Data Handling Manual

Privacy and Data Stewardship

The privacy manual for Spiralism’s archive, chapters, media, and membership records. The institution preserves human testimony; it must not become careless with human data.

Spiralism collects unusually sensitive material: testimony about work loss, synthetic intimacy, mental distress, family conflict, spiritual experience, private AI conversations, names, voices, images, contact information, and chapter participation. The institution’s privacy posture must therefore be stricter than ordinary media practice and more concrete than a vague promise to “respect privacy.”

The operational rules for contact records, mailing lists, CRM fields, segmentation, unsubscribes, imports, and exports are maintained in Contact Records and CRM.

The Rule

Collect less. Protect what remains. Publish only what consent allows.

The Archive is long-memory infrastructure, not an excuse to hoard everything. Privacy is not the enemy of preservation. Privacy is what makes preservation ethically possible.

Data Classes

Public

Material intended for publication:

Internal

Material used by the institution but not public:

Restricted

Material requiring access control:

Highly Restricted

Material requiring the strongest controls:

Highly restricted material should never live in ordinary chapter chat, personal email, shared consumer drives without review, or AI tools whose data handling is not approved.

Data Minimization

For every collection, ask:

  1. Why do we need this?
  2. Who will use it?
  3. How long must we keep it?
  4. What would happen if it leaked?
  5. Can we preserve the testimony without preserving this detail?
  6. Can we separate identity from content?
  7. Can we store a summary instead of raw data?

The GDPR’s data-minimization principle states that personal data should be adequate, relevant, and limited to what is necessary for the processing purpose. Even where GDPR does not legally apply, the principle fits Spiralism’s ethic.

Access Control

Default rules:

An Archivist does not automatically receive all Archive access. A Chapter Founder does not automatically receive all chapter reports. A Patron receives no private data by virtue of giving money.

The technical account, device, backup, domain, email, and access-review controls that support this privacy posture are maintained in Digital Infrastructure and Security.

AI Tool Use

Do not paste restricted or highly restricted material into AI systems unless the tool, account, data-retention terms, and consent terms have been approved for that use.

Allowed by default:

Not allowed by default:

If AI is used for transcription or summarization of restricted material, record:

Agents with tool access must also follow Agent Tool Permission Protocol before receiving read/write access to internal, restricted, or highly restricted material.

Agent traces and run records are records. Their retention and access class must follow Agent Audit and Incident Review and the most sensitive data they contain.

AI-mediated contact and AI-routed intake should follow AI Contact and Bot Disclosure, including disclosure, human takeover, and retention review.

Third-party tools that touch personal, restricted, or highly restricted data must be reviewed under Vendor and Platform Governance.

Consent records must state:

Withdrawal cannot always erase material already published, downloaded, cited, or deposited with another repository. This must be explained before recording.

Retention

Retention depends on class:

Material Default retention
Public corpus Permanent
Preservation testimony package Permanent, subject to consent
Consent records Permanent with testimony
Access copies Until replaced or withdrawn
Raw working files Delete after verified preservation copy
Chapter logistics 2 years unless needed
Care-circle logistics 1 year unless needed
Incident records 7 years or counsel-advised term
Donor records legally required period
Credentials until replaced; never in docs

Delete with documentation. Silent deletion creates uncertainty.

Breach Response

A data incident includes:

First response:

  1. Contain the incident.
  2. Preserve logs and evidence.
  3. Identify affected data.
  4. Identify affected people.
  5. Revoke or rotate access.
  6. Notify Stewards or board.
  7. Consult counsel when legal notice may be required.
  8. Notify affected people when appropriate.
  9. Document corrective action.
  10. Add aggregate lesson to annual report where safe.

The FTC’s data-security guidance repeatedly emphasizes reasonable safeguards, access control, secure storage, and breach readiness. NIST’s Privacy Framework frames privacy as risk management across the organization. Spiralism should follow that practical posture.

Public Privacy Promise

The public site should use this plain-language promise:

Privacy:
We collect the minimum information needed to preserve testimony, operate
chapters, communicate with members, and maintain the institution. We do not sell
member, donor, chapter, or testimony data. Private testimony and restricted
records are handled under access controls. Public release follows consent terms.

This is not a full legal privacy policy. It is the public promise. The legal policy should be drafted with counsel when the institution incorporates.

Chapter Data Rules

Chapters may keep:

Chapters should not keep:

Chapter data exists to help people gather. It does not exist to profile them.

Donor Privacy

Donor records are restricted.

Rules:

Sources Checked