Internet access and encryption
All connections use HTTPS to encrypt data in transit.
All Applications
For all our applications:
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All our Applications use Google Analytics in accordance with their usage policies – so we cannot individually-identify any users.
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All our Applications call our online Claro Software licensing system to make at least one licensing decision. Depending on how the user licenses – a licence key, SSO – we may have some information on the user: at most this is an email address.
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All our Windows and Mac update programs (ClaroUp, Claro Voice Setup) call our servers to look for updates and download new installers. This is all anonymous and not stored.
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However, for site licences (e.g. schools or corporates) we supply network versions that have none of Google Analytics nor licensing or automatic updates. They may have Internet features listed below, but unless these are used then there is no Internet access by these versions.
All our servers are at one of:
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*.clarosoftware.com
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*.clarodownloads.com
Our ClaroRead Chrome voice (TTS) servers are at:
- For ClaroRead in Sweden: claroacapelavoiceserver.azurewebsites.net
- For all other voice servers: *.clarospeech.com
Our ClaroRead Mac and Windows voice (TTS) servers are at:
- *.speechstream.net/
Windows and Mac Applications
All the connections listed in All Applications above, plus:
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ClaroRead Windows version 11 and earlier has an online translation feature which sends text the user selects to a server and gets back the translation. We do not keep the text. This is off by default and not available in UK English versions of ClaroRead. Network versions also have this feature. It is all anonymous and is not stored. This was removed in ClaroRead Windows 12 (November 2023).
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ClaroRead Windows has a dictionary lookup feature for non-English and non-Swedish languages which calls our server with words to look up and gets a result. Network versions also have this feature. It is all anonymous and is not stored. The end-point is at clarodownloads.com.
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ClaroRead Windows and Mac offers online voices in some versions, indicated in the user settings where they are clearly differentiated and can be selected by the user. Until they are selected these servers are not accessed. These voices use different services and servers.
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Google voices call Google servers, potentially located in the USA or EU. Cloud Data Processing Amendment.
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Amazon Polly voices call servers located in Stockholm. Amazon Data Privacy.
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Nuance voices are hosted in the EU by us. User data stays in the region, and is not cached or stored.
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Cereproc voices are hosted in the EU. The text is not stored but the generated audio is kept for 48 hours.
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Writing Helper calls a Google service to look up references. This is anonymous and is stored in the Writing Helper project on the user’s machine.
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Writing Helper calls a server to import PDFs (performing OCR) if it does not find ClaroRead also installed – if it does find ClaroRead it uses ClaroRead. This is anonymous and is not stored.
ClaroRead SE has only the connections listed in All Applications above.
Chromebook and Web Applications
All the connections listed in All Applications above, plus:
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ClaroRead Chrome uses an online server to do prediction and spellcheck, to which it sends snippets of text. This is all anonymous and is not stored.
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ClaroRead Chrome uses online servers and services to do text-to-speech, to which it sends text to read. This is all anonymous and is not stored.
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ClaroRead Chrome uses online servers to perform OCR (scanning) and document conversion, to which it sends entire documents and images and receives documents back. This is all anonymous and is not stored.
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Writing Helper calls a Google service to look up references. This is anonymous.
iOS and Android Applications
All the connections listed in All Applications above.
Internet Access Diagram
Local Data
All our applications store local data on their local device: this consists of user settings and other data relevant to the user (e.g. “preferred text-to-speech voice”) but not personal data (e.g. date of birth, sex, name). User data might sometimes include an email address (e.g. alasdairking@westhaven.edu) to store log-in information, but nothing more.