We decided it would be best to make an official public statement as to the privacy or lack thereof afforded our users. These practices are based on the functionality of standard software daemons and IRC services; no extra-ordinary steps were taken to either enhance or reduce privacy.
Due to storage space limitations there are no permanent records of connections or users' IP address information. Realtime connection monitoring is routine practice so that we can see malicious clients when they connect, but those logs are volatile. Once they are gone, they are gone. What this means is that we "see" your connection, including nickname and IP address when you connect, but it is not recorded or saved by our servers or services. The volume of this data would be overwhelming otherwise.
Whenever a user makes use of Abjects IRC Network services (ChanServ, NickServ, etc), a log file entry is made, including time, date, nickname, ident, ip/hostname and gecos of the user, along with the commands they issued to the services. These logs will normally rotate out after between 7 and 14 days. After that, they are gone.
Under NO circumstance does Abjects IRC Network view any channel activity without the knowledge of the members of the channel, eg a staff member present in their channel. The IRCd software we use has no capability of logging private discussion, nor does our services. Along with being highly unethical, this could also be illegal under wiretap laws of various jurisdictions our network is involved in. We cannot, however, guarantee any privacy whatsoever in channels created by users, with other users in the channel. It is entirely up to the user to determine what to say in the presence of whom.
Information supplied by the user for the purpose of registering their nickname or channel is stored in a database for the lifetime of that nickname or channel. If the nick or channel is deleted, or expires or is otherwise removed from our databases, all relevant information is deleted as well. Upon deletion an entry is made in the services logs, as mentioned above, as to the nature of the deletion, which will then rotate out normally. We take absolutely no steps to verify the accuracy or validity of information provided by users for the purposes of registration, and IP address is not included.
Under NO circumstances will our network provide email, IP address, or other private user information to anyone with anything less than a court order to do so. If, at the time a court order is received, the data exists, it will be exported and preserved persuant to said order. Under NO circumstance will network staff eavesdrop on a channel or private message, and no transcripts are created.
Our email servers are subject to all of the above conditions, with the exception that email logs are kept for up to 180 days. These logs consist of sender and recipient information, and nothing more. We never spy, record, monitor, intercept or read any private emails and we maintain no permanent record of the contents of the email, unless the email is found to contain malicious code. All emails are subject to antivirus scans and checks against DNSBL to enhance overall security. As with any other communication, we take the privacy of our users' emails seriously, and we do not sell or otherwise make available anyones email addresses for any purpose, with the exception of being served in a criminal case to relinquish such information.
In the case of the website support forums and website use, all of the above applies with the following exceptions: - Forum registration does not expire - Forum and other website logs will be maintained for 3 months.
In the case that court proceedings require contact with administration of this network, the venue shall be that of Bournemouth, Dorset, UK.