Privacy notice
This page sets out, in everyday language, the personal data Atelier Syntheclair receives when you send a synthesis case through this site, the reason it is held, the way it is handled, and the rights the law puts in your hands. Atelier Syntheclair is a compact research lab — four people reading how answer engines synthesise final answers about French businesses. There is no sales team and no marketing department behind this form.
Who is responsible
Atelier Syntheclair studies how answer engines select, attribute and synthesise final answers about French businesses. For the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the French Data Protection Act (Loi Informatique et Libertés), the controller of the personal data described here is Atelier Syntheclair, operator of the site answerenginefrance.com. Any privacy question, or any request to exercise a right, can be sent to hello@answerenginefrance.com.
What is collected
Sending a synthesis case through the contact form passes the following to the lab:
- Your name and email — so a reply can be addressed to you.
- The text you place in the case fields: the visible answer, the query that produced it, the business category, the language used, the mismatch you noticed and any further notes — only what you choose to write.
This material is used for one purpose: to read the synthesis case you sent. You join no mailing list, and the data is not handed to third parties (apart from the payment processor described below, where it applies). The lab also keeps the date and time of submission alongside a SHA-256 hash of your IP address combined with a salt — a measure that shields the form from automated submissions. The raw IP address is never stored, and neither are browser fingerprints or device metadata.
What is not collected
- No tracking cookies. The analytics tool runs cookie-free and holds no per-visitor identifier.
- No remarketing pixels, marketing-automation tags or ad-network trackers are switched on.
- No automated profiling, and no automated decision that produces a legal effect on you.
- Personal data is neither sold nor passed to commercial partners. That sits outside the lab's purpose.
Legal basis for processing
Synthesis cases sent through the form rest on Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR — the legitimate interest in reading public, evidence-based synthesis cases relevant to the lab's research. The IP hash that protects the form against abuse relies on the same legitimate-interest basis. Where payment status data exists, it is processed on the contractual basis.
How long data is kept
- Synthesis cases: held for the length of the related reading plus 24 months, so the context of the observation is preserved, then deleted. Cases that lead to no reading are held for 12 months and then deleted.
- Payment records: held for the period required by applicable tax and accounting law, then deleted.
- IP hashes: held for 90 days — enough for abuse protection — then deleted.
- Email exchanges: held while the exchange is live, or for 24 months after the last contact — whichever runs longer.
Your rights
Under the GDPR and the French Data Protection Act, you may ask for access to your data, its rectification, its erasure, its portability, a restriction on its processing, or you may object to it. Send any of these requests to hello@answerenginefrance.com; a reply follows within one month. If you consider the processing unlawful, you may lodge a complaint with the CNIL (the French data protection authority) or with the supervisory authority where you live.
International transfers
The infrastructure serving this site sits in European Union (Germany). Where further processors (email provider) operate outside the European Union, those transfers rely on standard contractual clauses and on the safeguards the recipient has published.
Changes to this notice
This notice is revised when data-processing practice shifts in a meaningful way. The "Updated" date at the top marks the version in force. Substantive changes stay flagged on the site's home page for 30 days, so returning readers can see them.