Privacy Policy

Who we are

The Talking Quest is a subscription service operated by Cuteness Exposed ("Cuteness Exposed", "we", "us", "our"). This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect when you use our website and service (the "Service"), why we collect it, how we protect it, and the choices and rights you have. It applies to visitors, free-plan users and paid subscribers in every country we serve, including Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Subscription billing is administered on our behalf through Marketing Parlour, and card payments are processed by our payment provider, Stripe. If you have any questions, contact us at hello@talkingquest.com.

Information we collect

We collect information in the following ways:

• Account details — your full name and email address, provided when you create an account. We use a passwordless email sign-in code, so we do not store a password for you.
• Billing information — the plan you choose, your billing address, your subscription status, and limited card metadata (such as the card type and last four digits). Your full card number and security details are collected and processed directly by Stripe and are never stored on our systems.
• Usage data — pages viewed, scenarios opened, features used, and device/browser information, collected automatically through cookies and analytics to help us run and improve the Service.
• Communications — messages you send us via the contact form or support email, and your preferences (such as whether you have opted in to the Question of the Day or product updates).

We do not collect special-category/sensitive information, and we do not ask you to provide information about your children.

Children's information

The Talking Quest is designed to be used by children together with a parent or carer, under that adult's account. We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children: children do not create their own accounts, enter their names, or submit information through the Service. The conversations your family has using our scenarios happen offline, between you and your child — we do not record, transcribe or store the content of those conversations. Consistent with the U.S. Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), the UK Age Appropriate Design Code and the Australian Privacy Principles, if we ever learn that a child has provided us with personal information without a parent's involvement, we will delete it as soon as we become aware. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us at hello@talkingquest.com.

How we use your information, and our legal bases

We use your information to:

• create and maintain your account and provide the Service you have subscribed to;
• process payments and manage billing, renewals and cancellations (through Marketing Parlour and Stripe);
• send you the Question of the Day, product updates or support messages you have opted into;
• understand how the Service is used so we can improve it and fix problems; and
• keep the Service secure and prevent misuse of the content licence described in our Terms & Conditions.

Where UK/EU data protection law applies, our legal bases are: performance of our contract with you (running your account and subscription); your consent (optional marketing emails, non-essential cookies); and our legitimate interests (securing, understanding and improving the Service) balanced against your rights. Where the Australian Privacy Principles apply, we collect and use personal information only for these related purposes. We do not sell your personal information and we do not use it for third-party advertising.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and how it relates to your data

Some of the content on The Talking Quest — including certain scenarios, articles and illustrations — is created or assisted using artificial-intelligence tools and is reviewed by a person before it is published. We want to be transparent about this:

• We do not use AI to make automated decisions about you. No decision that produces legal or similarly significant effects for you (such as billing, access or account decisions) is made solely by automated means.
• We do not put your personal information, your account data, or your family's conversations into AI systems, and we do not allow your personal information to be used to train third-party AI models.
• AI-assisted content is provided for general information and conversation only. While it is human-reviewed, it may occasionally contain inaccuracies and is not professional (medical, psychological, legal or educational) advice — see our Terms & Conditions.

If we introduce any feature in future that processes your inputs using AI, we will update this policy and, where required, ask for your consent first.

Cookies and analytics

We use a small number of cookies to keep you signed in, remember your preferences, and understand which pages are useful through aggregated analytics. Essential cookies are necessary for the Service to work; non-essential/analytics cookies are used in line with your choices and applicable law. Analytics cookies load only after you accept them; until then, and if you decline, no analytics storage takes place (we use Google Consent Mode to enforce this). You can control cookies through your browser settings, though some parts of the Service may not work properly without the essential ones.

Payments and Stripe

Card payments are processed by Stripe, our third-party payment provider, and your billing is administered through Marketing Parlour. When you subscribe, your card details are collected and processed directly by Stripe under Stripe's own terms and privacy policy (https://stripe.com/privacy). We receive only limited billing information from Stripe — such as your subscription status, plan, billing address and the last four digits of your card — which we use to manage your subscription. We never receive or store your full card number.

Service providers we share data with

We rely on a small number of trusted providers to run the Service, and they only receive the information they need to do their job:

• Stripe — payment processing;
• our email provider — sending sign-in codes, account and product emails;
• our hosting and infrastructure providers (including our database, application hosting and content-delivery providers) — running the Service securely; and
• Google Analytics 4 (Google) — aggregated, privacy-respecting usage analytics.

Each provider is bound by its own privacy and security obligations and may only process your data on our instructions.

Sharing and disclosure

We do not share your personal information with third parties except: with the service providers described above; where required by law, regulation, court order, or to protect the rights, property or safety of our users, the public or us; or in connection with a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, in which case we will notify you before your information becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

International data transfers

The Talking Quest is operated from Australia, and your information may be processed in Australia and by service providers located in other countries, including the United States and the European Economic Area/United Kingdom. Where we transfer personal information out of the UK/EEA, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as the UK/EU Standard Contractual Clauses (or an equivalent transfer mechanism). By using the Service, you understand that your information may be processed in these locations.

Data security

We use industry-standard measures — encryption in transit, hashed sign-in tokens, and access controls — to protect your information. No system is completely secure, but we take reasonable steps to protect your data and, where we are legally required to, we will notify you and the relevant regulator of a data breach that affects your personal information.

Data retention

We keep your account information for as long as your account is active, plus a reasonable period afterwards for legal, tax, accounting and dispute-resolution purposes. Billing records are retained for the period required by applicable tax and financial-record laws. You can request deletion of your account data at any time (see "Your rights").

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, export, restrict or delete the personal information we hold about you, to object to certain processing, and to withdraw consent or opt out of marketing at any time. We don't currently send marketing emails. If we introduce them, each will include a one-click unsubscribe link. To exercise any of these rights, email us at hello@talkingquest.com and we will respond within the timeframe required by law.

Country-specific information

Australia. We handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles. If you are concerned about how we have handled your information, contact us first; you may also complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (oaic.gov.au).

United Kingdom and European Union. We handle personal information in accordance with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 (and the EU GDPR where it applies). You have the rights described above and the right to lodge a complaint with your data protection authority — in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk). Our legal bases are set out in Section 4.

United States. We do not sell or "share" (as defined under California law) your personal information, and we do not use it for cross-context behavioural advertising. Depending on your state (for example, under the California Consumer Privacy Act as amended), you may have the right to know, delete, correct and opt out; you can exercise these rights at hello@talkingquest.com, and we will not discriminate against you for doing so. We comply with COPPA as described in Section 3.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will change the "Last updated" date above, and for material changes we will notify subscribers by email. The version published on this page is the one that applies.

Contact us

Questions about this policy or your data? Reach us at hello@talkingquest.com or through our contact form. The Talking Quest is operated by Cuteness Exposed.