Privacy

Last updated: 10 August 2026

The short version. Your speech is turned into text by your own browser and never reaches us. We don't use tracking cookies. We collect anonymous, aggregate usage events so we know whether the thing works. The only personal data we ever hold is an email address, and only if you deliberately type one into the waitlist form.

Who is responsible

The controller of any personal data described here is:

Noémie Rakotomalala
Switzerland
contact@cut-the-crap.app

Cut The Crap is an independently operated free tool. Because the controller is based in Switzerland and the site is available internationally, we apply both the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (nFADP) and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and default to whichever is stricter.

Your speech and the microphone

This is the part worth reading carefully.

The microphone is only requested when you press the buzzer — never on page load.
Speech is transcribed by the Web Speech API built into your browser. In Chrome, that means your browser streams the audio to Google's speech service to convert it into text. That transmission is between you, your browser and its provider. It is outside our control, we cannot see it, and it is governed by your browser vendor's privacy policy.
Cut The Crap never stores, records, uploads or transmits your audio or your transcript. The text lives in the memory of your browser tab and disappears when you close or reload it. There is no server of ours that could receive it.
If you'd rather no audio left your device at all, use the type-a-line box instead of the microphone — it runs the same detector entirely offline in your browser.

Analytics

We use PostHog, hosted in the European Union (Frankfurt), to understand how the tool is used. It is configured deliberately narrowly:

No cookies and no browser storage — event data is held in memory for the page visit only, so we cannot recognise you when you come back.
IP addresses are discarded at ingestion. No geolocation lookup.
No autocapture, no session recording, no heatmaps, no surveys. Only the specific events listed below are sent.
No user profiles are created. Events are anonymous and cannot be linked to a person.

Exactly what we send

Event	What it contains
`page_view`	referrer, campaign tags from the URL
`session_start`	whether you used voice or typing
`listen_start`	nothing
`first_jargon_detected`	milliseconds until the first buzz
`session_complete`	duration, word count, buzz count, number of distinct terms, Crap Score, grade letter, and your top 3 most-used jargon terms with counts
`limit_reached`	that the 3-minute limit was hit
`teaser_shown`	where the waitlist teaser appeared
`share_clicked`	which share channel
`share_image_downloaded`	which image size
`result_link_opened`	the campaign tags on a shared link
`github_cta_clicked`	which link was clicked
`waitlist_email_submitted`	that a submission happened — never the email address
`mute_toggled`	muted or unmuted

The "top 3 terms" are entries from our fixed, public jargon dictionary — they are labels like circle back, not anything you said in your own words. No transcript text or recognised speech is ever sent.

Legal basis: our legitimate interest (GDPR Art. 6(1)(f)) in understanding whether a free tool works, balanced by making the analytics cookieless, anonymous and IP-free.

The waitlist

If you submit your email address to the waitlist, it is stored by Buttondown, our email provider. We use double opt-in: you'll get one email asking you to confirm, and nothing further happens unless you click it.

Purpose: to tell you once when meeting-wide analysis becomes available. Nothing else.
Legal basis: your consent (GDPR Art. 6(1)(a)), which you can withdraw at any time.
Unsubscribe: every email carries an unsubscribe link, and you can also just email us and we'll delete you.
Retention: until you unsubscribe, or until the waitlist has served its purpose and is deleted.
Unconfirmed addresses are removed by Buttondown as unactivated subscribers.

Storage on your device

We use localStorage for two functional settings only:

ctc:muted — whether you turned the buzzer sound off.
ctc:banner-dismissed — whether you dismissed the browser-support notice.

These are strictly necessary to make the interface behave the way you set it, contain no identifiers, and are never sent anywhere. We set no tracking cookies, which is why this site has no cookie banner. Transcripts and scores are never written to your device.

Who else is involved (sub-processors)

Provider	Role	Where
Vercel	Website hosting and delivery	USA / global edge
PostHog	Anonymous product analytics	European Union (Frankfurt)
Buttondown	Waitlist email	USA
Google Fonts	Typefaces used by the page	global
GitHub	Public source repository; the star count shown on the page	USA
Your browser's speech provider (Google, in Chrome)	Converts your speech to text. Not engaged by us — it acts for your browser vendor	varies

Transfers outside Switzerland/the EEA rely on the providers' standard contractual clauses and equivalent safeguards. Data processing agreements are in place with our processors.

Your rights

Under the nFADP and the GDPR you have the right to access, rectify, erase, restrict, object to, and port your personal data, and to withdraw consent at any time. Because the analytics are anonymous, in practice the only data we can identify as yours is a waitlist email address.

To exercise any of these, email contact@cut-the-crap.app. We'll respond within 30 days.

You also have the right to complain to a supervisory authority — in Switzerland, the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC); in the EU, your national data protection authority.

Retention

Speech and transcripts: never retained — they exist only in your browser tab.
Analytics events: retained by PostHog in anonymous, aggregate form according to our project's retention settings.
Waitlist email: until you unsubscribe or ask for deletion.

Children

This is a novelty tool aimed at working adults. It isn't directed at children and we don't knowingly collect data from them.

Changes

If this policy changes materially, we'll update the date at the top. Since we hold no accounts, there is nowhere to notify you — please check back if it matters to you.

Terms · Impressum · Back to the buzzer