returns the transcript.
Supabase — database and authentication. It holds the transcript text and your account, never the audio.
Stripe — payments. It receives your payment details directly; we never see a card number.
That is the complete list. Adding one would be a change to this page.
For your ethics application
Audio recordings are transmitted to TalkLog and passed directly to a transcription sub-processor (AssemblyAI, United States) without being stored by TalkLog at any point. The provider's copy is deleted immediately on completion of the transcript and the deletion is verified. Where a transcription fails, the provider's copy is retained for up to 7 days to permit a retry and is then deleted and verified in the same way. The resulting transcript text is stored in the researcher's account until the researcher deletes it. No third-party analytics or advertising scripts run on the service, and IP addresses are stored only as a salted hash for abuse prevention, unlinked to any account. Recordings of up to 10 hours are supported.
GDPR
For a recording of an interview, you are the controller and we are a processor acting on your instructions. Our sub-processors are listed above.
The audio is transferred to the United States for transcription, where it exists only for the duration of the job. The transcript is stored in the European Union.
You can export or delete your transcripts yourself at any time. If you need a data-processing agreement for your institution, ask and we will send one.