Terms & Privacy

The short version: we collect as little as possible. Visitors get no cookies and no tracking. If you ask for help we keep only the email address you give us – encrypted, and deleted automatically after 90 days. Files shared through our secure links are encrypted in your browser before they reach us.

Privacy notice

1. Who we are

This website is run by Private Forensic (“Private Forensic”, “we”). We are the data controller for the information described here. You can contact us about privacy at [email protected].

2. If you ask for help

• What we keep: the email address you type into the Get Help form, and the time it arrived. Nothing else – we don’t ask for your name or story at this stage.
• Why: only to contact you about your request. Our lawful basis is your consent, which you can withdraw at any time by asking us to delete it.
• How it’s protected: the address is stored encrypted and can only be read by our team in a protected admin area. The notification we receive by email says only that a request arrived – it doesn’t contain your address.
• How long: it is deleted automatically 90 days after it arrives, or sooner if you ask. Once we’re in contact, anything you choose to share with us is handled confidentially and kept only as long as needed to help you.
• Spam protection: the form may use Cloudflare Turnstile, which checks your browser is genuine without tracking you across sites. To stop the form being flooded, a scrambled (hashed) form of your connection’s IP address is kept for up to two hours. It is never stored with your request.

3. Secure file sharing

We sometimes exchange files through private links on this site. Files and their names are encrypted in the browser before upload, using a key that is part of the link itself and is never sent to our server. Our server therefore only ever holds unreadable data. Links expire (usually after 48 hours) or can be cancelled at any time, and their files are then deleted. For each link we record when it was opened, and when files were downloaded or uploaded – not who opened it or from where.

Please keep any link you receive private: anyone who has the full link (and the passphrase, if there is one) can open it.

4. Visiting the website

• No cookies for visitors. We don’t use advertising, tracking or analytics cookies, so there is no cookie banner. (Our own team’s login uses strictly necessary cookies.)
• Statistics: we use Cloudflare Web Analytics, which counts page visits without cookies and without building a profile of you.
• Network and security: the site is delivered through Cloudflare, which processes connection data such as IP addresses to deliver pages and protect the site from attacks. Our own server does not record visitors’ IP addresses.

5. Who else sees your data

We never sell or share your information for marketing. We use these providers, under contracts that require them to protect it: Cloudflare (website delivery, security, statistics and spam protection), our email providers (to receive alerts and to correspond with you), and our hosting provider (which stores only encrypted help requests and encrypted shared files). Some of these may process data outside the UK; where they do, appropriate safeguards such as the UK International Data Transfer Addendum apply. We will only disclose information to authorities where the law requires it.

6. Your rights

Under UK data protection law you can ask for a copy of your information, ask us to correct or delete it, restrict or object to how we use it, and withdraw your consent. Contact [email protected]. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk, though we’d appreciate the chance to put things right first.

7. If you are under 18

You can still contact us. We also strongly encourage you to talk to an adult you trust. In the UK, Childline is free and confidential on 0800 1111 or at childline.org.uk. If you are in immediate danger, call 999 (or your local emergency number).

8. Security

We encrypt sensitive data at rest, use encrypted connections throughout, require two-factor authentication for our team, and keep what we collect to a minimum. No system is perfectly secure, so please don’t send sensitive details through the Get Help form – an email address is all we need.

Terms of use

9. Our research

Our case files are published to inform and raise awareness. They reflect our research at the time of publication, are not legal advice, and laws change. If you need legal advice, speak to a qualified professional. Contacting us does not by itself create a professional relationship.

10. Using this website

• Don’t try to break, overload or gain unauthorised access to the site or its secure links, or use it to send anything unlawful or harmful.
• Shared links are for their intended recipients only. We may cancel any link at any time.
• The content and design of this site belong to Private Forensic. You may quote short extracts with a link back to the original case file.
• Links to other websites are provided for convenience; we aren’t responsible for their content.

11. Liability and law

We work hard to keep the site accurate and available but can’t guarantee it is error-free or always online. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law. These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and its courts have jurisdiction.

12. Changes

We may update this page; the date at the top shows when it last changed.