Ether is built to know as little about you as possible. Accounts are optional, there are no names, no advertising, and no analytics trackers. This page explains what little data exists and where it lives.
An anonymous token — a random string your browser generates on first visit — identifies you within the Service. Connected to that token we store: the content you cast or send (text, pictures, videos), the star ratings you give and receive, reports you make or that are made about content delivered to you, and daily usage counters.
If you choose to create an account, we also store your email address and a password, which is kept only as a one-way hash we cannot read, both held by our database provider's authentication service. The account is linked to your anonymous token so your chats, pools and stars follow you to other devices. Your email is never shown to other users. Without an account, none of this exists.
If automated moderation flags your content, a one-way cryptographic hash of your network address is also stored to enforce the ban; readable IP addresses are never kept.
Your token, your collection of received orbs, your conversation cache, and your 18+ confirmation live in your browser's local storage. Without an account, clearing browser data deletes them permanently — including your identity. We cannot recover it, which also means no one can demand we identify you from it. With an account, signing in again restores your chats, pools and stars; received orbs stay on each device.
The Service runs on third-party infrastructure: hosting providers serve the website (and keep standard short-term server logs), a database provider stores content, and pictures and videos are submitted to an automated third-party moderation system before delivery. These providers process data only as needed to supply those services, and your data is never sold or shared for advertising.
Content you cast is delivered to one random user. Conversation messages are visible to both participants. The operator can access stored content for moderation, debugging, and legal compliance. Content is not sold, licensed, or shared with advertisers — there are none.
Delivered content and conversations are retained until deleted. Media that fails moderation is deleted immediately. You may delete received orbs and conversations from your own view at any time. If you have an account, you can delete it from the Account tab; this permanently removes your email and password, and anything you already cast remains only as anonymous content. For guests, because the Service cannot link a token to a person, deletion requests must include your token for us to locate your data.
We will disclose content and associated data to law enforcement where legally required, and we report content that appears to exploit or endanger minors to the appropriate authorities without waiting to be asked.
The Service is not directed at anyone under 18. If we become aware that a minor has used the Service, we will delete the associated content and ban the token.
All data travels between your browser and the Service over encrypted connections, and stored content lives with infrastructure providers that encrypt data at rest. Access to stored content is limited to the operator, for the purposes described above. Guests have no password, email, or identity to steal. Account passwords are stored only as one-way hashes, and a token linked to an account can only be used while signed in to that account. No system is perfectly secure.
Updates to this policy appear on this page with a new effective date.
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