Compliance notes

How Towntide Voice handles recording, texts, emergencies and data

These are working notes for business owners and for our lawyer. They are not legal advice, and a lawyer has not reviewed them yet (see the checklist at the bottom).

1. Call recording and AI disclosure

Every call starts with the assistant saying it's an AI assistant for the business. If recording is on, it also says the call is recorded and why. Neither can be skipped by the AI model: the disclosure is played before the AI joins the call.

Canada: one-party consent under the Criminal Code (s. 184(2)(a)), but privacy law expects callers to be told, so we announce by default and offer to stop recording if asked.
United States: federal one-party consent, but 9 states require everyone's consent and 4 are mixed: California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Washington, Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, Nevada. For businesses in those states the recording announcement is forced on.

Details and sources: Recording customer calls: Canada and US rules.

2. Texts: CASL and TCPA

Inbound only: no AI outbound calls, no cold texts, no campaigns, no list uploads.
Customers are only texted if they called or texted the business in the last 180 days (the CASL inquiry window is six months).
Every customer text names the business and ends with “Reply STOP to opt out.” STOP and similar words (UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, QUIT) opt the number out right away and cancel anything scheduled; START opts back in.
Quiet hours (default 9 p.m. to 8 a.m. at the business) hold customer texts until morning.
US sending needs 10DLC registration through the texting provider before launch.

Details and sources: Texting back missed callers: CASL and TCPA basics.

3. Emergencies and 911

Towntide Voice is not an emergency service and does not replace 911. It runs fixed emergency rules on everything the caller says, before any AI model sees it. On a match it gives a safety line (for gas, fire, carbon monoxide, water near electrical or an injury it tells the caller to hang up and call 911, or the gas utility, first), marks the call urgent, collects the caller's details and sends the business an urgent text and email. It never promises that a person will call or pick up. A live transfer to the business's on-call phone is an optional setting, off by default.

Rule	What the caller hears first
Fire or smoke	If there's fire or smoke, get everyone out now, then hang up and call 911.
Gas smell	If you smell gas, leave the building now. Don't use light switches, lighters or appliances on the way out. Once you're outside, hang up and call your gas utility's emergency line or 911.
Carbon monoxide alarm	If a carbon monoxide alarm is going off or anyone feels dizzy or sick, get everyone outside into fresh air now, then hang up and call 911.
Downed power line	Stay at least 10 metres back, keep everyone away, and don't touch anything the line is touching. Please hang up and call 911 and your electric utility.
Someone is hurt	If someone is hurt, please hang up and call 911 right now.
Water near electrical	Stay out of the water and don't touch the electrical panel or anything plugged in. Please hang up and call 911 first.
Sparking or burning smell	Please stay away from it. If you can reach your main breaker safely, switch it off, but don't touch anything wet or sparking. If you see smoke or fire, call 911.
Flooding or burst pipe	If you can do it safely, turn off your main water shut-off valve, and stay away from any water near outlets or the electrical panel.
Sewage backup	Please stop running water and flushing toilets for now, and keep people and pets away from the wastewater.
No heat in winter	While you wait, keep doors and windows closed, and if you use a space heater, keep it well away from anything that can burn. If anyone is feeling unwell from the cold, call 911.
Roof breach	Keep everyone out of any room where the ceiling is sagging, move valuables away from the water if it's safe, and please don't go up on the roof.

Safety wording follows public utility guidance, for example ATCO Gas's gas emergency advice and FortisAlberta's downed power line advice (stay at least 10 metres back and call 911). Each business should check the wording against its own utility.

4. Data and retention

What's kept: the caller's number; the name, address and job details they give; the transcript; the recording (live mode only); and the texts sent.
How long: transcripts and recordings are deleted after the owner's setting (30, 90 [default], 180 or 365 days). The lead and a short summary stay while the account is active.
Who processes it (live mode): Twilio (phone and texts) and OpenAI (speech AI), both in the US, plus our database host. Canadian callers' data may be processed in the US; the privacy notice must say so.
Model training: API data isn't used to train OpenAI's models by default, per OpenAI's API data policy. Confirm this in the signed agreement before launch.
Deletion requests: the owner can delete a call and its lead. A caller can ask the business; we help it comply.

5. Checklist for the lawyer

Greeting wording: AI disclosure and recording notice, and the opt-out alternative (Canada: PIPEDA/Alberta PIPA; US: all-party states and any state AI-disclosure laws where customers are).
The all-party-consent state list and the “mixed” states (CT, DE, MI, NV). Should the recording notice be forced on for every US customer?
Emergency safety lines per rule, and the wording of the “not an emergency service, call 911” disclaimer, including liability if an alert (or an optional transfer) fails.
CASL: text-back as a reply to an inquiry (implied consent s.10(10)(e) / exemption s.6(6)), and the identification format for SMS (mailing address plus contact method, or a link). Demo texts carry the business name and reply-to number only.
TCPA: text-back consent basis, STOP handling (FCC 24-24), quiet hours, state mini-TCPAs (e.g. Florida, Oklahoma), and 10DLC registration.
Privacy notice and data-processing terms: who is the controller (the trade business) and who is the processor (Towntide), sub-processors (Twilio, OpenAI, hosting), and cross-border transfer to US vendors for Canadian callers.
Retention defaults (transcripts 90 days, recordings the same, leads kept while the account is active) and the deletion-request process.
Customer terms: the Founding 25 price lock, the 30-day money-back guarantee, overage billing, the referral credit, and cancellation.
Whether owner price ranges read out by the assistant could be taken as quotes (consumer protection).
Insurance: errors & omissions and cyber cover for an AI answering service.