Privacy Policy
1. Introduction
This Privacy Policy describes how MetaCTO LLC ("Slate", "we", "us" or "our") collects, uses, discloses and protects information in connection with the Slate service, which includes the website at slatevideo.com, the web application at app.slatevideo.com, the Slate desktop applications for macOS and Windows, the Slate mobile applications for iOS and Android, and any related services (together, the "Service").
Slate lets people record their screen, camera or voice and share the result as a link. This Policy applies to everyone who uses the Service: account holders ("Users"), people who open a shared recording without an account ("Viewers"), and people who send a recording through a request link ("Senders").
By using the Service you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Policy. If you do not agree with it, please do not use the Service.
2. Information We Collect
2.1 Information you provide
- Account information. When you create an account we collect your email address, the name you provide and, if you add one, a profile picture. Authentication is provided by Google Firebase Authentication. Your password is held by Firebase and is never transmitted to or stored by us.
- Recordings. The content you choose to record or upload, which may include your screen, your camera, your microphone and, on macOS, system audio; the titles, summaries and other descriptions you give recordings; and files you upload to the Service.
- Team information. If you create or join a team, the team's name, the members you invite, their roles and seat assignments.
- Billing information. Team plans are billed through Stripe. Stripe collects and stores your payment card details; we receive and store only a customer and subscription reference, the plan and its status, and your billing email. We never receive full card numbers.
- Communications. Comments and reactions you leave on recordings, names you enter as a Viewer or Sender, feature requests and any correspondence you send us.
2.2 Information collected automatically
- Recording metadata. Duration, dimensions, upload time, content type, and a still frame used as a thumbnail.
- Pages shown during a recording. The Slate desktop application for macOS can record which web pages were on screen while you recorded (their addresses and titles), so that Viewers are given the links. These are shown on the recording's page and can be removed by the recording's owner.
- Viewing information. When a recording is opened we record that it was viewed, how far it was played and whether it was completed. Viewers without an account are identified by a random identifier stored in their browser or app; signed-in Viewers are identified by their account.
- Viewer email addresses. If a recording's owner enables the "ask for email" or "require email" setting, the email address a Viewer provides is collected and made available to the owner.
- Technical information. IP addresses, browser and device type, operating system, and the dates and times of requests, as recorded in server logs for the operation and security of the Service.
2.3 Information derived from recordings
- Transcripts and captions. On macOS the transcript is produced on your device while you record. For recordings made elsewhere, the audio is transcribed by Amazon Transcribe after upload.
- Titles and summaries. The text of a transcript, and only the text, is processed by Anthropic's Claude to produce a title and a short summary. Recording audio and video are not sent to Anthropic.
2.4 Information we do not collect
We do not collect precise location data, contacts, or information from other applications on your device. Screen, camera and microphone capture occurs only while you are actively recording. We do not sell personal information, and we do not use advertising trackers inside recordings or on the pages where they are watched.
2.5 Analytics and advertising measurement
This website and the web application use Google Analytics to understand how they are used: which pages are visited, roughly where visitors come from, and whether a visit ends in an account being created or an app being downloaded. Google Analytics sets first-party cookies on slatevideo.com and collects your IP address (which Google truncates and does not store), your browser and device type, and the pages you view. Where we advertise Slate, we also use Google Ads conversion measurement so that we can tell which advertising leads to signups. We do not send Google your email address, your name, or anything about the recordings you make or watch. We also use Amplitude for product analytics and session replay on this website and the web application: it records which features are used and, for a sample of sessions, a replay of how the pages were interacted with, so that we can find where people get stuck. Session replay masks text you type and does not capture the video you record or watch; it is off in the desktop and mobile applications. Amplitude's handling of this information is described in Amplitude's privacy policy. Google's use of this information is described in How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services. You can opt out with the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on, or by blocking the googletagmanager.com domain; the Service works exactly the same without it.
3. How We Use Information
We use the information described above to:
- Provide, operate and maintain the Service, including storing, transcoding, streaming and sharing your recordings;
- Create and manage your account and, where applicable, your team and its subscription;
- Produce transcripts, captions, titles and summaries for your recordings;
- Show recording owners who has viewed their recordings and how much of them, and deliver comments and reactions;
- Send transactional communications such as invitations, password resets, receipts and notices about your account. We do not send marketing email;
- Respond to your requests and provide support;
- Protect the security and integrity of the Service, prevent abuse and enforce our terms;
- Comply with legal obligations.
We do not sell personal information, and we do not use the content of your recordings to train machine-learning models.
4. Legal Bases for Processing
Where the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the UK GDPR or similar laws apply, we process personal data on the following bases:
- Performance of a contract: to provide the Service you have signed up for, including storing and sharing your recordings and billing your team;
- Legitimate interests: to secure and improve the Service, prevent abuse, and provide recording owners with viewing information, where these interests are not overridden by your rights;
- Consent: where you choose to grant a device permission, provide an email address to view a gated recording, or otherwise opt in. You may withdraw consent at any time;
- Legal obligation: where processing is required to comply with applicable law.
6. International Data Transfers
Slate is operated from the United States and information is stored on servers in the United States (Amazon Web Services, US West (Oregon)). If you use the Service from outside the United States, your information will be transferred to, stored and processed in the United States, where data protection laws may differ from those in your country. Where required, we rely on appropriate safeguards for such transfers, including the standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission.
7. Data Retention
- Recordings are kept until you delete them. A deleted recording is held in your archive for thirty (30) days, during which it can be restored, and is then permanently removed together with its transcript, thumbnail, comments, reactions and viewing data.
- Incomplete uploads that are never finished are removed automatically.
- Free-plan recordings beyond your twenty-five most recent stop being playable but are not deleted; they remain yours to delete or to unlock by upgrading.
- Account information is kept for as long as your account exists. When you delete your account, your recordings, request links, profile and sign-in are removed. A team that had no other members is removed with it; recordings made within a team with other members remain with the team.
- Server logs and backups are retained for a limited period for the operation and security of the Service and then expire.
- Billing records are retained as required by tax and accounting law.
8. Security
We use technical and organisational measures designed to protect information against unauthorised access, loss, alteration or disclosure. Information is encrypted in transit using TLS and at rest in our storage systems. Access to production systems is restricted to personnel who need it to operate the Service. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. If you believe your account has been compromised, contact us immediately at the address in Section 15.
9. Your Rights and Choices
Depending on where you live, you may have some or all of the following rights regarding your personal information:
- Access: to obtain a copy of the personal information we hold about you;
- Correction: to have inaccurate or incomplete information corrected;
- Deletion: to have your personal information deleted;
- Portability: to receive your information in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format;
- Objection and restriction: to object to, or ask us to restrict, certain processing;
- Withdrawal of consent: where processing is based on consent, to withdraw it at any time;
- Complaint: to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.
Most of these rights can be exercised directly in the Service. Your library lists every recording we hold for you; any recording can be downloaded as a file and its transcript as text; your name and picture can be changed in Settings; and your account can be deleted in Settings, immediately and without contacting us. For anything the Service does not let you do yourself, contact us at the address in Section 15. We will respond within thirty (30) days and may need to verify your identity before acting on a request.
Viewers and Senders who have no account may ask us to remove their views, comments, reactions or a recording they sent by contacting us with the recording's link.
California residents. The California Consumer Privacy Act gives you the right to know what personal information we collect and how it is used and shared, the right to delete it, the right to correct it, and the right not to be discriminated against for exercising these rights. We do not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined under California law, and we do not use or disclose sensitive personal information for purposes other than providing the Service.
11. Device Permissions
The Slate applications request the following permissions from your operating system, each for a single purpose:
- Screen recording: to capture your screen, only while you are recording. Nothing is captured at any other time.
- Microphone: to record your voice during a take, only if you have turned it on for that take.
- Camera: to record you during a take, only if you have turned it on for that take.
- Photos and files: to upload a file you select. The applications do not scan or index your library.
You may revoke any permission at any time in your device's settings; the related feature will stop working until it is granted again.
12. Children's Privacy
The Service is not directed at children under the age of 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in your jurisdiction), and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will delete it.
13. Third-Party Links and Services
Recordings may contain, and their pages may display, links to websites and services that are not operated by us, including the pages shown during a recording. This Policy does not apply to those third parties, and we are not responsible for their content or privacy practices. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of any site you visit.
14. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. If a change materially affects how we use your information, for example a new category of service provider that processes your recordings, we will provide additional notice within the Service before the change takes effect. Your continued use of the Service after a change becomes effective constitutes acceptance of the revised Policy. The current version is always available at slatevideo.com/privacy.
15. Contact Us
If you have questions, concerns or requests regarding this Policy or our handling of your information, please contact us:
MetaCTO LLC, a Delaware limited liability company
Email: support@slatevideo.com
Web: www.metacto.com