Data security of the Parent Pact
Last updated 24 August 2026
Signing the Parent Pact means trusting us with your name, an e-mail address and your child's school. This page explains, without jargon, what happens to that: where the data sits, how it is protected, who can see it and how to have it deleted. Including the places where we are not yet where we want to be.
The short version
As little as possible
First and last name, e-mail address, language — and per child only the school and the school year. No children's names, no postal address, no phone number, no date of birth.
Stored in Europe
Website and database run in a data centre in Frankfurt am Main. The signatures do not leave Europe.
Encrypted
Encrypted on the way to us and at rest in the database — backups included.
No trackers
No analytics, no advertising, no social media pixels on the Parent Pact site. Opening the page sets not a single cookie.
No password needed
There is no parent account and no password. What does not exist cannot be stolen.
Deletable at any time
One e-mail to info@smartphonefreiekindheit.ch is enough. We delete the entry in full, usually within a few days.
What we collect — and what we don't
The Parent Pact asks for exactly as much as it takes to introduce parents at the same school to each other. Nothing beyond that is even requested.
| We store | What for |
|---|---|
| First and last name | So other parents at your school can see who is taking part. |
| E-mail address | For the confirmation, for connecting you with other parents and — only if you tick the box — for the newsletter. |
| Language (German, French, English) | So our e-mails reach you in your language. |
| Per child: school and school year | This is the key to the whole thing. Same school, same year — those are the parents who ought to know each other. |
| Canton (derived from the school) | Only for the public statistics, and there only as a number. |
What we deliberately do not collect:
- Names, dates of birth or photographs of children — to us, a child is a school and a school year, and nothing else.
- Home address, phone number.
- Payment details — the Parent Pact is free, there is nothing to pay.
- Usage profiles, location data, advertising identifiers.
Where the data sits
We do not run our own servers. We rely on specialist providers — and we say openly which ones, and what each of them gets to see.
| Service | What for | Location | Which data |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vercel | Running the Parent Pact website | Frankfurt (DE) | All form entries, while they are being processed. |
| Neon | Database — this is where the signatures live | Frankfurt (DE) | Name, e-mail, language, school and school year. |
| Loops | Sending our e-mails | USA | Name, e-mail, language, canton. Not the school, not the school year, nothing about the children. |
| Cloudflare Turnstile | Protection against automated fake entries | worldwide | IP address and technical browser characteristics, for a few seconds. No cookie, no recognition, no tracking. |
Our e-mail delivery service is based in the USA. That is the only point at which data leaves Europe — and it is deliberately limited to what an e-mail actually needs. Everything that says anything about your child stays in the database in Frankfurt.
How the data is protected
- On the way to us: every connection to the site runs over HTTPS. The browser is instructed not to even try it unencrypted.
- Between website and database: encrypted only — an unencrypted connection is refused.
- At rest: the database is encrypted on disk (AES-256), and so are the backups. That is precisely what the padlock in your browser does not prove — which is why we state it explicitly.
- Against machines: bot protection, a trap in the form that is invisible to humans, and a limit on attempts per connection keep bulk entries out.
- No password, no account: parents create no login with us. So there is no password database that could be stolen.
Who can see the data
Three circles, and no fourth:
- Other signed-up parents at your school see your name, your e-mail address and your children's school years. That is exactly what the pact is for — more on this just below.
- The association's management has access to all data. Access requires an authorised e-mail address and a shared password; a session expires after 14 days and can be revoked individually at any time.
- Technical maintenance can reach the database, because otherwise nobody could fix a fault.
Nobody else. We do not sell data, we do not rent out addresses, we pass nothing to advertisers — and we have no intention of starting.
What other parents see — plainly stated
This is the part a privacy policy usually buries in the small print. It belongs up front, because it is the most important decision you make when you sign.
After signing you see the list of families who have signed at the same school: name, e-mail address, school years. Those families see you the same way. You receive a link to that list by e-mail. The link cannot be guessed and is not picked up by search engines.
Your rights
- Access: you can find out at any time what we have stored about you.
- Correction: wrong name, wrong class, wrong school — we will fix it.
- Deletion: we remove your entry and your children from the database entirely.
- Unsubscribing from the networking e-mails: every one of those e-mails carries a link that cancels them in one click — without leaving the pact.
- Newsletter: separate from that, unsubscribable in every issue.
For all of this, an e-mail to info@smartphonefreiekindheit.ch is enough. We usually reply within a few days, and within 30 days at the latest. If you are not satisfied with our answer, you can turn to the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC).
What we are still working on
We think naming the open points is more credible than leaving them out.
- E-mail addresses are not yet verified by a confirmation link. That keeps signing simple, but it means someone could in theory enter an address that is not theirs. If you appear on a list without having signed, write to us at info@smartphonefreiekindheit.ch — we will remove the entry immediately. We are working on a fix that does not make signing more cumbersome.
- An entry is not yet deleted automatically when a child leaves the school. Until that is built, we delete on request — and you can ask us at any time.
- The management's accounts are getting two-factor sign-in. That is decided and being implemented.
Questions?
Write to us. We are happy to answer data protection questions concretely — technical ones and uncomfortable ones included.
info@smartphonefreiekindheit.ch
Smartphone-free Childhood Switzerland, 3000 Bern
The full, legal privacy policy is at Privacy.