Privacy Policy

Who we are

The Gen Alpha Decoder (translate-easy.com) is operated by Customer Experience Insight Pty Ltd (ABN 61 634 039 759), trading as WA AI Hub, Australia (“we”). Contact: translate-easy.com/contact.

We are a small business, so the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) may not bind us by law. We choose to follow them anyway, together with the privacy rules of the European Union and United Kingdom for people there, and we make the promises in this policy to you as a matter of consumer law. This service is for adults; see our Children's Policy.

Using the decoder without an account

Your device-local favourites, viewing history and language preference are stored only in your browser's local storage. When you search a term the decoder doesn't know yet, the search text is sent to our server and to a third-party AI provider to generate a definition. Search text is processed to answer your request and is not linked to your identity, except in the safety situation described below. We keep anonymous, aggregate counts of which terms are looked up to improve the lexicon.

To apply the daily limit on AI prompt generation fairly, we set a cookie containing a random identifier. It isn't linked to your name or email and isn't used for advertising or cross-site tracking.

To stop automated abuse, we also use your IP address to apply rate limits and a daily ceiling on AI requests. It is held as a counter that expires within 24 hours, and isn't linked to your searches.

Safety records

If text typed into the decoder, a suggestion, feedback or a report suggests that someone may intend to harm themselves or others, we don't send it to an AI provider. We show support services and keep a secure record of the text, the time, the IP address, device (user agent) details and, if you are signed in, your account identifier. A person on our team is alerted so they can assess the risk. We use this record only to respond to that risk and, where the law permits or requires it (for example, to lessen or prevent a serious threat to someone's life, health or safety), to share it with emergency services or police. Safety records are deleted after 90 days unless they are needed for an investigation or legal proceedings. For other safety-related lookups we keep only the topic category, with no search text and no IP address. See our Safety page.

When you report a definition, we keep the reason and any note you add, so we can review the report and show how we handled it. Please don't include personal details in the note.

Accounts

If you create an account we store your name, email address, a hashed password (or a link to your account with a sign-in provider, if you sign in that way), the role you choose (parent or educator), and the things you save: synced saved terms and lesson plans. School licence holders also store the name of their school and the email addresses of teachers they invite. We use this data only to provide the service and to contact you about your account.

Optional details you give when you sign up

When you sign up we ask whether you're a parent or carer, a teacher, or choosing for a school, then a few optional questions. Parents and carers can tell us what would help most. Educators can tell us their school or organisation, role, state or country, sector, year levels, goals, how many teachers might use it, and when they want to start. Every question is optional, the service works the same without answers, and apart from the school name every answer is picked from a list, so there's no place to type details about a child or student. We use the answers to point you to the right features and to prioritise which educators we offer help to (see Automated decisions and AI). You can change or delete them on your account page at any time.

Emails and calls about getting set up

We email educators about setting up the service or a school licence only if they tick a box that asks for it, and call only school decision-makers who separately tick a box to be called and give a phone number. Both boxes start unticked and aren't a condition of using the service. We keep a record of what you agreed to and when. Every email we send you about this says who we are and has an unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing takes effect straight away. You can also turn emails and calls off on your account page, or tell us when we call. When you unsubscribe we keep a scrambled (hashed) copy of your email address on a do-not-contact list so we don't contact you again, even if you later make a new account, unless you opt in again. We don't ask parents and carers for marketing consent and don't send them marketing.

Payments

Payments are processed by our payment provider. Your card details go directly to that provider and never touch our servers; we store only its identifiers for your customer and subscription, the plan and its status, and renewal dates. The provider's handling of your data is described in its own privacy policy, which it shows you at checkout. Receipts and payment reminders are emailed by the provider.

Cookies and local storage

We don't use advertising, tracking or social-media cookies, and we don't set any cookie when you only read pages. We set these, all of which are needed to provide what you asked for, so we don't show a cookie banner:

• Usage-limit cookie (gad_anon): a random identifier, signed so it can't be forged, set the first time you generate AI prompts. It lasts 24 hours, is only sent to us, and is not readable by scripts on the page. It lets us apply the daily limit fairly.
• Welcome-choice cookie (gad_onboarded): remembers that you have seen the parent or educator choice screen so we don't show it again. It holds the value “1” and lasts 12 months.
• Sign-in cookies: if you sign in, our sign-in system sets secure cookies that keep you signed in. They are removed when you sign out or they expire.
• Local storage in your browser (favourites, history, language and similar settings). It never leaves your device and is cleared when you clear site data.

Because these are strictly necessary, we don't ask for consent to set them. Our payment provider sets its own cookies on its checkout, as described in its policy.

Analytics

We use a privacy-preserving analytics service, which collects anonymised page-view metrics without cookies and without tracking you across sites.

Who we share information with, and where

We don't sell personal information or use it for advertising. We use these service providers to run the decoder, and they handle information for us:

• A website hosting provider (serves the site, keeps short-lived request logs that include IP addresses, and provides privacy-preserving analytics), United States
• A database provider (accounts, saved items and safety records), United States
• A rate-limiting service (counters that include IP addresses, kept for up to 24 hours), which replicates data across several regions and countries
• AI content providers, which receive only the term or text being looked up and the chosen language, never your name or email: two in the United States and one in Singapore, whose affiliates in China may have limited remote access
• An automated safety screening provider, which receives the text of AI-written definitions, translations and discussion prompts, and text you submit as a suggestion or feedback, to check it for unsafe content. It never receives your name, email or IP address. United States
• A payment provider (payments and receipts), United States
• An email service (alerts to our own team), United States
• A form-handling service (the contact form), United States
• A sign-in provider, if you choose to sign in with a linked account

So information you give us may be stored or processed outside Australia, mainly in the United States and Singapore, possibly with remote access from China for AI lookups sent to one AI content provider, and for rate-limit counters in other countries where the rate-limiting service operates. We take reasonable steps to make sure these providers handle information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles. Safety records are never sent to AI providers or to the safety screening provider. We may also disclose information to police, emergency services, the eSafety Commissioner or other authorities where the law requires or permits it, as described under Safety records.

Automated decisions and AI

Some decisions about how the decoder treats you or your text are made by computer programs, with no person involved at the time. We list them here so you can see how they work and challenge them. Where we say “automatically”, a computer program makes the decision on its own. Where we say a person reviews it, the program only flags the item and a person decides.

Decisions made automatically

• Safety check on what you type. A keyword check (rule-based, not AI) reads text you type into the decoder, a suggestion, feedback or a report. It automatically decides whether to show support services instead of a definition, and whether to keep a safety record and alert our team (see Safety records). It uses the text you typed and, for a safety record, your IP address, device details and account identifier if you are signed in.
• Safety screening of content. An AI safety classifier reads AI-written definitions, translations and discussion prompts, and text you submit as a suggestion or feedback. It automatically decides whether the item is held back for a person to review before it is used or shown to others. If it holds something you submitted, we tell you straight away. It uses the text only, never your name, email or IP address.
• Usage limits. Programs automatically refuse AI requests once a daily limit or a rate limit is reached, and block automated abuse. They use your IP address, the random identifier in the cookie described above and, if you are signed in, your account and plan. A limit lifts when the period resets.
• Subscription payments. Our payment provider's systems automatically decide whether a renewal or trial payment is accepted, retried or, if it ultimately fails, whether the subscription is cancelled. Its fraud-screening system also automatically decides whether to decline a payment it assesses as high risk. They use your plan, its status, renewal dates, and payment and device details held by the provider.

Decisions a program helps a person make

• Follow-up priority. When an educator agrees to be contacted, a program scores their optional answers (for example their role, school size and timeline) and email domain to suggest how soon our team should reply. A person decides whether and how to follow up, only through the channels you agreed to. The score never changes what you can do in the app.
• Our keyword check and AI classifier flag terms, suggestions and feedback that a person then reviews and decides to publish, correct, restrict or remove. The person can overrule the flag.

AI-written content

AI models write many definitions, translations and discussion prompts from the term or text being looked up and the chosen language. This content is labelled “AI-generated”. It is not a decision about you and doesn't use your name or email.

Asking for a person to review

If you think an automated decision about you was wrong, for example a limit applied to you or content held back, use “Report this definition” or contact us (see below), and a person will review it. You can also ask for the personal information used, and we will handle the request under Access, correction and complaints.

How we protect information

The site is served over HTTPS only, with strict transport security. Passwords are stored hashed, never in plain text. Access to the database and to safety records is limited to named staff, the application connects with a restricted database role, and safety records are kept in a tamper-evident log. AI providers receive only the term or text being looked up, never your name or email. We don't currently offer multi-factor authentication for accounts, so please use a strong, unique password. No system is perfectly secure. If a breach is likely to cause you serious harm, we will tell you and, where required, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner as soon as we can, and take steps to reduce the harm.

People in the European Union and United Kingdom

The service is aimed at Australia, but if you are in the EU or UK, the GDPR (or UK GDPR) gives you extra rights. We are the controller of your personal information. We use it on these grounds: to provide the service and manage your account and plan (performing a contract); to run the safety checks, prevent abuse and fraud, secure the site and keep records (our legitimate interests in a safe service, which we balance against your rights, with the safety record limited to what is needed); to keep tax records (legal obligation); and, in the rare case of an urgent threat to someone's life, to protect their vital interests. For your optional sign-up answers we rely on our legitimate interest in helping educators set up the service, which you can object to at any time by deleting them. We email or call you about setting up only with your consent, which you can withdraw at any time without affecting what we did before. We don't offer accounts to anyone under 18.

You have the right to access, correct, delete, restrict and receive a copy of your information, to object to processing based on our legitimate interests, to stop direct marketing at any time (we always honour this), and not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing that has legal or similarly significant effects on you, or to ask for a person to review it (see Automated decisions and AI). To use these rights, contact us as described below. You can complain to your local data-protection authority.

Your information is processed in Australia, the United States, Singapore and other countries listed above. Where the law requires a transfer mechanism, we rely on the safeguards our providers offer, such as the European Commission's standard contractual clauses or the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, and we limit what we send. We haven't appointed an EU or UK representative because we don't target people there.

How long we keep information

Account information, optional sign-up answers, saved terms and lesson plans: until you delete your account, except that optional sign-up answers are cleared after 24 months without a sign-in. Records of your contact choices: while they are current, then 2 years as proof of what you agreed to (including after you delete your account, without your name or account). Do-not-contact list (hashed email only): until you opt in again. Safety records about a possible risk of harm: 90 days, unless they are needed for an investigation or legal proceedings. Records of reports: 2 years. Usage-limit cookie: 24 hours. Rate-limit counters with IP addresses: up to 24 hours. Hosting request logs: for the period set by the hosting provider. Records of how published content was produced and moderated, which hold no personal information: 7 years. Deleted information can remain in database backups for a short time until those backups expire.

Children

The decoder is built for parents and educators. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children, and the app does not offer accounts for minors: you confirm you are 18 or over when you sign up, and if someone tells us they are under 18 we delete the account straight away. We don't ask about your children or students, and sign-up questions use fixed options so there is nowhere to type about them. We don't profile children or send them marketing. Because anyone can type into the decoder, a safety record (described above) may occasionally concern a child; it is handled only to protect them or others. Parents and guardians can ask to see or delete information about their child. Read our Children's Policy.

Your choices and deletion

You can clear all locally stored data at any time by clearing your browser's site data for translate-easy.com. You can update your name and password, and delete your account, from the account page. There you can also change your optional details, turn setup emails and calls off, and download a copy of your data. Every email we send about getting set up has an unsubscribe link. Deleting your account removes your profile, saved terms and lesson plans, and cancels any subscription. Invoices and payment records are retained by our payment provider and by us for as long as Australian tax law requires.

Access, correction and complaints

You can download most of the personal information we hold about you from your account page (“Download my data”). You can also ask us for a copy, or ask us to correct it. It's free, and we'll reply within 30 days. We may need to confirm who you are first, and in limited cases the law lets us refuse (for example, if giving access would put someone's safety at risk); we'll tell you why.

If you have a privacy concern or complaint, contact us at safety@wahub.ai or through our contact page. We'll acknowledge it within 5 business days and aim to resolve it within 30 days. If you're not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), although it may be unable to investigate if the Privacy Act doesn't apply to us, or your local data-protection authority if you are in the EU or UK. The OAIC is at oaic.gov.au or on 1300 363 992.