Privacy Policy

What we collect

For guests: a nickname, an IP address, and technical details your browser sends. For registered users: additionally an email address and any profile information you choose to provide.

Public room messages are logged so that reports can be investigated. Video and voice are peer-to-peer and are not recorded by us.

Why we collect it

To operate the service, to enforce the rules, to prevent ban evasion and abuse, and to meet legal obligations.

How long we keep it

Around three months for the ordinary operational records, after which they are deleted. Account records are kept while the account exists. Anything connected to a serious enforcement action or a legal request may be kept longer.

Cookies and tracking

A cookie remembers whether you chose the light or dark theme, and the chat client sets a session cookie on its own host so you stay signed in between rooms. Google Analytics sets two more for measurement. Your browser can refuse or delete any of them at any time from its settings, though refusing the session cookie will stop the chat keeping you signed in.

We honour Do Not Track. If your browser sends that preference, we treat it as an instruction not to track you.

The cookie policy lists everything set, and is the page to check if this changes.

Third parties

The chat client is licensed software running on its own host, so using a room means your connection reaches that host. It is bound to handle your information only for the purpose of running the chat.

We use Google Analytics to understand how the site is used: which rooms people visit, roughly where they are, and how long they stay. Google processes that data on its own terms and we do not use it to identify anybody. If your browser sends Do Not Track, the tag is not loaded at all.

Pages here link out to sites we do not control, including the forum software and any advertiser. Once you follow a link, that site's privacy policy applies rather than ours, and we cannot answer for it.

Where your data is held

We operate from the United States and run no servers in Europe. If you are outside the United States, using the service means your information is transferred there and processed there, where data protection law may differ from your own.

When we would disclose it

We share your information with nobody, with one exception: where the law, a subpoena or a legitimate request from law enforcement requires it, or where it is necessary to protect the security of the service. Reports involving minors are escalated to the relevant authorities.

Security

We take reasonable, commercially accepted measures to protect what we hold. No method of transmission or storage on the internet is completely secure, however, and we cannot guarantee absolute security of information you send us.

Children

This service is for people aged 18 and over, and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 13. If you are a parent or guardian and believe a child has given us information, contact us and we will delete it.

Your rights

Depending on where you live you may have the right to access, correct or delete your data, or to object to its processing. That includes asking us to delete your account and what we hold about you. Write to [email protected] from the address on the account.

Changes to this policy

We may update this page as the service changes. Continuing to use the site after a change means accepting the revised policy, so it is worth checking back occasionally.