OFTC

Privacy Policy and Data Retention

This section describes how OFTC makes use of the information you provide when you use the OFTC IRC network and OFTC.net website (hereinafter collectively referred to as ‘OFTC services’).

If you are asked to provide information when using OFTC services, such information will not be used for any purposes other than those described in this section.

OFTC collects and uses certain information about users in order to provide services and enable certain functions.

OFTC may collect the following information:

  • Nickname/account on the OFTC network
  • Last time an account was used
  • IP address/hostname
  • Name and E-mail address
  • IRC channels created

Collecting the above data helps OFTC deliver its services to you.

Specifically, OFTC may use data:

  • To improve the provided services.
  • To enable you to reset your password/recover your account.
  • To contact you in relation to nickname and channel registrations with OFTC services.
  • To respond to a specific enquiry made via e-mail or the support system.
  • To analyze traffic for illegal and illegitimate activity (e.g. botnets, spam).
  • To scan connecting hosts for well-know vulnerabilities and open proxies.

Your OFTC account is kept until you delete it, or it is deleted for inactivity. OFTC retains logs of IRC events for the purpose of debugging and restoration for a maximum of 90 days. OFTC’s backups are on encrypted storage.

OFTC does not log any IRC traffic content, neither from public channels, nor from private messages. Individual users connected to the network are able to log traffic they receive, but we ask all users to act responsibly with that data. Specifically, publishing IRC channel log files must not be done without consent of the channel owners.

OFTC uses DNS blacklists to check for well-known sources of illegal and illegitimate activity. IP addresses of incoming connections are forwarded to the blacklist nameserver. Addresses that we have found to be sources of such activity are submitted for inclusion in these blacklists. Blacklists currently in use at OFTC are:

  • dnsbl.dronebl.org
  • rbl.efnetrbl.org

We regularly evaluate new blacklists. The above list will be updated if the blacklist is permanently included after an evaluation period of 30 days.

Please note that the OFTC website and network may contain links to other websites, and OFTC has no control of websites outside of the OFTC.net domain. If you provide information to a website or service to which OFTC links, OFTC shall not be responsible for its protection and privacy.

If you have any questions about OFTC policies, or about your data at OFTC, please e-mail support@oftc.net. Specifically, you can ask OFTC which data we have stored about you, and you may demand this data be deleted.

Data visible to other users

Your usage of OFTC may disclose information to other users also using OFTC. That information may include:

  • Nickname
  • IP address/hostname
  • Channels that you are currently present in
  • The value of your ircname

If you have registered an account, the following information may also be visible:

  • Various account timestamps (see Account timestamps further down) including registration date and time.
  • The URL string, if you set one yourself using /msg nickserv set url
  • The IP address/hostname you were using the last time you disconnected from the network
  • Your last quit message, if any
  • Your e-mail address, if your account does not have the PRIVATE flag turned on.
  • Whether you have verified your e-mail address

It’s possible to opt out from showing your IP address/hostname and your e-mail address to other people.

IP address/hostname

The IP address/hostname can be hidden by using a cloak, see /msg nickserv help set cloak, but please be aware that a cloak only applies after successful nickserv login, so there may be a time frame where your host is visible. Consider using CertFP to keep that time as small as possible. Additionally, many IRC clients are able to only join channels after Nickserv confirmed your login (sometimes with the help of a script).

e-mail address

As of 2021-05-23, new accounts have the flag PRIVATE turned ON by default. This means that the e-mail addresses of new accounts will no longer be shown to other people by default.

If you have NOT set PRIVATE to on, your e-mail address will be shown to other users.

To turn PRIVATE on / to update older registrations, issue /msg NickServ SET PRIVATE ON.

Channels you joined

Channels you joined are visible in /whois <yournick> output

Ircname value

The ircname is a field you can set freely within your client. Many people set this to their realname, some channels may ask for this even. But the actual value set is entirely up to you, so put whatever you are comfortable with sharing (but don’t forget the Network Policy).

Account timestamps

When you register (and later identify) to your account, Nickserv keeps timestamps of those actions. These are visible to other users, and are:

  • Time registered - When you registered the nick
  • Nickname last seen - Last time you have been online and identified to services
  • Account last quit - (Not if you are connected) When you last left the network.

This policy was last updated on: 23 May 2021.

This Privacy Policy was adapted from the freenode.net Privacy Policy (licensed under CC BY-SA-NC 4.0).