AltAway Help

This page is read only. You can view the source, but not change it. Ask your administrator if you think this is wrong.
====== Your responsibilities ======

No lengthy legalise here. AltAway services are offered for free with no warranty nor guarantee. This is a hobby project and whilst we will give our best endeavour to maintain the service, there will be times when things do go wrong. Please be patient and rest assured that we will be working on it.

As with all new software under development, the service is not immune to bugs, errors, or other mistakes. Do not abuse these, instead please advise Amanda of your findings so these can be fixed or addressed. 

You agree to be respectful of the service, and of other users. Abuse of bugs, along with any bullying, discrimination, racial slurs, or anything else deemed generally offensive, especially if offence actually occurs and is reported, may result in immediate suspension of your account and loss of all possessions linked to it. 

If you have an issue with another user, please Save Messages in the client, and initially email us with the time and date and a description of the incident. 

Note that, because of the age of the client software, communication between it and our servers is not encrypted by default. This means that it is technically possible for a determined actor to view or modify your in-world actions, including ESP and spoken messages. 

Selecting the "WS" version of the worldname field in the launcher routes everything via https and is thus encrypted via industry standard methods, at the expense of some slight latency.

Stored ESP mail messages are encrypted on our servers and are inaccessible to anybody other than yourself, unlike on the original servers. Currently messages accompanying mailed objects are not encrypted, although this is on the list to be added.

If the server is running in Debug Mode, anything happening in-world may be stored in log files, including the copies of any messages. A notice is shown at login if this is happening. Any in-world speach in public locales may be recorded at any time, however turfs are explicitly excluded from this, as are certain other regions with restricted access. 

===== GDPR and similar rights =====

Your personal data is stored in one or more databases so as to ensure your ability to log into and enjoy the relevant services. Your actions may generate derived data such as in-world avatars, objects or messages, and traces may appear in log files. 

No data is stored outside of servers in our physical possession. No data is sold or transferred to any other organisation. The exception to this is where we email you, in which case your email address and the exchanged messages may be retained in our accounts at our email service providers, as well as at yours. 

Since August 2022, server backups are now additionally stored on an off-site third party cloud provider, however these are fully encrypted and the contents are therefore not accessible to that provider, nor to anybody without our decryption keys. 

We do not validate or use any personal identity information submitted by you beyond ensuring you have access to the email address you provide. This is soley to ensure we are able to contact you about your account.

If you are at all worried, we suggest you create a new email account at a free email provider and use that to register, along with a name of your choice. 

We do not employ any tracking or advertising cookies on our websites, such as any that would necessitate advising you and obtaining your permission, so there is no need for a cookie control popup. 

You may request deletion of any and all data held about or for you. This will, by necessity, close your account. We will as sole exception, retain a copy of the request. Data may still exist within backup files as it is impractical to remove data from within these, however should it be necessary to restore from a backup, your data will be immediately deleted again. (Right to be forgotten.)

You may request copies of any information held about you or your activities. (Subject access request.) 

You may request your information be transferred to a new data controller, such as a competing service. This will close your account. (Right to data portability.)

In line with guidance, any such requests will be fulfilled within one calendar month of our receiving the request. To ensure speedy compliance, and to reduce ambiguity, please submit requests by email from the same email address as on your account. We may request verification to ensure it is not a fraudulent email.