Privacy Policy

What information do we collect?

• Basic account information: If you register on this server, you may be asked to enter a username, an e-mail address and a password. You may also enter additional profile information such as a display name and biography, and upload a profile picture and header image. The username, display name, biography, profile picture and header image are never listed publicly.
• Posts, following and other public information: The list of people you follow is never listed publicly, the same is true for your followers. When you submit a message, the date and time is stored as well as the application you submitted the message from. Messages may contain media attachments, such as pictures and videos. Public and unlisted posts are available only to authenticated users.
• Direct and followers-only posts: All posts are stored and processed solely on our servers. Followers-only posts are delivered to your followers and users who are mentioned in them, and direct posts are delivered only to users mentioned in them. We make a good faith effort to limit the access to those posts only to authorized persons. You may toggle an option to approve and reject new followers manually in the settings. Please keep in mind that the operator of this server does have the ability to view such messages, and that recipients may screenshot, copy or otherwise re-share them. Do not share any dangerous or illegal information over Mastodon.
• IPs and other metadata: When you log in, we record the IP address you log in from, as well as the name of your browser application. All the logged in sessions are available for your review and revocation in the settings. The latest IP address used is stored for up to 12 months. We also may retain server logs which include the IP address of every request to our server.

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What do we use your information for?

Any of the information we collect from you may be used in the following ways:

• To provide the core functionality of Mastodon. You can only interact with other people's content and post your own content when you are logged in. For example, you may follow other people to view their combined posts in your own personalized home timeline.
• To aid moderation of the community, for example comparing your IP address with other known ones to determine ban evasion or other violations.
• The email address you provide may be used to send you information, notifications about other people interacting with your content or sending you messages, and to respond to inquiries, and/or other requests or questions.

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How do we protect your information?

We implement a variety of strict security measures to maintain the safety of your personal information when you enter, submit, or access your personal information. Among other things, your browser session, as well as the traffic between your applications and the API, are secured with SSL, and your password is hashed using a strong one-way algorithm. You may enable two-factor authentication to further secure access to your account.

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What is our data retention policy?

We will make a good faith effort to:

• Retain server logs containing the IP address of all requests to this server, in so far as such logs are kept, no more than 90 days.
• Retain the IP addresses associated with registered users no more than 12 months.

You can request and download an archive of your content, including your posts, media attachments, profile picture, and header image.

You may irreversibly delete your account at any time.

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Do we use cookies?

Yes. Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer's hard drive through your Web browser (if you allow). These cookies enable the site to recognize your browser and, if you have a registered account, associate it with your registered account.

We use cookies to understand and save your preferences for future visits.

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Do we disclose any information to outside parties?

We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally identifiable information. We do not share your information with any third parties whatsoever. We reserve the right to release your information in the event that we are ordered to comply with law enforcement, enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others rights, property, or safety.

Your public content cannot be downloaded by other servers. Your public and followers-only posts, direct messages, are only stored on this server.

When you authorize an application to use your account, depending on the scope of permissions you approve, it may access your public profile information, your following list, your followers, your lists, all your posts, and your favourites. Applications can never access your e-mail address or password.

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Site usage by children

If this server is in the EU or the EEA: Our site, products and services are all directed to people who are at least 16 years old. If you are under the age of 16, per the requirements of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) do not use this site.

If this server is in the USA: Our site, products and services are all directed to people who are at least 13 years old. If you are under the age of 13, per the requirements of COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) do not use this site.

Law requirements can be different if this server is in another jurisdiction.

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Changes to our Privacy Policy

If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on this page.

This document is CC-BY-SA. It was last updated March 7, 2018.

Originally adapted from the Discourse privacy policy.