Updated 1 October 2026
How data is handled
Dictum is built so that no one outside the lab ever holds readable patient data — not Google, and not Sciscribe, who make it. This page says how, in plain terms.
On the lab’s PC
Every case, report and macro lives in one database file on the lab’s own PC, in the Windows user’s application data folder. Dictum works fully offline; nothing waits for the network.
Reports are written out as ordinary .docx and .pdf files on the lab’s stationery, in a folder the lab
chooses. File names carry the accession only — HP26-656.docx, HP26-656_ADD1.docx — never a patient’s name or
UHID. The register and the pathologist’s logbook export to CSV and Excel at any time. Nothing is locked in.
Several PCs, one register
When a lab runs Dictum on more than one PC, one of them keeps the register’s count and hands out every accession number, so two desks can never issue the same one. The PCs talk over the lab’s own network; those messages are signed and carry no patient details. A case open on one PC opens read-only on another.
Backup and the iPad: the lab’s own Google Drive, encrypted
Backups and the iPad’s copy travel through a Google account that the lab owns — a lab address, never a personal one.
- Encrypted before it leaves the PC. Everything written to Drive is encrypted on the lab’s PC with AES-256-GCM. The key comes from the lab’s passphrase (stretched with Argon2id); it never leaves the lab.
- Nothing readable in the names. File names, the list of files, and the change history in Drive carry no patient details.
- Only its own files. Dictum’s access to the Drive is limited to the files Dictum creates.
- Google stores only ciphertext. Without the passphrase, the files are unreadable — to Google, to us, to anyone.
The recovery key
At setup Dictum shows a 24-word recovery key once and prints a recovery sheet for the lab’s safe. A restore accepts the passphrase or the key. Sciscribe keeps neither, so we cannot reset or recover them.
The iPad
The pathologist’s iPad is paired from the lab’s PC: it scans a code sealed with the lab passphrase, so it needs no Google sign-in of its own. It keeps a copy of the register and the signed reports for reading offline, unlocked with the pathologist’s PIN, and writes back only their notes and tags.
The iPad app lives at its own web address, separate from this website, so nothing published here can ever run where the iPad’s copy is kept.
What Sciscribe can see
| Can Sciscribe see… | Answer |
|---|---|
| Patient names, UHIDs, reports, diagnoses | No. We hold no copy and no key. |
| The lab’s backups in Google Drive | No. Encrypted with the lab’s key; we have no access to the account. |
| How the software is used | No. Dictum sends no telemetry and no usage reports. |
| That a download happened | GitHub, which hosts the installer, sees the request. |
| What you email us | Yes — please never include patient information. |
When we install or support Dictum, we work on the lab’s own PC at the lab’s request, and take no copies.
Who is responsible
Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, the lab is the Data Fiduciary for its patients’ data: it decides why and how that data is processed, and patients’ requests go to the lab. Dictum is the lab’s tool; Sciscribe supplies it and does not process the data.
Finished reports stay finished
A signed report is locked. A change after signing is an addendum (added, the original untouched) or an amendment (a new version that supersedes, with the difference shown) — and a record of who did what, which cannot be edited, stays on the lab’s PC.