Effective September 11, 2026
The short version: their stories belong to your family, not to us.
OriginStories (www.originstories.ai) is operated by Network Problems, LLC, a limited liability company organized in the State of New Jersey, USA ("we," "us," "our"). This policy explains what we collect when you use the site and the interview service, why, who we share it with, and the choices you have.
The short version: their stories belong to your family. We collect what is needed to make the book, we never sell personal information, and we never keep a recording of anyone's voice.
Account and order information. Your name, email address, and the details of what you purchased. Payment card numbers are collected and stored by Stripe, our payment processor, and never touch our servers.
Gift details. If you buy a gift, the recipient's email address, your message to them, and the delivery date you choose.
Interview content. The words spoken in interviews are transcribed in real time and stored as text. The audio itself is processed only for the moment needed to transcribe it and is never written to storage. We also keep the working notes our system builds from the transcripts (a timeline, the people and places mentioned, which stories have been told) and the chapter drafts generated from them.
Intake notes. Anything you tell us about the storyteller before the first conversation: a rough timeline, family names, stories you would like asked about, and topics to avoid.
Contributor information. The names and email addresses of the family members and friends you invite, and the transcripts of their interviews.
Photos. Images you upload for the book, with their captions. Working copies are deleted from our storage once they have been embedded in the print edition.
Shipping details. The name, address, and phone number you give us for printed copies, which we pass to our print partner.
Messages to us. Anything you send through the contact form or by email to an address at our domain, including your name, email address, and the message.
Site usage. We keep first-party page-view statistics (the page visited, the referring site, country, and device type) keyed to a daily-rotating anonymous identifier that cannot be traced back to you. If you arrive from an advertisement, we record the campaign parameters in the link and the advertising click identifier so we can tell which advertising leads to purchases.
We use a small number of cookies: one to keep you signed in, and one that remembers the advertising campaign or search term that first brought you to the site (kept for 90 days). Neither is shared with anyone.
When our advertising is active, the site also loads Google's advertising tag. Google uses cookies and similar technologies to measure whether people who saw or clicked a Google ad later made a purchase, and may use that information to improve ad delivery. When a purchase is made we may send Google the purchase amount, an order identifier, and a one-way hashed form of the buyer's email address so the conversion can be matched to the ad click. You can opt out of Google's personalized advertising at adssettings.google.com, and you can block or delete cookies in your browser settings; the site works without them.
We do not use advertising or analytics tags on the pages where interviews take place or where your family's transcripts and drafts are shown.
To run the service: conduct the interviews, organize the transcripts into chapters, produce the book, print and ship it, and support you.
To communicate: purchase confirmations, gift deliveries, sign-in links, contributor invitations, order and shipping updates, occasional reminders about an interview in progress, and replies to your messages. We do not send marketing email lists.
To keep the service safe and honest: preventing fraud and abuse, enforcing our Terms of Use, and complying with law.
To understand what works: aggregate statistics about site traffic and which advertising results in purchases.
The interviewer is an AI system, and AI models help transcribe speech, organize memories into chapters, and draft the book's text. To do this, interview transcripts and related notes are processed by our AI providers (currently OpenAI). We use these services under business terms that prohibit the provider from using your content to train its models. The finished book is reviewed and approved by your family before anything is printed.
We share personal information only with the service providers that help us operate, and only what each needs:
We never sell personal information and never share your family's transcripts, drafts, or books for any purpose other than making and delivering your book. We may disclose information if required by law, to protect our rights or the safety of others, or in connection with a merger or sale of the business, in which case this policy would continue to apply.
Transcripts, drafts, and the finished book are visible only to the purchaser, the storyteller, and the people they choose to give access to. Contributors see only their own interview. A story is made public only if the storyteller — the subject of the book, not just the purchaser — explicitly approves it.
We keep account, order, and book content for as long as the account exists so the family can reprint or revisit the book. Working photo copies are deleted once the print edition exists. Voice audio is never retained. Order and payment records are kept as long as tax and accounting rules require. Messages to us are kept until resolved and for a reasonable period afterward.
You can ask us at any time to access, correct, export, or permanently delete a book, its transcripts, and the personal information we hold about you, by writing to the address below. Deletion is complete and irreversible. If you live in a state with a consumer privacy law (including New Jersey, California, and others), you may also have the right to know what personal information we collect, to have it deleted, to opt out of targeted advertising, and not to be discriminated against for exercising these rights. We honor these requests for everyone, regardless of where you live. We will verify your identity by confirming control of the email address on the account, and we will respond within 45 days.
To opt out of advertising measurement, use the Google controls described in section 3 or block cookies in your browser.
The service is for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13, and contributor invitations should be sent only to adults. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us and we will delete it.
Data is encrypted in transit and at rest with our hosting providers. Sign-in uses email verification or a password of your choosing. No system is perfectly secure; if we learn of a breach affecting your information we will notify you as the law requires.
We are based in the United States and process and store information there. If you use the service from elsewhere, you understand that your information will be transferred to and handled in the United States.
We may update this policy as the service evolves. We will post the new version here with a new effective date and, for material changes, notify account holders by email.
Privacy questions and requests: hello@originstories.ai, or the contact form on this site. Mail: Network Problems, LLC, 5 Vicksburg Ct, Freehold, NJ 07728, USA.
See also our Terms of Use.