Privacy

Short version: your work never leaves your computer. The panel checks in with this site to sign you in and update itself, and it counts which keys you press (the key name and how often, never what you do with it). This website stores the email and name you give to download the panel, what you type into the feedback form, an anonymous, cookieless count of page views and, only if you take part on the Beat Marker page, your taps and numbers about the song (never the audio). You can delete your account and everything stored with it yourself, in the panel. The hosting provider keeps standard server logs. There are no ads, no third-party trackers, no analytics cookies.

1. Who is responsible

Minimum age. VSVX Softkeys is made for people who edit video. It is not meant for children: you need to be at least 16 years old to download it or create an account, and we do not knowingly collect data from anyone younger. If you think a child gave us their data, write to the address below and we delete it.

Write to this address for anything about your data. This site is operated from Switzerland. Swiss data protection law (FADP) applies; for visitors in the EU/EEA the GDPR applies as well.

2. The After Effects panel

Your work stays on your computer. The panel never uploads your projects, footage, audio, transcriptions or anything you make with it.

It does talk to this site for these things, always tied to the email you signed in with:

• Sign-in. You sign in with a link we mail to you. When the panel opens it checks that your email still has access.
• Updates. It asks which files changed and downloads the new ones.
• Usage count. Those two calls let me record one line per person per day: your email, the date, the panel version, and whether you are on Windows or Mac. The panel also says once a day if you actually pressed a key, so I can tell who uses it from who only has it installed. These lines are kept until you delete your account.
• Which keys you press. From version 0.31 the panel also reports, in small batches, which keys you press and how often per day, for example “Pre-compose: 3”. This is stored with your email so I can see how many different people use each key and which keys nobody needs. It never contains what you did with a key: no project, layer or file names, no footage, audio or text, and no exact times. Until they are sent, the counts wait in the panel’s local storage on your computer. Legal basis: my legitimate interest in improving the panel (GDPR Art. 6(1)(f)), kept proportionate under the Swiss FADP. Retention: counts older than 24 months are deleted automatically every day, and all of them go when you delete your account. You can object at any time by emailing support@vsvxfx.com: I then stop counting your key presses and delete the counts already stored.
• Using it right now. While the panel is open and you are using it, it tells this site from time to time that you are there. This only updates your “last seen” time, so the panel can show how many people are using it right now (a number, never who). Sign-in and usage data can reach the server with a delay of up to about half an hour, so these numbers may be slightly behind. If you asked not to be counted, you are not counted here either. The panel also shows two public totals (how many people use it and how many were active this week) and a 7-day chart of the daily totals: they are counts only and contain nothing about any person.
• Reports. If you press “Send report to VSVX” in the Captions key, the panel sends a technical report: the panel, After Effects and system versions, the number of processor cores and the log of the last Captions run. Your user folder name is removed from it first. It is stored with your email. Reports older than 24 months are deleted automatically every day, and all of them go when you delete your account.

I use this to see how many people really use the beta and who is stuck on an old version. You can delete your account and all of this at any time with “Remove my account” in the panel (see section 11).

Captions. The first time you use the Captions key, the panel downloads the speech engine from its makers (github.com) and the language model (huggingface.co). Those two downloads are ordinary file requests and their providers see them like any other download. After that, transcription happens entirely on your computer: your audio is never uploaded, to me or anyone else.

Face tracking. The Face tracking key analyses your clips on your computer. Nothing is uploaded. The first time you use it, the panel downloads the face engine (about 66 MB) from vsvxfx.com and, if you have not used Download or Captions yet, the video tool (ffmpeg) from its makers, also on github.com. These are ordinary file requests and their providers see them like any other download. Pressing the key is counted like every other key, under the name “face”.

Download. The first time you use the Download key, the panel fetches its tools from their makers on github.com (the downloader, the video converter and, for YouTube, a helper). When you paste a link, your computer fetches that video directly from the platform — TikTok, YouTube, Instagram — the same way your browser would. The link and the file never pass through this site, and I don't record what you download.

The installer only copies files into your user folder and sets one Adobe setting (PlayerDebugMode) that allows After Effects to load unsigned panels.

3. Feedback form

When you send feedback we store: the type (bug / idea / other), the key it concerns, your message, your After Effects version, your email address (needed so we can reply) and, only if you fill it in, your name. We use this solely to fix bugs, plan features and to reply to you: you get a short confirmation mail right away, and a personal update when something changes about your message (for example that it is fixed).

Photos. You can add up to 3 screenshots or photos to a report. Your browser shrinks them to small JPEGs before sending, which also removes hidden data such as location. They are stored with the report, only the owner can see them in the admin, and they are deleted together with the report. Please do not show anything private in them. The email notification only says that photos are attached and does not contain them.

• Legal basis: your consent when you press "Send feedback" (GDPR Art. 6(1)(a)) and our legitimate interest in improving the software.
• Storage: a Postgres database hosted by Neon (via Vercel) in the EU (Frankfurt).
• Delivery: each new report is also emailed to our own inbox (Gmail) through Resend, with your message, your name and your email. The photos are not in that mail.
• Sorting: the text of your message, its type, the key and your After Effects version are sent to TypeSafe (typesafe.ai), an AI service that sorts feedback by kind and urgency. Your name, your email and your photos are not sent, unless you write them into the message yourself.
• Email check: to stop fake addresses, the server looks up whether the part of your email after the @ can receive mail (an ordinary DNS lookup) and compares it with a public list of temporary-mail services.
• Retention: feedback is deleted automatically 24 months after you sent it. Feedback sent with the email of your panel account is deleted together with the account. Email us to have it deleted earlier.
• Visits and activity: records of page visits are deleted automatically after 18 months, and the days you used the panel after 24 months.

4. Beat Marker community tapping

On the page Help the Beat Marker (vsvxfx.com/softkeys/community) you can tap along to a song so that our Beat Marker learns where editors cut. Taking part is voluntary and needs no account. Nothing is sent before you tick the consent box and press send.

Your song stays on your computer. The browser opens and analyses the file locally. We never receive, store or host the audio file. We receive only numbers and, if you give it, a link:

• the times of your taps, the delay you measured, the part of the song you tapped and how long you listened;
• a coarse loudness envelope of that part (a few frequency groups, about 170 values per second, no phase, no fine spectrum). It is what the Beat Marker itself looks at; it cannot be played back as the song;
• an anonymous fingerprint of the song (sign bits of energy changes) and a pitch-class profile, so we can recognise the same song tapped by several people. They contain no audio and do not tell us the title;
• the public link to the song (for example on YouTube or Spotify), if you paste one, so we can find the same recording later. We may use it to download that recording on our own computer only to train the Beat Marker; it is never published or hosted by us. You can also tick that you have no link;
• your browser and system family (for example "Chrome, Windows", no version, no device id) and the page language;
• only if you fill them in: a name for the thanks list, the song title, your email address (used only to thank you, never for newsletters).

To stop abuse we keep a daily changing one-way hash of your IP address next to the contribution. The raw IP address is not stored. The page keeps your delete codes and your measured delay in your browser's local storage, on your device only.

Purpose and legal basis: improving the Beat Marker of VSVX Softkeys, based on your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR; Swiss FADP). You can withdraw it at any time by deleting your contribution.

Deleting: after sending you get a code. Enter it on the same page to delete your contribution; it is gone at once or within about 30 minutes. Without the code, write to support@vsvxfx.com with the date and, if you gave one, your email address.

How long: contributions are kept for 24 months, then deleted automatically. Models trained from them contain no personal data. Contributions we cannot use (too short, unsteady, automated) are kept apart and deleted with the others.

Who processes it: the database runs at Neon (EU region), the page and the server at Vercel, as described in section 7. Only VSVX can read the contributions. We publish only totals and, if you asked for it, your name in the thanks list.

Age: please take part only if you are at least 16, or with the permission of a parent.

5. Download registration

To download the panel you enter your email address and your name. We store them together with the time and number of your downloads, the panel version and system you chose, whether you want update mails, and, if you came through a tracked link, that link’s label. Before the first download we mail you a 6-digit code to check that the address is yours, and the server checks the address the same way as for feedback (section 3). The same email is your sign-in for the panel. After your first download you get one short thank-you mail. If you never confirm your email, or the panel never opens on your side, we may send you a short reminder.

Update mails. Before you can download you have to choose “Yes, email me” or “No thanks” for update mails; nothing is chosen for you and the download does not start until you pick one. If you said yes, choosing “No thanks” on a later download does not stop the mails: use the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of every update mail (one click, no login). After that you get no more update mails, and the panel keeps updating itself.

Your data is never sold. It only goes to the services listed in section 7.

• Legal basis: your consent when you press "Download" (GDPR Art. 6(1)(a)). Update mails: your consent when you choose “Yes, email me” (GDPR Art. 6(1)(a)); you can withdraw it at any time with the Unsubscribe link in every mail.
• Storage: the same Neon database in the EU (Frankfurt).
• Retention: until you delete your account (section 11). Unused sign-in and download codes are deleted automatically one day after they expired; a used code is deleted at once.

6. Email

If you write to support@vsvxfx.com, or reply to one of our mails (they are sent through Resend), your message goes to a mailbox at Infomaniak Network SA (Geneva, Switzerland; servers in Switzerland). We use your mails only to answer you and delete them when they are no longer needed. The domain vsvxfx.com is registered and managed with Infomaniak as well.

We keep a log of every mail the site sends: the address it went to, the subject, the kind of mail and whether it was delivered. It is deleted automatically after 24 months, and the lines about you go when you delete your account.

7. Server logs and the services we use

The website and its download are served by Vercel Inc. (USA, EU edge locations). Like every web host, Vercel processes your IP address, browser type, time and requested page in short-lived technical logs to deliver the site and defend against abuse. Vercel is contractually bound under the EU Standard Contractual Clauses. See Vercel's privacy policy.

Our own database stores IP addresses only in a short-term counter that blocks abuse, for example too many sign-in attempts from one connection. Every day these counters are deleted once their time window ended more than a day ago, so an IP address stays there for about two days at most. The counters that hold your email (for example how many codes we mailed you) are deleted the same way, and at once when you delete your account.

These services handle personal data for us:

• Vercel (USA): hosts the website and the server code.
• Neon (database, EU, Frankfurt): stores everything described on this page.
• Resend (Resend Inc., USA): sends every mail from the site: sign-in links, codes, thank-you, reminder, update and feedback mails, and the notices to our own inbox. It sees the address, the subject and the content of each mail.
• Infomaniak (Switzerland): our domain vsvxfx.com and the mailbox support@vsvxfx.com.
• Google (Gmail): our own Gmail inbox for internal notices. The site mails notices there: your first download (your name, email, system and whether you want update mails), a new feedback (your message, name and email), when you confirm your email, set your name, unsubscribe or delete your account (your name and email), lists of who got an update or reminder mail, a daily list of the addresses the site mailed, and a weekly summary with the names and emails of new users and short parts of new feedback. Deleting your account does not remove these mails from that inbox. If you want them gone too, write to us.
• TypeSafe (typesafe.ai): sorts feedback, see section 3. It gets the feedback text, never your name or email (unless you write them into the message).

8. Visit counter

We count page views without cookies. When a page loads, the browser sends the page path to our server. The server stores the path, the time, and a one-way daily hash made from your IP address, browser signature, the date and a secret. The hash cannot be reversed into an IP address and changes every day, so it only tells us "how many different visitors today" — never who you are or what you did yesterday. Raw IP addresses are not stored. If you arrived through a tracked link (for example the one in our TikTok bio), we also store its label, like tiktok or the name of the video, to learn which videos bring people who actually use the panel. If the visit comes from the built-in browser of TikTok, Instagram or Facebook, we store only the name of that app as the label; it is read from the browser signature, and the signature itself is not stored. Nothing is shared with third parties.

9. Cookies and local storage

The public site sets no cookies. Your browser may remember the email you typed in the download form (local storage on your device only, so you don't have to type it again) and, for 30 days, the label of the link that brought you here, so a later download is counted for that video. Fonts are self-hosted, so no request goes to Google or any other third party. The Beat Marker page keeps your delete codes, your measured delay and the page language in local storage (section 4). The private admin area uses browser session storage to keep the owner logged in; it is not used on public pages.

The panel keeps your sign-in (your email, your name and a session key), your settings and the key counts not sent yet in its local storage on your computer, and your sign-in also in a small file in your user folder. Sign out clears the sign-in. “Remove my account” clears the sign-in and everything the panel keeps in its local storage.

10. Support link

The site has an optional link to Ko-fi (ko-fi.com/vsvxsoftkeys) for anyone who wants to support the project. Visiting this site sends nothing to Ko-fi. Only if you click the link and give, Ko-fi and the payment provider you choose (PayPal or a card service) process your payment under their own privacy policies. I see what they pass on to me: the amount and, if you give them, your name, your email and a message. I use this only to say thank you and to keep my accounts. It is never sold or shared. The small “Free, and we keep improving it every day” line in the panel links to the same Ko-fi page. It stores nothing about you except this month’s public supporter count, kept in the panel’s local storage so the line does not jump when the panel opens; clicking its Support button is counted like the footer Donate link, as the key name “donate”.

11. Your rights

Delete your account yourself. In the panel, at the bottom next to Sign out, press “Remove my account” and confirm. This deletes at once, for good, your account and everything stored with your email: your name, your downloads, your usage lines and key counts, your feedback with its photos, your reports, your codes, the reminders and the mail log lines about you. If something goes wrong, nothing is deleted and the panel tells you. The panel then signs you out and clears what it kept on your computer. We get one short notice that the account was deleted. You can also ask us by email to delete it.

Your data is kept until you delete your account. Only these things are deleted earlier, automatically, every day: feedback, reports, key counts and mail log lines older than 24 months, unused codes one day after they expired, and the abuse counters with IP addresses about two days after they were made.

You can also ask for access to, correction of, or a copy of any personal data we hold about you, or object to its processing. Email support@vsvxfx.com. EU residents may also complain to their local supervisory authority; Swiss residents to the FDPIC.

12. Changes

If this page changes, the date at the top changes with it.