Prompts
Write a consent script the person can understand
Gives you the words to say out loud before you record, three questions that show whether the person understood, and the one line to record at the start of the file.
What may go into it: Public or invented material only
The prompt
Answer in [ANSWER LANGUAGE], even if the material below is in another language. I am about to record a testimony. Write the words I will say out loud to ask for consent, in plain language anyone can follow, including someone who cannot read. The recording will be [AUDIO OR VIDEO]. Ask me nothing about the person: this is a script I speak, not a record about anybody. Rules: 1. Promise nothing I have not told you I can deliver. Where the script needs a fact only I know, leave a blank in square brackets with a short label, for example [WHERE THE FILE IS KEPT]. Never fill such a blank with a guess. 2. Never say the recording is safe, secure, anonymous, or impossible to trace. Say what happens to it, in plain words. 3. Short sentences. One idea per sentence. No legal wording and no form language. 4. Write it to be spoken, so I can read it aloud without stumbling. 5. Say clearly that the person may refuse, may stop at any moment, may answer some questions and not others, and that nothing they receive from us depends on their answer. Give me, in this order: A. The spoken script, covering in this order: what is being recorded and how long it will take, where the file is kept and for how long, who can listen to it, what will be published and where, what will be left out, how the person withdraws, who they contact to withdraw, and the last date on which withdrawal is still possible. B. Three questions to ask afterwards to confirm the person understood, written so that yes or no is not an answer. C. The one line to record at the start of the file to say consent was given, and the fields that line must contain. D. Every square bracket blank you left, gathered in one list, so I can fill them in before I start. Keep the whole page under 400 words.
Opens a new chat in that tool with this prompt already typed in. Fill in every box first, and read the line at the top about what may go into it.
15 minutes · Gives you one page · Works on a phone · How much to paste at once: Nothing of your own is pasted here beyond the two slots, so length is not a problem. If the script stops in the middle of a sentence, ask it to continue from the last complete sentence.
Read the answer against the checks below before you use it in anything that leaves your organisation.
What to fill in
- [ANSWER LANGUAGE]. Name the language the person speaks, because the script is spoken to them.
- [AUDIO OR VIDEO]. Write which one you are actually recording.
- Every square bracket blank the tool leaves, for example [WHERE THE FILE IS KEPT]. You fill those in yourself before you record, never the tool.
Before you trust the answer
- Read section A out loud at normal speaking speed. Whatever you stumble over will not be understood either.
- Check that no sentence promises protection you cannot deliver, and that every blank is filled with a fact you know rather than a hope.
- If a question in section B can be answered with yes, replace it with one that asks the person to say the thing back in their own words.
When it goes wrong
It will slip in a comforting promise you never made, such as that the recording is anonymous or fully secure, and you will read it aloud without noticing.
Tools this is written for
Written 2026-09-01Nobody has run this prompt in this language yet, so read the answer twice.
- Never for sensitive materialHas a free versionWorks in Iraq
- Never for sensitive materialHas a free versionWorks in Iraq
- Never for sensitive materialHas a free versionWorks in Iraq
Where to go next
- The task this belongs toProtecting sensitive information
- Staying safeClassify the material first
Written forHuman rights activistLegal work and accountability