Law enforcement requests

1. Contact

Send requests by email to info@vesile.nl, with "Law enforcement request" in the subject line. Please include:

• •the authority, and the name and position of the person making the request;
• •the legal basis of the request;
• •exactly which data is requested, and about which user (for example an email address or phone number);
• •contact details we can use to verify that the request is genuine.

2. When we disclose data

We only disclose user data in response to a legally valid request or order from a competent authority, and only to the extent the law obliges us to disclose it. We do not act on informal requests or on requests without a clear legal basis. The only exception is an emergency, as described below. If a request comes from an authority outside the Netherlands, we only disclose data if Dutch or European law obliges us to do so.

3. How we assess a request

• •We check that the request is genuine, if necessary by contacting the authority through contact details we look up ourselves.
• •We check that the authority is competent and that the request has a valid legal basis.
• •We never disclose more than necessary: only the requested data about the named user, and only as far as the legal basis allows. If a request is too broad or unclear, we ask for it to be clarified or narrowed.
• •We record every request, together with what we did or did not disclose.

4. Informing the user

We inform the user concerned about the request and about what we disclosed, unless the law prohibits this, the authority asks us on a legal basis not to, or informing the user would put someone in danger.

5. Emergency requests

If there is an immediate threat to someone's life or of serious bodily harm, a competent authority can make an emergency request. Put "URGENT" in the subject line. We handle such a request with priority. Once we have been able to establish that the request is genuine, we may disclose the data needed to avert the danger, even before a formal order is available. We then ask the authority to confirm the request in writing afterwards.

Are you in immediate danger yourself? Call 112.

6. What data we hold

Vesile is a matchmaking service and only holds the data users provide themselves when they apply, and what is needed to deliver the service:

• •Application data: first name, date of birth, gender, email address, phone number, place of residence, and the answers and photos from the application form.
• •Proposals: whom a user was proposed to and how both sides responded.
• •Correspondence: which emails we sent the user, and feedback the user sent us.
• •Payment data, if a payment was made for the account: the amount, the status, the time and the session number our payment provider Stripe assigns to the payment. Card and bank details do not reach us.
• •Technical data: IP address and browser details at the moment consent was given and on login attempts.

We do not hold messages between users: Vesile has no chat function, and once both sides have accepted an introduction, contact continues outside Vesile. We do not track location either; we only know the place of residence the user provides.

7. Retention and deletion

When a user withdraws their application, or when we remove an account, we permanently delete the profile, the photos, the proposals, the correspondence and the payment data from our database. We can then no longer disclose that data. Limited data may be kept for longer, such as a technical log of login attempts (email address, IP address and time). If an authority has asked us to preserve data, the next section applies.

8. Preservation requests

If we receive a formal, written request from a competent law enforcement authority to preserve data, we preserve the relevant data we hold at that moment for 90 days. This applies instead of the regular deletion periods, so also if the user withdraws their application or we remove the account during that period. This allows the authority to submit a formal request for disclosure within those 90 days. A preservation request is not in itself a basis for disclosing data: we only disclose the preserved data in response to a legally valid request or order, as described above. If no such request follows within the 90 days, the preservation lapses and the regular deletion periods apply again.

9. Child sexual exploitation and abuse

Vesile has zero tolerance for child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or the sexual exploitation of children on the platform. If we find such material, or receive a report about it, we do the following:

• •We report it immediately and on our own initiative to the police and to Meldpunt Kinderporno (part of Offlimits, the Dutch hotline in the international INHOPE network). No one needs to ask us to do so first.
• •We take the application offline immediately, so that it is no longer proposed to anyone.
• •We do not delete the material or the associated account data without reporting it. We preserve them, securely isolated, as evidence until the competent authority has requested them or has confirmed that we may delete them. We share the material with no one other than the competent authority.

Do you come across such material yourself, on Vesile or elsewhere? Report it to the police or to Meldpunt Kinderporno. To report anonymously, call Meld Misdaad Anoniem on 0800-7000. You can also report it to us at info@vesile.nl. Never forward the material yourself, not even to us. If a child is in immediate danger, call 112. What else is not allowed on Vesile is set out in our Acceptable Use Policy.

10. Changes

We may change this protocol. The version on this page is the version that applies.