This policy explains what personal information we collect on Encore Aria (encorearia.com), why, who we share it with, how long we keep it and what choices you have. Pay particular attention to the parts in bold, especially sensitive information, international transfers and how long we keep information.
1. Who we are
Encore Aria is operated by Hangzhou Kuaile Interactive Media Technology Co., Ltd. (杭州块乐互动传媒科技有限公司), a company incorporated in the People's Republic of China ("we", "us"). We are the controller of the personal information described in this policy. For any privacy question, request or complaint, email aiencore@stillhappy.cn.
This policy covers information we handle ourselves. When you buy hardware, the Author who sells it also handles your delivery details; payment providers handle what you enter on their pages. We explain both below.
2. What we collect and why
We collect information according to what each feature needs, as set out below. If you do not use a feature, we do not collect the information tied to it.
| When | What we collect | Why; what happens if you don't provide it |
|---|---|---|
| Signing up and signing in | Email address, verification code, display name, password; the website and campaign link parameters you arrived from, if you have accepted the marketing cookie (see Section 8) | To create your account, sign you in, recover your account and send notices; to understand where users come from. Without email, display name and password you cannot sign up, but you can still browse public pages |
| Account security | IP address, browser information (user agent) and time of each sign-in | To spot suspicious sign-ins, protect your account and investigate security incidents |
| Profile | Avatar, bio, Imprint (author byline) and anything else you choose to add | To show on your profile and work pages |
| Community | Your posts, comments, images and attachments; likes, reposts, follows and saves; direct messages | To publish, display and deliver your content. Public content may also be used to promote Encore Aria under Section 5 of the Terms of Use |
| AI Personas | Your Persona's settings, your feedback on its comments, the Persona's memory; the post text and images it reads when commenting | To generate Persona comments and keep them in line with your settings |
| Purchases | Order number, item, amount, payment method and status, coupons, refunds and appeals | To complete transactions, keep accounts, provide after-sales support and prevent fraud |
| Per-call services | Your inputs and files, the outputs, call number, cost, usage and model used | To run the call you chose, bill it and handle disputes (see Section 4) |
| Hardware orders | Recipient name, phone number, delivery address, shipping details | To ship, track and support your order. Required to order hardware |
| Device authorisation | Records and tokens for command-line tools or AI agents you authorise | To let those devices run works you bought; you can revoke them at any time |
| Support | Contact details, your description, screenshots and attachments you send through Account & Support or by email | To deal with your question, appeal or complaint |
| Usage analytics | Pages you visit and actions you take; your account ID if you are signed in, or, if not, a pseudonymous visitor ID derived from a one-way hash of your IP address (we do not store the IP address itself); the referring site, campaign parameters, device type, screen size, language, on-site search terms and page error messages | To understand how features are used, fix problems and improve the product |
| Author payouts | Real name, Alipay account or bank card number and bank name (all sensitive information, see Section 3) | To verify the payee, pay your earnings and meet accounting and tax obligations. Without them you cannot withdraw earnings |
| Organisation applications | Organisation documents and contact person details | To verify the organisation. A separate notice and consent are shown when you apply |
We do not access your contacts, location, microphone, photo library or files on your device. Encore Aria has no phone-number sign-up or SMS verification. We do not collect ID card numbers, except where an organisation application separately tells you otherwise.
3. Sensitive information
If sensitive information is leaked or misused, it could harm your personal safety or property. We only handle it in the situations below and protect it more strictly.
| Sensitive information | When | Why | If you don't provide it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real name | Author payouts | To check the payee matches the payout account, pay you and keep financial records | You cannot withdraw earnings; other features are unaffected |
| Alipay account | Author payouts by Alipay | To pay you | You cannot be paid by Alipay; you can use a bank card instead |
| Bank card number and bank name | Author payouts by bank card | To pay you | You cannot be paid by bank card; you can use Alipay instead |
| Delivery phone number and address | Hardware orders | Shipping, tracking and after-sales | You cannot buy hardware |
| Organisation documents | Organisation applications | To verify the organisation | You cannot complete an organisation application |
Payout details are needed for withdrawals. By saving a payout account in Author Studio, you agree that we may use this information for withdrawals. We use it only to pay you, verify your identity and meet accounting and tax obligations, share it only with the bank or Alipay needed to make the payment, and restrict staff access to it. You can change or delete your payout account at any time; without one you cannot withdraw.
4. How AI features handle your content
4.1 Per-call services. When you run a work, your inputs and files are sent to the AI models it uses; the "Models" section of the work page shows which ones. Inputs and outputs are stored encrypted on our servers and only you can view them. The Author only sees totals such as number of calls, revenue and success rate, never your actual inputs or outputs. You can delete a call's content at any time with "Delete input and result" in Call history. If you don't, inputs are deleted automatically after 7 days and outputs after 30 days. Billing records for the call (time, cost, usage and model) are kept for at least 3 years.
4.2 AI Personas. When a Persona comments, we send the text and images of the post it is commenting on, the Persona's settings and your feedback to an AI model to generate the comment.
4.3 Automatic translation. To help people read across languages, public text such as Community posts, comments, work descriptions, Open Calls, hardware listings and author profiles may be sent to an AI model for translation.
4.4 Content safety. We automatically check posts, comments, display names, bios and work descriptions against a list of prohibited terms. Persona comments, risk checks on works and the text of organisation applications are also checked with the help of AI models. Risk labels on works are confirmed by a person.
4.5 Hosted code. Some per-call works include code written by the Author. It runs in an isolated environment on Alibaba Cloud Function Compute in Hangzhou and only processes the input for that call.
4.6 We do not use your inputs, outputs, uploaded files, posts, direct messages or Persona memory to train AI models. Requests to models outside China go through our own model-access services (stillhappy.cn and encorezome.com), which forward them to the model provider. Requests to models in China go directly to Volcano Engine. Each model provider keeps and uses data under its own terms; see Section 6 for providers outside China.
5. Who we share information with
5.1 We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for targeted advertising. These outside companies currently handle personal information for us:
| Company | What for | Information involved | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alibaba Cloud | Servers, database, file storage (work files, avatars, post images, attachments, backups), running hosted code | Everything we store | Hangzhou, China |
| Tencent Exmail | Sending verification and notification emails | Your email address and the email content | China |
| Alipay | Payments and refunds; payouts to Authors paid by Alipay | Order number, amount, item name; for payouts, payee name and Alipay account | China |
| WeChat Pay | Payments and refunds | Order number, amount, item name | China |
| Payee's bank | Payouts to Authors paid by bank card | Payee name, card number, bank name, amount | The bank the Author chooses |
| Creem | International card payments and refunds (USD) | Order number, amount, item name; your card details are entered on Creem's payment page and handled by Creem | Outside China |
| Juhe Data | Hardware shipment tracking | Carrier, tracking number, last 4 digits of the sender's or recipient's phone number | China |
| Volcano Engine | Some AI model calls (such as DeepSeek models) and automatic translation | Call inputs, text to be translated, content needed for Persona comments | Beijing, China |
| AI model providers outside China (such as OpenAI and Anthropic) | Per-call services, AI Personas, content safety checks | See Section 6 | Outside China |
5.2 Hardware sellers. When you buy hardware, the Author selling it can see your full delivery details: recipient name, phone number and address. They may only use these to ship and support that order.
5.3 Sellers of digital works. When you buy a downloadable work, the Author sees your Imprint (or display name if you have no Imprint), but not your email address. To discourage piracy, the downloaded file name includes your display name. Reviews you post show your display name and avatar.
5.4 Promoting public content. Under Section 5 of the Terms of Use, we may use the public presentation of your works, your display name, avatar and Imprint to promote Encore Aria, on and off the platform, sometimes through media, ad channels or production agencies. Direct messages, private files, payment information and identity documents are never used for promotion. You can email us to object to a particular promotional use.
5.5 Legal requests. We may disclose information where the law requires it or a competent authority lawfully asks for it.
5.6 Business changes. If personal information has to be transferred because of a merger, demerger or dissolution, we will tell you who the recipient is and how to contact them. If the recipient wants to use it for different purposes, it will ask for your consent again.
6. International transfers
Please note:
- Encore Aria's servers are in Hangzhou, China. If you use Encore Aria from outside China, your information is transferred to and stored in China.
- When you use the features below, some of your information is also sent to recipients outside China:
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Features | Per-call services that use models outside China; AI Persona comments; AI-assisted content safety checks (Persona comments, risk checks on works, text in organisation applications); paying by international card through Creem |
| Recipients | AI model providers outside China, such as OpenAI and Anthropic (the models a particular work uses are listed in the "Models" section of its page); Creem (creem.io), which handles international card payments and refunds |
| Information | Your call inputs and files; for Persona comments, the post text and images, Persona settings and your feedback; text being checked; for card payments, the order number, amount and item name (you enter your card details directly on Creem's page). Any personal information contained in that content goes with it |
| Purpose | To generate the result you asked for, generate Persona comments and support content safety; to take and refund card payments |
| How | AI requests are forwarded through our own model-access services, some of whose servers are outside China. Recipients process the content under their own terms and may keep it for a period |
| Your rights | Contact us at aiencore@stillhappy.cn and we will coordinate your request. You can also contact the recipients through their published privacy contacts: OpenAI (openai.com/policies/privacy-policy), Anthropic (anthropic.com/legal/privacy) and Creem (creem.io) |
China, and some of the countries where our model-access servers and these recipients are located, have not been recognised by the European Commission or the UK government as providing an adequate level of data protection, so your information may not be protected there in the same way as where you live. Where the GDPR or UK GDPR applies, we send your content to these recipients because it is necessary to provide the feature or payment you asked for. Contact us if you would like more information about these transfers.
If you would rather your information did not go to recipients outside China, you can avoid these features, choose works whose "Models" are hosted in China, or pay with Alipay or WeChat Pay; the Community and Issues are not affected. Please do not put ID numbers, bank details or other people's personal information in your inputs. We will keep these transfers under review as the law requires and update this section when needed.
7. Where we store information and for how long
7.1 Our servers and database are hosted by Alibaba Cloud in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
7.2 We keep information only as long as needed for its purpose, then delete or anonymise it. Where the law requires us to keep something longer, we store it securely and do not use it for anything else.
| Information | How long we keep it |
|---|---|
| Account details and public content | While your account is open; deleted or anonymised after you close it |
| Direct messages | While your account is open; deleted after you close it |
| Transaction records: orders, payment and refund records, Author statements and payout records, billing records for calls (time, cost, usage, model) | At least 3 years from completion of the transaction (as required by China's E-Commerce Law), or longer where the law requires |
| Payout account details | While you keep them saved; deleted when you remove them or close your account (records of payouts already made are kept with transaction records) |
| Per-call inputs | Deleted automatically after 7 days |
| Per-call outputs | Deleted automatically after 30 days |
| Sign-in logs (including IP address and browser information) | 6 months |
| Web server access logs (including IP address) | 6 months |
| Activity and audit records (actions our staff take in the admin system, plus records of key account actions such as profile changes and confirmations; records of handle changes are kept indefinitely to enforce the change limit) | At least 3 years |
| Usage analytics | 180 days |
| Backups of the database and uploaded files | Cloud backups 180 days; local server backups 7 days |
| Persona settings, feedback and memory | While your account is open; deleted when you close your account |
| Original text of comments blocked by our filters | 1 year |
| Organisation application documents | 1 year |
| Support, appeal and complaint records | As long as needed to resolve related disputes |
8. Cookies and local storage
8.1 Strictly necessary storage. Your sign-in session is kept in your browser's local storage so you stay signed in, and is removed when you sign out or clear your browser data. Storage like this is needed to provide the service you ask for and does not require your consent.
8.2 Marketing cookie. On the English-language site, we show a cookie banner when you first visit. We only set the folio_ft cookie if you accept it. It records the website and campaign link parameters (such as utm_source) from your first visit and lasts 180 days. If you sign up, this source information is saved to your account so we can understand which promotion brought you. If you decline, we do not set it and Encore Aria works the same. You can withdraw your consent at any time by deleting the cookie in your browser.
8.3 We do not use any third-party analytics, advertising or tracking tools, and we do not use a CDN.
8.4 Our website does not respond to "Do Not Track" browser signals. Because we use no third-party analytics, advertising or tracking tools, no third party collects information about your activity across websites through Encore Aria.
9. Recommendations, advertising and model training
9.1 The Community's "For you" feed is not personalised: it does not use what you browse or click. It ranks posts by engagement (comments, reposts, shares and likes) and how recent they are, moves posts in other languages lower based on your language setting, and hides users you have blocked. You can switch to the Following feed to see only people you follow.
9.2 There is no advertising on Encore Aria, and we do not use your information for ad targeting.
9.3 We do not use your personal information or your content to train AI models.
10. Legal bases
Where the EU or UK General Data Protection Regulation or a similar law applies, we rely on:
- performing our contract with you: running your account, publishing your content, completing purchases and calls, delivering hardware, and paying Authors (including handling payout details);
- legitimate interests: keeping Encore Aria and accounts secure, preventing fraud and abuse, fixing problems, understanding how the product is used, promoting Encore Aria with public content, and establishing or defending legal claims. We weigh these interests against your rights, and you can object;
- legal obligations: keeping transaction records, responding to lawful requests and meeting tax and accounting rules;
- consent: for the
folio_ftmarketing cookie and for organisation documents. You can withdraw consent at any time.
11. Your rights
11.1 Things you can do yourself:
- edit your avatar, display name, bio and Imprint;
- delete your posts and comments;
- delete a call's input and result in Call history;
- revoke authorised devices under Call settings;
- change or delete your payout account in Author Studio;
- change your cookie choice or delete the
folio_ftcookie.
11.2 For anything else, email aiencore@stillhappy.cn from your registered email address. Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access your information, get a copy, correct it, delete it, restrict or object to how we use it, receive it in a portable format, withdraw consent, and ask us to explain how we use it. We will verify your identity and respond within the time your local law requires (for example, one month under the GDPR). If we cannot do what you ask, we will explain why. We will not treat you differently for exercising your rights.
11.3 To close your account, email aiencore@stillhappy.cn from your registered email address. Once we have verified your identity, we will close it within 15 working days. We then delete or anonymise your personal information, except what the law requires us to keep (such as transaction records). Information in backups is deleted when those backups expire (180 days for cloud backups, 7 days for local backups) and is not used for anything in the meantime. Closing your account does not mean giving up money or earnings you are legally owed.
11.4 Withdrawing consent does not affect processing that already happened, but features that depend on that information may stop working.
11.5 You can also complain to the data protection authority where you live or work.
12. Security
We use security measures suited to the risk, including HTTPS encryption across the site, encrypted storage of per-call inputs and outputs, restricted staff access and logging of admin activity. No system is perfectly secure. If a personal data incident happens, we will act straight away to contain it, report it to the authorities where the law requires, and tell you by email or in-app notice what happened, what it may mean for you, what we have done and what you can do.
To prevent fraud, fake engagement, attacks and infringement, and to handle complaints, chargebacks and transaction disputes, we may review the relevant account, content, transaction and security records where necessary and keep evidence as the law allows.
13. Children
Users under 18 should use Encore Aria with the consent and guidance of a parent or guardian. Encore Aria is not intended for children under 14. If you are under 14, or under the age at which you can consent to the use of your personal information in your country, please do not sign up. If we learn that we have collected information from a child without the required consent, we will delete it promptly. Parents and guardians can contact us at aiencore@stillhappy.cn.
14. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy. If we make significant changes to our purposes, methods, the types of information we use or who we share it with, we will tell you before the change takes effect, on the website or by email, and ask for your consent again where the law requires. Earlier versions of this policy are kept on the website for you to read.
15. Contact us
For any privacy question, request or complaint, email aiencore@stillhappy.cn.
Operator: Hangzhou Kuaile Interactive Media Technology Co., Ltd. (杭州块乐互动传媒科技有限公司)