Privacy

The photo you upload

Your photo is cropped in your browser. The crop is sent to our server, held in memory only for as long as it takes to forward it to our search provider, and then released. It is never written to disk, never placed in object storage, and never stored in our database. We keep no copy of it after the request completes.

The face detection that runs before a search happens entirely inside your browser. That image never leaves your device for that step.

What we keep, and for how long

• Search results — not retained at all. They are passed from the search service straight to your browser and held only there. Closing the tab is enough to be rid of them.
• Your account — depends entirely on how you signed up. With an account key we store a hash of that key and nothing else: no name, no email address, no way to contact you and nothing to hand over if we were asked. With Google we receive your email address, name and picture from them.
• Your credit history — a record of credits bought, spent and refunded. It exists so that a disputed charge can be settled, and it is append-only, meaning entries are added and never rewritten.
• Removal requests — the email address and details you submit through the removal form are stored so we can act on the request and show that we did.
• Operational logs — ordinary web server logs, including IP addresses, used to keep the service running and to enforce rate limits.

Who else sees your photo

The crop is sent to our third-party face-search provider in order to run the search. That provider processes it under its own terms and retention practices, which we do not control. We do not sell your data, and we do not share uploaded photos with anyone else.

If you sign in with Google, Google knows you signed in to Red Flag. We receive your email address, name and profile picture from them, and nothing more. An account key avoids this entirely — nobody is told you were here.

If you are in someone else’s results

The pages we return are public pages that we did not publish and do not host. You can ask us to stop returning results relating to you through our removal form. Depending on where you live, you may also have rights to access, correct, or erase personal data we hold about you, and to object to our processing of it. Use the same form and say what you are asking for.

Biometric data

Running a face search involves processing biometric information. Several jurisdictions regulate this specifically, including Illinois and Texas in the United States, and the EU and UK, which treat biometric data as a special category. Before uploading a photo of someone else, satisfy yourself that doing so is lawful where you are. See our terms for the uses that are prohibited outright.

Closing your account

Ask us and we will delete your account and its email address. Your credit history is kept, with the account reference removed, because a purchase record has to survive long enough to settle a payment dispute. Unused credits are not refundable once an account is closed.

Changes

We will update the date at the top of this page when this policy changes.