Privacy policy

This policy explains how Priorframe handles your data. We wrote it in plain language, so you can read it once and understand it. Priorframe helps you prove that you published a photo first, and then watches the public web for copies and AI derivatives. To do that, we handle some of your data with care. Below, we describe what we collect, why we collect it, who helps us, and the choices you have. If a term is technical, we define it the first time we use it.

1. Who we are

Priorframe is a service that signs your photos and monitors the web on your behalf. When you protect a photo, we create a record that shows the photo existed at a certain time and is linked to your account. We then scan the public web, on a best effort basis, and alert you when we find likely copies or derivatives.

Star & Partners Ltd operates Priorframe. Our address is Second Floor, Berkeley Square House, Berkeley Square, London W1J 6BD, United Kingdom. For the purpose of data protection law, we are the data controller for the personal data described here. A data controller is the party that decides why and how your data is processed.

This policy covers our mobile apps for Android, distributed through Google Play, and iOS, distributed through the App Store, and our web app at app.priorframe.com. It also covers our marketing site at priorframe.com, including the free Content Credentials checker there. When we say “we,” “us,” or “our,” we mean Priorframe. When we say “you” or “your,” we mean the person using the service.

2. Account data

To create and run your account, we collect two things: your email address and your name. That is the account data we hold about you. We ask for these two details, and no more, to open and run your account.

We use your email address to sign you in, to send you service messages, to deliver alerts, and to reply when you contact us. We use your name to identify your account, and, if you choose, as your public display name on verify pages. Section 4 explains verify pages in full.

We keep this data for as long as your account is active. Section 11 covers retention. Section 12 covers what happens when you delete your account.

If you join the waitlist on our marketing site, we collect only your email address. We send a confirmation link first, and we email you further only after you click it. If you never confirm, you receive nothing beyond that confirmation message. You can ask us to remove your address at any time by contacting us (section 18).

3. Uploaded images and derived data

When you protect a photo, you upload the image to us. We store that image, and we compute three pieces of derived data from it. Derived data is information we calculate from your image. We keep the original image so we can show a preview on your verify page, and so we can compare it against copies we find online.

The first is a content hash. A content hash is a short string of characters computed from the exact bytes of your file. If a single pixel changes, the hash changes. We use the content hash to prove that a specific file existed at a specific time.

The second is a perceptual fingerprint. A perceptual fingerprint is a compact summary of how your image looks. Unlike a content hash, it stays similar even after resizing, cropping, or light edits. We use it to find copies that have been changed in small ways.

The third is an image embedding. An image embedding is a list of numbers that represents the visual meaning of your image. We use it to find AI derivatives and close lookalikes that a fingerprint alone might miss.

When you protect a photo, we also record a trusted timestamp for it. To do this, we send a cryptographic hash of your image, never the image itself, to a timestamp authority, which returns a signed proof of the time. We then give you back a signed copy of your photo with a credential embedded in the file. That embedded credential contains the name you chose, the time of signing, and a link to the public record for the image, and anyone who holds the signed copy can read those details.

We record the three derived values, along with the timestamp, in our registry. The registry is our internal record of protected works. We use it to power your verify page and to drive our monitoring. We scan the public web on a best effort basis, and we send you an alert when we find a likely copy or derivative. To search for copies, we send a small scan thumbnail of your protected image to the third party reverse image services listed in Section 8. When we find a match on a public page, we store a snapshot of the matched image as evidence, so you have a record of what we found. We also generate takedown letter templates that you can use to request removal.

4. Public verify pages

Each protected photo has a public verify page. Anyone who has the link can open it. No account is needed to view it.

A verify page shows five things:

• a preview thumbnail of the signed work,
• the content hash,
• the signing timestamp,
• your account’s public display name,
• the verification status.

The verify page is meant to be shared. It is how you show others that your work is registered, and when. Please keep this in mind when you choose your public display name, because that name appears on the page for anyone with the link. If you delete your account, we unpublish your verify pages. Section 12 has the details.

5. Anonymous verification

Anyone can use our free verify tool to check an image, without an account. When you submit an image to the verify tool, we process it only to produce your verification report. We do not add it to the registry, and we keep it only briefly, in a short lived cache, before discarding it.

You can also verify an image by giving us its web address instead of uploading a file. When you do, we fetch the image from the address you give us so that we can check it.

The Content Credentials checker on our marketing site works differently. It reads a file’s credentials inside your browser, and the file itself is never sent to us. To tell you whether the file is in our registry, your browser sends us only two fingerprints derived from it, a content hash and a perceptual fingerprint, together with your IP address for rate limiting. We use them only to answer that request. Neither fingerprint can be turned back into the image. If you check a link instead of a file, the address is sent to our verify service, which fetches the image to produce the report, as described above.

6. Device push tokens

If you use our app and turn on alerts, we collect a device push token. A push token is a code that identifies your device to a messaging service, so that service can deliver a notification to you.

We use Firebase Cloud Messaging, a Google service, to send these notifications. We use the token only to deliver alerts about your protected photos. If you turn off notifications, we stop using the token to deliver them. You stay in control of alerts from your device settings at any time.

7. Payments

We offer paid plans. On the web, payments are handled by Stripe. In the Android app, payments are handled by Google Play billing. The iOS app does not sell subscriptions; iOS users subscribe on the web.

We never see or store your full card number. The payment provider collects and processes your card data directly, under its own terms and privacy policy. We receive only limited information, such as whether a payment succeeded and which plan you hold, so we can manage your subscription and send you a receipt.

8. Subprocessors we use

A subprocessor is a company we hire to process data on our behalf. We choose each one for a specific job, and we require each to protect your data. Here are the subprocessors we use, and what each one does:

• Cloudflare: hosting, content delivery, security, and sending transactional email, such as sign-in messages and alerts.
• Stripe: payment processing on the web.
• Google: Google sign-in, which processes the identity token from your Google account; Play billing in the app; Firebase Cloud Messaging for push notifications; and Cloud Vision, a reverse image service we use during monitoring.
• SerpAPI: reverse image search during monitoring, which it runs on our behalf through Google Lens, Yandex, and Bing image search.
• Trufo: the certificate authority that issues our C2PA signing certificate, and trusted timestamping. When you sign an image, we send a cryptographic hash of it, never the image itself, to its timestamp authority to record the time.
• Sightengine, or an equivalent provider: image analysis, AI-generation detection, and content moderation.
• Jina AI: running the AI model that computes image embeddings, which we use to detect derivatives. Replicate, or an equivalent provider, may run the same model as a fallback.

We may change subprocessors as our service grows. When we do, we will keep this list current.

9. Cookies and analytics

We use functional cookies only. A cookie is a small file that a website stores in your browser. Our functional cookies keep you signed in and keep the service secure. We do not use advertising cookies.

Our marketing site may use Cloudflare Web Analytics to understand traffic. This tool is cookieless, which means it does not store a cookie and does not track you across sites. We do not sell your personal data, and we do not use it for advertising.

10. Abuse prevention

To protect the service from abuse, we process a small amount of data for security. We use IP addresses to apply rate limits when you sign in, when an image is verified, and when someone reports a public page. We use them to detect and slow down automated abuse, not to build a profile of you.

We also keep one record after an account is deleted. When you delete your account, we retain a one way hashed version of your account email, so that the same address cannot be used to start another free trial. We cannot recover the original email from this hash, and we use it only to enforce the one trial per customer limit. Section 12 describes account deletion in full.

11. How long we keep your data

We keep your personal data for as long as your account is active. This includes your account data, your uploaded images, and the derived data described in Section 3.

We do not keep your data longer than we need it for the purpose we collected it. When you delete your account, we begin the deletion process described in Section 12. We may keep limited records where the law requires it, for example certain payment records that tax rules ask us to retain.

12. What happens when you delete your account

You can delete your account at any time. When you do, the following happens:

• We unpublish your public verify pages right away.
• We delete your uploaded images, your derived data (content hashes, perceptual fingerprints, and embeddings), and your personal data within 30 days.
• We purge this data from our backups within 90 days.

Backups are copies we keep so we can recover from a failure. They rotate on a schedule, which is why purging them takes longer than the main deletion.

One record is kept beyond deletion. As explained in Section 10, we retain a one way hashed version of your account email so that the same address cannot claim another free trial. This hash cannot be turned back into your email, and we use it for no other purpose.

13. Your rights under the GDPR and UK GDPR

If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, and the UK GDPR give you rights over your personal data. Those rights are:

• the right to access the data we hold about you,
• the right to correct data that is wrong,
• the right to delete your data,
• the right to restrict or object to certain processing,
• the right to receive your data in a portable form,
• the right to withdraw consent at any time,
• the right to complain to your local data protection authority.

We rely on these lawful bases to process your data. A lawful basis is the legal reason we are allowed to process it:

• Contract: we process your account data, images, and derived data to provide the service you signed up for.
• Legitimate interests: we process data to keep the service secure, and to operate our monitoring function, which is the core purpose of Priorframe.
• Consent: we send optional marketing email only if you opt in. You can withdraw that consent at any time.
• Legal obligation: we process some data where the law requires it, for example to keep tax records.

To exercise any right, contact us using the details in Section 18.

14. Your rights under the CCPA

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA, gives you rights over your personal information. These include the right to know what we collect, the right to delete it, the right to correct it, and the right not to be treated differently for using your rights.

We do not sell your personal information. We do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. To exercise your rights, contact us using the details in Section 18.

15. International data transfers

We are based in the United Kingdom, and our subprocessors may process data in other countries. When we move personal data across borders, we use safeguards approved under data protection law.

For transfers out of the European Economic Area, we use the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses. For transfers out of the United Kingdom, we add the UK international data transfer addendum. These are standard legal terms that require the party receiving the data to protect it to the same standard.

16. Children

Priorframe is not for children. People under 16 are not permitted to use the service. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has used Priorframe, please contact us, and we will remove the data.

17. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as our service changes, or as the law changes. When we make a material change, we will update the effective date at the top, and, where appropriate, tell you by email or in the app. Please review this policy from time to time.

18. How to contact us

If you have a question about this policy or your data, we are glad to help. You can reach us by email at support@priorframe.com. You can also write to us at Second Floor, Berkeley Square House, Berkeley Square, London W1J 6BD, United Kingdom. We will respond within a reasonable time.