Privacy Policy

Last updated 24 August 2026

This policy covers the Owely website, the web application, and the OwelyChrome extension. It is written to be read, not to be survived.

The short version

  • We collect what we need to build your study material, and nothing more.
  • Your coursework is never used to train AI models that other people benefit from.
  • The extension sends only what you point at, only when you act.
  • You can download everything or delete everything, yourself, at any time.

Who we are

Owely is operated by Driftwave Labs, LLC (the “operator”), which is the data controller for the purposes of the GDPR. Contact: [email protected].

What we collect, and why

Account information

Your email address, display name, chosen language and time zone. Legal basis: performance of our contract with you. Without it there is no account.

Material you upload

Documents, pasted text and lecture video links, plus the text extracted from them and the study material generated from that text. Legal basis: performance of our contract.

Coursework can contain more than coursework. A syllabus may name your instructor; an essay may discuss your health, beliefs or family. We treat everything you upload as potentially sensitive, whether or not we asked for it.

Extension data

The extension sends, and only when you actively trigger it:

  • The image region you drag over. Only that region, only on release. Never the full page, never automatically, never in the background.
  • Text you selected — but only once you click one of the menu actions. Highlighting text on its own transmits nothing at all.
  • The page address, without the query string or fragment. Everything after ? or # is stripped in your browser before sending, because those routinely carry session tokens and answer keys.

The extension never sends page content you did not select, form fields, cookies, passwords, or anything from a password or payment field — those are suppressed outright.

Usage and diagnostics

Counts of pages processed and questions asked, for enforcing plan limits. Error reports for fixing crashes. Legal basis: legitimate interest in running and improving a reliable service. Analytics beyond this are off unless you turn them on.

Diagnostics are redacted in your browser before they leave it. We do not log file names, screenshots, selected text, your questions, or the answers you receive.

AI processing

To generate answers, guides, flashcards and quizzes we send the relevant parts of your material to our AI provider (Anthropic). They process it to return a result and do not use it to train their models. Answers are generated by an AI system, can be wrong, and should be checked against the cited source before you rely on them.

Who else sees your data

Only service providers we need to run the product: hosting and database (Supabase, Vercel), AI processing (Anthropic), payments (Stripe — they handle your card, we never see it), and error monitoring. Each is bound by a data-processing agreement. We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context advertising.

Where your data is held

Primarily in the European Union and the United States. Transfers outside the EEA/UK rely on Standard Contractual Clauses.

How long we keep it

  • Uploads and study material: until you delete them, or 30 days after you delete your account.
  • Account records: for as long as you have an account.
  • Billing records: seven years, because tax law requires it.
  • Diagnostics: 90 days.
  • Backups: deleted data ages out of encrypted backups within 35 days.

Your rights

You can access, correct, export, delete, restrict, or object to processing of your data, and withdraw consent at any time. Most of this is self-service in Settings → Privacy & data: a one-click export of everything, deletion of all coursework, and account deletion with a 30-day grace period.

For anything not covered there, write to [email protected]. We respond within 30 days. If you are in the EEA or UK you may also complain to your local data protection authority.

Children

Owely is not intended for under-16s. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we will remove it.

Changes

We will tell you by email before any change that materially affects your rights, and the date at the top always reflects the current version.