Privacy statement
In brief
Debat.NL B.V. runs training courses in persuasion and presenting, and provides the practice app Dithos. This statement covers everything we do with personal data: on this website, in our contact with clients and enquirers, and in the app.
It comes down to this:
- We ask for only what we genuinely need in order to help you, and we use it for nothing else.
- This website sets one cookie, and all it remembers is your choice of language.
- For course participants we record only an e-mail address, together with how far along their training they are.
- What you record, show or discuss during an exercise, we do not keep.
- Your data is processed within the European Union.
- What you put in is never used to train AI models.
- You can delete your account yourself in the app, and it takes effect immediately.
The rest of this page explains that, situation by situation. Questions? Write to kroes@debat.nl.
Who we are
Debat.NL B.V. is the controller for the processing of personal data described in this statement.
- Debat.NL B.V., Rijnsburgerweg 56, 2333 AC Leiden, the Netherlands
- Chamber of Commerce 52870251 · VAT NL850639542B01
- Contact for privacy matters: Sharon Kroes, kroes@debat.nl, +31 23 562 99 72
You can bring any question or request straight to us. If you work for an organisation that has bought a training course from us, we will not send you back to your employer.
When you visit this website
Cookies. This website sets one cookie, and all it remembers is whether you are reading the Dutch or the English version. That is all we need, which is why we do not have to put a cookie choice in front of you.
Visit data. To keep the website secure and available, technical visit data is recorded, including the IP address. We use it for security and fault-finding only.
Beyond that, read on in peace. We do not follow you around and we do not build a profile of you.
When you contact us or book a training course
The contact form. If you fill in the form on this site, we process your name, e-mail address, telephone number and your message, so that we can answer your question.
Requesting a quotation or information. We process the contact and organisation details you give us, so that we can send you a suitable proposal.
Registering for a training course. To organise the course we process your name, e-mail address and telephone number, and your organisation’s details for the invoice. If you tell us about dietary requirements, we use those solely to get the catering right, and for nothing else.
Invoices and administration. Details that belong on an invoice are kept for as long as tax law requires us to keep them.
Practising with Dithos: your account
Most participants do not choose Dithos for themselves. Your employer or training provider buys a course and hands out an access code. When you enter that code, we know which organisation your participation belongs to.
Your e-mail address comes from you, at the moment you create an account. We receive no participant list and no personal data from your organisation.
An e-mail address and an access code are the only two things you really have to provide. Without them we cannot create an account for you.
What your organisation can see
Your organisation can ask us who is taking part and how far along someone is. That is about your participation: that you have started, how far you have progressed, and whether you have completed the course.
What nobody can look at, ourselves included, is the content of your exercises: what you recorded, showed, typed or said, and the feedback you were given. We keep none of it.
What data do we process in the app?
Data you provide yourself
- Your e-mail address. It doubles as your username. We need it to create your account, to let you sign in and to send you a verification code.
- Your choice of language, so that the app opens in your own language.
- What you record, show or type during an exercise. We process this in the moment and do not keep it. See the next section.
- A report, if you tell us that a reply from the digital practice partner was not right.
Data that arises from your use of the app
- Your progress: which course you are taking, how far you have got, whether you have completed it and whether a certificate goes with it.
- Technical data needed to run and secure the service, such as an internal user number and the course of your requests. The content of your exercises is not part of it.
We record nothing further about participants. We do not ask for your name, address, telephone number or date of birth, and we do not build a profile of you.
What happens to what you record or show?
Some exercises ask you to record something, or to show something using your device’s camera. Your phone asks for permission separately, and you can withdraw that permission at any time in your own settings.
What you record or show travels to us encrypted, is processed in that same moment so that the exercise can respond to it, and then goes. We do not store it.
The same holds for your conversations with the digital practice partner and for the feedback you receive: we do not keep them. We note only that you did an exercise, not what you said in it. That also means we cannot read a conversation of yours back, or show it to anyone else.
Your own device may still hold a recording for a while. That sits on your phone and is yours to manage.
How we use artificial intelligence
Dithos uses artificial intelligence. You practise with a digital conversation partner, and the feedback you receive is written by AI. The app shows you when text has been generated by AI.
What you put in is never used to train AI models. We do not develop language models ourselves, and we have it in writing from our supplier that what comes in through us is not used to improve models.
The AI processing takes place within the European Union, and only while you are practising. No copy is left behind.
AI can get things wrong. Feedback from Dithos is practice material, meant to help you improve. It is not an assessment with legal consequences. Whether you have completed a course, and whether you receive a certificate for it, follows automatically from your progress. If you disagree with an outcome, write to kroes@debat.nl and a person will look at it.
Your certificate shows the e-mail address you took the course with, because we hold no name for you. Bear that in mind if you share the certificate with someone.
What if you report a reply that is not right?
If you feel the digital practice partner says something inappropriate, you can report it in the app. Such a report reaches our administrator and contains your e-mail address, which exercise it concerned, and what you write to us about it.
You decide for yourself whether to send the conversation along. That is a separate choice, and it is off by default.
We read every report ourselves, with a person, and use it solely to work out what went wrong and to put it right. If you want a report you filed earlier to be deleted, write to us and we will do it.
Who receives your data and where is it held?
We use your data solely to help you and to keep our service secure. We do not sell it and we do not put it to work for advertising.
To run the website and the app we engage a small number of specialist suppliers. Data processing agreements are in place with them, and they may use your data only for the work we set them.
- Our hosting provider (Amazon Web Services), for running the website and the app, storing accounts and progress, and sending our e-mail. Storage is in Ireland.
- Our AI supplier (Microsoft), for processing what you record, show or type while practising. This processing takes place within the European Union.
- The supplier of your phone’s operating system (Google, on Android only), for the check that the app is genuine and running on a real device. Data may be processed outside the European Economic Area in the course of that check.
The pages of this website and the audio and video used in the courses are delivered through a worldwide network of servers, so that everything loads quickly wherever you are. Your IP address may reach a server outside the European Economic Area as part of that. The storage itself stays within the European Union.
Alongside this we use ordinary office software for our e-mail, administration and bookkeeping. Data processing agreements cover those as well.
If you would like to know what we have agreed about transfers outside the European Economic Area, ask us for it.
How long do we keep your data?
We do not keep data for longer than the purpose we were given it for requires.
- Your message through the contact form, or a request for a quotation: for as long as we need it to deal with your question and round off the exchange properly.
- Details relating to a course you are taking: while the course runs, and for as long afterwards as we must be able to account for it administratively.
- Details on invoices: for as long as tax law requires.
- Your account and your progress in the app: for as long as you have an account with us. Delete the account and this data goes with it.
- What you record, show or type during an exercise, and your conversations: only for the duration of the processing itself. After that we do not keep it.
- Your certificate: we produce it at the moment you ask for it. All we keep is that you completed the course.
- Technical data for security and fault-finding: no longer than that purpose requires.
- Reports and messages you send us: for as long as we need them to handle your report or question. If you would rather we deleted them sooner, let us know.
We make back-ups so that data is not lost in the event of a failure. Deleted data disappears from those back-ups shortly afterwards too.
How to delete your account
In the app: open the menu at the top right of the home screen and choose “Delete account”. You will be asked to confirm first.
Already removed the app from your device? Write to kroes@debat.nl from the address you created the account with, and we will delete it for you.
Deletion takes effect immediately: your progress, your data and your sign-in account go straight away. There is no waiting period, and we hold nothing back in altered form. That also makes it irreversible, so do it deliberately.
Anything we still have to hold briefly for security and fault-finding, and reports you filed yourself earlier, we will delete on request. Let us know and we will take care of it.
Your rights
The General Data Protection Regulation gives you a number of rights:
- Access: to be told whether we process data about you, and to receive a copy of it.
- Rectification: to have inaccurate data corrected.
- Erasure: to have your data deleted.
- Restriction: to ask us to pause the processing.
- Portability: to receive your data in a commonly used file format.
- Objection: to object to processing that rests on our legitimate interest.
- Withdrawing consent: where you have given us consent, you may withdraw it at any time.
- Complaining to the supervisory authority.
Deleting your app account is something you can do yourself. For the other requests, write to kroes@debat.nl. We handle them personally and reply within one month.
How we protect your data
We take the security of your data seriously and have arranged it in several ways:
- All traffic with our website, our app and our suppliers is encrypted.
- Stored data is encrypted.
- Course material sits in shielded storage and is reachable only through links that expire.
- Keys and passwords are held in a secure vault, and each part of our system can reach only what it genuinely needs.
- Our systems are protected against overload and against attempts to get in without authorisation.
- We deliberately keep the content of your exercises out of our technical records.
- Two-step verification is available to all users and mandatory for our administrators.
- Access to data is limited to the staff who need it for their work.
Age
Our training courses and the app are supplied to business clients and are not aimed at children. Our service is intended for users aged 16 and over.
If you believe we are processing a minor’s data, write to kroes@debat.nl and we will delete it.
What we base this on
The GDPR asks us to state, for each purpose, what we rely on.
- Performance of a contract (Article 6(1)(b)): organising and delivering a training course, your account, your participation, processing what you record, show or type so that the exercise works, your progress and your certificate.
- Legitimate interest (Article 6(1)(f)): answering your question or request for a quotation, and keeping our website and our app secure, reliable and working. Our interest is a service that does what it promises and that you can rely on. The intrusion on your privacy stays limited, because this concerns contact and technical data and the content of your exercises falls outside it. You may object to this.
- Legal obligation (Article 6(1)(c)): data we must retain for our administration and tax returns, such as invoices.
- Consent (Article 6(1)(a)): access to your device’s microphone or camera, where your device asks you explicitly. You can withdraw that consent at any time in your device settings.
Making a complaint
Do you feel we are not handling your data with care? Tell us first, at kroes@debat.nl. We would like the chance to put it right, and we genuinely welcome the feedback.
You can also lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority at any time:
- Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (the Dutch Data Protection Authority), Bezuidenhoutseweg 30, 2594 AV The Hague, the Netherlands
- autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl
If you live in another EU country, you may also go to the supervisory authority there.
Changes to this statement
This is version 2.0 of this statement, dated 26 August 2026, and it replaces the previous version.
If something important changes, we will tell you actively, in the app or by e-mail. We will not ask you to keep an eye on this page yourself.
The Dutch version of this statement is at debat.nl/privacy.