Privacy policy

Who we are

Lumi Cares is a small Canadian service based in Nova Scotia, serving families across Canada. We follow Canada's federal private-sector privacy law (PIPEDA) and, where they apply, provincial privacy laws, including those of Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia. Our Privacy Officer is our founder, Jaber. You can reach them at hello@lumicares.ca.

In this policy, "you" means the family member who signs up, the person who receives the calls, or anyone who contacts us. "Lumi" is our AI voice assistant. Lumi is not a person, and she always says so.

What we collect

When you sign up:

• Names, phone numbers and email addresses of the person signing up, the person Lumi will call, and any emergency contact or summary recipients.
• The home address, age range, whether the person lives alone, and the type of phone they use.
• Call preferences: time, language and start date.
• Things that help Lumi have a good conversation, such as interests and notes you choose to share (for example, "hard of hearing").
• The consents you give, and when you gave them.

During and after each call:

• A recording of the call and a written transcript.
• A short summary of the call, which may include how the person slept, how they feel, their mood, whether they have eaten, their plans for the day, and any concern they mention. This can include health information, which we treat as sensitive.
• Call details: the date, time, length, and whether the call was answered.
• Any request the person makes for rides, groceries or appointments, once we offer those services.

When someone calls or texts us: their phone number, the recording and transcript of the call, what they tell us, and whether they asked us to text them the sign-up link.

On our website: we don't use advertising or tracking cookies. Our hosting provider keeps standard technical logs (such as IP addresses) to run and protect the site.

Why we use it

• To place the daily call and personalise the conversation.
• To write the daily summary and send it to the people you chose.
• To alert the family or emergency contact if a call isn't answered or something sounds wrong.
• To set up, support and improve the service, including checking that Lumi is working well.
• To reply to people who contact us and send them information they asked for.
• To meet our legal obligations.

We don't sell personal information, we don't use it for advertising, and we don't share it with anyone for their own marketing.

Consent

We only call someone who has agreed to receive the calls and to have them recorded. When a family member signs up for someone else, we ask them to confirm that the person knows about Lumi Cares and agrees. Before the first call, we confirm this directly with the person being called.

You can withdraw consent at any time by emailing hello@lumicares.ca or by telling Lumi during a call that you want to stop. We will stop the calls and tell you what that means for the service. If you text STOP to our number, we will stop sending you text messages.

Who helps us run the service

We use a few trusted companies to make calls, understand speech, send email and host our website. They process personal information only on our behalf, to provide their service to us:

• Telnyx: phone calls, text messages, call recordings and the voice assistant platform.
• Anthropic (the Claude AI model) and Deepgram (speech-to-text): understand the conversation, power Lumi's replies and help write the summaries, through Telnyx and our own tools.
• Netlify: website hosting and sign-up forms.
• Google (Gmail) and Namecheap (our hello@lumicares.ca mailbox): sending and receiving email, including daily summaries.
• Zapier: sending the welcome email after you sign up.

Some of these companies store or process information outside Canada, mainly in the United States. While it is there, it may be accessible to courts, law enforcement and national security authorities under the laws of that country. We choose providers that protect information with security measures comparable to ours.

We may also share information if the law requires it, or if we believe someone's life, health or safety is at serious risk.

Emergencies

Lumi Cares is not an emergency or medical service. If the person mentions a serious concern, such as a fall, chest pain or trouble breathing, Lumi tells them to call 911 and we alert the family or emergency contact. Lumi cannot call 911 herself.

How long we keep it

• Call recordings and full transcripts: up to 90 days, so we can write and check summaries and look into any concerns.
• Daily summaries and call history: while the service is active, and up to 12 months after it ends.
• Sign-up and account details: while the service is active, and up to 12 months after it ends, unless you ask us to delete them sooner.
• People who called us but didn't sign up: up to 90 days.

We may keep information longer if the law requires it. Summaries already emailed to family members stay in their own inboxes, which we don't control.

How we protect it

Only the people who run Lumi Cares can see personal information, and only when they need it. Our accounts are password-protected, our website uses an encrypted (HTTPS) connection, and our providers use industry-standard security. If a privacy breach creates a real risk of significant harm, we will tell the people affected and report it to the Privacy Commissioner as the law requires.

Your rights

You can ask to:

• see the personal information we hold about you, including recordings and summaries;
• correct anything that's wrong;
• delete your information or stop the service;
• withdraw your consent, or change who receives the summaries.

Email hello@lumicares.ca. We may need to confirm your identity first, and we will reply within 30 days.

If you're not satisfied with our answer, you can contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, or the privacy regulator in your province: in Quebec, the Commission d'accès à l'information; in Alberta, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta; in British Columbia, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for BC.

Children

Lumi Cares is for adults. We don't knowingly collect information from children.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. If a change affects how we use your information, we'll tell current customers by email before it takes effect.

Questions?

Email our Privacy Officer at hello@lumicares.ca or call (782) 358-7862.