Privacy Notice
Last updated: 16 October 2026
This Privacy Notice explains how FormA1 ("we", "us") handles personal information in connection with the FormA1 website at forma1.app and its related tools (the "Service"). It is designed with reference to the Hong Kong Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance, the PRC Personal Information Protection Law ("PIPL") and the EU/UK General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR").
A Chinese translation is provided for reference only. If there is any inconsistency, the English version prevails.
1. Who we are
The Service is operated by FormA1, which is the data user / personal information handler / controller for the processing described below. Contact: [email protected].
2. What we do not store
2.1 Queries and conversations. We do not store the text of your search queries, AI Research questions, prompts, the searches run on your behalf, or the answers returned (together, "Input"). Input is held in memory only for as long as needed to process your request, and is then discarded. An AI Research question and its answer are kept in the server's memory for up to 10 minutes after the run ends, so that the answer can still be delivered if your connection drops, and are then discarded; they are never written to disk or to any log.
2.2 No request logs. Our web application and our AI Connection endpoint do not keep access logs, and none of our logs record the content of your Input.
2.3 Search cache. To avoid repeating identical model calls, we keep a cache of search results for queries that have already been run. Each entry is looked up by a one-way cryptographic hash of the query and holds the query's embedding (a list of numbers produced by the embedding model) and re-ranking scores. The cache does not contain the query text and is not linked to any account. We may clear it at any time.
2.4 Saved research. We do not keep saved results, findings or research history for your account. Your recent AI Research conversations are saved only in your own browser's local storage, on your device, where you can delete them; clearing your browser data also removes them. The one exception is a comparable set you choose to save on the Comparables page: we keep the name you give it and the listed companies it contains with your account, so that you can open it again and use it in AI Research (see Section 3). Please do not put a client's name or other confidential information in the name of a set.
3. What we do process
| Category | What it includes | Purpose | Retention |
|---|---|---|---|
| Account data | Email address; password (stored only as a salted scrypt hash); dates of sign-up, verification and last sign-in; IP address at sign-up; plan and account status; the version of these Terms and this Notice you accepted and when, and when you gave the consents described in Section 5.2 | Creating, securing and administering your account | Until you delete your account (from your account page, or by asking us, in which case within 30 days) |
| Sign-in sessions and email links | Session and email-verification/reset tokens (stored only as hashes); IP address of each session | Keeping you signed in; verifying your email; resetting your password | Sessions expire after 30 days; verification links after 48 hours; reset links after 1 hour |
| Security records | Failed sign-in attempts, sign-ups and emails sent, recorded against an IP address or email address | Preventing brute-force attacks and abuse | Automatically deleted after 2 days |
| Usage records | Per account: the number of requests of each type per day; for each model call, the time, provider, model, token counts and cost; for each AI Research run, the model, number of steps, tokens, cost and duration. No query, search or answer content. | Enforcing usage limits; managing capacity and cost | Kept while your account is active; when you delete your account, the counters are deleted and the model-call and research-run records are anonymised so they no longer identify you |
| Plan and invitation records | The periods of plan time on your account (trial, pass, invitation reward) and AI allowance top-ups; your invitation code; which account invited yours, and whether that invitation has been rewarded | Providing the plan you chose; applying trials and invitation rewards | Until you delete your account; the link between an inviter and an invited account is deleted when either account is deleted |
| Saved comparable sets | For each set you save: the name you give it, the listed companies in it (as references to their public filings), and when it was saved and last changed | Letting you open the set again and limit AI Research to it | Until you delete the set, or your account |
| Orders | For each purchase: an order number, the product, the amount, the time, the payment status and Alipay's transaction number, linked to your account. Alipay's payment notices are recorded with the order number and status only, without buyer details | Taking payment; keeping our accounts and tax records | As long as needed for our accounting and tax records; when you delete your account, your email address is removed from them |
| AI Connection records | The name your AI assistant gives itself (e.g. "Claude"), when the connection was made and last used, and when and why it ended; access and refresh tokens (stored only as hashes) | Keeping one AI Connection per account; letting you see and end it | Tokens expire after 8 hours (access) and 60 days without use (refresh); connection records are kept while your account is active and deleted with it |
| AI Connection usage | For each tool call: the tool's name, the time, how long it took, the size of the result, the amount of filing text returned, the number of companies read, and the names (not the values) of the options used; per day, the companies whose text was returned. No query, search term or result content. | Enforcing the limits in Terms 4A.3; detecting shared use; managing capacity | As usage records above |
| Trial records | A one-way cryptographic hash of the email address and of the sign-up IP address of each account that received a free trial | Giving each mailbox one free trial and limiting trials per network | Kept when an account is deleted, so that a deleted account cannot claim a second trial; not linked to any account |
| Feedback you submit | Your message; your email address; the address of the page you were on (which may include your search terms); the document, page or research run the feedback refers to; your browser's user-agent string | Investigating and fixing problems you report | Until the issue is resolved and no longer needed; if you delete your account, your email address is removed from it |
| Emails you send us | Emails to hello@ or [email protected], including the sender, subject and body | Responding to you | 180 days, or until you delete your account |
| Bot-protection data | Browser and device signals processed by Cloudflare Turnstile at sign-up, sign-in and password reset | Preventing automated abuse | Processed by Cloudflare under its own policy; not stored by us |
| Network data | IP address and request metadata, processed by Cloudflare to deliver the Service | Delivering and securing the Service | Not retained by us; see Cloudflare's policy |
| Input in transit | Search queries, prompts and retrieved excerpts, sent to the model providers in Section 4 | Returning search results and AI Output | Not stored by us; see Section 4 |
Please do not include confidential client information in feedback or emails to us.
We do not sell personal information, and we do not use your Input to train any model.
4. Third-party providers
To operate the Service, we use the providers below, which receive your Input and technical data for the purposes stated. Where noted, these providers may retain or use the data they receive under their own terms and privacy policies, which we do not control. We encourage you to review those policies.
| Provider | Role | Data received | Location of processing | Retention and use of your data | Policy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tencent Cloud (Lighthouse) | Server hosting | All data processed by the Service | Japan (Tokyo) | Hosts our server; see its policy | tencentcloud.com |
| Cloudflare, Inc. | Domain name service, network tunnel and proxy, Turnstile bot protection | All traffic to and from the Service; sign-in device signals | Global network, including the United States | Under its own policy | cloudflare.com |
| Voyage AI | Embedding and re-ranking of search queries | Query text; retrieved excerpts | United States | We have opted out of data retention and model training: Voyage does not store the content we send | voyageai.com |
| Beijing Zhipu Huazhang Technology Co., Ltd. (智谱) | Large language model processing (AI Research; classifying emails sent to us) | Prompts, queries and retrieved excerpts; the content of emails sent to us | Mainland China | May retain data under its own policy, and may use de-identified data to train models | bigmodel.cn |
| Tongyi Yunqi (Hangzhou) Information Technology Co., Ltd. (千问AI平台, Alibaba Qwen) | Large language model processing and re-ranking | Prompts, queries and retrieved excerpts | Mainland China | May sample de-identified inputs for product analysis, model evaluation and optimisation under its own policy | qianwenai.com |
| Anthropic, PBC | Large language model processing (AI features) | Prompts, queries and retrieved excerpts | United States | Under its own policy and API terms | anthropic.com |
| OpenAI | Large language model processing (AI features) | Prompts, queries and retrieved excerpts | United States | Under its own policy and API terms | openai.com |
| X.AI LLC (xAI) | Large language model processing (AI features) | Prompts, queries and retrieved excerpts | United States | Under its own policy and API terms | x.ai |
| Google LLC (Gemini API) | Large language model processing (AI features) | Prompts, queries and retrieved excerpts | United States and other locations of Google's network | Under its own policy and the Gemini API terms for paid services | policies.google.com |
| Beijing Moonshot AI Technology Co., Ltd. (北京月之暗面科技有限公司, Kimi) | Large language model processing (AI features) | Prompts, queries and retrieved excerpts | Mainland China | Under its own policy | moonshot.cn |
| Alipay Payment Technology Co., Ltd. (支付宝支付科技有限公司) | Payment processing | The order number, product name and amount of a purchase; you give your payment details to Alipay directly, not to us | Mainland China | Processes payment data as an independent controller under its own policy | alipay.com |
| Resend | Sending account emails; receiving emails sent to us | Your email address; the content of emails between us | United States | Under its own policy | resend.com |
Not every AI model provider above processes every request: which provider serves a request depends on the feature and your plan. The market for AI models is highly competitive, and we may change the AI model providers we use from time to time according to our business needs. When we add a provider, we will update this table.
Your AI assistant. If you use an AI Connection, the AI assistant you connect and its provider are chosen by you. They receive the results we return to your assistant, and whatever you tell your assistant, under their own terms and privacy policies. They are not our service providers and we do not control them.
5. Cross-border transfers
5.1 The providers listed above are located in several jurisdictions, including Japan, the United States and mainland China. Using the Service therefore involves transferring your Input and certain personal information outside the place where you are located.
5.2 Users in mainland China. Where PIPL applies, we will ask for your separate consent to the provision of your personal information outside mainland China at sign-up, and before you first use AI features. You may withdraw that consent at any time by contacting us, although we may then be unable to provide some or all of the Service. You may exercise your rights under PIPL against the providers listed in Section 4 through the contact details in their respective policies.
5.3 Users in the EEA or UK. Where GDPR applies, transfers to countries without an adequacy decision rely on the safeguards offered by the relevant provider, such as standard contractual clauses, where available.
6. Legal bases (GDPR)
We process account, session, usage, plan, invitation and order data to perform our contract with you, and security, network and bot-protection data on the basis of our legitimate interest in securing the Service. We keep order records to comply with our accounting and tax obligations. We process feedback and emails on the basis of our legitimate interest in responding to you. Where required by law, including for cross-border transfers under PIPL, we rely on your consent.
7. Security
We use encrypted connections (HTTPS/TLS), hashed passwords and tokens, access controls and bot protection. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
8. Your rights
Depending on where you are located, you may have rights to access, correct, delete or obtain a copy of your personal information; to object to or restrict processing; and to withdraw consent. Because we do not store your Input, a request relating to Input can only be directed to the providers in Section 4. You can delete your account at any time from your account page. To exercise your other rights, contact [email protected]. You may also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority.
9. Children
The Service is for professional use and is not directed at anyone under 18.
10. Changes
We will post any update to this Notice with a new "Last updated" date and, for material changes, notify registered users.
11. Contact
FormA1 · [email protected]