Privacy Policy

This Privacy Notice for Faith.network ("we", "us" and "our") describes how and why we may collect, store, use and share ("process") your personal information when you use faith.network and its services, for example when you start a Bible study, subscribe to the newsletter, enable daily reminders, share a reflection on the community wall, or make a gift. Questions or concerns? Reading this notice will help you understand your privacy rights and choices. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, please do not use the platform. Anything left unanswered: connect@faith.network.

Summary of key points

This summary gives the key points of our Privacy Notice. You can find the details in the numbered sections below.

What personal information do we process? As little as possible. You can read, study, watch and listen without an account. We only receive personal information when you choose to give it to us: an email address for the newsletter, a first name for the community wall, your name and email when you make a gift, or the technical subscription your browser creates for daily reminders. See section 1.

Do we process sensitive personal information? No. We are a Bible platform, so your visit could be seen as saying something about your beliefs, which is precisely why we designed the platform so that studying requires no account and no identity. We do not build profiles of anyone's faith. See section 1.

Do we collect information from third parties? No.

How do we process your information? To deliver the studies you request, send the newsletter you asked for, deliver the reminders you enabled, process gifts, keep the platform safe, and understand overall usage. See section 2.

When and with whom do we share personal information? Only with the processors that make the platform run: our payment provider, AI providers, analytics, email delivery and hosting. We never sell personal data and we never share it for advertising. See section 4.

How do we keep your information safe? With encrypted connections, hashed IP addresses, access controls and reputable infrastructure providers. No system is 100% secure; see section 9.

What are your rights? Depending on where you live you have rights of access, correction, deletion and more. See section 11 and, for United States residents, section 13.

How do you exercise your rights? Email connect@faith.network. We act on every request in line with applicable data protection law.

Table of contents

1. What information do we collect?
2. How do we process your information?
3. What legal bases do we rely on?
4. When and with whom do we share your personal information?
5. What is our stance on third party websites?
6. Do we use cookies and other tracking technologies?
7. Do we offer artificial intelligence based features?
8. How long do we keep your information?
9. How do we keep your information safe?
10. Do we collect information from minors?
11. What are your privacy rights?
12. Controls for Do Not Track features
13. Do United States residents have specific privacy rights?
14. Do other regions have specific privacy rights?
15. Do we make updates to this notice?
16. How can you contact us about this notice?
17. How can you review, update or delete your data?

1. What information do we collect?

Personal information you provide to us

In short: we collect the personal information you choose to give us.

You can use almost the entire platform without providing any personal information. We receive personal information only when you voluntarily provide it:

Newsletter. Your email address, your language, the page you signed up on, the date and time, a hashed (unreadable) version of your IP address, and the consent version you agreed to.

Community wall. The first name you enter and the reflection you write.

Gifts. Your name, email address, the amount, currency, your country and a payment reference. Your card or bank details go directly to Stripe over an encrypted connection; we never see or store them.

Daily reminders (push). The technical subscription your browser creates (an endpoint without your name), your time zone, and which moments and days you chose.

Contact. Whatever you include when you email us.

All personal information you provide must be true, complete and accurate, and you should tell us when it changes.

Information automatically collected

In short: limited technical information is collected automatically when you visit, such as a coarse location (country) and device characteristics. It does not reveal your specific identity.

Log and usage data. Our servers keep short lived technical logs: IP address, requested page, date and time, browser type. We use them for security and troubleshooting only.

Study questions. When you request an explanation or ask a follow up question in the chat, the question and the Bible passage are processed to generate the answer. Questions are not linked to any account or profile. To prevent abuse we apply rate limits based on a hashed version of your IP address.

Analytics. Through Google Analytics we collect aggregated usage information: pages viewed, studies started, the country visitors come from, device and browser characteristics. See section 6.

Sensitive information

We do not process sensitive personal information. We are aware that visiting a Bible platform can itself be seen as an indication of religious belief; that is exactly why studying requires no account, why questions are not linked to identities, and why we never build profiles of individual visitors' faith.

Information from third parties

We do not collect information about you from third parties, data brokers or social media platforms. There are no social logins on faith.network.

2. How do we process your information?

In short: to deliver the platform, communicate with you, keep things safe, and comply with the law.

We process your personal information to: deliver the studies, moments and other content you request; send the daily newsletter you subscribed to; deliver the reminders you enabled; display your community wall contribution; process your gift, send you the donation confirmation and keep the records the tax law requires; respond when you contact us; protect the platform against abuse, fraud and attacks; understand overall usage so we can improve the platform; and comply with legal obligations. We do not use your personal information for advertising, we do not build marketing profiles, and we do not sell it, ever.

3. What legal bases do we rely on?

In short: we only process your personal information when we have a valid legal reason under the GDPR.

Consent. The newsletter, push reminders, community wall contributions and non essential cookies all rest on your consent. You can withdraw consent at any time: unsubscribe links in every newsletter, notification settings in your browser, the cookie settings on the site, or an email to us. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.

Performance of an agreement. When you make a gift we process the data needed to complete the payment and send your confirmation.

Legal obligations. Dutch tax law requires us to keep gift records for seven years. We may also process data to cooperate with law enforcement or defend our legal rights.

Legitimate interests. Security logging, rate limiting and aggregated statistics rest on our legitimate interest in a safe, working and improving platform, weighed against your rights, which is also why identifying data in these processes is hashed or aggregated wherever possible.

4. When and with whom do we share your personal information?

In short: only with the processors that make the platform run, under contracts that protect your data. Never for advertising, never sold.

We share personal information only with these categories of service providers, and only what each needs:

Payment processing. Stripe processes gifts; your payment details go to Stripe directly.

AI providers. Anthropic, Google and OpenAI process study questions and content generation requests to produce the answers, audio and images the platform serves. See section 7.

Analytics. Google Analytics processes aggregated usage data.

Email delivery. Our email delivery provider processes newsletter addresses to send the newsletter.

Hosting and content delivery. Our hosting provider and Cloudflare serve and protect the website.

We have data processing agreements with our processors: they may only process your data on our instructions, must protect it, and may not use it for their own purposes. Some providers process data in the United States; transfers take place under the EU Standard Contractual Clauses or an adequacy decision such as the EU US Data Privacy Framework.

Business transfers. If the platform is ever transferred to another organization (for example a foundation carrying the same mission), your data may move with it under the same protections, and we will inform you.

We do not share personal information with advertising networks, data brokers, social media platforms or retargeting platforms, and we do not sell or rent personal information to anyone.

5. What is our stance on third party websites?

In short: we link outward, but other websites have their own rules.

The platform links to external websites and services, for example Bible platforms, video platforms and our library of recommended books. Some library links are affiliate links: we may receive a small commission on a purchase at no extra cost to you, and this never influences what we recommend. We are not responsible for the content, security or privacy practices of external websites. Data collected by third parties on their own websites is not covered by this notice; read their policies and contact them directly with questions.

6. Do we use cookies and other tracking technologies?

In short: functional cookies always, analytics only with consent where required, and no advertising cookies at all.

We use cookies and similar technologies for the site to function (caching, your preferences, your cookie choice itself) and, with consent where the law requires it, Google Analytics to understand how the platform is used. We do not use advertising or cross site tracking cookies. If you want to prevent Google Analytics entirely you can also install Google's browser opt out add on at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. When you open the Stripe checkout, Stripe sets cookies necessary for secure payment and fraud prevention. Embedded videos may set cookies of the video platform when you play them. Full details, including how to change your choice at any time, are in the Cookie Policy.

7. Do we offer artificial intelligence based features?

In short: yes, AI is at the heart of the platform, and we designed its use so that it needs no identity.

The Bible explanations, daily moments, chat answers, reading plans, audio versions and some imagery on faith.network are generated with artificial intelligence, working from carefully written instructions rooted in the orthodox Christian tradition, with Bible text quoted from public domain translations. We provide these features through third party AI providers, currently including Anthropic, Google and OpenAI.

When you request a study or ask a question, your input (the question and the passage) is sent to an AI provider to generate the answer. We send no name, no email address and no account identity with it, because there is none: studying on faith.network is anonymous by design. Our contracts with AI providers protect the data that is processed, and you may not use the AI features in ways that violate our terms or the providers' policies. Generated content is checked by automated safeguards, but AI can make mistakes; see the Disclaimer.

8. How long do we keep your information?

In short: as long as needed for the purpose, and no longer, except where the law sets a term.

Newsletter data: until you unsubscribe; after that your address is kept only on a suppression list so we do not email you again. Push subscriptions: until you revoke them or they become invalid. Community contributions: until you ask for removal. Gift records: seven years, a statutory retention term under Dutch tax law. Technical logs: short rotation periods. Analytics: per the retention settings of Google Analytics. When we no longer have a legitimate need, we delete or anonymize the data; where deletion is temporarily impossible (for example in backups), the data is stored securely and isolated until deletion is possible.

9. How do we keep your information safe?

In short: with appropriate organizational and technical measures, and honesty about the limits.

We protect personal information with encrypted connections (HTTPS), hashed IP addresses where identification is unnecessary, access controls, minimal data collection by design, and reputable European and American infrastructure providers. However, no electronic transmission or storage technology can be guaranteed 100% secure, so we cannot promise that unauthorized third parties will never defeat our security. Use the platform within a secure environment.

10. Do we collect information from minors?

In short: no. The kids section serves content and asks nothing.

Faith.network has a children's section, but it is content only: it collects no personal data from children and has no accounts, forms or comment functions. The newsletter, community wall and gifts are intended for visitors of 16 years and older. If you believe a child has nevertheless provided us personal data, email connect@faith.network and we will delete it promptly.

11. What are your privacy rights?

In short: depending on where you live, you can access, correct, delete and take your data, and always withdraw consent.

If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, you have the right to request access to and a copy of your personal information, to request rectification or erasure, to restrict or object to processing, to data portability, and the right not to be subject to solely automated decision making with legal or similarly significant effects (we do not make such decisions about you). You can withdraw consent at any time.

To exercise any right, email connect@faith.network. We respond within one month and act on every request in accordance with applicable data protection law. We may need to verify your identity first; we only use the information in your request for that verification.

If you believe we process your personal information unlawfully, you can lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority. In the Netherlands that is the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens; EEA residents can find their authority through the European Data Protection Board, UK residents can contact the Information Commissioner's Office, and Swiss residents the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner.

Opting out of email. Every newsletter contains an unsubscribe link that works immediately. We may still send you strictly service related messages, such as a donation confirmation after a gift.

12. Controls for Do Not Track features

Most browsers include a Do Not Track (DNT) setting. No uniform technology standard for recognizing DNT signals has been finalized, and like most websites we do not currently respond to DNT browser signals. Our practices are the same for everyone: no advertising tracking for anybody. If a standard is adopted that we must follow, we will describe it in a revised version of this notice.

13. Do United States residents have specific privacy rights?

In short: yes, several US states grant specific rights. The short version for faith.network: we do not sell personal information, we do not share it for targeted advertising, and we honor access, correction and deletion requests for everyone, wherever they live.

If you live in a US state with a comprehensive privacy law (including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Texas, Virginia and others), you may have the right to know whether we process your personal information, to access it, to correct inaccuracies, to request deletion, to obtain a copy, and to non discrimination for exercising your rights. These rights are not absolute and may be limited by applicable law.

Categories of personal information we collect

In the preceding twelve months we have collected the following categories, as those laws define them:

Sale and sharing. We have not sold personal information, and we have not shared personal information for cross context behavioral or targeted advertising, in the preceding twelve months, and we will not. We also do not use or disclose sensitive personal information, because we do not collect it. We do not knowingly process personal information of anyone under 16, let alone sell it.

Exercising your rights. Email connect@faith.network. You may use an authorized agent; we will ask for proof of authorization. If we decline a request you may appeal by replying to our decision, and if the appeal is denied you can contact your state Attorney General. California residents may also request the "Shine the Light" disclosure once per year; our answer is short: we disclose no personal information to anyone for direct marketing purposes.

14. Do other regions have specific privacy rights?

In short: wherever you live, we apply the same principles and honor access and correction requests.

If you are in Australia or New Zealand, we handle personal information consistent with the notification requirements of the Australian Privacy Act 1988 and the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020; complaints can be directed to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner or the Office of the New Zealand Privacy Commissioner. If you are in the Republic of South Africa, you may contact the Information Regulator. If you are in Canada, we process personal information with your express or implied consent as PIPEDA describes, and you can withdraw consent at any time. In every case, the practical route is the same: email connect@faith.network.

15. Do we make updates to this notice?

In short: yes, as needed to stay compliant with relevant laws.

We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time. The updated version is indicated by the date at the top. If we make material changes, we will announce them prominently on the platform. We encourage you to review this notice regularly.

16. How can you contact us about this notice?

Email connect@faith.network, or write to:

Faith.network
Jan van der Heijdenstraat 26 K, 3261 LE Oud-Beijerland, the Netherlands
KvK 84972599
connect@faith.network

17. How can you review, update or delete your data?

Based on the laws of your country or region, you may have the right to request access to the personal information we hold about you, to have inaccuracies corrected, or to have it deleted. To make such a request, email connect@faith.network. We respond within one month, verify your identity where necessary, and act on every request in accordance with applicable data protection law.