The Record

Privacy Policy

Last updated · July 21, 2026

SlowBurns.app turns a plain message into a Civil-War-style field dispatch, rendered as a short documentary film. This policy describes what the service handles, where that information goes, and what it never touches. The short version: there is no account database, no analytics, no advertising, and no sale of data — the only things that leave your browser are the messages you ask us to transform and the films made from them.

Information you give us

• Messages you submit. The text you type into the dispatch office is sent to our API and forwarded to OpenRouter, the AI provider that performs the transformation. The text, its mode, and the resulting letter are also stored as a render job in Cloudflare R2 so a film can be produced from it.
• Google sign-in. If you choose to sign in with Google, Google Identity Services returns an ID token to your browser. Your name, email address, and profile photo are read from that token in your browser only and kept in your browser's local storage. They are never transmitted to or stored on our servers — there is no server-side account. Google's own privacy policy governs the sign-in itself.
• Photos. A likeness you upload for the tintype treatment is processed locally in your browser and stored only in your browser's local storage. It is not uploaded to any server.

Information collected automatically

The site is hosted on Cloudflare Pages. Like nearly every web host, Cloudflare processes standard connection data (IP address, browser type, requested pages, timestamps) to deliver and protect the site. We do not run our own analytics, tracking pixels, or advertising cookies.

Films are reachable by link

Finished dispatch films are stored in Cloudflare R2 and played back through an unlisted, hard-to-guess URL. Anyone who has the link can view the film, and the film contains the text of your dispatch. Treat the link like the letter itself — share it deliberately, and do not put secrets into a dispatch.

Third-party processors

• Cloudflare — hosting, storage (R2), and content delivery.
• OpenRouter — AI processing of submitted messages.
• Google — optional sign-in, loaded only when you click the button.

Retention and your choices

Browser-side data (sign-in profile, photos, theme, job state) lives in your browser's local storage until you sign out or clear it. Render jobs and finished films are kept in R2 until deleted. To ask for a stored dispatch or film to be removed, email [email protected] with the film's URL or job id and it will be struck from the record.

Children

The service is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them.

Changes

If this policy changes, the revised version is posted at this address with a new date. Material changes will be noted on the site.

Contact

Questions or requests about your information: [email protected].