Privacy

Controller

Alexander Grabow, Birkenhain 2, 29640 Schneverdingen, Germany. Email: admin@sneedle.net

Short version

This site uses no analytics tools, embeds no third-party content and loads no external fonts. There is no advertising and no tracking. No cookies are set unless you sign in to the protected area.

Server logs

When you request a page, your browser transmits technically necessary data that the web server logs briefly:

• shortened or full IP address
• date and time of the request
• requested address
• referring page, if transmitted
• browser and operating system identifier

The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. The legitimate interest lies in the secure and trouble-free operation of the site and in defending against attacks. Logs are deleted after 14 days at the latest and are not combined with other data.

Hosting

The site runs on a dedicated server in a data centre in Germany. No transfer to third countries takes place.

Cookies

The public part of the site sets no cookies.

In the protected area under /hub, a single encrypted session cookie is set after sign-in. It exists solely to keep you signed in, contains no personal analytics data and expires at the end of the session. The legal basis is Section 25(2) no. 2 TDDDG, since the cookie is technically required for the service you explicitly requested.

Linked projects

This site links to my own projects at other addresses as well as to third-party sites. As soon as you follow a link, the privacy policy of the target site applies. The respective operator is responsible for processing there.

Contact form

If you send me a message through the form, I store what you enter: the name you give, the way to reach you, the chosen topic and the text. The data sits on the same server as this site, not with a mail or form provider.

I use it only to reply to you. It is not passed on and not used for advertising.

Messages are deleted automatically after six months. If you want yours gone sooner, tell me - that happens immediately and without questions.

R3lay

R3lay is a video and text chat that I run on the same server as this site. The desktop app is available at sneedle.net/r3lay. This section applies to R3lay in addition to the information above.

Account

For an account I store your email address, your display name, your password as a non-reversible hash and the time you registered. The email address is used for signing in and resetting your password and is not visible to others. If you request a reset code, I send it to you by email via the mail server of my email provider goneo (Germany). The code is valid for 15 minutes. If an admin creates your account, I can send you the sign-in details with a temporary password, also via goneo; you set your own password the first time you sign in. A profile picture is optional.

If you turn on two-factor sign-in, I store the secret your authenticator app uses to generate codes in encrypted form and the recovery codes only as a non-reversible hash. If you turn it off, I delete both.

After you sign in, the app receives a session key. The server keeps only a hash of it. It expires 90 days after it was last used, or immediately when you sign out.

Servers, roles and invites

R3lay has several servers with their own channels and members. Only accounts I have enabled for it can create servers. Whoever creates a server is its owner and decides, through the roles they hand out, who may do what there: see and write in channels, delete other people’s messages, remove or ban members, invite. For a server I store its name, icon, owner, members with the date they joined and their roles, roles with name, colour and permissions, permissions per channel and bans with the reason given. The reason for a ban is visible only to those who may ban members.

• Members of a server see your name, your profile picture, your roles there and whether you are online.
• Anyone who shares no server and no direct messages with you sees nothing of you. New direct messages are only possible between members of a shared server.
• An invite is a link with a code, optionally with an expiry and a limited number of uses. Anyone with the link sees the server’s name and number of members. I store who created the invite and how often it was used. Invites by the owner can allow new accounts; such an invite also lets you register when registration is otherwise closed.
• As the operator I see the name, owner and members of every server and can hand a server over to another member or delete it.

If you leave a server or are removed, I delete your roles, your permissions in its channels and how far you had read there. Your messages stay in the channel until you or someone with permission deletes them. If a server is deleted, I delete it together with all channels, messages, files, roles and invites.

Messages and files

What you write and upload is stored: messages with their time, replies, reactions, mentions and pinned messages, as well as files with name, size and type. For images, the app creates a smaller preview. For each channel, the server remembers how far you have read.

• Messages in channels are visible to the server’s members who can see the channel.
• Direct messages are visible only to the two people involved.
• Files and profile pictures can be retrieved via their address. Anyone who has the link to a file can download it, even without an account.

The connection between the app and the server is encrypted. On the server, messages and files are stored without end-to-end encryption. I do not analyse them and do not pass them on. They remain stored until you delete them, someone with permission removes them or the channel or server is deleted. The server deletes interrupted uploads after 24 hours.

Voice channels

The app encrypts audio, camera video and shared screens before they leave your device (end-to-end). The media server only forwards them in encrypted form to the other participants in the voice channel. The app receives the key for a voice channel from the R3lay server when it joins. Nothing is recorded or stored.

Whether you are online, which voice channel you are in, whether you are muted or deafened and whether you are typing is visible to the members of your servers (the voice channel only to those who can see it) while you are connected. The server keeps this information in memory only.

Radio

The radio bot plays internet radio and music from a folder on the server into voice channels. The server itself fetches station streams, station logos and searches in the free Radio Browser directory. The stations and the directory only see the server’s address, not yours. The server keeps what is playing and the queue in memory only.

Logs

Requests from the app to the server appear in the server log as described above. The media server for video and audio records errors only. These logs are also deleted after 14 days at the latest. To prevent abuse, the server counts sign-in attempts per IP address and email address in memory for up to 24 hours. Security-relevant events such as turning two-factor sign-in on or off, blocking an account, removal from a server or changes to roles are recorded in the server log with the account number.

On your device

The app stores the session key locally (encrypted via the operating system’s key store), window size and position, your settings including the volume you set for others, drafts, recently used emoji and a cache of loaded content. This is required for the app to work (Section 25(2) no. 2 TDDDG). When you sign out, it deletes the session key.

The app downloads updates and spell-check dictionaries from this server; the spell check itself runs on your device. The app contains no analytics or tracking tools and makes no connections to third parties.

Legal basis and deletion

I process your account, messages, files, voice channels and the radio to provide the service you registered for (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). Logs and counting sign-in attempts serve secure operation (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

You can delete your account yourself in the app under Einstellungen → Konto (settings → account). Your email address, name, password hash, profile picture, sessions, reactions and read positions are then gone immediately. Messages and files you shared in channels or direct messages remain readable for the others, but no longer belong to any account. This is in the legitimate interest of the others in a complete conversation history (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). If you want them gone as well, delete them yourself beforehand or write to me.

Your rights

You have the right to information, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, data portability and objection to processing based on legitimate interests. Please use the email address above. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority.