How we protect your child's data

Updated September 9, 2026. This page explains our identity safeguards and the standard OpenAI API processing selected while Zero Data Retention is being pursued.

Stage names and separate identity records

Contest profiles use stage names by default. A random internal creator record connects a student's contest activity across stage-name changes. It is not made from a name or email address. Legal identity, birth date, guardian contacts and consent evidence belong in a separate restricted vault. The public website and ordinary judging views cannot read that vault. Authorized staff use a dedicated service for identity work, with access recorded for accountability.

A stage name protects the link to a legal name; it does not make a person impossible to recognize. A familiar voice, a lyric or a public video may still identify someone.

Parents control permission

0Skips is for students aged 13 and up. Parent or guardian permission is required to activate a student account. Public video permission is separate from private processing. Before a submission enters the AI pilot, staff must record the applicable family permission and enroll that specific version. Processing permission can expire or be revoked; the judging pipeline checks it again before each external judging step.

What OpenAI receives for song judging

Our server checks the submission, its owner, active account permission, safety clearance and pilot enrollment.
Our private media service creates a temporary audio copy. It removes the video picture, embedded tags, chapters and identifying filenames while keeping the audible performance. It rejects unreadable or overlong recordings rather than silently judging only the beginning.
The audio model receives that audio copy. A second OpenAI model receives the judging evidence, lyrics, PSA text and limited contest context needed to apply the rubric.
We do not attach legal names, stage names, schools, guardian contacts, profile links or internal account and creator identifiers to either request. Correlation stays inside 0Skips; the models do not need an identifier to return the result to the requesting server.
The models have no tools to look up a student's identity or browse their profile. A failed request does not switch to another provider.

Lyrics and audio can themselves contain personal details. Removing file metadata and account identifiers reduces disclosure; it cannot guarantee anonymity or remove everything a performer says.

OpenAI processing and retention

We use the standard OpenAI API for preliminary song assessment while seeking Zero Data Retention (ZDR). ZDR is not required for this interim arrangement and is not currently promised. OpenAI does not use API content to train its models by default, and 0Skips does not opt contest content into training.

OpenAI may retain content in abuse-monitoring logs for up to 30 days. Longer retention may apply when required by law or reasonably necessary to protect its services or others from harm. Processing includes automated safety checks and may involve authorized review. We do not promise that no person can access the content or that every record is erased exactly on day 30. See OpenAI's data controls.

We request text responses with saved-conversation storage disabled. That setting does not disable abuse monitoring. The interim route uses OpenAI's standard endpoint; we do not promise U.S.-only processing for that route. If ZDR is approved and activated, we will update this notice to describe the protections actually in effect. Changes to our provider arrangement do not grant new permission to use identity records.

Private originals, limited records and human review

Original submissions remain in private contest storage for authorized review. The temporary preparation files are removed after audio conversion, including when preparation fails. The OpenAI judging adapters do not log recordings, prompts, lyrics, generated text, credentials or provider error bodies. Internal records retain the assessment, model and rubric version, permission reference and review decisions needed to administer the contest.

AI judgments are provisional. A below-threshold AI result needs a human review before exclusion is final. Staff can record a reviewed decision or void an erroneous screening without rewriting the original score. Technical failures must not become invented scores.

Public videos are a separate choice

Once a family publishes a video on YouTube or makes a contest page public, other people may see, share or recognize it. YouTube applies its own privacy rules. That choice does not give AI providers permission to use the family's private identity records, and it does not replace our checks for private AI processing.

Questions, changes and deletion

Contact the 0Skips team to ask about your family's records, correct information, withdraw a permission or request deletion. We verify the requester's authority before releasing or changing private records. Some consent, financial, safety or legal records may need to be retained; the team will explain what applies to your request. ZDR at the AI provider does not delete records retained by 0Skips or copies already published elsewhere.

These safeguards reduce risk; no website can promise perfect security. Material changes to the judging provider or privacy settings require another review before student processing continues.