Privacy Policy — harshnoise.social

Effective date: 27 October 2026

Operator: Alice Eidson

Contact: alice@masocore.media

Scope

This policy applies to the following services operated at harshnoise.social:

The website at harshnoise.social, including the home and hub pages.
The atproto Personal Data Server (PDS) at harshnoise.social, providing accounts that can publish to Bluesky and other atproto applications.
Matrix, hosted at chat.harshnoise.social, with account management at account.harshnoise.social.
XMPP, hosted at harshnoise.social, including group chats at e.harshnoise.social.

This policy does not apply to third-party servers, applications, or websites accessed through these services. Those services are governed by their own privacy policies.

Summary

These services collect only the information necessary to operate accounts and to deliver posts and messages. Personal data is not sold.

Much of the content published through these services is public by design, or is shared with other servers through federation. Once content has been delivered to another server, it cannot be deleted from that server by the operator of harshnoise.social. Encrypted communications are addressed separately below.

Information Collected

Account information

The username or handle selected at registration, and the account password. Passwords are stored in hashed form, not in plain text.
An email address, where required by a service, for purposes including account recovery and verification.
Display name and profile information voluntarily provided by the account holder.

Content

Posts, replies, images, and other content published through the PDS. Atproto posts are public by design and are intended to be replicated by relays and other applications.
Messages sent in Matrix rooms and XMPP chats and group chats, including room history retained for participants who join later.
Files and media uploaded through the services, stored on this server for delivery to recipients and, where applicable, to federated servers.

Technical information

Server logs, including IP addresses, timestamps, and device or client information, retained for operation, security, and troubleshooting.
For Matrix, session and device information for signed-in devices, including sessions established by QR sign-in.
For XMPP, message archive (MAM) history for chats and group chats where archiving is enabled.

Payment information, government identification, and other sensitive information are not requested in order to use these services.

Federation and Third-Party Services

Matrix and XMPP are federated protocols.

Users on other Matrix or XMPP servers may participate in public rooms hosted here, and users here may participate in rooms hosted on other servers.
When a message is posted in a federated room, or sent to a user on another server, a copy is transmitted to that server. That copy is subject to the receiving server's operator and privacy policy.
XMPP federation for harshnoise.social is restricted to xmpp.jp, jabber.de, and disroot.org.
Matrix rooms designated as harshnoise.social only are restricted to accounts on this server. Other rooms are open to federated accounts unless they are invite-only.

Atproto and the PDS are public by design. Posts, likes, follows, and profile information are public records. Relays, AppViews, and other applications replicate them. Deleting a post removes it from this PDS; copies already replicated elsewhere may persist.

End-to-end encryption. In Matrix rooms with end-to-end encryption enabled, and in XMPP chats with OMEMO enabled, the server cannot read message content. The server retains only the metadata necessary for delivery, such as the intended recipient, the time of sending, and the devices involved. The hub room is intentionally unencrypted to permit relaying between XMPP, Matrix, and Discord, and must not be treated as private.

Use of Information

Information collected is used to:

Operate the accounts, rooms, and services requested by the user.
Deliver posts and messages, and to provide sign-in and account recovery.
Maintain the security of the services, prevent abuse and spam, and resolve technical issues.
Respond to inquiries regarding an account.

User content is not sold.

Data Retention

Account information is retained for the duration that the account remains active.
Posts and messages are retained for as long as the account or room history is retained, or until deleted by the user, subject to the federation limitations described above.
Server logs, including container logs, are rotated regularly, and older logs are deleted as part of normal rotation.
Backups, where present, may retain copies for a limited period following deletion.

Upon deletion of an account, account data is deleted from this server. Copies already held by other servers, relays, or applications cannot be deleted by this operator.

User Rights and Choices

Users may:

Edit their profile, posts, and room settings through the applications they use.
Delete posts and messages, subject to the federation limitations described above.
Request export, correction, or deletion of their account data by contacting the operator at the address above. Proof of account ownership will be requested before action is taken.
Leave a room, leave a space, or delete an account at any time.

Users in the EU or UK, or in a US state with applicable privacy legislation, may have additional rights of access, correction, deletion, and portability. Such requests will be handled in accordance with applicable law. The specific rights available depend on the user's jurisdiction.

Age Requirement

These services are intended for users aged 16 and over. Personal data is not knowingly collected from persons under 16. If it is learned that a person under 16 holds an account, that account will be removed.

Security

Connections to these services use TLS encryption. Passwords are stored in hashed form, and access to server infrastructure is restricted. No system can be guaranteed fully secure. Users who believe an account has been compromised should change the account password and contact the operator.

Changes to This Policy

Material changes to this policy will be reflected in an updated effective date at the top of this page, and notice will be posted in the announcements channel and in #general on Matrix, with a link to the updated policy. The version published at harshnoise.social/privacy is the current version.

Contact

Questions regarding this policy may be directed to alice@masocore.media with "Privacy" in the subject line.