Knowledge Base

Problem

A researcher needs to clarify for an ethics application or data privacy review whether FaceReader or BabyFaceReader sends video or facial analysis data to cloud servers during processing.

Details

Ethics boards and institutional review processes increasingly require explicit statements about data handling. Researchers using FaceReader or BabyFaceReader for sensitive studies (e.g., infant participants) may be asked to confirm whether facial data leaves the local machine. This applies to the standard licensed versions of FaceReader and BabyFaceReader (the BabyFaceReader add-on).

Solution

FaceReader and the BabyFaceReader add-on perform all facial analysis processing locally on the PC where the software is installed:

1. No video footage, facial data, or analysis results are transmitted to Noldus servers or any cloud service during normal operation.
2. All output data (log files, project files, exports) is saved to the local machine or a network location of the institution's choosing.
3. There is no built-in cloud processing, cloud storage, or remote analysis feature in the standard licensed software.
4. This statement can be included in ethics applications to confirm local-only data processing.
5. If your institution requires a formal written confirmation from Noldus, contact your Noldus account manager to request a data processing statement.