What lens does with a document
When a document enters the press — by email, upload, or voice — it is converted to text, classified against four pillars, translated into the three federation languages, and committed to a repository. Every step is logged in the audit log; nothing is silent.
The original file is kept verbatim alongside its converted text. We do not edit it, we do not enrich it, and we do not republish it without your asking.
Who can read what
By default, a cooperative's documents are visible to its contributors and to the platform admin. Public documents are visible to anyone with the link. The repository's commit log is public for verification, but the documents themselves remain under cooperative control.
The agent · what it remembers
The Bench's agent keeps a record of every conversation, signed by author and pillar. It does not learn from your sessions to influence other cooperatives. Sessions can be exported or deleted on request, by you, with a second key from a federation admin.
Consent · v3, live since 22 April 2026
Joining the federation is consent to the use described on this page. The current text is version 3; older versions are kept in the repository for reference. We will not change v3 silently; the next version will arrive with a letter.
Third-party models
lens uses Anthropic's Sonnet 4 for classification, translation, drafting and analysis. It uses OpenAI's Whisper (large-v3) for transcription. Prompts and outputs cross a network; neither vendor is given training access to your documents.
Where the data lives
Documents are stored in a federation-run repository hosted in Lisbon, Portugal. Backups are kept in Frankfurt. We use no other regions, no third-party CDN, and no analytics beyond what is shown to you in the Federation tab.
Leaving the federation
A cooperative can leave at any time and take its repository with it as a zip of plain text and PDFs. Personal accounts can be deleted on request, in plain prose, by writing to the address below. We confirm in writing.
Writing to us
Send a letter to policy@syntrociety.org. We read every line; we reply in your language. Most exchanges take a few days because we keep no helpdesk and no autoresponder.