instrumental/config/templates/privacy-policy.md

This privacy policy describes how %{domain} ("%{domain}", "we", "us") collects,
protects and uses the personally identifiable information you may provide
through the %{domain} website or its API. The policy also describes the choices
available to you regarding our use of your personal information and how you can
access and update this information. This policy does not apply to the practices
of companies that %{domain} does not own or control, or to individuals that
%{domain} does not employ or manage.

# 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 always listed publicly.
- **Posts, following and other public information**: The list of people you
  follow is 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 publicly. When
  you feature a post on your profile, that is also publicly available
  information. Your posts are delivered to your followers, in some cases it
  means they are delivered to different servers and copies are stored there.
  When you delete posts, this is likewise delivered to your followers. The
  action of reblogging or favouriting another post is always public.
- **Direct and followers-only posts**: All posts are stored and processed on the
  server. 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. In some cases it means they are delivered to different servers and
  copies are stored there. We make a good faith effort to limit the access to
  those posts only to authorized persons, but other servers may fail to do so.
  Therefore it's important to review servers your followers belong to. You may
  toggle an option to approve and reject new followers manually in the settings.
  **Please keep in mind that the operators of the server and any receiving
  server may view such messages**, and that recipients may screenshot, copy or
  otherwise re-share them. **Do not share any sensitive 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.

# 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.

# How do we protect your information?

We implement a variety of 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.

# 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.

# 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.

# Do we disclose any information to outside parties?

We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally
identifiable information. This does not include trusted third parties who assist
us in operating our site, conducting our business, or servicing you, so long as
those parties agree to keep this information confidential. We may also release
your information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law,
enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others rights, property, or
safety.

Your public content may be downloaded by other servers in the network. Your
public and followers-only posts are delivered to the servers where your
followers reside, and direct messages are delivered to the servers of the
recipients, in so far as those followers or recipients reside on a different
server than this.

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.

# 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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This document is CC-BY-SA. Originally adapted from the [Discourse privacy
policy](https://github.com/discourse/discourse).