This Privacy Policy describes how Roots of Truth Initiative ("Roots of Truth," "we," "us," "our") collects, uses, and discloses information when you use IDENTIphi (the "Service"). It is incorporated by reference into our Terms of Service.
We have written this policy in plain language. Where a section uses a defined or technical term, we explain what it means.
1. Two kinds of information, treated very differently
IDENTIphi involves two distinct kinds of personal information, and we treat them differently:
- Your information — information about you, the user of the Service: your name, email, sign-in identifiers, and how you interact with the Service.
- Subject information — information about the people you research using IDENTIphi: names, family trees, DNA matches, photographs, documents, notes, and other case content you upload. These individuals (whom we call "Subjects") are typically not users of the Service and have not consented to your research by virtue of you using IDENTIphi.
The legal responsibility for Subject information rests with you and your organization, not with Roots of Truth. We host Subject information on your behalf, as a processor, and apply security and confidentiality measures to it — but we do not select Subjects, do not contact them, and do not use their data for any purpose other than providing the Service to you.
2. Information we collect about you (the user)
Account information. When you create an account we collect your name, email address, and either (a) a Google account identifier if you sign in with Google or (b) a password (stored as a salted bcrypt hash; we never see your plaintext password).
Profile information. First and last name, phone number, and notification preferences if you provide them.
Organization membership. The organization(s) you belong to and your role within each (admin, owner, genealogist, viewer, case manager).
Authentication and security data. Sign-in timestamps, IP addresses at the moment of authentication, failed-login counts, lockout state, session identifiers (stored server-side, never in cookies in plaintext), recovery tokens, and email-verification tokens. Security events are recorded in an internal audit log.
Usage information. Pages you visit within the Service, features you use, errors you encounter, and approximate timing of actions. We use this to operate, debug, and improve the Service.
Communications. If you email us at support@, legal@, or security@identiphi.me, we keep that correspondence.
We do not collect your DNA data about yourself unless you choose to upload your own data into a case as a Subject.
3. Information about Subjects of your research
When you create cases, upload pedigrees, match lists, photos, event documents, notes, contacts, or other case content, that content frequently contains personal information about Subjects. We host and process this content on your behalf so the Service can function.
We treat Subject information as confidential. We:
- store it in cross-organization-isolated form so other organizations cannot reach it;
- restrict access to it by Service personnel to the minimum necessary for security, operations, and support, and only when authorized by you;
- do not use it to train machine-learning models;
- do not sell it;
- do not disclose it except as described in this Policy or as required by law.
You retain ownership of Subject information you upload, in the sense that you control it through the Service: you can edit it, export it, and delete it.
You are the controller, in legal terms, of Subject information. You are responsible for the lawful basis on which you collect it and for honoring any rights of Subjects under applicable law (for example, the GDPR's rights of access, rectification, and erasure where applicable to your processing). If a Subject contacts us directly about data you have uploaded, we will forward their request to you.
4. How we use your information
We use information we collect to:
- provide the Service — operate accounts, host cases, run analyses, generate reports;
- authenticate you and protect the Service from abuse, fraud, and security threats;
- communicate with you — service announcements, security notices, password resets, invitation emails, replies to your support requests;
- improve the Service — debug errors, plan features, fix bugs; we do this with the minimum information necessary, and prefer aggregated or anonymized data where it works;
- meet our legal obligations.
We do not:
- sell your personal information;
- sell Subject information;
- use Subject information to train machine-learning models;
- use Subject information for any purpose other than providing the Service to you.
5. Service providers and where data lives
We rely on a small set of service providers to operate the Service. Each is bound by confidentiality and data-protection obligations.
- Hosting and database — Roots of Truth-controlled infrastructure located in the United States.
- Object storage — self-hosted Garage (S3-compatible) storage located on Roots of Truth-controlled infrastructure.
- Email delivery — Resend (resend.com) for transactional email (sign-in links, invites, security alerts, password resets).
- Authentication identity provider — Google (when you sign in with Google) and Apple (when offered). These providers verify your identity; they do not see Subject information.
- Optional third-party integrations — when you connect to FamilySearch or import data from GEDmatch or other third-party services, those services see the requests you make and apply their own privacy policies.
We will not transfer your data to a service provider not listed above without first updating this Policy.
6. Disclosure to others
We will disclose information when:
- You direct us to — for example, when you invite a colleague to a case, that colleague will see the case content;
- It is necessary to provide the Service — to the service providers listed above;
- The law requires us to — in response to a lawful subpoena, court order, or other legal process. We will notify you before disclosing your information in response to legal process unless we are prohibited by law from doing so, or unless we reasonably believe doing so would risk life, serious injury, or a child-safety emergency;
- To protect rights and safety — if necessary to investigate fraud, security incidents, or violations of our Terms;
- In a corporate transaction — if Roots of Truth is involved in a merger, acquisition, asset sale, or dissolution, your information may be transferred to the successor entity, subject to commitments at least as protective as this Policy. We will notify you before such a transfer.
7. How long we keep data
- Your account information — for as long as your account is active, plus a reasonable period after closure for legal, security, and accounting purposes (typically up to two years).
- Case content (Your Data and Subject information) — for as long as your account is active. When you close your account or delete a case, content is removed from the live database within 30 days. Backups containing deleted content age out under our backup-retention schedule, typically 90 days.
- Audit logs — retained for two years, then deleted, except where law requires longer retention.
- Email correspondence — retained for two years from last contact.
You can request earlier deletion by emailing privacy@identiphi.me; we will honor the request unless we have a legal obligation to retain the data.
8. Security
We use commercially reasonable security measures to protect information in the Service, including:
- transport-layer encryption (HTTPS / TLS) for all connections;
- encryption at rest for the database, backups, and object storage;
- salted-bcrypt password hashing;
- session-fixation defense, cross-origin checks, content-security headers, and rate limiting on authentication endpoints;
- isolation of organizations at the query layer (cross-organization probes return a not-found response rather than revealing existence);
- append-only audit logging at the database level;
- principle of least privilege for personnel access.
No system is perfectly secure. If we become aware of a security incident affecting your data, we will notify you and the appropriate authorities as required by law.
9. Your choices and rights
You may:
- Access and update your account profile through the Service at any time;
- Export your case data through the Service's export feature;
- Delete specific cases through the Service;
- Close your account by emailing support@identiphi.me or using any in-product close-account function;
- Opt out of non-essential email by following the unsubscribe link in those emails. Service-critical messages (security alerts, password resets) cannot be opted out of while your account is active.
Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights under applicable law — for example, under California's CCPA/CPRA or the EU/UK GDPR. We honor verifiable requests to access, correct, or delete personal information about you. Email privacy@identiphi.me to make a request.
For Subject information (information about people you have researched), you should direct rights requests to the organization that uploaded the information, not to Roots of Truth. We will forward Subject requests to you if a Subject contacts us directly.
10. International users
Roots of Truth operates from and hosts data in the United States. If you access the Service from outside the United States, you understand that your information will be transferred to, stored in, and processed in the United States, which may have data-protection laws different from your home jurisdiction.
11. Children
The Service is not directed at children under 18 and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please email privacy@identiphi.me and we will investigate.
You are responsible for ensuring that any Subject information you upload about a minor is collected and processed lawfully under the laws applicable to you.
12. Cookies and similar technologies
We use a small number of cookies and similar technologies, all of which are essential to operating the Service:
- a session cookie that keeps you signed in;
- a return-to cookie that remembers where you were going if you have to sign in mid-flow.
We do not use third-party advertising cookies and we do not track you across other sites.
13. Changes to this Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy. The version number and effective date at the top of this Policy reflect the current version. If we make a material change, we will notify you in advance — typically by email or by a banner in the Service — and may require you to re-accept the updated Policy before continuing to use the Service.
14. Contact
Roots of Truth Initiative
Privacy questions: privacy@identiphi.me
General support: support@identiphi.me
Security reports: security@identiphi.me
Mailing address: available on request via privacy@identiphi.me.