Our promises
A short list of rules the house does not bend.
Every piece of work is checked against them before it reaches you.
Names first
Every Record begins with the person's name, in full, with every name they carried.
Truth told plainly
The house never invents a fact, a date, a name or a story. Every fact is shown with its source. What is likely but unproven is marked as such, and where records disagree, both are shown.
Family wins
You decide what stays within the family and what, if anything, is shown to anyone else.
Living people are protected
Nothing about a living person is made public without that person's own consent.
A person reads before anything is kept
AI helps the house research and draft. AI never publishes. A person at the house reads every Record whole, and nothing is sealed or shown without your yes.
Your words never train AI
The house does not use what you entrust to it to train any AI, and it does not pass family stories through any service that has not promised the same in writing.
Permanence we can prove
A kept Record carries a public proof anyone can check. The house will not promise you "forever"; it promises what it can show.
No surveillance
No trackers, no advertising, no sale of anyone's information.
Built to outlast its founder
The house writes down how it works, so that the work continues beyond any one person.
Questions families ask
How is my family's Record kept safe?
It is kept on the house's own machine, copied every night, and each night's copy is checked before it is trusted. Once a month every photograph and paper is re-read and compared with its fingerprint, so even a one-letter change would be found. Only people the house names can open a Record, and every action on it is recorded.
What does "a public proof anyone can check" mean?
When your Record is kept, the house makes a fingerprint of every part of it: a short code that changes completely if even one letter changes. That list of fingerprints is published on IPFS and stored on Filecoin, on machines that are not the house's. Anyone can compare your Record with it and see it has not changed. The proof shows that; it does not reveal what your Record says. Beside it, an encrypted copy of the whole Record is stored on Filecoin. It opens only with your family's key or the house's key.
What is the family key?
A private key the house makes for your family when your Record is first sealed. It is shown to you once, and the house does not keep it. With it, your family can open its own sealed copy without the house. Keep it somewhere safe, such as a password manager. Never send it by email; no one from the house will ever ask for it.
Can a Record grow after it is sealed?
Yes. Sealing fixes one version. When your family finds more, the house prepares a new version, and with your yes it is sealed in turn, pointing back to the one before. Nothing already sealed is ever changed.
Is my family's Record public?
No. It is private unless you choose to publish it. Only its fingerprints are public.
Can I see what the house holds, or correct it?
Yes, at any time. Write to the house and you will receive a copy of everything it holds about you and your family. A correction is made as a new version of the Record, with your yes; the earlier version is kept, so the history stays honest.
What if the house closes one day?
You can ask at any time for a complete copy of your family's Record, packaged in the standard format archives use, so it opens without the house's help. The house encourages every family to keep one. The public proof is held outside the house and does not depend on it.
Which standards does the house follow?
The international standard for archives (OAIS), the standard archival package format (BagIt), the National Digital Stewardship Alliance's levels of digital preservation, the Library of Congress's guidance on lasting file formats, the Genealogical Proof Standard, and the Oral History Association's practice on consent.
What happens to the photographs I send?
Each is kept exactly as you gave it, under its own fingerprint, and checked before it is stored. If its file type may not open in years to come, the house adds a lasting copy beside the original. Your originals stay with your family.
Does AI write my family's Record?
AI helps the house search records and prepare drafts. A person at the house reads every word before it reaches you, and nothing is kept without your yes. What you share is never used to train AI.
Who hears what I tell Zuri?
The house, and Tavus, which gives Zuri her face and voice and processes the conversation as it happens. If you choose to share your screen with her, Tavus sees what is shared too. That is why Zuri never takes your family's story: it comes to the house through its own door, and no outside company hears it.
The Terms of Keeping and the Privacy notice are being prepared with counsel and are not yet in force. You may ask at any time for a copy of everything the house holds about you, a correction, or deletion, by writing to info@honoredancestors.com.