Privacy policy
This explains which data Briefbee processes, why, how long we keep it and what your rights are. In plain language, but complete.
1. Who we are
Briefbee is a sole proprietorship (eenmanszaak) registered in the Netherlands. Contact details:
- Trade name: Briefbee
- Address: Zinkstraat 24, Box C9926, 4823 AD Breda (postal address)
- KvK number: 42188412
- Email: hallo@briefbee.nl
Briefbee helps businesses and freelancers turn a job description into a quote, which the business checks, adjusts and approves.
2. Our role: controller or processor
We have two different roles, depending on whose data it is.
- Your own account data (your name, email and company details): we are the controller. This privacy policy covers that.
- The data of your customers in quotes (names, addresses, emails, phone numbers, job descriptions and chat messages): you are the controller and we are your processor. What we do and do not do with it is set out in the data processing agreement, which you accept when you create your account.
3. Which data we process
- Account data: name, email, company name and company details you enter yourself.
- Your customers' data in a quote: name, address, email, phone number, the job description and the chat messages about that job.
- Your quotes: lines, rates, texts, approved versions and your writing style.
- What your customer does with a sent quote: when they opened it, whether they accepted or declined, the name they typed, an optional message, and the technical evidence of the answer (a keyed hash of the IP address and the browser type).
- Files you upload yourself, such as old quotes (PDF).
- Technical data: server logs containing ids only, no personal data; error reports (Sentry) with the technical error and the browser type; and usage events (PostHog): which action was taken and which screen was opened, with the account id and quote id.
4. What we use it for
- Drafting quotes with AI from the job description.
- Learning from your own old and approved quotes: your line items, rates and writing style, so the next quote fits you better.
- Emailing a quote to your customer at your request, and showing them a quote page where they can accept or decline. When they answer we record the name they type, the time, the exact version of the quote, a keyed hash of their IP address and their browser type, as evidence for you.
- Sending quotes to your accounting software (Moneybird, Informer or e-Boekhouden), only when you connect it and at your request.
- Sending login emails (a link or code to sign in).
- Giving support when you ask for it, and keeping the service secure and working.
- Improving the app: error reports show us what breaks, and usage events show which parts are used and where people get stuck. The basis is our legitimate interest in a working, better product; you can object by emailing us, and we then stop sending your account's usage events.
Briefbee emails a customer of yours only when you press "Approve and send" on their quote. The email goes out in your name ("your company via Briefbee"), carries the quote as a PDF and a link to a page where the customer can read it and accept or decline. Replies go to you. We send nothing else to your customers.
The basis for your account data is performing the agreement with you. We do not use your data for advertising and we do not sell it.
5. Who we share data with
We use a few parties to run the service. The full list is on the Sub-processors page. In short:
- Cloudflare, Inc. (USA; the database and file storage are kept in Cloudflare's EU jurisdiction, so they are stored and processed in the EU): hosting, database, file storage, AI verification and speech-to-text when dictating (Workers AI), AI gateway, login email, the quote emails you send to your customers, the public quote page and bot protection at sign-in.
- Anthropic (Anthropic, PBC, USA): Claude, a language model that drafts quotes, answers in the chat and reads uploaded documents. It receives the job description, briefs, chat messages, the quote wording and the text of documents you upload, is not used for training, and deletes inputs and outputs within 30 days.
- Mistral AI (France, EU endpoint): text recognition (OCR) of uploaded documents, and the backup language model when Claude cannot answer. It receives the pages of the document you upload and, as backup, the same text Claude would receive; it is not used for training, and the data is deleted after processing.
- Sentry (Functional Software, Inc., USA; data stored in the EU, Germany): error reports, so we see when something breaks in the app. A report holds the technical error, the place in the code, the page or API path, and the browser and system type. We remove names, email addresses, phone numbers, cookies, form contents and quote texts before a report is sent, and send no session recordings.
- PostHog (PostHog, Inc., USA; data stored in the EU, Germany): product analytics, so we see which parts of the app are used and where people get stuck. It receives which action was taken (for example "quote sent") and which screen was opened, with the account id, the quote id and the browser type. No cookies or browser storage, no IP address, no session recordings, and no names, contact details or quote texts. Test accounts send nothing.
- TypeSafe (typesafe.ai): the verification model that checks the AI's drafts and chat answers, reached through Cloudflare without data retention. It receives the text being checked.
Your accounting software (Moneybird, Informer, e-Boekhouden) is not a sub-processor. It is your own service, and we only send data there on your instruction.
6. Transfers outside the EU
We do not send personal data to China. When the Claude model is used, text goes to Anthropic, which processes data worldwide, including in the United States. The safeguard is the standard contractual clauses in Anthropic's data processing addendum.
We send no more than needed: the job description, briefs, chat messages, the quote wording and the text of documents you upload.
7. How long we keep data
- Uploaded old-quote files are deleted right after reading. We keep only what was learned (line items, rates, writing style), and customer details are filtered out.
- Quote data is kept while your account exists. After you delete your account we erase it within 30 days.
- Server logs contain ids only, no personal data.
- Error reports are kept for 90 days, usage events for at most 12 months; then they are deleted.
8. Your rights
You have the right to access, correct, export and delete your data, and to restrict or object to processing.
Soon you can export your data and delete your account yourself under Settings (Instellingen). Until then, or for any other question, email hallo@briefbee.nl. We reply within one month.
A customer of yours who wants to use their rights should first turn to you. We help you with that, as described in the data processing agreement.
If you disagree with how we handle your data, you can complain to the Dutch Data Protection Authority, the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl). You are also welcome to talk to us first.
10. Security
- All connections are encrypted (in transit).
- Only we, as the provider, can access your data, and only for support when you ask for it.
- If a breach involves your customers' personal data, we notify you without undue delay and within 48 hours of discovery. This is part of the data processing agreement.
11. The waitlist
While Briefbee is only open to the first customers, you can join a waitlist on briefbee.nl or in the app.
- Purpose: we invite you when it is your turn. We use your email address for nothing else, and we send no advertising.
- What we store: your email address, your language, your trade (optional), where you signed up (website or app), the date, which consent text you saw, and a one-way code of your connection (a hash of your IP address) to limit abuse. For the confirmation we also store a one-way code of the confirmation link (a hash), how long it is valid and when you confirmed. Nothing more.
- Legal basis: your consent, which you give with the tick box on the form. You can withdraw it at any time.
- Confirming: after you sign up we send one email with a confirmation link, so nobody can put someone else on the list. The link works for 48 hours. If you do not confirm, you are not on the list and we delete your email address within 7 days.
- Retention: if your (confirmed) email address is still on the list and you have not started within 90 days of your invitation, we delete it. If you want off sooner, we delete it on request.
- Removal: email hallo@briefbee.nl and we take you off the list.
- Processor: Cloudflare (storage, sending the confirmation email and the Turnstile robot check), as for signing in.
12. Changes
If we change this policy, we put a new version and date at the top. For an important change, such as a new sub-processor, we tell you beforehand.
13. Anonymous visit statistics
To see which pages and tools help, we count anonymously how this website is used. We do that ourselves, with a small script served from our own site. No advertising or analytics company is involved and no cookies are used.
- What we count: which page you open and in which language, which website you came from (the domain name only), whether you use a phone, tablet or computer (derived from the screen width), your country (derived by Cloudflare, never your IP address) and your browser family (such as Chrome or Safari).
- What you do: which link or button you click (a fixed name, such as the link text), whether you start a tool, get a calculation, copy or download a result, whether you open or submit the waitlist form (never your email address), which FAQ question you open, how far you scroll and roughly how long you stay on the page.
- What we never count: what you type or paste into a field, the numbers and texts in the tools, your IP address or your full browser details. There are no cookies and no fingerprinting.
- Visit number: a random number and a step counter in the temporary memory of this browser tab (sessionStorage), so we can see which steps follow each other within one visit. It disappears when you close the tab and cannot be linked to an earlier or later visit.
- Remembering: a few calculators have a box "Remember my input on this device". Only if you tick it yourself does your own browser (localStorage) keep that input on your device. It never comes to us and is removed when you untick the box.
- Appearance: if you pick a light or dark appearance yourself, your own browser keeps that choice (localStorage, key briefbee.theme) on your device. It never comes to us and you can always set it back to System.
- Purpose: to improve the website and the free tools.
- Retention: the counts are stored by Cloudflare (Workers Analytics Engine) and deleted automatically after about 3 months.
- Sharing: we share them with nobody and do not use them for advertising. Cloudflare processes them only on our behalf.
- No counting: if your browser sends Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track, we send nothing.
- Outdoor work weather: that tool fetches the forecast for the town you choose through our own server, from MET Norway. Only the chosen town reaches our server; your postcode and your limits stay in your browser, and MET Norway never sees your browser or IP address.