Last updated: September 1, 2026

Privacy Notice

This Privacy Notice is designed to help you understand how BIALEROLOGY LLC ("we," "us," and "our") collects, uses, and shares your personal information and to help you understand and exercise your privacy rights.

Scope

This Privacy Notice applies to personal information processed by us on our website at https://questionpunk.com/ ("Website"), and our related online and offline offerings. To make this Privacy Notice easier to read, our Website and our related offerings are collectively called "Services."

QuestionPunk Mobile study participation

QuestionPunk Mobile is the participant app for research studies. The app does not require an account. The information described in this section is recorded in-app only during research studies you explicitly join, and only after you agree to that study’s in-app consent screen. Basic device and crash diagnostics may also be processed when needed to keep the app reliable.

Information collected in mobile studies

• Microphone audio: During an active voice study, the app streams microphone audio so the AI moderator can hear and respond to you. Audio may continue while you switch apps or lock the screen only while that consented study remains active. Capture stops when the study ends.
• Interview transcripts: Your interview audio is transcribed into text so the AI moderator can follow the conversation and so the researcher can review what was said.
• Screen recordings: If a study uses screen sharing, the app captures the screen only after you start the system sharing flow. On iOS, capture begins only after you tap Start Broadcast in Apple’s system flow. On Android, capture begins only after you accept the system MediaProjection consent dialog. The recording may include apps, websites, or other content you choose to show. Capture stops when you stop sharing or finish the study. An app-private recovery copy may be kept temporarily if a live upload is interrupted and is removed after upload or expiry.
• Survey and interview responses: We process the answers you submit, whether typed, selected, or spoken.
• Account and contact data, where provided: A study may request information such as your name, email address, or phone number. Recruitment platforms may pass a participant identifier or email address so the researcher can confirm completion.
• Session and diagnostic data: We process study and session identifiers, response and completion timestamps, app version, device model, operating-system version, product interactions, and crash or error details. This data connects your responses to the correct study and helps us diagnose failed sessions.
• Camera access for QR codes: If you choose to scan a study QR code, camera frames are processed on your device to read the link. Those frames are not stored, uploaded, or collected.
• Photos and files you submit: Some studies may ask you to take or select a photo, or choose a file, as your response. Only the photo or file you choose and submit is uploaded and shared with the researcher who created the study.

How this information is used

We use the information above only for the following purposes:

• Transcription: converting your interview audio into text transcripts.
• AI-moderated interviewing: letting the AI moderator understand your answers and ask relevant follow-up questions during the study.
• Analysis and reporting: delivering your responses, transcripts, recordings, and submitted photos or files to the researcher who created the study, and generating that researcher’s study analysis and reports.
• Service reliability: diagnosing failed sessions, crashes, and errors so the app and studies work dependably.

We do not use QuestionPunk Mobile study data for advertising or cross-app tracking.

Third-party providers for studies

To run studies, whether in the browser or in QuestionPunk Mobile, study data is processed by the following third-party providers, each limited to the role described:

• LiveKit: real-time audio and video transport, noise cancellation, and the model gateway (“LiveKit Inference”) through which most speech-to-text requests and some AI-moderation requests reach the providers below. Your live audio and any shared screen video pass through LiveKit during a session. LiveKit and the providers reached through it operate with zero data retention and do not train on your data.
• Speech-to-text: Deepgram, AssemblyAI, and Cartesia (reached through LiveKit), and ElevenLabs (used directly for Swahili, Amharic, and Kinyarwanda). They receive your interview audio and return the text transcript. Voice answers recorded outside a live interview are transcribed by OpenAI, with Google as a fallback.
• AI interview moderation and analysis: Anthropic (our default), OpenAI, and Google. They receive your interview audio or transcripts and, during screen sharing, images of your shared screen, in order to understand your answers, generate the moderator’s follow-up questions, and produce the researcher’s analysis. A researcher may instead select another model, which we reach through OpenRouter. Its downstream providers may include, without limitation, xAI, DeepSeek, Meta, Mistral, Alibaba (Qwen), Moonshot, Zhipu, Cohere, Amazon, and Nvidia.
• Voice synthesis: ElevenLabs, Cartesia, Google, and Microsoft Azure render the AI moderator’s speech. They receive the moderator’s text, which may restate part of what you just said, but not your audio.
• Interviewer avatar: Tavus and LemonSlice, only in studies that enable an avatar. The avatar joins the session as a participant and receives the moderator’s audio. LemonSlice processes sessions ephemerally under a data-processing agreement, although its service terms include a model-training license. Tavus does not offer us a data-processing agreement at our current service tier and may use avatar-session content to improve its services; studies configured for anonymous collection never use Tavus. Avatars are off unless a researcher enables them for a study.
• Storage and infrastructure: Amazon Web Services (encrypted storage of recordings, transcripts, and files you submit), Supabase (database), Vercel (hosting), and Trigger.dev (background processing of transcripts and analysis).
• Verification and incentives: Twilio (SMS codes to a phone number you provide), Postmark (email codes to an email address you provide), Giftbit (delivery of a study incentive to your name and email, where offered), and MaxMind (approximate location from your IP address, for fraud prevention).
• Diagnostics: Sentry and PostHog. Answer text and transcripts are excluded from analytics events.

Where available, we use data-processing agreements or provider terms that include data-protection commitments. At our current service tiers, Tavus does not offer us a data-processing agreement, Giftbit does not publish one, and model providers reached through OpenRouter are governed by their own terms rather than direct contracts with us. Training and service-improvement terms also vary: in addition to Tavus and LemonSlice as noted above, some downstream OpenRouter providers may use study data to train or improve models. These include DeepSeek and Moonshot; Cohere uses an opt-out model that we cannot configure through OpenRouter. We request that OpenRouter route only to providers that deny data collection, but we do not make a universal no-training commitment for every downstream provider.

Retention, deletion, and withdrawing consent

Mobile study data is retained according to the researcher’s study settings and for the operational and legal purposes described below. You can decline consent on the study’s in-app consent screen before an interview begins, and you can withdraw consent at any point during an interview: tapping "Stop & finish" stops any new microphone or screen capture. To request access to or deletion of data already collected, email privacy@questionpunk.com. We will also notify the researcher when a deletion request concerns their study; copies the researcher previously exported are governed by that researcher’s own privacy practices.

Changes to Our Privacy Notice

We may revise this Privacy Notice from time to time in our sole and absolute discretion. If there are any material changes to this Privacy Notice, we will notify you via email or in other form as may be required by applicable law effective as of the date of such material changes becoming effective. You understand and agree that you will be deemed to have accepted the updated Privacy Notice if you continue to use our Services after the new Privacy Notice takes effect.

Personal Information We Collect

The categories of personal information we collect depend on how you interact with us, our Services and the requirements of applicable law. We collect information that you provide to us, information we obtain automatically when you use our Services, and information from other sources such as third-party services and organizations, as described below.

Information You Provide to Us Directly

• Account Creation and Identity Data: We may collect information when you create an account, such as name, email address, and profile information.
• Financial Data: Includes payment history, bank account and payment card details.
• Transaction Data: Includes details about payments to and from you and other details of products and services you have purchased from us. In some cases, you may need to provide us with additional information to verify your identity before completing a transaction.
• Your Communications with Us: We may collect personal information, such as email address and phone number when you request information about our Services, register to receive our newsletter or marketing, request customer or technical support, or otherwise communicate with us.
• Surveys: We may contact you to participate in the surveys. If you decide to participate, you may be asked to provide certain information which may include personal information.

Information Collected Automatically

• Automatic Data Collection: We may collect certain information automatically when you use our Services, such as your Internet protocol (IP) address, user settings, MAC address, cookie identifiers, mobile carrier, mobile advertising and other unique identifiers, browser or device information, location information (including approximate location derived from IP address), Internet service provider, and metadata about the content you provide which can provide details such as the location of where a picture, video or audio recording was taken. We may also automatically collect information regarding your use of our Services, such as pages that you visit before, during and after using our Services, information about the links you click, the types of content you interact with, the frequency and duration of your activities, your history of using the Website history, and other information about how you use our Services.
• Cookies, Pixel Tags/Web Beacons, and Other Technologies: We, as well as third parties that provide content, advertising, or other functionality on our Services, may use cookies, pixel tags, local storage, and other technologies ("Technologies") to automatically collect information through your use of our Services.
• Cookies: Cookies are small text files placed in device browsers that store preferences and facilitate and enhance your experience.
• Pixel Tags/Web Beacons: A pixel tag (also known as a web beacon) is a piece of code embedded in our Services that collects information about engagement on our Services. The use of a pixel tag allows us to record, for example, that a user has visited a particular web page or clicked on a particular advertisement. We may also include web beacons in e-mails to understand whether messages have been opened, acted on, or forwarded.

Our use of these Technologies fall into the following general categories:

• Operationally Necessary: This includes Technologies that allow you access to our Services, applications, and tools that are required to identify irregular website behavior, prevent fraudulent activity and improve security or that allow you to make use of our functionality;
• Performance-Related: We may use Technologies to assess the performance of our Services, including as part of our analytic practices to help us understand how individuals use our Services (please see Analytics below);
• Functionality-Related: We may use Technologies that allow us to offer you enhanced functionality when accessing or using our Services. This may include identifying you when you sign into our Services or keeping track of your specified preferences, interests, or past items viewed;
• Advertising- or Targeting-Related: We may use first party or third-party Technologies to deliver content, including ads relevant to your interests, on our Services or on third-party websites.

Please see Section 6 below to understand your choices regarding these Technologies.

Analytics: We may use Technologies and other third-party tools to process analytics information on our Services.

Information Collected from Other Sources

Third-Party Sources: We may obtain information about you from other sources, including through third-party services and organizations. For example, if you access our Services through a third-party login service, or a social networking site, we may collect information about you from that third-party or third-party service that you have made available via your privacy settings.

How We Use Your Information

We use your information for a variety of business purposes, including to provide our Services, for administrative purposes, and to market our products and Services, as described below.

Provide Our Services

• Managing your information and accounts;
• Providing access to certain areas, functionalities, and features of our Services;
• Answering requests for customer or technical support;
• Communicating with you about your account, activities on our Services, and policy changes; and
• Processing your financial information and other payment methods for products and Services purchased.

How We Disclose Your Information

We disclose your information to third parties for a variety of business purposes, including to provide our Services, to protect us or others, or in the event of a major business transaction such as a merger, sale, or asset transfer, as described below.

Disclosures to Provide our Services

The categories of third parties with whom we may share your information are described below.

• Service Providers: We may share your personal information with our third-party service providers who use that information to help us provide our Services. This includes service providers that provide us with IT support, hosting, payment processing, customer service, and related services.
• Suppliers and Business Partners: We may share your personal information with business partners to provide you with a product or service you have requested. We may also share your personal information to business partners with whom we jointly offer products or services.
• Advertising Partners: We may share your personal information with third-party advertising partners. These third-party advertising partners may set Technologies and other tracking tools on our Services to collect information regarding your activities and your device (e.g., your IP address, cookie identifiers, page(s) visited, location, time of day). These advertising partners may use this information (and similar information collected from other services) for purposes of delivering personalized advertisements to you when you visit digital properties within their networks. This practice is commonly referred to as "interest-based advertising" or "personalized advertising."

Disclosures to Protect Us or Others

We may access, preserve, and disclose any information we store associated with you to external parties if we, in good faith, believe doing so is required or appropriate to: comply with law enforcement or national security requests and legal process, such as a court order or subpoena; protect your, our, or others’ rights, property, or safety; enforce our policies or contracts; collect amounts owed to us; or assist with an investigation or prosecution of suspected or actual illegal activity.

Your Privacy Choices and Rights

Your Privacy Choices. The privacy choices you may have about your personal information are determined by applicable law and are described below.

Email Communications

If you receive an unwanted email from us, you can use the unsubscribe link found at the bottom of the email to opt out of receiving future emails. Note that you will continue to receive transaction-related emails regarding products or Services you have requested. We may also send you certain non-promotional communications regarding us and our Services, and you will not be able to opt out of those communications (e.g., communications regarding our Services or updates to our Terms of Use or this Privacy Notice).

Text Messages

You may opt out of receiving text messages from us by following the instructions in the text message you have received from us or by otherwise contacting us.

Mobile Devices

We may send you push notifications through our Website. You may opt out from receiving these push notifications by changing the settings on your mobile device. With your consent, we may also collect precise location-based information via our Website. You may opt out of this collection by changing the settings on your mobile device. The online advertising industry also provides websites from which you may opt out of receiving targeted ads from data partners and other advertising partners that participate in self-regulatory programs. You can access these and learn more about targeted advertising and consumer choice and privacy by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative, the Digital Advertising Alliance, the European Digital Advertising Alliance, and the Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada.

Please note you must separately opt out in each browser and on each device.

Your Privacy Rights

In accordance with applicable law, you may have the right to:

• Access Personal Information about you: (i) confirming whether we are processing your personal information; (ii) obtaining access to or a copy of your personal information; or (iii) receiving an electronic copy of personal information that you have provided to us, or asking us to send that information to another company (aka the right of data portability);
• Request Correction of your personal information: where it is inaccurate or incomplete. In some cases, we may provide self-service tools that enable you to update your personal information;
• Request Deletion of your personal information: this enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law;
• Request the Transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party.
• Request Restriction of or Object to our processing of your personal information.
• Withdraw Your Consent to our processing of your personal information.

If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact us as set forth in Section 13 below. We will process such requests in accordance with applicable laws.

Security of Your Information

We take steps to ensure that your information is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Notice. Unfortunately, no system is 100% secure, and we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you provide to us. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, we do not accept liability for unauthorized disclosure.

By using our Services or providing personal information to us, you agree that we may communicate with you electronically regarding security, privacy, and administrative issues relating to your use of our Services. If we learn of a security system’s breach, we may attempt to notify you electronically by posting a notice on our Services, by mail or by sending an email to you.

Retention of Personal Information

We may store the personal information we collect as described in this Privacy Notice for as long as you use our Services or as necessary to fulfill the purpose(s) for which it was collected, provide our Services, resolve disputes, establish legal defenses, conduct audits, pursue legitimate business purposes, enforce our agreements, and comply with applicable laws.

Supplemental Notice for California Residents

This Supplemental California Privacy Notice only applies to our processing of personal information that is subject to the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 ("CCPA"). The CCPA provides California residents with the right to know what categories of personal information a person (either a natural person or a legal entity) has collected about them and whether such person disclosed that personal information for a business purpose (e.g., to a service provider) in the preceding twelve months. California residents can find this information below:

Category of Personal Information Collected by Company

Categories of Third Parties Personal Information is Disclosed to for a Business Purpose

• Identifiers: Service providers, Other users or third parties you share with, Advertising partners, Personal information categories listed in Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e)
• Commercial information: Service providers, Other users or third parties you share with
• Internet or other electronic network activity: Service providers, Other users or third parties you share with, Advertising partners
• Inferences drawn from other personal information to create a profile about a consumer: Service providers, Other users or third parties you share with, Advertising partners

The categories of sources from which we collect personal information and our business and commercial purposes for using personal information are set forth above.

Additional Privacy Rights for California Residents

• "Sales" of Personal Information under the CCPA: For purposes of the CCPA, we do not "sell" personal information, nor do we have actual knowledge of any "sale" of personal information of minors under 16 years of age.
• Non-Discrimination: California residents have the right not to receive discriminatory treatment by us for the exercise of their rights conferred by the CCPA.
• Authorized Agent: Only you, or someone legally authorized to act on your behalf, may make a verifiable consumer request related to your personal information. To designate an authorized agent, please contact us as set forth below.
• Verification: When you make a request, we will ask you to provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify you are the person about whom we collected personal information or an authorized representative, which may include confirming the email address associated with any personal information we have about you.
• If you are a California resident and would like to exercise any of your rights under the CCPA, please contact us as set forth in Section 13 below. We will process such requests in accordance with applicable laws.

Supplemental Notice for Data Subjects in Kenya

This Supplemental Kenya Privacy Notice applies to our processing of personal data of data subjects located in Kenya under the Data Protection Act, 2019 (Kenya) and the regulations made under it. If anything in this section conflicts with the rest of this Privacy Notice, this section applies to you.

Who is responsible for your data

BIALEROLOGY LLC, a limited liability company established in the United States, is the data controller for personal data collected when we run a study ourselves (for example, a usability test we invite you to) and for your QuestionPunk account data. When a researcher or organization runs a study on QuestionPunk, that researcher is the data controller for the study data and we act as their data processor under a written data-processing agreement. Our designated privacy contact for Kenya is reachable at privacy@questionpunk.com. We are currently below the thresholds for mandatory registration with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner set out in the Data Protection (Registration of Data Controllers and Data Processors) Regulations, 2021. If we register voluntarily, we will publish our registration number here.

Transfer of your data outside Kenya

Your personal data, including any audio, screen recordings, transcripts, and responses, is processed and stored outside Kenya, principally in the United States, by us and by the third-party processors listed in this Privacy Notice. The Data Commissioner has not made an adequacy decision covering these countries. We therefore transfer your data on the basis of your explicit consent, which we ask for before a study begins, together with contractual safeguards that bind each processor to protect your data to a standard equivalent to this Privacy Notice, to process it only on our instructions, and not to transfer it onward without our authorization.

Before you consent, you should understand the possible risks of such a transfer: the countries where your data is processed have different data-protection laws from Kenya; public authorities in those countries may be able to access your data under their own laws; and enforcing your rights under Kenyan law against an overseas recipient may be slower or more difficult. If you do not agree to this transfer, do not take part in the study. If you have already consented, you may withdraw consent at any time by stopping the study or emailing us; we will stop processing your data going forward and, on request, delete what we already hold.

Sensitive personal data

Under Kenyan law, sensitive personal data includes data revealing your race, health status, ethnic or social origin, conscience, belief, genetic data, biometric data, property details, marital status, family details (including names of your children, parents, or spouse), sex, or sexual orientation. A study may ask about some of these topics. We process sensitive personal data only with your explicit consent and only for the study you agreed to. Interview audio is used to transcribe what you said and is not used for voice recognition or to identify you by your voice.

Your rights under Kenyan law

You have the right to be informed of the use to which your personal data is put; to access your personal data; to object to processing; to correction of false or misleading data; to deletion of false or misleading data; and to data portability. We will respond to a request for access within 7 days, to a request for correction or deletion within 14 days, and to a request for portability within 30 days of receiving it. Send requests to privacy@questionpunk.com. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may lodge a complaint with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner at https://www.odpc.go.ke/.

Data breaches

If a breach of your personal data occurs that is likely to present a real risk of harm to you, we will notify the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner within 72 hours of becoming aware of it and will notify you in writing, such as by email, within a reasonably practical period.

Children’s Information

The Services are not directed to children under 13, (or other age as required by local law), and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you learn that your child has provided us with personal information without your consent, you may contact us as set forth in Section 13 below. If we learn that we have collected a child’s personal information in violation of applicable law, we will promptly take steps to delete such information.

Third-Party Websites/Applications

The Services may contain links to other websites/applications and other websites/applications may reference or link to our Services. These third-party services are not controlled by us. We encourage our users to read the privacy policies of each website and application with which they interact. We do not endorse, screen or approve, and are not responsible for, the privacy practices or content of such other websites or applications. Providing personal information to third-party websites or applications is at your own risk.

Supervisory Authority

If you are located in the European Economic Area, Switzerland, or the United Kingdom, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority if you believe our processing of your personal information violates applicable law. If you are located in Kenya, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) at https://www.odpc.go.ke/.

Contact Us

BIALEROLOGY LLC is the controller of your personal information. If you have any questions about our privacy practices or this Privacy Notice, or to exercise your rights as detailed in this Privacy Notice, please contact us at jake@bialerology.com.

Representation for Data Subjects in the European Union

We respect the privacy rights of our users. In compliance with data protection regulations, we have designated Prighter Group as our official privacy representative within the European Union. EU residents may exercise their data subject rights, including the right to access or erase personal data, by contacting Prighter Group at the following address: https://app.prighter.com/portal/18312215147

Data Access and Deletion Requests

Should you wish to receive a copy of your data or request the deletion of your account information, please submit your request via email to privacy@questionpunk.com. We will handle your request in compliance with all applicable legal requirements and within a reasonable period.