Privacy Policy

Account Information

• Username / Matrix ID
• Password hash (never stored in plaintext)
• Device identifiers and session keys
• Account creation timestamp

Technical Metadata

• IP addresses used to connect (retained temporarily)
• Connection timestamps
• Room membership metadata
• Message routing data required for federation

Message Content

• Unencrypted room messages are stored on this server indefinitely unless deleted
• End-to-end encrypted (E2EE) messages are encrypted client-side — the operator cannot read their content

What we do not collect

• Email address
• Phone number
• Real name or any government-issued identity
• Advertising identifiers or tracking cookies

Information is processed solely to:

• Operate and maintain the Server
• Provide message routing and federation functionality
• Maintain security and prevent abuse
• Comply with valid legal obligations

We do not use any collected data for advertising, analytics, profiling, or sale to third parties under any circumstances.

The operator will not share user data with any third party except in response to a formal, valid, court-ordered legal request served under United States law. Voluntary disclosure to law enforcement without a court order will not occur.

In the event of a valid legal request, we can only produce data we actually hold: account metadata, IP logs within their retention window, and room membership records. We cannot produce the content of E2EE messages — it is technically unreadable to us. We hold no email addresses, phone numbers, or real identity information to produce.

Matrix is a federated protocol. Messages sent to rooms with participants on other homeservers are transmitted to those servers. In E2EE rooms, only ciphertext is transmitted. In unencrypted public rooms, message content is visible to any participating server.

External homeservers store and process data according to their own policies. The operator has no control over external servers and cannot delete data held by them.

The Server generates operational and security logs. By default:

• Server logs are rotated according to configured file size and backup limits
• IP addresses are retained temporarily for abuse prevention and are not linked to account identities long-term
• Message content, account data, device identifiers, and metadata are retained indefinitely unless you delete your account or content
• Federated messages stored on other homeservers may persist according to the policies of those servers

If you deactivate your account, associated local data may be removed from this server. Content that has already federated to other homeservers cannot be deleted by this operator and may persist indefinitely on those servers.

Reasonable administrative and technical safeguards are implemented to protect infrastructure and stored data, including TLS encryption in transit, firewalled infrastructure, containerized services, and salted password hashing. No internet-based system can be guaranteed completely secure.

The operator cannot prevent or be held liable for any unauthorized access, disclosure, or data loss resulting from actions or negligence of the user, including but not limited to compromised passwords, leaked credentials, phishing, or insecure client software or devices.

This service is restricted to individuals 18 years of age or older. We do not knowingly collect information from minors. Accounts identified as belonging to a minor will be terminated immediately.

This Privacy Policy may be updated at any time. Continued use after changes constitutes acceptance of the revised policy. All material updates are recorded in the Change History below.

For questions about this Privacy Policy, data requests, or concerns about how your information is handled, contact the operator at admin@badlands.pw or via the contact page. Data requests will be responded to within a reasonable timeframe. Legal requests must be formal and served under valid United States legal process.