Privacy & Data Protection Policy

1. Who this applies to

This policy covers three groups of people: visitors browsing the site, providers (businesses with a Butter account who collect and list data), and buyers(labs and enterprises who submit interest in licensing data). Where a provider's dataset itself contains personal data about third parties — for example, people appearing in video or sensor recordings — Section 8 explains how responsibility for that data is divided.

2. Information we collect

We collect only what we need to run accounts, the marketplace, and the Butter Kit:

• Account information. Work email, name, company, and a hashed password when you create a provider account, or your name, email, and profile photo if you continue with Google.
• Marketplace interest data. Name, email, company, and buyer type (e.g. frontier lab, neo lab, enterprise) when you submit interest in a listing or the marketplace.
• Data you upload. Files a provider uploads to list on the marketplace — this is business content you control, described further in Section 8.
• Payment information. If you purchase a Butter Kit, Stripe processes your card details directly. We receive confirmation of payment and order metadata, never your full card number.
• Usage data. Pages viewed, product interactions, device and browser type, and approximate location, collected via PostHog analytics.
• Cookies. A session cookie to keep you signed in, and analytics cookies described in Section 6.

3. How we use information

We use the information above to:

• Create and secure provider accounts, and authenticate sign-in.
• Operate the marketplace — publish listings, route buyer interest, and process Butter Kit orders and credit-back payouts.
• Provide customer support and respond to inquiries.
• Monitor, secure, and improve the site and product using aggregated usage data.
• Meet legal, tax, and accounting obligations.

We do not sell personal data to third parties, and we do not use it to serve third-party advertising.

4. How we share information

We share personal data only where it's needed to operate the service:

• Service providers who process data on our behalf under contract: Stripe (payments), our cloud storage provider (file uploads), PostHog (analytics), and Google (sign-in, when you choose it).
• Buyers, when a provider publishes a listing or a provider chooses to share contact details with an interested buyer.
• Legal and safety — where required by law, to enforce our Terms, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Butter, our users, or the public.
• Corporate transactions — if Butter is involved in a merger, acquisition, or asset sale, personal data may transfer as part of that transaction, subject to this policy.

5. Data retention

We keep account and transaction data for as long as your account is active, plus a reasonable period afterward to meet legal, accounting, and dispute-resolution obligations. Marketplace interest submissions are kept for as long as they remain relevant to an active listing or business relationship. You can request earlier deletion under Section 7.

6. Cookies and analytics

We use a strictly necessary session cookie to keep providers signed in, and PostHog analytics cookies to understand product usage. Analytics is disabled by default in local development and can be blocked in your browser at any time; doing so will not affect your ability to use core features, though it may affect sign-in persistence for the session cookie specifically.

7. Your rights and choices

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, export, or delete your personal data, restrict or object to certain processing, and withdraw consent where processing relies on it — rights broadly available under frameworks like the GDPR and the CCPA/CPRA, which we honor for all users regardless of location. To exercise any of these, contact us using the details in Section 12; we'll respond within a reasonable time and may need to verify your identity first.

8. Data you list on the marketplace

Datasets a provider uploads to sell or license are that provider's content, not data Butter collects about you. If a provider's dataset includes personal data about others — for example, people visible in video, audio, or sensor captures — the provider is responsible for having a lawful basis to collect it, for any notices or consents required in their jurisdiction, and for honoring deletion or access requests related to it. Butter stores this content on the provider's behalf and does not use it to identify individuals or for any purpose beyond operating the marketplace listing.

9. Security

We use industry-standard safeguards to protect personal data, including encryption in transit, hashed passwords, access-controlled cloud storage, and scoped, time-limited upload URLs for data files. No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security, but we work to identify and address risks promptly.

10. International data transfers

Butter and its service providers may process data in countries other than your own, including the United States. Where required, we rely on appropriate safeguards, such as standard contractual clauses, to protect data transferred internationally.

11. Children's privacy

Butter is a business-to-business service and is not directed to, and does not knowingly collect personal data from, children under 16. If you believe a child has provided us personal data, contact us and we will delete it.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as our product or legal obligations change. We'll update the “last updated” date above, and for material changes, we'll take reasonable steps to notify active provider accounts.

13. Contact us

Questions, requests, or concerns about this policy or your data can be sent to privacy@trybutter.ai.

See also our Terms of Service.