Privacy Policy

Effective: June 9, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Athene Letters ("we", "us", "our") collects, uses, retains, and shares information when you use Athene Letters (the "Service"), an account-based email research assistant. This Policy is part of, and should be read together with, our Terms of Service. By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to the practices described here.

1. Information We Collect

Account information. The email address you register at signup (your "registered sender" / delivery address), and the one unique inbound address we issue to your account.
Message content. The plain-text bodies of inbound research questions sent to your inbound address, and of the outbound replies we deliver to you.
Operational metadata. Timestamps, route classifications, character counts, delivery status, and similar technical data necessary to operate the Service and prevent abuse.

We do not ask for, and you agree not to send, case-specific personal facts or identifying information about third parties. Please send general research questions, not personal case details.

2. How We Use Information

We use the information above only to:

Receive your research question, generate a plain-text informational reply, and deliver that reply to your registered email address.
Operate, maintain, secure, and improve the Service.
Detect and prevent spam, abuse, and violations of our Terms of Service.
Comply with our legal obligations.

We do not send marketing email, newsletters, or promotional messages, and we do not use your message content to target advertising.

3. LLM Processing of Message Content

Replies are generated with the assistance of large language model (LLM) software provided by a third-party AI vendor. To generate a reply, the text of your research question is transmitted to that vendor for processing. We send only what is needed to produce the reply and do not authorize the vendor to use your content to train its models for other customers, to the extent the vendor's terms allow us to make that election.

4. How We Share Information

We do not sell your personal data and we do not share it with advertisers. We share information only with vendors strictly to operate the Service, including:

Email delivery — to receive inbound mail and deliver outbound replies.
Hosting and infrastructure — to run the application and database.
LLM provider — to generate reply content (see Section 3).
Error and performance monitoring — to detect and fix operational problems.

We will comply with valid subpoenas or other lawful requests issued by a court of competent jurisdiction, and may disclose information where required to do so by law.

5. Bureau of Prisons (TRULINCS) Channel

If a research question reaches the Service via the federal Bureau of Prisons TRULINCS/Corrlinks correspondence system, all messages exchanged on that channel are visible to BOP staff, independent of the Service. There is no privacy or privilege on that channel. Replies we deliver to your registered email address are not transmitted by us through TRULINCS; if you choose to forward our replies back to a TRULINCS correspondent, that forwarding will be visible to BOP staff.

6. Data Retention

We retain message bodies (both inbound and outbound) in plaintext for up to ninety (90) days, after which they are anonymized by replacement with a sha256 hash. Operational metadata (timestamps, route classifications, character counts) may be retained longer for analytics and abuse prevention. Suppressed (opted-out) email addresses are retained on our suppression list indefinitely so we can honor your opt-out across future sign-up attempts.

7. Your Choices & Opt-Out

You may stop using the Service at any time by sending a written request to hello@atheneletters.com or by replying with the word "STOP" to any message we send you. Upon opt-out we suppress your registered email address from further delivery and deactivate the inbound address assigned to your account. To request access to or deletion of your information, contact us at the address below and we will respond consistent with applicable law.

8. Security

We use reasonable administrative and technical measures to protect the information we hold. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, however, and email in particular is not an encrypted or private channel. Do not send sensitive personal information through the Service.

9. Children

The Service is intended only for users who are at least 18 years old and resident in the United States. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 18.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be announced via email to your registered address before they take effect. Continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated Policy.

11. Contact

Questions about this Privacy Policy or your information: hello@atheneletters.com.