Privacy Policy
Ethoseen LLC (“Ethoseen,” “we,” “us”), an Oregon limited liability company, publishes Sightline. This policy describes what personal information we collect, how we use it, and who we share it with. It applies to the Sightline desktop application, the iOS and watchOS companion apps, and the sightlinebehavior.com website. It is part of the Terms of Service.
1. Observation data and local AI
Sightline stores your observation data on your device. This includes records you enter, import, create, or record: students, sessions, observations, notes, audio recordings, exports, authored drafts, and AI-generated drafts (together, “Your Content”).
Observation storage and AI processing do not send Your Content to us. We operate no cloud storage or cloud synchronization service for Your Content and no database of student records. We have no remote access to the records held on your devices and cannot recover, export, or delete them for you.
All AI features run on your device. Text and audio used by those features are processed locally and are not transmitted to us or to any third-party AI service for processing.
Contacting support or submitting feedback is a separate choice. We receive what you send us through those channels, as described in Section 2. Please do not include student names, records, or other identifying information.
2. Information we collect
We collect the following categories of personal information:
- Billing information, if you purchase a subscription: your email address, and transaction records. Card details go to our payment processor and are not received by us.
- License records: license key, subscription tier, billing email address, a machine fingerprint, activation history, a cumulative content-free count of successfully completed local text-model generations, a content-free counter integrity status, and the measured difference between your device clock and our server clock. We do not receive prompts, model outputs, or student data with these signals.
- A hashed device identifier, if you start a free trial. It is a salted, one-way hash of a hardware identifier. It identifies a device and cannot be reversed into your identity or any of Your Content.
- Correspondence, if you contact support or submit feedback: the text you send, and your email address if you provide one. In-app feedback also includes the feedback type, current screen, app version, platform, and submission timestamp.
- Optional support diagnostics, if you attach them to feedback after opening the preview: app and operating-system information, license tier and status, Local AI state and performance, installed-model information, database counts and size, selected non-identifying settings, and filtered diagnostic logs. The bundle excludes student names, notes, observation content, and license keys. Recent app logs include metadata such as event types and timestamps; their message text is stripped.
- Welcome survey answers, if you answer the optional survey offered during a trial: your answers and, if you enter one, your email address. Tally hosts the survey. Submitting it adds a week to that device’s trial; the survey does not receive your device identifier.
- An installation identifier, if you enable analytics. It is a random value generated on first run and stored on your device. It is not derived from your hardware and is not the trial identifier described above.
- Optional analytics and crash reports, only if you enable them. These carry your app version and subscription tier along with the events described in Section 5.
- Your email address and signup source, if you join the pre-launch notification list on the website. We store the address, which page you submitted it from, and the date you submitted it. We use it only to tell you when Sightline is available to download, and every message carries an unsubscribe link.
Website forms collect the information you submit for the purposes described above, along with the request metadata your browser sends. The website sets no advertising or analytics cookies. The notification form uses Cloudflare Turnstile to block automated signups; the check reads your IP address and browser signals, and we do not retain them.
3. Connections the app makes
The application is not fully offline. It connects to the network for licensing, software updates, model downloads, feedback you submit, and the two optional reports described in Section 5. The table below describes each of those connections.
| Connection | Who receives it | What it sends | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| License validation | Keygen | License key, machine fingerprint | Activation and periodic revalidation |
| Trial issuance | Ethoseen | Hashed device identifier, app version | When you start a free trial |
| Welcome survey (optional) | Tally (Tally BV), Ethoseen | To Tally: request metadata including your IP address when the survey opens; your answers and the optional email you enter when you submit. To Ethoseen: the hashed device identifier, to add the survey’s extra trial week | Only if you choose Answer on the survey offered during a trial |
| License heartbeat | Ethoseen | License key, machine fingerprint, app version, first-activation date, cumulative content-free local text-generation count, and a device timestamp used to calculate device/server clock difference | At launch or activation; while the app remains open, only after the count advances or its integrity status changes, and at most four times in a rolling hour |
| Update check | Ethoseen | App version, platform, subscription tier; a license key, or an updater token and machine fingerprint | Periodically |
| Model download | Hugging Face, Ethoseen | A file request; for licensed models, your license key | When you download or update a model, at your direction |
| Feedback | Ethoseen | Feedback text and type, current screen, app version, platform, submission timestamp, optional email address, and any diagnostics you choose to attach after opening the preview | When you submit the feedback form |
| Usage analytics | PostHog | Allowlisted screen and feature events | Only if you enable analytics |
| Crash reports | Sentry (US region) | Stack traces, allowlisted error-class names | Only if you enable crash reporting |
Licensing, update checks, model downloads, analytics, and crash reports do not send Your Content. Feedback sends the text you enter, the metadata listed above, and any diagnostics you choose to attach. It does not automatically attach observation records. Our feedback service forwards your message and feedback metadata through Resend for email delivery and to GitHub for issue tracking. The optional email address is included in the email delivery and omitted from the GitHub issue; the text of your message is included in both. Diagnostics you attach are included in the email delivery only. The GitHub issue records whether diagnostics were attached, not their contents.
For license heartbeats, we store the calculated clock difference, not the raw device timestamp. The generation count, counter integrity status, and clock difference are advisory, content-free signals used for operator review. They do not throttle, suspend, or otherwise change access to the application.
The base model download is a file request to Hugging Face, a third party whose servers receive your IP address as any web server would.
The specific hostnames these connections use, for firewall allowlisting, are listed at sightlinebehavior.com/security.
4. How we use information
We use the information in Section 2 for the following purposes:
- To validate licenses, enforce activation limits, and issue and limit free trials.
- To process payments, provide receipts, and administer subscriptions.
- To deliver software updates and licensed model files.
- To update aggregate installation and update-activity counters. We do not retain device identifiers or per-device activity histories for analytics.
- To respond to support requests and feedback.
- To diagnose crashes and understand feature usage, where you have enabled those reports.
- To decide what to build next from welcome-survey answers, and to invite people who leave an email address in the survey to try new features early.
- To comply with tax, accounting, and other legal obligations.
We do not use this information for advertising, profiling, or automated decision-making, and we do not use it to train machine-learning models.
5. Optional analytics and crash reports
Usage analytics (PostHog) and crash reporting (Sentry) are disabled by default. The application asks once during first-run setup, and you can change either setting at any time in Settings. The application’s features do not depend on either setting.
When analytics are enabled, the application records which screens and features are used. Events are filtered through a fixed allowlist of properties that excludes names, notes, and observation content, and a second filter rejects values that look like credentials.
Those events are associated with the installation identifier described in Section 2, and carry your app version and your subscription tier (free, starter, or pro). They do not carry your name, email address, or license key.
When crash reporting is enabled, a crash or error sends a stack trace and an allowlisted error-class name. Breadcrumbs, session replay, and request bodies are disabled in the SDK configuration.
Do Not Track. The website performs no cross-site tracking and sets no advertising or analytics cookies, so a Do Not Track signal has no corresponding behavior to disable. We do not alter our practices in response to Do Not Track headers.
6. Third-party services we use
We share the information in Section 2 with the following service providers, each for the purpose stated and under contractual terms requiring them to protect it and to use it only to provide that service:
| Provider | Purpose | What it receives |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe | Payment processing | Card details, billing email, transaction records |
| Keygen | License management | License key, tier, billing email, machine fingerprint, activation history, cumulative content-free local text-generation count, content-free counter integrity status, and calculated device/server clock difference used only as advisory operator-review signals |
| PostHog | Usage analytics, if enabled | Allowlisted product events, installation identifier, app version, subscription tier |
| Sentry | Crash reporting, if enabled | Stack traces, error-class names |
| Hugging Face | Base model distribution | A file request, including your IP address |
| Cloudflare | Website and service hosting, including feedback; notification-list storage; signup bot check | Request metadata, including IP address; feedback submissions and optional diagnostics; notification-list addresses and signup source |
| Resend | Email delivery for feedback and the notification list | Feedback text and metadata, optional feedback email address, optional diagnostics, and notification-list email addresses |
| Tally | Optional welcome survey offered during a trial | Survey answers, the optional email address you enter, and request metadata including your IP address |
| GitHub | Feedback issue tracking | Feedback text and metadata; the optional contact email field and any diagnostics are omitted |
We do not sell personal information. We do not share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. We have not done either in the preceding twelve months.
We may disclose information if required by law, and to a successor entity in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
7. Retention
We retain license and billing records for as long as your license exists, and afterward only as long as tax, accounting, and fraud-prevention obligations require.
We retain the hashed device identifier described in Section 2 indefinitely. Its purpose is to prevent repeated trials on the same machine, which requires that the record persist.
We retain support correspondence and feedback records for as long as needed to resolve the matter and to maintain a record of support history.
We retain notification-list addresses until you unsubscribe or ask us to remove yours, or until we retire the list, whichever comes first. Removing an address deletes it from both our own store and our email provider.
We delete welcome-survey answers, and any email address you enter in the survey, 12 months after you submit them, or sooner if you ask. They are held in our Tally account, which deletes them automatically.
Analytics and crash-report data are retained according to the default retention periods of PostHog and Sentry.
8. Your rights and choices
- Analytics and crash reporting can be enabled or disabled at any time in Settings.
- Devices can be deactivated from within the application to release a license activation.
- Access, correction, and deletion: email [email protected] to request a copy of the personal information we hold, including license, billing, and correspondence records, to correct it, or to delete it. We will confirm when the request is complete. We may retain what tax, accounting, and fraud-prevention obligations require.
- The notification list: every message we send includes an unsubscribe link, and you can email us at any time to have your address removed.
- Your local records are stored on your devices and you delete them there. We cannot access or delete those copies. Information you send us through support or feedback is covered by the requests above.
We do not charge for these requests and do not deny service or provide a different level of service to anyone who makes one. We honor requests from all users, regardless of which privacy law applies to them.
9. Children’s privacy
Sightline is a professional tool licensed to adults for use in their professional capacity. It is not directed to children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13.
Observation records concern students, including children. The observation and AI features keep those records on your devices. Do not include children’s personal information in support requests or feedback.
10. Security
Your Content is encrypted at rest by Sightline: its database and automatic backups with AES-256 under a key held in your operating system keychain, and every backup you export with a passphrase you choose. Your device’s own protections still matter: your operating system account, and any full-disk encryption you enable. We recommend enabling FileVault on macOS or BitLocker on Windows. On the companion app, observation data is encrypted at rest while the device is powered off or before its first unlock after restart.
For the information we hold, we use established service providers, restrict internal access to what operating the business requires, and use encrypted transport for the connections listed in Section 3. If a breach affects your personal information, we will notify you as required by applicable law.
11. Location of processing
We are located in the United States and the services listed in Section 6 process information in the United States, except Tally, which stores survey responses in the European Union. If you use Sightline from outside the United States, the information described in Section 2 is transferred to and processed in the United States.
12. Notice to individuals in the EU and UK
This section applies if you are in the European Union or the United Kingdom. It adds to the rights and disclosures elsewhere in this policy; it does not replace them.
Controller. Ethoseen LLC is the data controller for the personal information described in Section 2. You can reach us at the address in Section 16.
Legal bases for processing. We process your personal information on the following bases:
- Performance of a contract: validating licenses, enforcing activation limits, delivering software updates, checking model entitlements, processing payments, administering subscriptions, and responding to support requests.
- Legitimate interests: maintaining the hashed device identifier described in Section 2 to prevent repeated free trials on the same machine, and keeping our services secure. You can object to processing based on legitimate interests, as described below.
- Consent: usage analytics and crash reports, the email address you choose to attach to feedback, and welcome-survey answers and any email address you enter in the survey. You can withdraw consent at any time using the Settings toggles described in Section 5, or by asking us to remove an email address or survey answers you provided.
International transfers. We are located in the United States and process your personal information there, as described in Section 11. Our service providers each maintain their own approved safeguards for transfers out of the EU and UK, such as Standard Contractual Clauses or Data Privacy Framework certification.
Your rights. In addition to the choices in Section 8, you have the right to access the personal information we hold about you, to correct it, to have it erased, to receive it in a portable form, to restrict our processing of it, to object to processing based on our legitimate interests, and to withdraw consent at any time. To exercise any of these rights, email [email protected] using the mechanism described in Section 8; we will respond within one month. Withdrawing consent or objecting does not affect processing we carried out before you did so. For the hashed device identifier, Section 7 explains why we generally retain it even after an objection.
Automated decisions. We do not make decisions about you based solely on automated processing that produce legal or similarly significant effects.
Complaints. If you believe we have handled your personal information unlawfully, you can lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority. We would appreciate the chance to address your concern first.
Representative. We have not appointed a representative in the EU or UK. Our processing of EU and UK personal information is occasional and low risk at our current scale, which is exempt from the representative requirement. We treat UK personal information the same way.
13. Notice to California residents
The categories of personal information we collect are listed in Section 2, the purposes for which we use them in Section 4, and the categories of third parties who receive them in Section 6. Retention is described in Section 7 and your rights in Section 8.
We do not sell personal information and do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.
Under California Civil Code section 1789.3, California residents may contact the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs in writing at 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite N 112, Sacramento, CA 95834, or by telephone at (800) 952-5210.
14. The companion apps
The iPhone and Apple Watch companion applications have no accounts, no backend, and no analytics. Observation data recorded on the phone is stored there until it transfers to your desktop over the paired Bluetooth link, and the phone deletes its copy after the desktop confirms receipt. During an untethered observation, that data may remain on the phone for an extended period.
A supplement to this policy covering the Companion apps is at sightlinebehavior.com/privacy/companion.
15. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy. Changes that materially affect how personal information is handled follow the acceptance process in Section 19 of the Terms of Service. The full updated policy is presented in the app for acceptance before continued use. Updates apply from acceptance, no earlier than their stated effective date, and do not apply retroactively. We provide any additional notice or consent required by applicable law. The version number and effective date appear at the top of this document.
16. Contact
Ethoseen LLC 1538 E 25th Avenue Eugene, OR 97403 United States