Beta version, being reviewed by a lawyer. The wording may still change before the beta starts.
If you joined the waitlist on this site
We keep your email, the plan you chose, who would use it, where they live, their computer, your language and which ad or link brought you here. We use it only to tell you about the beta and to learn which plan families want. We never sell it. Every email we send has a link that takes you off the list at once, or write to us and we will delete it.
I Need My Geek: Privacy Policy (closed beta)
DRAFT. For review by a qualified lawyer before use. This is not legal advice.
Written from what the software does on 2026-10-30. In square brackets, text that starts with FILL is a value or an open decision for us to fill in (the list is
FILL-IN.md), and text that starts with LAWYER is a note for the lawyer. Where a sentence describes something we plan to change, it says "today". The matching Spanish text ispolitica-de-privacidad.md; the details behind every sentence are indata-map.md. If the two language versions differ, [FILL: prevailing language] prevails.
Version: [FILL: version] · Date: [FILL: date]
1. The short version
- I Need My Geek is a service that puts a helper, "your Geek", on an older person's computer. Your Geek watches for scams, shows how to do everyday things on the computer, and, if the person wants, lets a trusted family member help. (The installed program is called INMG Buddy inside Windows, and keeps its files in
%APPDATA%\INMG Buddy.) The service has five parts: the website ineedmygeek.ai, the desktop app on the older person's computer, an optional browser add-on, the family app on a relative's phone, and the phone companion. - Most of what your Geek sees stays on the computer. It reads window titles and the visible text of the window in front of it, but never what you type into a box, and never the content of password boxes.
- Some words are sent to AI services to understand them: when something looks suspicious, and every time you ask your Geek a question. We name those services below.
- A screenshot is taken only when you ask ("Look at my screen"). The microphone is on only while you hold the talk button, or while you have switched on "Listen in" for a call.
- Your family sees what your Geek tells them (a warning, a request for help, a short note), not your screen and not your passwords. Today the daily note can also include the questions you asked your Geek, see section 5.
- Your Geek never asks for your passwords, codes, PIN or card numbers, never asks you to pay anything, and never takes control of your computer. If anything that looks like your Geek asks for these, it is not your Geek. Stop and call your family.
- This is a closed beta: a small test group. The software is not finished. Read the limits in section 12.
- You can leave at any time and ask us to delete your data. How: section 10.
2. Who we are
The controller (the company responsible for your data) is:
[FILL: legal name], [FILL: legal form], [FILL: NIF], [FILL: postal address], [FILL: country]. Contact for privacy: [FILL: privacy email] · Data Protection Officer: [FILL: DPO or none]. EU representative if the controller is outside the EU: [FILL: EU representative or none].
3. Who this policy is about
- The person: the adult who uses your Geek on their own computer.
- A family member: an adult relative who joined the person's "family circle" with a code from the person's computer, using the family phone app.
- The phone companion: the person's own phone, paired to their own computer so they can send your Geek a message, a photo or a voice note.
- Other people who appear on the screen or in a call (for example the sender of a message). We do not choose them and cannot ask them. We handle their words only to protect the person, only in small pieces, and we mask card numbers.
Your Geek is for adults (18 and over). We do not knowingly allow anyone under 18 to use it, either as the person or as a family member. If you think a child has used it, tell us and we will delete the data.
4. What your Geek does with your data, step by step
4.1 On your computer (stays there unless section 4.2 or 5 says otherwise)
| What | Detail | How long it is kept |
|---|---|---|
| Which program is in front, window titles | Read all the time so your Geek can notice a scam pop-up or a remote-access tool starting | In memory only, replaced as you work |
| Visible text of the front window | The names and text on screen (up to about 4,000 characters). Password boxes are skipped completely. What you type into boxes is never read. | In memory only |
| Web page details (if you install the browser add-on) | Address, title, up to 4,000 characters of the visible text, the kinds of boxes on the page (never their contents), and where links go. Sent only to your Geek on the same computer, not to the internet | In memory only |
| A screenshot | One picture, only when you ask ("Look at my screen"), or when you ask a question about what is on your screen and your Geek decides it needs to look. It never takes pictures on its own timer. Your Geek's own windows are left out. It is not saved to disk | Thrown away after it is read |
| Your voice | Only while you hold the talk button, or while you have switched on "Listen in" (to hear a call on speaker and catch scam scripts). Not saved to disk. Silence is not sent | Thrown away after it is turned into text |
| The conversation with your Geek | The last lines of what you and your Geek said, so follow-up questions make sense. A word after "password", "code" or "PIN" and long numbers are hidden | Memory only, forgotten after 20 minutes of quiet or when you say "new topic" |
| Chats with the same person over days | So your Geek can notice a slow romance or investment scam: a short label, the last few lines of that chat (card numbers hidden), and which kinds of warning signs were seen | In a file on your computer (threads.json) for 30 days after the last message |
| Whether the family has been told about such a chat | A note per chat, with times and your choice if you said "don't tell my family" | In a file (heads-up.json) for 30 days |
| Your settings | Your name, a family contact (name, relationship, phone number), language, choices below, a random install code, and the key that links your Geek to your family circle | Until you delete your Geek's folder |
| The activity log | A list of what your Geek noticed, said and did, and the questions you asked it. This is what the daily and weekly notes are made from | Today, with no automatic deletion [FILL: activity log retention] |
| A cost and speed log, and a diagnostic log of each question turn | Which feature ran, how long it took, how many tokens, what it cost, the question with numbers hidden. No screen text and no replies from the AI | The cost log has no automatic deletion today; the turn log keeps about the last 2 MB |
All of these files are in your Geek's own folder on your computer (the data folder named in section 1). They are not encrypted by your Geek: anyone who can use your Windows account can read them. [FILL: encryption status]
4.2 What is sent to AI services (providers)
Your Geek uses outside AI services, directly from your computer. They see your internet address and the content below. We have not given them any account information beyond the key your Geek uses. [FILL: data processing agreements and no-training settings per provider]
| Provider | Models in the beta | What is sent | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenRouter (a gateway to AI models; it passes requests on to a company that runs the model) [FILL: model host companies] | deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash (wording, answers, step-by-step help, notes) and google/gemini-2.5-flash-lite (looking at one picture) | When you ask your Geek something: your question, the recent conversation (section 4.1), which program and window you are in, the address of the page, and up to about 1,500 characters of the text on screen. Your name and your family contact's name, relationship and phone number are included so your Geek can say "call Sarah". When your Geek words a warning: the facts it found and a short quote (up to 300 characters) of the suspicious text. When you ask it to look at the screen (or for a photo from your phone): that one picture. | Each time one of those happens |
OpenRouter "decision" service (~typesafe/jev-latest) | A small model that gives a "second opinion" on whether something is a scam, and picks the right how-to guide for your question | Only for things that look unclear: the window title (200 characters), up to 1,500 characters of visible text or message, the address without anything after "?", the names of the last 5 programs started, the last 8 lines heard in a call, up to 4 earlier lines from the same chat sender, and the kinds (not contents) of boxes on the page. Card-like numbers are replaced by [number] | Only on unclear signals; clear ones are decided on your computer by rules, for free |
| OpenAI | gpt-4o-mini-transcribe (speech to text), gpt-4o-mini-tts (your Geek's voice) | Audio of your voice while you talk or listen in; your Geek's own sentences to turn them into speech. Only if an OpenAI key is set on your computer | When you talk, or have "Listen in" on, or your Geek speaks aloud |
Calls. "Listen in" hears whatever your computer's microphone hears, including the other person on a speakerphone call. Use it only if you are allowed to and, where the law requires it, you have told the caller. [LAWYER: Spain / US two-party consent states. Possibly remove from the beta. See data-map gap 8.]
There are also local options (a model running on your own computer). If your Geek is set that way, nothing is sent for that feature.
We do not sell your data, we do not use it for advertising, and we do not use it to train our own models. [FILL: provider no-training confirmation]
4.3 Other contacts with the internet
- Our relay (section 5 and 6): our server that carries messages between your Geek and your family's phones.
- Cloudflare: once, when you set up, your computer asks Cloudflare which country you are in (to suggest a phone prefix). Cloudflare sees your internet address.
- GitHub (or our update server): to check for and download updates every few hours. They see your internet address.
- Browser push services (Google, Mozilla, Apple, Microsoft) deliver alerts to a family member's phone when the app is closed. The alert is encrypted; they see that something was delivered, not the words.
- Resend (our email provider) sends the confirmation and welcome emails to people who join the waitlist on our website. It sees the email address and the message. [LAWYER: new today]
- Our own alert channel (a notification topic or a webhook that only our team reads) tells us when the service is unhealthy. An alert carries no message content; it can include the first 8 characters of a silent computer's random install code. [LAWYER: new today]
5. What your family can see
If you set up a family circle, an adult relative joins with a code that your computer shows, and your computer asks you to allow each new person ("Sarah wants to join: Allow?"). Until you allow them, they cannot decide anything for you.
Family members can see, in their phone app and by alerts:
- A warning or pause: what your Geek said to you (written by the AI, it may quote a few words of what was on your screen), what it noticed (for example a web address or a phone number that looked like a scam), how serious it is, and whether a relative decided "It's OK" or "Keep it stopped".
- A request for help, when you ask your Geek to tell your family.
- A daily note (if the relative chose it) or weekly note (the default). The weekly note has only counts and kinds of scam. Today the daily note can include a list of the questions you asked your Geek that day, written up by the AI. [FILL: daily note counts-only decision]
- A gentle "heads-up", when a chat with the same new contact keeps showing signs of a romance or investment scam over several days. It names the app and the kind of sign, never what was said or who wrote. Your computer tells you first, and you have three minutes to say "don't tell my family". [FILL: heads-up opt-in decision]
- When someone joins or leaves the circle, and practice scams a relative sends you and whether you spotted them.
- An Activity view that lists the topic of each question you asked (for example "printing" or "email"), and the question itself only if you switch on "share my questions" (masked and cut to 300 characters); and a daily check-up count such as "5 of 8 protections on", with no program names. [LAWYER: new today]
- A note that a problem report was sent, if you or your helper press "Send my log" (section 6). [LAWYER: new today]
Family members cannot see your screen, your files, your messages, your voice, or what your phone companion sends.
Family members also give us their name (and, if they choose, how they are related to you), and a browser address for alerts. They can leave a circle in the app at any time.
6. What is stored on our servers
| Data | Detail | How long |
|---|---|---|
| Your family circle | Your name as you typed it, the time it was created, and a coded (hashed) copy of the key your computer uses | Until we delete it. Today there is no button to delete it; email us (section 10) |
| Family members | Name, relationship, when they joined and last used the app, the notes they want (daily/weekly/none), a hashed key | Until they leave or you remove them |
| Events (warnings, help requests, notes, decisions, practice) | The title (with your name), the text, what was noticed, who decided and when | 90 days, then deleted automatically |
| Pairing codes | 6 digits, valid 15 minutes | Cleaned up within about a day |
| Alert subscriptions | The web address and keys that your family member's browser gives us for alerts | Until they turn alerts off, leave, or the browser says it is gone |
| Phone companion | A name for the device, times, hashed key | Until you remove it |
| Phone companion messages | The text, photo or voice note your phone sent, who it says it is from, and our answer | The text, photo and audio are deleted the moment your computer answers. Everything is deleted 24 hours after it was sent. Family members never see them |
| Technical logs | Request type, address path (not the content), status, time, internal ids, errors | [FILL: technical log retention] |
| Waitlist (our website) | Email, chosen plan, language, optional country / who / computer, page variant, ad campaign values, referrer, first and last sign-up time. Ad click identifiers only if you accepted the cookie bar. Joining needs your confirmation by email (double opt-in). Every email has a one-click leave link that deletes the entry at once | Until you leave. No automatic expiry yet [FILL: waitlist retention] [LAWYER: new today] |
| Waitlist emails | Two emails per person (confirm, then welcome), sent through Resend with signed links that carry no personal data in the clear | As the waitlist entry [LAWYER: new today] |
| Problem reports ("Send my log") | Only when you press the button: the last 7 days of your Geek's activity log, with names, secrets, long numbers and email addresses masked on your computer first. Read only by our team; your family is told by a note that it was sent. A copy stays on your computer | 30 days, then deleted; deleted with the family circle [LAWYER: new today] |
| Question and check-up events | The topic of each question (the question itself only if "share my questions" is on); the number of protections on or off and the ids of those that newly turned off. Shown to your family in the Activity view, never pushed | 90 days, like other events [LAWYER: new today] |
| Family's view of a pause | When a relative has decided a pause, the answer to "Was it right to pause this?" (yes / no / not sure), kept with the decision and counted per kind of warning in our statistics | 90 days, with the event [LAWYER: new today] |
| Anonymous counts (section 7) | See below | Today with no automatic deletion [FILL: anonymous counts retention] |
Our server runs at [FILL: hosting provider + region]. We store only hashes of the keys. Access by our team is [FILL: team access description].
7. Anonymous statistics (your choice)
The setup screen has two switches and shows you exactly what would be sent before you choose.
- Anonymous daily counts. [FILL: anonymous counts default] Once a day your Geek sends: a random install code, the date, the country of your family contact's phone number (not where you are), the language, the app version, and numbers only (how many times each kind of warning, how many how-to guides, how many "look at my screen", how many questions, how many family decisions, how many practice lessons). Never a message, a web address, a name or a number you typed. The random install code is not linked to your family circle in our records, but it stays the same on your computer, so we treat it as personal data.
- Scam-site samples (off unless you switch it on). The names of fake lookalike websites your Geek caught (for example
paypa1-login.example), never a path, never a page text, to help warn others.
Both are used to see how well your Geek works and where scams are rising. Only our team sees them. Kept for [FILL: anonymous counts retention]. You can switch either off in setup at any time and ask us to delete your install code's data (section 10).
8. Why we may use your data (legal bases)
[LAWYER: confirm each row. Suggestions only.]
| Purpose | Basis under the GDPR (Spain / EU) |
|---|---|
| Running your Geek and the family circle you asked for; delivering alerts and decisions | Contract / steps you asked for (art. 6(1)(b)) |
| Looking at a screenshot, using the microphone, "Listen in", the browser add-on, sharing with your family, the grooming heads-up, the daily note, scam-site samples, anonymous counts | Your consent (art. 6(1)(a)). You can take it back at any time by switching it off; this does not affect what happened before |
| Security of the service (limits against guessing codes, blocking abuse), fixing faults, measuring cost | Our legitimate interest (art. 6(1)(f)) in a safe and working service; you can object (section 10) |
| Legal duties (for example answering a regulator) | Legal obligation (art. 6(1)(c)) |
We do not knowingly collect "special categories" of data (health, beliefs, and so on). They can appear by accident in what you ask or in what is on the screen; we do not look for them and the AI services are asked only to judge scams and help with the task. Please do not ask your Geek about your health or other very private things until we have said this is safe to do. [FILL: special categories guidance]
For people in the United States: we do not sell or share personal information for advertising. [LAWYER: if a state privacy law applies, add the notice at collection and the state rights, such as access, deletion and correction.]
9. Where your data goes (outside your country)
OpenRouter and the companies behind its models, OpenAI, Cloudflare, GitHub, Google, Apple, Microsoft and our hosting company may be in the United States or other countries outside the European Economic Area. For transfers we rely on [FILL: transfer mechanism per provider].
10. Your rights, and how to use them
You may ask us, free of charge, to:
- access the data we hold about you;
- correct it;
- delete it ("right to be forgotten");
- restrict or object to some uses;
- receive it in a common format (portability);
- withdraw consent at any time.
How:
- In the app, at any time: switch off anonymous counts or samples in setup; turn off Listen in; say "new topic" to clear the conversation; a family member can leave a circle (Settings, "Leave this circle"); you can remove a family member (family circle list) or a phone companion (Phone tab) in your Geek; you can stop your Geek from the tray icon.
- On your computer: delete your Geek's folder (the data folder named in section 1) to erase everything stored there; uninstall the program.
- For data on our servers, or anything else above: write to [FILL: privacy email] from the email you used or tell us the family circle name. We will answer within one month (extendable by two months for complex cases, in which case we will tell you why). We may ask you to prove who you are. Today deletion and export are done by us by hand.
You can also complain to your data protection authority. In Spain: the Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD), www.aepd.es. In the United States: your state attorney general or the Federal Trade Commission. [LAWYER: other authorities.]
11. Security
- Your Geek listens only inside your computer (it does not open to your home network unless you are showing a pairing QR code), and each way in needs a key.
- Our server stores only coded (hashed) versions of the keys, and uses encrypted connections (HTTPS).
- A new family member or phone companion has to be approved on your computer.
- Limits on guessing codes, upload sizes, and how often things can be sent.
No system is perfectly safe. If a breach is likely to harm you, we will tell you and the authority as the law requires (within 72 hours for the authority, where the GDPR applies).
12. Honest limits
- This is a beta. Your Geek can miss a scam and can warn about something that is safe. It does not replace your own judgment or your bank. When money, codes or passwords are involved, stop and call someone you trust.
- AI answers can be wrong. Your Geek is told never to ask for passwords, codes or card numbers, but do not rely on that alone: no genuine helper will ever ask for them.
- Some safeguards listed here as "today" or marked as open will change before or during the beta. We will update this policy and tell you.
13. Cookies and similar technology
The family and phone-companion web apps keep, in your browser, your language, your name and a key so you stay signed in. They do not use advertising or tracking cookies and we do not use analytics tools on them. These items are strictly necessary for the service you asked for.
Waitlist. If you join the waitlist we keep your email and the choices you made on the form, send you a confirmation email and, once you confirm, a welcome email (through Resend). Every email has a link that deletes your entry. Our basis is your consent, shown by the confirmation click. [LAWYER: new today]
Our website (ineedmygeek.ai). The site counts visits without cookies. If, and only if, you choose "Accept" on the cookie bar (shown to visitors in the EU, EEA, UK and Switzerland), Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd and Google Ireland Ltd may set cookies and receive your device identifiers and an ad click identifier, so that we can tell which of our ads led to a visit or a waitlist sign-up. If you sign up after accepting, we also keep the ad click identifier with your waitlist entry, and we may send Meta a one-way hashed form of your email address together with the sign-up event. Our legal basis is your consent, which you can withdraw at any time through "Cookie choices" in the footer of the site; withdrawing does not affect anything done before. If you choose "No thanks" (or do nothing), none of this happens. [LAWYER: wording, controller or joint-controller position with Meta and Google, transfers to the US, and retention period for click identifiers.]
14. Changes
If we change this policy in an important way we will tell the family circle and ask again where the law requires consent. The date and version are at the top.