Privacy Policy
Last Updated: August 2026
At Judge Assist, we take the privacy of judges, debaters, coaches, and academic institutions seriously. This Privacy Policy details how we handle speech streams, debate metadata, and AI-assisted ballot generation.
1. Information We Collect
We collect only the essential data necessary to deliver real-time speech transcription, flow tracking, and ballot reasoning:
- Account Credentials: Username, email address, and encrypted passwords upon signup.
- Debate Round Metadata: Event type (e.g., Public Forum, Parliamentary Debate), resolution text, speaker names, and speech flow notes created by the judge.
- Ephemeral Audio Streams: Real-time microphone audio PCM chunks transmitted during active live transcription sessions.
2. Real-Time Speech Processing & Cartesia Ink 2 STT
Live speech transcription is powered by Cartesia Ink 2 low-latency WebSockets:
- Audio buffers (16kHz PCM_S16LE) are processed strictly in ephemeral memory to generate word-by-word streaming text.
- Zero Permanent Audio Retention: Raw microphone audio is never written to disk or used for training underlying speech models. Once the WebSocket turn ends, transient audio buffers are immediately discarded.
3. AI Ballot Generation & GPT-5.6 Reasoning
When you click "Generate Results", the text transcript and round flow are transmitted over TLS-encrypted APIs to GPT-5.6:
- Prompts contain only text arguments, resolution details, and judging criteria.
- No Model Training: Your round transcripts and debate ballots are processed under enterprise Zero-Data-Retention (ZDR) clauses and are not used to train AI models.
4. Data Security & Storage
All data in transit is protected using TLS 1.3 encryption, and stored databases enforce row-level session authorization so only authenticated round creators can access their sessions.
5. User Control & Instant Data Deletion
You maintain 100% control over your data. When you delete a round or session from your profile dashboard, all associated transcripts, results, and speaker point notes are permanently deleted from our database instantly.
6. Third-Party Service Providers
We work exclusively with vetted infrastructure providers who comply with high privacy standards:
- Cartesia AI: Real-time WebSocket speech-to-text processing.
- OpenAI: GPT-5.6 / o3-mini automated ballot reasoning.
7. Contact & Privacy Inquiries
If you have questions regarding this policy or data protection, please email our privacy team at privacy@judgeassist.com.