Privacy Policy

1. Who is responsible for your data

The data controller is Adastra S.r.l.s. (“Booktation”, “we”). These are its details:

We have not appointed a Data Protection Officer: for any question or request about your data, write to info@booktation.com.

2. What data we process

• Account data: email address, the password only if you set one (you can sign in with a code sent by email instead; the password is stored only as an encrypted hash by our authentication provider), the name you add to your profile, language and preferences, account creation and sign-in dates. At sign-up we also record when you accepted the Terms and this policy, their version and your statement that you are at least 14 years old.
• Your library: the books you add (title, author, cover, categories, format), reading status and progress with the history of the pages you read (for your statistics), start and finish dates, your yearly reading goal, and your rating of a book if you give one (1 to 5 stars, “Your rating”, also when it comes from a Goodreads or StoryGraph import): it is visible only to you, it is not a review and it never counts in any average.
• Your reading taste: if you choose to tell us, up to 3 kinds of books you read most (such as Crime & thrillers or History), up to 3 feelings you would like to have when you read and up to 3 books you loved (title and author), kept in your account to suggest your first books while you do not have enough notes, and which you can change or delete at any time in Profile → Your reading → “Your taste”.
• Your notes: the text of your notes, page numbers, how a note made you feel if you choose to say it (up to 2 of six emotions, such as Wonder or Comfort) and the links Booktation finds between notes; when you finish a book, what you choose to write about what you liked, what you didn’t and what you take away, and how the book made you feel (up to 3 emotions) (visible only to you). Notes saved before 1 October 2026 with a page photo attached keep it until you remove it or delete the note.
• Recordings and photos sent for transcription: the audio of voice notes and the photos of pages, covers or shelves you send to be turned into text. They are used only to produce the text: we do not keep them after processing. The one exception: if you add a book by photographing its cover and the catalogs do not have its image yet, your photo becomes that book’s cover in your library, visible only to you, until the official one arrives; the photo is then deleted, and also when you remove the book or delete your account.
• Reviews: the rating and text of the reviews you decide to publish, shown with your first name and the initial of your surname (or “Reader”), the “useful” votes you give and the reports you send.
• Readers’ notes: if you choose to make a note visible to the readers of the same book, a copy of it, as it is or retouched by you first (text only, up to 1000 characters, no links; your note does not change), with the note’s emotions if you keep them, its page and the point of the book where it sits, shown with “Reader” or, if you choose it in your Profile, with your first name and the initial of your surname; the spoiler flags you put on other readers’ notes; your choices on “Other readers’ notes” and on the name. Only signed-in readers who have that book in their library see it, and a note further than where a reader has got to stays covered until that reader chooses to see it. It is not indexed by search engines and is not used to train any AI. You choose note by note (with the switch when you save it, which always starts off, or from the note’s menu), and you can take a note back at any time.
• Reading groups (beta): the private groups you create or join by invitation (name, members and their display names) and the notes you choose to show to a group. The members of that group see those notes (text, page, book title and author, and how each note made you feel, if you chose it) with your display name, never your email or the page photos. You can take a note back, leave a group or delete a group you created at any time. When you invite someone by email, we keep for 14 days when you sent the invitation and to which group, never the address itself (section 8). The notices about your groups and your account in “Notifications” (for example “Voting is open”) are kept for 60 days. In a group you can also write one line a day in “The club diary” (up to 280 characters, with a page and emotions if you choose): the members of that group see it with your display name, and a line further than where a member has got to stays covered until that member chooses to see it. If you choose “Count my progress in the club (without my name)”, your position in the club book and the pages you read in it count only in the club’s numbers (“This week in the club”, “Where you all are”), which never show a name: nobody sees your page. On Sundays at 6 pm, unless you switch the group emails off, you get “The week” of your club: its numbers, the next milestone and meeting and up to 3 lines of the diary that do not go past your page.
• Plan and payments: your plan, subscription status and renewal date, the number of AI transcriptions used. When you subscribe, the date and time you accepted the Terms, their version and when you asked for PRO to start right away; if you withdraw, the date and time of the withdrawal, the plan and the refund. Payments are handled by Stripe: we never see or store your full card number.
• Anonymous contribution: your choice on “Help other readers find their next book” and when you made it (section 3).
• Support requests: the subject and text of the messages you send us from your Profile (“Help and contact”), with their date, and the answers we write you, kept with the request. We answer at your account’s email address.
• Technical data: IP address, browser and device type, error logs and logs of calls to our services, used for security and to fix problems.
• Visit statistics: aggregated page views collected without cookies (see section 11).

We do not ask for special categories of data (such as health or political opinions). Your notes are free text: please avoid writing sensitive information about other people in them.

3. Why we use your data and on what legal basis

We do not sell your data, we do not use it for advertising and we do not build marketing profiles. We do not send newsletters without your consent.

Where we rely on legitimate interest you can object at any time (section 9).

4. How AI is used

Booktation uses the OpenAI API for these tasks only:

• turning voice notes into text (speech-to-text);
• reading the text in photos of pages and recognising book covers and shelves (OCR);
• computing embeddings of your notes, numerical representations used for search by meaning and to find links between notes;
• writing short explanations of those links and summaries of your notes;
• suggesting books to read from your Themes, your notes, their emotions and your closing reflections;
• suggesting one emotion for the note you are writing, from its text.

To do this, the audio, the images or the text of your notes are sent to OpenAI, which processes them on our behalf as a data processor. Under OpenAI’s API terms, data sent through the API is not used to train its models and may be kept for up to 30 days to detect abuse, then deleted, unless the law requires otherwise.

Themes (beta): to propose the name of a theme, short excerpts of a few of your notes (at most 300 characters each) are sent to OpenAI, the same provider listed above, and are not used to train its models.

Books suggested from your notes: to propose books we send to OpenAI the names and concepts of your Themes and the titles of your books; when you have no Themes, or for a single book, up to 8 short excerpts of your notes (240 characters at most each). They are not used to train its models. Switching off “Links and search by meaning” stops the suggestions and deletes them.

Recommended for you: for “From your emotions” we send to OpenAI the emotion you choose, the emotions of your notes and short excerpts of the notes that carry it (240 characters at most each), with the names of the Themes they belong to and the titles of their books; for “From your reflections”, short excerpts of your closing reflections (what you liked, what you did not, what you take with you; 240 characters at most each) with the titles of their books. They are not used to train its models. Switching off “Links and search by meaning” stops these suggestions too and deletes them. “Classics” (other books by authors you have read, and the most read right now) sends nothing to OpenAI and keeps working.

Your taste: while you do not have enough notes, to suggest your first books we send to OpenAI only the kinds of books you read most, the titles and authors of the books you loved and the feelings you chose (never your notes), with the titles of the books in your library and of those you marked “Not interested”, so that they are left out; they are not used to train its models, and switching off “Links and search by meaning” stops these suggestions too.

Emotions: while you write a note, to suggest how it made you feel we send its text to OpenAI (1,200 characters at most). The suggestion appears with a dashed border and is saved only if you tap it. It is not used to train the models and costs no AI action. Switching off “Links and search by meaning” stops it: nothing is sent and no suggestion appears.

Book descriptions and topics: Booktation writes its own description of a catalog book (the «Booktation card») in the language you read in, among 25, and shows in Italian and English what the book is about. For this we send to OpenAI only public catalog data: the title, author and year, the topics, places and times Open Library gives the book, and the description that comes from book sources such as Open Library, used only as a reference and not kept with the text; never your notes or other data of yours. A second request checks the text, and a check without AI refuses a text that copies the source. The result is saved, shown to every reader with a note that it was written with AI, and may contain mistakes. It is not used to train the models and costs no AI action. If you wrote the book’s description yourself, it stays yours and is not sent.

Risks. Transcriptions and readings of photos can contain mistakes, and so can the explanations of links: check the text before relying on it. The text sent to the AI is processed by a provider in the United States (section 6).

You can object. In your Profile, under “Use of AI”, you can switch off “Links and search by meaning”. From then on the text of your notes is no longer sent to OpenAI for search, links and Themes: we delete the numerical representations already computed and your Themes (names, concepts and links between themes), while your notes stay and search keeps working on words. You can switch it back on whenever you like: the representations are rebuilt gradually and the Themes from scratch. Transcriptions and photo readings start only when you ask for them: if you do not want them, type your notes.

The AI does not take decisions about you with legal or similarly significant effects (art. 22 GDPR): it only produces text and suggestions that you can edit or ignore.

5. Who processes data on our behalf

We use a few providers who process data on our behalf under a data processing agreement (art. 28 GDPR):

Book data. When you search for a book, our server sends only the search text (title, author or ISBN) to Open Library (Internet Archive), for searches in Italian also to OPAC SBN (the catalogue of Italian libraries, run by ICCU), and, if needed, to Google Books, without data that identifies you. To find how many pages the printed edition of the books in your library has, our server sends their ISBN, title and author to OPAC SBN, to the German union catalogue K10plus (GBV) and to the Library of Congress, also without data that identifies you. Book covers are loaded by your browser directly from covers.openlibrary.org, archive.org and books.google.com: those services therefore receive your IP address and browser data, under their own policies (Internet Archive, Google).

Other people who can see your data: only the staff of Adastra S.r.l.s. who need it to run the service, provide the support you ask for or keep the service secure; authorities, when the law requires it. Your notes are never visible to other users, except the ones you choose to show to a reading group: only the members of that group see them, with your display name, and you can take them back at any time. The same goes for the copy of a note you choose to make visible to the readers of a book: only the signed-in readers who have that book see it, with “Reader” or your first name and initial.

6. Transfers outside the European Union

Some providers process data in the United States. For each of them the transfer is based on (arts. 45 and 46 GDPR):

• OpenAI: the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses, with an assessment of the transfer [to be confirmed: OpenAI’s European data region];
• Vercel, Cloudflare, Stripe, Resend: the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, under which they are certified;
• Supabase: data stored in Frankfurt; the Standard Contractual Clauses cover any remote access from outside the EU;
• IONOS: no transfer, data stays in the European Union.

The Data Privacy Framework is the subject of an appeal still pending before the Court of Justice of the EU: if it were annulled, we would use the Standard Contractual Clauses. You can ask us for a copy of the safeguards at info@booktation.com.

7. How long we keep data

• Account, library, notes, photos and reviews: as long as your account exists. When you delete your account they are erased right away from the database and from file storage; residual copies in our provider’s backups disappear within [7] days.
• An account whose email is never confirmed (the code or the link of the sign-up email is never used): deleted automatically 7 days after it was created.
• Notes shown to a reading group: they stay in the group until you take them back, leave the group or the group is deleted, and they leave it when you delete the note, its book or your account. When you delete your account, the groups you created are deleted too.
• Lines of the club diary: they stay in the group until you delete them, leave the group or the group is deleted, and they go with your account. If the group’s creator takes one out, only you still see it, with the reason, until you delete it. The record of the Sunday emails sent to you: 60 days.
• Readers’ notes: the visible copy stays until you take it back, switch off “Other readers’ notes” or delete the note, its book or your account. If we hide it after a report, only you see it, with the reason, until we decide again or you delete the note. The spoiler flags go with the note or with your account.
• Emotions and anonymous contribution: the emotions stay with the note or the closing notes they belong to and are deleted with them and with your account; when you delete a note or switch the contribution off, they stop counting at once in what other readers see. Your choice on the switch stays until you change it or delete your account.
• Recordings and photos sent only for transcription: not kept by us after processing. OpenAI may keep what it receives for up to 30 days, unless the law requires otherwise (section 4).
• Invitations by email: the fingerprint of the address for 14 days; if the person chose “Stop them”, as long as we need it to respect that choice (section 8).
• Notices in the app (“Notifications”): 60 days, then deleted automatically; your choice about emails from groups stays until you change it or delete your account.
• Support requests: for 24 months after our answer, to deal with any follow-up; they are deleted earlier if you delete your account.
• Proof of what you accepted when paying, and withdrawals: for as long as the subscription lasts and afterwards for 10 years, to prove what was agreed. They are kept even if you delete your account, without your name or email address.
• Technical logs (errors, calls to our services, searches): 90 days, then deleted automatically.
• Payment and invoice records: 10 years, as required by Italian law (art. 2220 of the Civil Code).
• Sending logs of the email providers (IONOS, Resend): for the time set by their agreements [to verify].
• Visit statistics: they are aggregated and do not contain data that identifies you.

8. If someone invites you to a group

If a Booktation reader enters your email address to invite you to a reading group they created, we use it only to send you that invitation, through Resend (section 5). The email shows only the name of the group, the name of the person inviting you, the group image and the link to join: no free message. The address comes from the person who invited you, named in the email.

We do not save your address. We keep for 14 days only a fingerprint of it, encrypted with a secret key, which cannot be turned back into the address: it serves to avoid sending you the same invitation twice and to limit abuse (at most 10 addresses per send and 30 a day for each person inviting). If you choose “Stop them” at the bottom of the email, we keep the fingerprint only to respect your choice.

Legal basis: our legitimate interest, and that of the person inviting you, in allowing invitations within strict limits (art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). You can object at any time with the link in the email, and you have the rights listed in section 9. For any question write to info@booktation.com.

9. Your rights

Under the GDPR you have the right to:

• access your data and get a copy of it (art. 15);
• have it corrected (art. 16) or erased (art. 17);
• restrict its processing (art. 18);
• receive it in a structured, machine-readable format and take it elsewhere (art. 20);
• object to processing based on our legitimate interest (art. 21);
• withdraw a consent you have given, at any time, without affecting what happened before.

You can do most of this yourself, from your Profile: “Export my data” downloads a complete copy of your data (JSON), including the groups you are in, the notes you showed there and your lines of the club diary, and your notes can be exported as Markdown; “Delete account” permanently deletes your account, library, notes, photos and reviews and cancels any subscription; “Use of AI” lets you switch off links and search by meaning (section 4); “Help other readers find their next book”, in Data and privacy, stops the anonymous contribution (section 3). The export includes the emotions of your notes, your choice on the switch and the notes you made visible to the readers of a book, with your choices about them.

For everything else write to info@booktation.com. We answer within one month, which can be extended by two more months for complex requests (art. 12 GDPR).

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Italian Data Protection Authority (Garante per la protezione dei dati personali, www.garanteprivacy.it) or with the authority of the EU country where you live or work.

10. Security

Data is encrypted in transit (HTTPS) and at rest by our providers. Access rules in the database (row-level security) make sure each user can read only their own library and notes; photos attached to notes in the past stay in private storage and open only through temporary links. Nobody can publish your notes in your place: others see only what you choose, that is the reviews you publish, the notes you make visible to the readers of a book and the ones you show to a reading group. Apart from what you choose to show, what other readers see about a book is only aggregated, from at least 5 readers, with rounded numbers, never a text or a name. The copy of a note you make visible to the readers of a book is read only by the signed-in readers who have that book, through checks in the database; it is not indexed by search engines and is not used to train any AI. The notes you show to a reading group are read only by its members, through checks in the database, and never with their photos; the same goes for the lines of the club diary, and the club’s numbers never show a name. The addresses of the people invited by email are never saved: only a fingerprint encrypted with a secret key.

11. Cookies and local storage

Booktation uses no advertising or profiling cookies. It stores on your device only what the app needs to work (for example keeping you signed in and opening your Home right away) and counts visits without cookies. Details in the Cookie Policy.

12. Minors

Booktation is not meant for children under 14 (the age of digital consent in Italy; in other countries the local age applies, up to 16). At sign-up we ask you to confirm that you are at least 14. If we find out that an account belongs to a younger child, we delete it.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy when the service or the law changes. We will tell you about significant changes by email or in the app before they apply. The date at the top of the page shows the current version.

14. Contact

Adastra S.r.l.s., Via Melisurgo 4, 80133 Napoli (NA), Italia. Email: info@booktation.com.