Contents

  1. Data Controller
  2. Data We Collect
  3. Purpose and Legal Basis
  4. Special Category Data
  5. Automated Decision-Making
  6. Storage and Infrastructure
  7. International Data Transfers
  8. Data Retention
  9. Third-Party Processors
  10. Cookies and Analytics
  11. Your Rights Under GDPR
  12. Security
  13. Data Protection Officer
  14. Changes to This Policy
GDPR applicability: FinnAdvisor is offered to residents of the European Union. This service is subject to the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and the Finnish Data Protection Act (Tietosuojalaki 1050/2018). We are committed to processing personal data lawfully, fairly, and transparently.

1. Data Controller

The data controller responsible for your personal data is:

For all data protection enquiries — including requests to exercise your rights under GDPR — please contact us at the address above. We aim to respond within 30 days as required by Art. 12(3) GDPR. Where a request is complex or numerous, we may extend this by a further two months and will inform you of any such extension.

2. Data We Collect

We collect only the minimum data necessary to provide authentication and enforce service plan limits (data minimisation principle, Art. 5(1)(c) GDPR). We do not ask you for your name, address or phone number — your email address is the only identifying detail we request. Case text and documents you choose to submit may themselves contain identifying information; see §6.

Data item Why we collect it Stored where
Email address Magic-link authentication; account identification Upstash Redis (EU region)
Usage count Tracking analyses used against your plan's allowance Upstash Redis (EU region)
Session token (fa_session cookie) Keeping you logged in; identifying your session Your browser (HttpOnly cookie)
Plan status Determining which plan features are available to you Upstash Redis (EU region)
Deadline reminders (opt-in) Case name and appeal deadline — used only to send reminder emails you have enabled. One-click unsubscribe in every email. Upstash Redis (EU region)
Saved case text and documents (only if you save) The case description, any documents you upload and the analysis produced from them — kept only when you choose to save a case, so you can reopen it later. Analyses you do not save are not stored. Upstash Redis, EU (Frankfurt) region. The case description, the analysis, documents generated for you, the text of documents you upload and the case chat are encrypted by FinnAdvisor with AES-256-GCM before they are written, and are stored as ciphertext. This encryption is ours — our current plan with the database provider does not add encryption at rest.

What we do NOT collect

3. Purpose and Legal Basis

We process your personal data only for specified, explicit, and legitimate purposes (Art. 5(1)(b) GDPR). The table below maps each processing activity to its legal basis under Art. 6 GDPR.

Processing activity Legal basis Detail
Authentication — sending magic-link emails; validating session tokens Art. 6(1)(b) — contract performance Necessary to provide the service you requested by creating an account.
Plan enforcement — storing usage counters and which pack you bought Art. 6(1)(b) — contract performance Necessary to enforce the analysis allowance of your chosen plan.
Payment processing — passing your email to Stripe on checkout Art. 6(1)(b) — contract performance Required to take your one-time payment through Stripe and link it to your account.
Analytics — aggregate page-view and session statistics via Google Analytics Art. 6(1)(f) — legitimate interests We have a legitimate interest in understanding how users interact with the service to improve it. This interest is not overridden by your interests given that analytics data is aggregated and not used for profiling. You may opt out at any time (see §10).
Case analysis — sending the text you submit to Anthropic for processing, and storing it when you choose to save the case Art. 6(1)(b) — contract performance Producing the analysis is the service you asked for, and keeping it is at your choice. Where the text you submit contains special category data, Art. 9(2)(a) — your explicit consent — applies in addition; see §4.

Where we rely on legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)), you have the right to object to that processing at any time (see §11).

4. Special Category Data

The case descriptions you voluntarily submit for AI analysis may contain information that constitutes "special category data" under Art. 9 GDPR — for example, details relating to your health, religion, ethnicity, or immigration status. Such information is submitted entirely at your own discretion.

How special category data is handled: Case text is transmitted to Anthropic’s API for processing. If you save a case, that text is stored against your account until you delete it; analyses you do not save are not kept. We do not ask you for special category data. If you include sensitive personal details in a case submission, do so only to the extent necessary to obtain useful legal information.

The legal basis for processing any special category data you voluntarily include in a case submission is Art. 9(2)(a) GDPR — your explicit consent, given at the point of submission by choosing to include such information. You may omit sensitive details at any time without affecting the usefulness of the analysis for most questions.

5. Automated Decision-Making

Certain decisions about your account are made automatically without human review:

These automated decisions are necessary for the performance of your contract (Art. 22(2)(a) GDPR) and do not produce legal effects or similarly significant effects beyond temporary service restrictions. You have the right to request human review of any access decision you believe is incorrect by contacting support@finnadvisor.fi.

AI analysis transparency (EU AI Act Art. 50): The legal analysis results you receive are generated by an AI system (Anthropic Claude). Results are informational only and do not constitute legal advice. The AI may make errors. You should not rely on AI-generated analysis as a substitute for advice from a qualified Finnish lawyer.

6. Storage and Infrastructure

FinnAdvisor is hosted on Vercel. The serverless functions that receive and process your case are pinned to the EU (Frankfurt) region, so your case content is processed within the European Economic Area. Static pages and files are served from Vercel’s global edge network and may be delivered from outside the EEA; those files contain no personal data, though the connection itself carries your IP address to the location serving them. Your account and case data are stored in Upstash Redis, in the EU (Frankfurt) region.

Email delivery (magic links) is handled by Resend. Resend processes your email address only to transmit the authentication email; no email content or address is retained by Resend beyond delivery.

AI analysis requests are sent to Anthropic’s API (United States — see §7 for transfer safeguards). The case text and any documents you upload are sent as you provide them. Because these are usually official letters and decisions, they may contain personal data about you — including your name, address and personal identity code. We do not remove these details before sending. You can reduce what you share: cover or black out details you do not want to submit. The analysis works from the substance of the decision, not from your identifying details. Anthropic does not use API inputs to train its models.

7. International Data Transfers

Some of our processors are located outside the European Economic Area (EEA). We ensure appropriate safeguards are in place for each transfer as required by Chapter V GDPR:

Processor Country Transfer safeguard
Anthropic PBC United States Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) adopted by the European Commission (Decision 2021/914). Case text only; no account identifiers are transmitted.
Google LLC (Analytics) United States Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) under Google's Data Processing Amendment. Analytics data is aggregated and IP-anonymised. Google DPA.
Stripe Inc. United States Standard Contractual Clauses and EU–US Data Privacy Framework certification. Stripe Privacy Policy.
Resend Inc. United States Standard Contractual Clauses. Email addresses processed transiently for delivery only.
Vercel Inc. United States Standard Contractual Clauses. Static assets and serverless functions; user account data stored in EU-region Upstash only.

You may request a copy of the relevant SCCs by contacting support@finnadvisor.fi.

8. Data Retention

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected (Art. 5(1)(e) GDPR — storage limitation):

Data item Retention period Basis
Session data (fa_session cookie) 30 days from last login Automatic expiry via Redis TTL
Usage counters 60 days (automatically expired) Automatic expiry via Redis TTL
Email address and account data Until you request account deletion Necessary for contract performance
Plan status Until you request account deletion Necessary for contract performance
Google Analytics data 14 months (Google's default retention) Legitimate interests (aggregate analytics)
Saved case text and documents Until you delete the case; in any event 24 months after your last sign-in. We email you 3 months before, at 21 months. Storage limitation, Art. 5(1)(e) — enforced by an automated daily sweep. Signing in restarts the period.
Saved case text — free trial accounts 1 month from your last sign-in Storage limitation, Art. 5(1)(e). A trial is kept for a shorter period because the processing it justifies is shorter; no advance email is sent, as a 3-month warning does not fit inside a 1-month period. Upgrading to a paid plan moves the account to the 24-month period above.

To request deletion of your account and all associated data, email support@finnadvisor.fi with the subject line "Account Deletion Request". We will process the request within 30 days and confirm when completed.

9. Third-Party Processors

We engage the following sub-processors under data processing agreements consistent with Art. 28 GDPR. Each processor may only process data on our documented instructions:

Processor Role Data shared
Stripe Payment processing Email address and payment details. Governed by Stripe's Privacy Policy.
Resend Transactional email (magic links) Email address; not retained after delivery.
Upstash Data storage (Redis, EU-Frankfurt region) Email address, usage counters, session tokens, plan status.
Vercel Application hosting and serverless functions Request metadata (IP address may appear in access logs; not retained by FinnAdvisor).
Anthropic AI analysis engine Case text submitted by the user. No account identifiers are transmitted. Anthropic does not use API inputs to train its models per its API usage policy.
Google LLC Analytics (Google Analytics 4) Anonymised usage data (page views, session duration, browser type). No identifiers linked to your FinnAdvisor account. Controller: Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data to any third party for their own commercial purposes.

10. Cookies and Analytics

We use two categories of cookies:

Strictly necessary cookies

These cookies are essential for the service to function. They are set automatically upon login and do not require separate consent under Art. 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive:

Cookie Type Duration Purpose
fa_session HttpOnly, Secure, SameSite=Lax, first-party 30 days Session authentication — required to keep you logged in. The service cannot function without this cookie.

Analytics cookies

We use Google Analytics 4 on our landing page and application to measure aggregate, anonymous usage statistics. These cookies are set only after you consent via the cookie banner shown on your first visit.

Cookie Set by Duration Purpose
_ga Google LLC (third-party) 2 years Distinguishes users for aggregate analytics. Contains a randomly generated identifier — no personal data.
_ga_* Google LLC (third-party) 2 years Persists session state for Google Analytics 4 measurement.

Legal basis for analytics cookies: Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR — your consent, given via the cookie banner. You may withdraw consent at any time by:

We do not use advertising cookies, retargeting pixels, or cross-site tracking.

11. Your Rights Under GDPR

As a data subject under GDPR you have the following rights. To exercise any of them, contact us at support@finnadvisor.fi. We will respond within 30 days (Art. 12(3) GDPR) at no charge.

Supervisory authority complaint

You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Finnish Data Protection Ombudsman (Tietosuojavaltuutettu) if you believe we have processed your data unlawfully, without prejudice to any other administrative or judicial remedy:

Judicial remedy

In addition to lodging a complaint with a supervisory authority, you have the right to an effective judicial remedy under Art. 79 GDPR and §16 of the Finnish Data Protection Act (Tietosuojalaki 1050/2018). You may bring proceedings against us before the competent courts in Finland (where we are established) or in the EU member state where you are habitually resident.

12. Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, or unauthorised disclosure (Art. 32 GDPR):

No method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure. In the event of a personal data breach that is likely to result in a high risk to your rights and freedoms, we will notify you and the Finnish Data Protection Ombudsman within 72 hours as required by Art. 33–34 GDPR.

13. Data Protection Officer

We have not appointed a Data Protection Officer. You can raise any data protection question with us at support@finnadvisor.fi. You also have the right to contact the Finnish Data Protection Ombudsman (tietosuoja.fi) at any time.

All data protection enquiries should be directed to the data controller at support@finnadvisor.fi.

14. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or applicable law. When we make material changes, we will:

We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Questions? Contact us: support@finnadvisor.fi