The Argo ("we", "us", "our") respects your privacy and is committed to protecting any Personal Data we process. We operate a network of services tailored for theargo.space community, including:
A Personal Data Server (PDS) located at theargo.social running on the Authenticated Transfer Protocol ("AT Protocol").
A community Discourse forum located at discuss.theargo.space.
A federated real-time communication server located at matrix.theargo.space running on the Matrix protocol.
A Discord Guild known as "The Argo - Space Apartment Complex" (ID: 1396171299474116698).
Membership of our Discord Guild or our Matrix server requires that you agree to this Privacy Policy.
This Policy explains what we do with our users' Personal Data when you use our services. Because our PDS, Matrix server, and Discord bridges connect to external networks, a significant portion of the data you create and upload to these accounts is shared with other servers across their respective networks by design.
2. What is Personal Data?
"Personal Data" is information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular person.
3. Applicability of this Policy
This Policy governs the data processed directly by our infrastructure (the PDS, the Matrix homeserver, our Discord bridges, and the Discourse forum). It does not govern the privacy practices of third-party systems, such as Discord's own corporate privacy policy, AT Protocol AppViews, Relays, or external Matrix homeservers that may receive, store, or display your federated data.
4. Personal Data We Collect
We process different kinds of Personal Data depending on the services you use:
For the PDS (theargo.social)
Account Creation Information: We collect information such as your email address, invite codes, phone number (if required for verification), and account password.
Your AT Protocol Repository Data: This includes your handle, profile picture, display name, posts, replies, reposts, likes, follows, blocks, and lists. This data is stored in your personal repository on our servers.
For the Matrix Server (matrix.theargo.space)
Account Information: Your Matrix ID (username), password, and optional email address for account recovery.
Communications and Media: Messages, files, and images you send. Data at rest resides on our servers. If a room is End-to-End Encrypted (E2EE), we only store the encrypted data blobs and cannot read the contents. If a room is not encrypted, the data resides on our servers in plain text.
Metadata and Cryptography: Information about room memberships, who you communicate with, read receipts, and device identifiers/public keys used to facilitate E2EE.
For the Discord Guild ("The Argo - Space Apartment Complex")
Communications and Profile Data: When you participate in our Discord server, we collect your Discord username, user ID, profile picture, and the contents of the messages you send in our channels to facilitate bridging and moderation.
For the Discourse Forum (discuss.theargo.space)
Profile Information: Username, email address, IP address, and any optional profile information you provide.
Forum Activity: Your posts, private messages, bookmarks, likes, links you follow, and system-generated reading time/history metrics.
Automatically Collected Data (All Services)
Usage and Log Information: When you connect to our servers, we automatically collect server log data, which may include your IP address, user-agent string, connection timestamps, and API request logs for security, diagnostics, and performance purposes.
5. How We Use Personal Data
We use your Personal Data to fulfill our role as your host provider:
To Provide Our Services: Hosting your AT Protocol repository, routing and bridging your messages between Matrix and Discord, and facilitating discussions on our forum.
For Administrative & Security Purposes: Detecting malicious activity, spam, and server abuse. We monitor server loads and traffic to keep our infrastructure stable.
Account Recovery & Support: Using your email address to send password reset links, essential service updates, or responding to your support inquiries.
6. How We Share your Personal Data
Due to the nature of our federated and bridged services, data sharing is built into the core functionality of the platforms:
Discord and Matrix Bridging: Messages sent in public channels (channels not restricted by specific role permissions) within our Discord Guild are automatically bridged to our Matrix instance at matrix.theargo.space. This means our Matrix server retains a copy of all existing bridged Discord messages at rest. Likewise, membership of the Matrix instance means your messages sent to any of the public Matrix rooms will also be bridged and broadcasted to Discord.
Matrix Federation: If you participate in Matrix public spaces or rooms that include users from other parts of the Matrix network, your messages, profile data, and media are actively shared with the external homeservers of those participants. Once your data is federated to an external Matrix server, it is subject to the privacy policies of those servers, and we cannot force them to delete it.
The AT Protocol Network: By hosting your account on our PDS, you instruct us to federate your public repository data (posts, likes, follows, profile details). This data is pulled by Relays and indexed by AppViews (like Bluesky), becoming visible to the public.
Forum Visibility: On our Discourse forum, your public posts and profile information are visible to other users and potentially indexed by search engines. Private messages are only visible to the sender, recipient, and forum administrators (for moderation).
Law Enforcement & Safety: We may share private account details (such as your email address or IP logs) if required to do so by law, or to protect the safety of our users, infrastructure, and the public.
7. Cookies and Tracking
Our web-based services (like Discourse and web clients for Matrix/AT Protocol) use HTTP cookies. We strictly use essential and functional cookies to authenticate your session, keep you logged in, and remember your interface preferences. We do not use third-party behavioral tracking or advertising cookies.
8. International Data Transfers
The owners of The Argo are located in the United Kingdom, while our server infrastructure is securely hosted in France. By using our services, your data is transferred between the UK and the European Economic Area (EEA). We rely on formally recognized Adequacy Decisions established between the UK and the EU, which ensure your data continues to receive a high standard of legal protection. Note that federated or bridged data (AT Protocol, Discord, or Matrix) may be transferred globally to any server or corporate entity you interact with.
9. Your Privacy Choices and Rights
You have strict control over your data on our platforms:
Request Access and Portability: You can export your entire AT Protocol repository to migrate to another PDS. You can also request a full JSON export of your Discourse forum data, and export your Matrix encryption keys and room history via your Matrix client.
Request Deletion / Redaction:
Discord & Matrix Bridged Data: When requesting a deletion of your data from our real-time chat platforms, you can email gdpr@theargo.space, citing your Discord username and/or Matrix account. This will result in your removal from both the Discord Guild and the Matrix spaces (though you will not be banned from rejoining), as well as the deletion of your message history from our Matrix server.
PDS: You can delete your account, which wipes your repository from our servers and broadcasts a deletion event.
Forum: To preserve conversational flow, we may fulfill deletion requests by anonymizing your account—stripping identifying details rather than deleting the text of the posts themselves.
10. Retention of Personal Data
We retain your Personal Data for as long as your account is active. If you request deletion, we will permanently delete your primary data from our servers within a reasonable administrative timeframe. Server logs containing IP addresses are routinely rotated and purged. Because Matrix rooms are shared databases, your messages sent to externally federated rooms may remain visible to users on other servers even after you leave the room or deactivate your account.
11. Supplemental Notice for UK and EU GDPR
For users in the United Kingdom and the European Economic Area, this section outlines our compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the EU GDPR, and the French Data Protection Act (Loi Informatique et Libertés).
Data Controller: The owners of The Argo, located in the United Kingdom, act as the Data Controller.
Legal Bases for Processing:
Performance of a Contract: Processing your data to provide the PDS, Matrix homeserver, Discord bridging, and Discourse forum functionalities.
Legitimate Interests: Processing server logs to prevent fraud and DDoS attacks, and anonymizing forum posts to maintain community integrity.
Consent: Where applicable, for specific optional features.
Your Rights: Under the GDPR, you have the right to Access, Rectification, Erasure, Restriction of Processing, Data Portability, and the Right to Object. You can exercise these rights directly within your account settings or by contacting us via our GDPR email.
Supervisory Authorities: If you believe we have not processed your data in accordance with the law, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority. For UK residents, this is the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). For French residents, this is the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL).
12. Security
We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your Personal Data against unauthorized access, loss, or destruction. We strongly encourage users to utilize End-to-End Encryption (E2EE) in Matrix for private communications not bridged to Discord. However, please remember that no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure.
13. Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Policy, wish to exercise your data rights, or need to contact the Data Controller, please reach out to us at: