Privacy Policy

By using The Argo and our hosted services, you acknowledge that you have read and understand the information in this Policy.

1. Introduction

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 character social network located at theargo.social running on Sharkey (a federated microblogging platform).
• 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, our Matrix server, or our Sharkey instance 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 Matrix server, Sharkey instance, 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 Matrix homeserver, our Discord bridges, and the Sharkey social network). It does not govern the privacy practices of third-party systems, such as Discord's own corporate privacy policy, or external Fediverse/Matrix servers 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 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 Character Social Network (theargo.social)

• Profile Information: Username, email address, IP address, and any optional character profile information you provide.
• Social Activity: Your posts (notes), direct messages, favorites, boosts, and system-generated metrics.

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.

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: Routing and bridging your messages between Matrix and Discord, and facilitating your character's social interactions on our Sharkey network.
• 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.
• Social Network Visibility (Fediverse): On our Sharkey instance, your public posts and profile information are federated and visible to other users on compatible networks (like Mastodon, Misskey, etc.). Direct messages are only visible to the sender, recipient, and server 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 Sharkey and web clients for Matrix) 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 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 request a full export of your Sharkey social 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.
  • Right to be Forgotten (Sharkey): Our Sharkey instance supports built-in GDPR compliance tools. You can permanently delete your account and request the removal of your data directly through your user settings. This sends a deletion request across the federated network.

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 and Fediverse networks are shared, distributed databases, your messages sent externally may remain visible to users on other servers even after you 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 Matrix homeserver, Discord bridging, and Sharkey social network functionalities.
• Legitimate Interests: Processing server logs to prevent fraud and DDoS attacks, and anonymizing social 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.

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:

The Argo
GDPR & Deletion Requests: gdpr@theargo.space
General Privacy Inquiries: privacy@theargo.space
Website: theargo.space