Privacy Policy
Last updated: 5 July 2026
1. Introduction
Welcome to Vioworks ("Vioworks", "we", "us", or "our"), accessible at vio.works and operated by Emre Topdemir, located at Zühtüpaşa Mahallesi, Hasan Amir Sokak 15/1C, Kadıköy, İstanbul, Türkiye (İstanbul, Türkiye). This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, share, and protect your personal data when you visit our website, create an account, or use any of our services.
Our platform provides three core services, each involving different data processing: vioSend (file transfer), vioFind (AI-powered face recognition), and vioSelect (client photo selection workflow). By using our services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Policy.
This Policy should be read together with our Terms of Use.
2. Who We Are
The data controller responsible for your personal data is Emre Topdemir, located at Zühtüpaşa Mahallesi, Hasan Amir Sokak 15/1C, Kadıköy, İstanbul, Türkiye. For any privacy-related question or to exercise your rights, you can contact us at hello@vio.works.
For certain services, you may act as a data controller yourself. For example, when a photographer uploads event photos to vioFind or vioSelect, the photographer is the controller of those photos and Vioworks acts as a data processor on their behalf.
3. Data We Collect
3.1 Account Data
When you register, we collect your name, email address, and password (stored only as a secure cryptographic hash, never in plain text). We may also store your account preferences and subscription/plan details.
3.2 vioSend — File Transfer
When you use vioSend, we collect and temporarily store the photos you upload, together with optional metadata such as transfer title, folder name, message, sender email, and recipient email addresses. Uploaded photos are automatically optimized into web-ready JPEG images; original full-resolution files are not retained. The optimized images are stored on Amazon S3 and are automatically deleted after the transfer expiry period.
3.3 vioFind — Face Recognition (Biometric Data)
This service involves the processing of biometric data, which is a special category of personal data:
- Event photos uploaded by photographers are indexed via Amazon Rekognition. Facial feature vectors (mathematical embeddings — not the images themselves) are stored in a Rekognition Collection associated with the specific event.
- Selfie photos taken by attendees to find themselves are used only for matching. The selfie image is never stored on our servers — a temporary facial vector is generated, compared against the event collection, and discarded immediately after the search.
- Facial embeddings and event photos are deleted when the event is deleted by the photographer or when the storage period for that event expires.
ℹ️ Biometric data is processed under GDPR Article 9 and KVKK Article 6. Selfie matching is performed on the basis of the explicit consent obtained from the attendee at the moment of selfie capture — see our Biometric Data Explicit Consent Statement. The indexing of event photos is carried out on behalf of the Account Holder (photographer/organizer), who is responsible for having a lawful basis for that processing. You may withdraw consent at any time.
3.4 vioSelect
When the vioSelect service is used, we collect:
- The name entered by the client reviewing the gallery
- The photos selected and any notes or comments left on individual photos
- The photographer's email address, used to send selection notifications
- Compressed / resized preview versions of the uploaded photos (original full-resolution files are not retained)
3.5 Technical & Usage Data
For security, fraud prevention, and performance, we may automatically collect your IP address, browser type, device type, operating system, referring pages, and pages visited within our platform.
3.6 Cookies
We use only essential cookies required for authentication and session management. We do not use advertising, analytics-profiling, or third-party tracking cookies. See Section 10 for details.
4. How We Use Your Data
We process your personal data for the following purposes:
- To provide, operate, maintain, and improve our services
- To authenticate users and manage accounts and subscriptions
- To perform face recognition matching within the vioFind service
- To deliver email notifications (transfer alerts, selection submissions, account messages)
- To process payments and manage billing, where applicable
- To enforce our Terms of Use, prevent fraud, and protect the security of the platform
- To comply with applicable legal obligations
We do not sell your personal data. We do not use your photos or facial data for advertising, for training artificial intelligence models, or for any purpose beyond delivering the service you requested.
5. Legal Bases for Processing (GDPR / KVKK)
6. Third-Party Services (Processors)
We rely on the following trusted sub-processors, each bound by a Data Processing Agreement (DPA):
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
File storage (S3) and face recognition (Rekognition). Data may be processed in the EU (Frankfurt) and US East regions.
https://aws.amazon.com/privacy7. Data Retention
8. Your Rights
Depending on your location, under the GDPR (EU/EEA), the KVKK (Turkey), or other applicable law, you have the right to:
- Access — request a copy of the data we hold about you
- Rectification — request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data
- Erasure — request deletion of your data ("right to be forgotten")
- Restriction — request that we restrict processing of your data
- Portability — receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format
- Objection — object to processing based on legitimate interests
- Withdraw Consent — withdraw your consent for biometric processing at any time, without affecting prior lawful processing
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at hello@vio.works. We will respond within 30 days. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority (see Section 14).
9. Biometric Data — Additional Information
The vioFind feature processes biometric data (facial recognition vectors), which constitutes "special category personal data" under GDPR Article 9 and KVKK Article 6.
We process this data solely on the basis of explicit consent obtained from attendees at the time of selfie capture. Consent may be withdrawn at any time by contacting hello@vio.works.
Facial embeddings are computed and matched by Amazon Rekognition under a Data Processing Agreement with AWS. The original selfie image used for searching is never persisted to our storage.
The full consent statement presented to attendees before selfie matching is available at vio.works/consent.
10. Cookies
We use only essential cookies for authentication and session management — these are strictly necessary for the platform to function. We do not use advertising or behavioural-tracking cookies. Because the cookies we use are essential, disabling them in your browser may prevent you from logging in or using core features.
11. Security
- Encrypted data transmission everywhere (TLS / HTTPS)
- Private S3 bucket access only through short-lived signed URLs
- Authentication and access controls on all API endpoints
- No plain-text password storage (passwords are hashed)
- Automated deletion of expired files, galleries, and embeddings
In the event of a personal data breach, we will notify the competent supervisory authority within 72 hours and inform affected users without undue delay where required by law.
12. International Data Transfers
Your data may be transferred to and processed in the United States, where parts of the AWS and Vercel infrastructure operate. Such transfers are safeguarded by Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs), the AWS Data Processing Addendum, and the Vercel Data Processing Agreement.
13. Children's Privacy
Our services are not directed to children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 16. If a photographer captures event photos that may include minors, the photographer is responsible for obtaining the appropriate consent. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact hello@vio.works and we will delete it.
14. Contact & Supervisory Authority
Data Controller: Emre Topdemir
Address: Zühtüpaşa Mahallesi, Hasan Amir Sokak 15/1C, Kadıköy, İstanbul, Türkiye
Email: hello@vio.works
Jurisdiction: İstanbul, Türkiye
Residents of Turkey may file a complaint with the Personal Data Protection Authority (KVKK) at kvkk.gov.tr. Residents of the EU/EEA may lodge a complaint with their local data protection authority.
15. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be communicated to registered users by email and reflected by the "Last updated" date above. Your continued use of our services after an update constitutes acceptance of the revised Policy.