Biometric Information Policy

1. What this policy covers.

When you verify your identity on Koti, Stripe — our identity-verification provider — compares a selfie you take with the photo on your government-issued ID. To make that comparison, Stripe creates and uses a measurement of your facial geometry. That measurement is “biometric information” under this policy.

2. Who holds it.

Stripe collects and holds the biometric information. Koti does not collect, receive, store, or access biometric information or its measurements, and Stripe does not send the measurement to Koti. What Koti keeps in its database is the verification record described in the Privacy Policy and Schedule A: the session reference and state; its dates; the document type and issuing country; if verification does not pass, the error code and reason category; the name-match result and any review state, including who resolved it and when; and the versions of the consent screen and policies you accepted. The verified name is different — it is accessed temporarily only. To run that check, our system reads the first and last name from the ID once, compares them with the name registered on the account, and discards them; the name itself is never stored.

Access to the images. Your ID photo and selfie remain in Stripe. Koti's systems cannot retrieve them: the integration has no retrieval path, and Stripe requires special restricted keys for API image access that Koti does not create. Through Stripe's Dashboard, however, Stripe account owners and administrators with the appropriate permission may technically access identity images. Koti policy prohibits viewing or downloading them. For team-member accounts, Koti assigns the Dashboard permission only to the team members who administer verification.

3. Purposes.

Stripe processes biometric information for identity verification and fraud prevention. Stripe may separately use biometric information to improve its technology only with your additional, optional consent. Declining or withdrawing that optional consent does not affect your Koti verification. Koti's own use of the verification is limited to confirming the account holder's identity and preventing fraud and duplicate accounts. Koti never sells, leases, or trades biometric information, and never discloses it for marketing. Stripe discloses it only as needed to perform the verification, or as required by law.

4. Your consent.

Before the verification opens, Koti shows you a consent screen describing this processing, and the flow starts only if you agree. You may withdraw consent by contacting Koti Support. Because the verification cannot be completed or maintained without the comparison, withdrawing consent returns your account to unverified status, with the consequences described in the Pro Terms (no new requests and no public listing until you verify). Two different things should not be confused with this consent: (i) inside its own flow, Stripe may ask for your additional, optional consent to use biometric information to improve its technology — that consent is Stripe's, refusing or withdrawing it (with Stripe directly) does not affect your Koti verification or your account; and (ii) deleting your verification record with Koti (§§5–6) is a separate request with its own consequences — it removes your badge and returns your account to unverified status.

5. Retention and destruction.

Stripe destroys biometric identifiers within one year of the verification, or sooner once the purpose of the verification has been satisfied. Your ID photo and selfie remain with Stripe under its retention schedule; Koti holds none of them. On your request, Koti will instruct Stripe to redact your verification session, which deletes the personal information Stripe holds for that session as our processor. Deletion is subject to records the law requires be kept — for example, records tied to payments, disputes, fraud investigations, or legal process — which are retained only as long as that requirement lasts.

6. Your requests.

Two different requests, two different doors: (a) to ask about, or ask us to delete, your verification record WITH KOTI, contact Koti Support (support@koti.house) — this is the deletion described in §5, and it removes your badge and returns your account to unverified status; (b) for Stripe's optional data-use choice, or for data Stripe holds as a controller, contact Stripe directly (privacy@stripe.com) — that path does not affect your Koti verification record.

7. Changes.

If this policy changes materially, Koti will publish the new version and notify affected professionals before it takes effect.