> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.getrivet.ca/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Voicemail and transcription processed in Canada

> Voicemail audio and transcription run on Canadian hardware. No cloud AI service receives client audio or transcripts.

When someone calls your Rivet number and leaves a voicemail, the audio
follows a short, well-defined path — and the most sensitive parts of
that path stay on Canadian hardware.

This page is specific about *where* each step runs. It's the level of
detail your College, your compliance officer, or an HIC compliance
review will ask for.

## The path a voicemail takes

1. Your client calls your Rivet number.
2. Twilio (United States) records the audio. Twilio retains the
   recording for 30 days by default.
3. Rivet's worker — running in Canada — fetches the audio from Twilio
   for transcription.
4. **Whisper**, an open-source speech-to-text model, transcribes the
   audio. **Whisper runs locally on Rivet's Canadian hardware.** The
   audio file is read into memory, transcribed, and never transmitted
   to any cloud AI service.
5. **Ollama**, running the same locally on the same Canadian hardware,
   classifies the transcript's intent (new client, reschedule, urgent,
   etc.) using an open-source language model.
6. The transcript and the intent label are written to Rivet's database (hosted by Supabase in their `ca-central-1` region — Montreal, Canada).
7. You receive a push notification, see the voicemail in your inbox,
   and the appropriate auto-reply (if any) is sent to the caller.

## What runs locally in Canada

* **Voicemail audio transcription** — Whisper, on Rivet's hardware in
  Belle River, Ontario.
* **Intent classification** — Ollama, on the same hardware.
* **The voicemail-processing worker** — also on the same hardware.

That hardware never sends audio or transcripts to OpenAI, Anthropic,
Google, or any other cloud AI provider. The transcription and
classification models are open-source and run as local processes. No
third-party AI service ever sees a client's voicemail.

## What still touches the United States

Being specific about what *is* in the US matters as much as being
specific about what isn't.

* **Twilio** records the inbound audio and holds it for the platform
  retention window (30 days by default). Twilio operates under its own
  published data-handling commitments and processes the audio only to
  deliver the recording back to Rivet.
* **Mobile push notifications** route through Apple (iOS) and Google
  (Android FCM) push services in the United States. The notification
  payload doesn't contain transcript text — it carries an identifier
  that your device uses to fetch the full content over HTTPS.

The transcript and the rest of your client information itself lives in
the database, and the database is in Canada — see
[where your data lives](/privacy/where-your-data-lives) for the
specific region and the evidence trail.

The Data Processing Agreement enumerates each sub-processor and its
processing location. See [the DPA](/privacy/data-processing-agreement)
for the full table.

## Why the "no cloud AI" line matters

The most sensitive moment in a voicemail's life is its raw audio. A
caller may say their full name, the medication they take, a description
of their symptoms, or the name of a family member. That's the kind of
content that, once it leaves your boundary into a cloud AI vendor's
training pipeline, becomes very hard to track.

Running transcription and classification locally on Canadian hardware
means:

* The audio is read, transcribed, and discarded from memory.
* The transcript is the only artifact that touches the database.
* No vendor's terms of service govern what happens to the audio in
  transit, in training, or in their analytics.
* A subpoena to an AI vendor won't pull a copy of your client's
  voicemail, because the vendor never had it.

## What this lets you say

If you're describing Rivet's privacy posture in a sales conversation,
to your College, or to an HIC compliance review, the accurate phrasing
is:

> Voicemail audio and transcription are processed locally on Canadian
> hardware. No third-party AI service receives client audio or
> transcripts. The database, where every transcript and conversation
> is stored, is hosted by Supabase in their Canadian (`ca-central-1`)
> region.

For the full architectural answer your College reviewer will want —
table of every kind of information and where it physically lives,
plus the evidence Rivet can produce — see
[where your data lives](/privacy/where-your-data-lives).

## Related articles

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Client data handling" icon="database" href="/privacy/client-data-handling">
    The full retention schedule for transcripts, audio, and conversation
    history.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Encryption" icon="lock" href="/privacy/encryption">
    How the audio and transcript are protected in transit and at rest.
  </Card>

  <Card title="The Data Processing Agreement" icon="file-signature" href="/privacy/data-processing-agreement">
    The full sub-processor table and their processing locations.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>
