Who we are
Jotter (www.jotter.study) is an AI tutor for secondary school students. It's run by Declan Gallagher, a sole trader in Australia. In this notice, "we" and "us" means Declan, as the person who runs Jotter.
We're responsible for the information described here. Jotter is a small business, so Australia's Privacy Act 1988 may not apply to it, but we follow the Act's Australian Privacy Principles all the same: the rules for handling personal information in Australia. Jotter's older address, study-buddy-bog.pages.dev, is part of the same service, and this notice covers it too.
What we keep, and why
Jotter saves your work in your browser as you go. When you're signed in, it's saved to your account as well. You sign in with a Google account, and without the details Google gives us, we can't make your Jotter account. This is what we keep.
| What | Why | How long |
|---|---|---|
| Your name, email address and Google's ID for your account, which Google gives us when you sign in | To make your Jotter account and know it's you | Until your account is deleted |
| The work you save: worksheets you open, your marks, drawings and steps on them, your whiteboards, your conversations with Pip, your revisit list and progress, your settings, and Pip's notes on how you learn | So your work follows you to any device you sign in on | Until you delete it, or your account is deleted |
| A Claude or ElevenLabs key, if one is added, saved encrypted | So it doesn't have to be pasted in on every device. We never use a key ourselves. | Until it's removed, or your account is deleted |
| How much you use Pip each day: the number of replies, how much text was sent and what it cost | To give you your free weekly helping of Pip, and to keep Jotter affordable to run | Until your account is deleted |
| A scrambled copy of the code that keeps you signed in, and when it runs out | To keep you signed in, and your account safe | 60 days, or until you sign out |
| Your IP address and the details of each request, such as the page asked for and the type of browser | To deliver the site, and to protect it from attacks | Handled by Cloudflare as it delivers each page. We don't keep our own record of it. |
| Visits to the website's own pages (the welcome page, this notice, the terms and the contact page, never the app itself): which page, where the visit came from, the type of device and browser, the country, and how quickly the page loaded | To see how many people visit, and how well the pages work | Cloudflare counts them without cookies and without identifying anyone, so we only ever see totals. You can switch it off (see Cookies). |
We never use your information for adverts, we never sell it, and we only share it with the services below that help run Jotter. We use it for the reasons in the table and nothing else, unless you agree or the law requires it.
Pip marks your work and suggests what to practise next. That's automatic, but it's practice feedback to help you learn. It's never an official grade, and it's never used to make decisions about you.
Pip and Claude
Pip's replies are written by Claude, an AI made by Anthropic. When Pip helps you, Jotter sends Anthropic what Pip needs to answer:
- what you type or say to Pip;
- the page or whiteboard you're working on, as pictures and text, and the steps you've written;
- your course, such as your year and exam board;
- Pip's notes on how you learn.
When you're working on your own, Pip takes a quiet look at your page now and then to spot a slip. You can turn that off in Settings.
Anthropic handles this only to write Pip's replies, under a contract with us, and it doesn't use it to train its AI. It deletes it within 30 days, except anything flagged as breaking its rules on misuse, which it can keep for up to two years.
Pip's notes are about your learning: which topics feel secure, which mistakes you tend to make, and what helps you. Pip is told never to note anything about your health, your family, where you live, your contact details or other people. You can read, correct or delete any note, or wipe them all, in your Notebook.
Pip doesn't need to know your full name, your address, your school or anything private, so please don't tell it.
If a Claude key of your own is used instead, your browser sends this straight to Anthropic under that key's Anthropic account, and Anthropic's terms for that account apply.
Talking to Pip
When you talk to Pip, Jotter turns your speech into words on your own device. The recording never leaves it; only the words go to Pip. The first time you use your voice, your browser downloads the speech model from Hugging Face in the United States, which logs your IP address as any website does.
Pip reads its replies aloud with the voices built into your browser. Some browsers use their maker's online service for these voices.
Jotter can also use ElevenLabs for Pip's voice and for understanding speech, but only with an ElevenLabs key that someone has added. ElevenLabs only allows people aged 18 and over, so students shouldn't add one. If a key is added, Pip's replies and the speech go to ElevenLabs in the United States, under the account the key belongs to. ElevenLabs may use them to improve its voices unless that account has turned this off.
Where your information is kept
- On your device. Everything you do in Jotter is saved in your browser, so it's there next time. Clearing your browser's data for jotter.study removes it.
- In your account. If you sign in, your account and saved work are kept on Cloudflare's servers in Western Europe. Each request passes through whichever of Cloudflare's servers is nearest to you.
- With the services that help run Jotter, as the next section explains. Some of them are in the United States.
Who else handles it
| Service | What it does for Jotter | What it gets | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare | Runs the website, keeps your account and saved work, and counts visits to the website's pages | Everything in your account; your IP address and the details of each request | Your account: Western Europe. Delivering pages: worldwide |
| Anthropic | Writes Pip's replies, with Claude | What Pip needs to answer (see Pip and Claude) | Kept in the United States; it may handle requests in Europe, Asia or Australia too |
| Lets you sign in with your Google account | That you signed in to Jotter. Google's own privacy policy covers your Google account. | United States | |
| Hugging Face | Hosts the speech model your browser downloads | Your IP address, as with any download | United States |
Some of your information goes overseas: your account is kept in Western Europe, and what Pip needs to answer goes to Anthropic, which keeps it in the United States. Cloudflare and Anthropic handle your information only on our instructions, under contracts that require them to keep it safe. Before it goes, we take reasonable steps to make sure it'll be looked after the way the Australian Privacy Principles require, and we stay responsible for how they handle it.
Google and Hugging Face are in the United States too. You deal with them directly, when you sign in with Google and when your browser downloads the speech model, and their own privacy policies apply.
How long we keep things
- Your account, and everything saved in it, until you delete it or ask us to. When you delete a whiteboard, its copy in your account goes straight away. Copies in our hosting's backups are gone within 30 days.
- Sign-ins last 60 days, and a Google sign-in in progress 15 minutes.
- What's on your device stays until you delete it or clear your browser's data.
- If you ask us to delete your account, we delete it and everything in it within 30 days, and usually much sooner.
Your rights
You can:
- get a copy of the information we have about you, in a common format you can take elsewhere;
- have it corrected if it's wrong;
- have it deleted;
- complain to us, and ask Australia's privacy regulator for advice.
You can do a lot of this in Jotter yourself. You can read, correct and delete Pip's notes in your Notebook, delete whiteboards (their copies in your account go too), and sign out. For anything else, email privacy@jotter.study from the address on your account. It's free, and we'll reply within 30 days. A parent or carer can ask on your behalf.
If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information, complain to us at privacy@jotter.study. We'll look into it, and within 30 days we'll tell you what we found and what we'll do about it. If you're not happy with our answer, or you haven't had one after 30 days, you can ask Australia's privacy regulator, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), for advice at oaic.gov.au/privacy or on 1300 363 992. Because the Privacy Act may not cover a business as small as Jotter, the OAIC may not be able to look into a complaint about us.
Age, and staying safe
Jotter is for people aged 13 and over. If you're under 13, please don't use it. If we find out that someone under 13 has an account, we'll delete it. If you're 13 or 14, please check with a parent or carer before you sign up.
We've built Jotter with young people's privacy in mind. There's nothing public in it: no profiles, no sharing, and no chatting with other people. We don't use your information for adverts. Pip's notes are only there to help you learn, and you can wipe them whenever you like.
Pip is an AI, not a person, and it can get things wrong. Check anything important with your teacher.
Changes to this notice
We'll update this notice when Jotter changes, and the date at the top will say when. If a change affects you, we'll tell you in Jotter before it happens.
Getting in touch
Email privacy@jotter.study with any question about your information or this notice. Jotter is run by Declan Gallagher, a sole trader in Australia.