SafeMom offers optional ID verification. When a member chooses to verify, our service provider Persona checks photos of her government ID and a short selfie, and compares the selfie with the photo on the ID using a scan of her face geometry. That comparison uses biometric identifiers and biometric information. This policy explains what is collected, who holds it, why, how long it is kept, and how it is destroyed.
Photos of the front and back of a government ID. The selfie photos or video taken during the check, including the frames used to confirm a live person. The face geometry scan made from the selfie and the ID photo, and the result of comparing them. The details Persona reads from the ID, including name, date of birth, ID number, address, the sex marker and any data in the ID's barcode. Together we call these "verification data".
Persona collects and holds verification data for SafeMom, as our service provider, under its processor privacy policy. SafeMom never receives or stores verification data. SafeMom's servers receive only the outcome of the check (for example approved or declined), its dates and Persona's reference numbers. SafeMom never receives the sex or gender marker on an ID and never uses it.
Only to confirm that a member's ID is genuine and that she is the person shown on it. SafeMom uses the outcome to show a Verified badge, to let her join groups that ask for a verified ID and, if she switches it on, to let her emergency alerts reach verified members nearby. We keep verification data for 30 days after a decision so that a member whose check did not pass can ask us to look again, and so our team can resolve a mismatch such as a married name. Verification data is never used for any other purpose.
One exception keeps a check a little longer: if a member has started a newer check that is still open, her older checks are destroyed together with the newer one, 30 days after it is decided, because erasing them earlier would cancel the check she is doing.
The purpose of collecting verification data is satisfied when the window above ends, and that is when it is destroyed. In no case is it kept longer than 24 months after the member's last interaction with SafeMom. Persona's own standard is to destroy ID and selfie data within three years; SafeMom's instructions to Persona are much shorter, and they are the ones that apply.
SafeMom instructs Persona, through Persona's redaction service, to permanently erase the member's verification data. SafeMom records the date of each erasure. If Persona cannot complete an erasure, SafeMom retries automatically and our team is alerted.
For a short time after an erasure Persona keeps limited technical records: records of the notifications it sent SafeMom for up to 30 days and service logs for up to 2 weeks. These records do not contain ID images or selfies.
A record that a check happened, its outcome, its dates and Persona's reference numbers, for as long as the member's account exists. It contains no verification data.
A record that the member agreed to the check: which version of the consent text she saw, when, and on which platform. We keep it after an account is deleted, without any link to the account, for five years from the day she agreed, so we can show that consent was given, and then delete it.
SafeMom and Persona do not sell, lease, trade or otherwise profit from verification data, and SafeMom does not disclose it to anyone other than Persona.
Verification is optional. If a group you want to join requires it and you do not want to verify, write to support@safemom.org; with the group owner's agreement our team can add you by hand without a check.
Verification data is held by Persona, encrypted, and only SafeMom's founder can view a check in Persona's system, and only when a check needs a second look. SafeMom reviews this policy at least once a year and whenever the verification service changes.
privacy@safemom.org. SafeMom LLC, 15612 Starling Water Drive, Lithia, FL 33547, USA.