Privacy policy

01 Our principles

Non-custodial, minimal, transparent

• Non-custodial. We never take custody of your Bitcoin or keys; cryptographic operations happen in your wallet or browser
• Minimal collection. Only what is necessary to provide the Service; no user profiles, no cross-web tracking
• Optional account. Most of the Service needs no sign-in; optional sign-in uses a Bitcoin signature, an email code, or Google/GitHub — never a password
• Transparency. Plain-language policy; ask us anything at contact@ochk.io

02 What we don't do

• No custody of funds and no access to private keys
• No account required for the core service
• No selling or renting of personal information, ever
• No targeted advertising and no cross-site tracking
• No third-party analytics trackers — privacy-preserving analytics only

03 Information we collect

Scoped, minimal

Information you provide

Bitcoin addresses and signatures are processed client-side to generate a cryptographic proof; this data is public by design. Identity bindings you add are included in the signed message and are public. Messages you send us — through the contact form or by email — reach our inbox through our email provider (Resend) and are kept only as long as we need them to reply.

If you sign in

• Account. An opaque did:oc identifier, an optional display name and Nostr npub, and when the account was created and last signed in
• How you sign in. A Bitcoin address you prove with a signature (stored as is — it is public on-chain anyway); or, for an email code, Google or GitHub, the verified email address — encrypted at rest, plus a one-way hash of it so we can find your account
• Passkeys. For each passkey you register: its public key, a label, the transports it reported, and when it was added and last used
• Each session. A hash of the session token, the full user-agent string of the device that opened it, and timestamps
• Sign-in log. Each sign-in and each identity you link or remove, with the IP address and user-agent at the time — kept for security; the IP address is cleared after 90 days
• When you first sign in. OrangeCheck’s operators get an email, sent through our email provider (Resend), naming your did:oc and the identity you signed in with: your Bitcoin address or your email address
• Never. A password, a private key, or a seed phrase

Automatically collected

• Ip address. Security, rate limiting, service delivery
• Browser/device. Compatibility and UX optimization
• Pages visited. Aggregate, to improve the Service

Sent from your browser to others

• An OC Chat @handle claim. Your browser sends the claim's fingerprint (a SHA-256 hash) to the OpenTimestamps calendars at alice.btc.calendar.opentimestamps.org, bob.btc.calendar.opentimestamps.org and finney.calendar.eternitywall.com, and reads your address's coins and block headers from mempool.space; each of these sees your IP address and when you asked. We send them nothing about you ourselves.
• Relay.ochk.io. The Nostr relay we run (strfry on Fly.io, in Frankfurt). Your browser connects to it to read and publish signed records; our sites also publish the same records to public relays run by others (see the Terms). It keeps each record it accepts until the same key replaces it with a newer version or the record's own expiry passes: records are public, copied each day to a public archive on GitHub (where earlier versions stay), and otherwise deleted only after a lawful takedown request, which does not remove the copies elsewhere. Each record is stored with the address of the connection it arrived on, which is our host's proxy, not yours, and is never served or archived. Our hosting provider (Fly.io) carries each connection to it and handles your IP address to do so, for its own short retention window; we keep no separate copy. Our host's connection logs for the relay can hold your IP address and connection times; they are kept for 7 days.

Cookies & analytics

• Oc_session. Your sign-in, set by ochk.io for every *.ochk.io site: HttpOnly; Secure; SameSite=None; Domain=.ochk.io; 30 days
• Oc_oauth_state. Only during a Google or GitHub sign-in: HttpOnly; SameSite=Lax; 10 minutes; deleted when the sign-in completes
• Oc_theme · oc_skin · oc_motion. Your light/dark, appearance and reduced-motion choices (Domain=.ochk.io); not used to identify you

A browser tab may also keep its own copy of a sign-in token in session storage, cleared when the tab closes. We use Plausible Analytics (opens in a new tab) — cookie-free, no personal data, aggregate statistics only — alongside our own first-party, cookieless analytics (oc insights): no cookies, no cross-site identity, your IP address is hashed and immediately discarded (never stored), and Do-Not-Track / Global Privacy Control signals are honored. No advertising or tracking cookies.

04 How we use information

• Generate and verify cryptographic proofs and serve verification pages
• Detect and prevent abuse, spam, and denial-of-service attacks
• Fix bugs, optimize performance, and improve the Service
• Provide technical support

05 Data retention

No automatic deletion yet · permanent public artifacts

• Public artifacts. Permanent and publicly shareable; data published to Nostr cannot be deleted by OrangeCheck
• Request logs. Held by our hosting provider (Vercel) for its own short retention window; we keep no separate copy
• Relay.ochk.io connections. Handled by our hosting provider (Fly.io) for its own short retention window; its connection logs for the relay can hold your IP address and connection times for 7 days, and we keep no separate copy
• Sessions. Deleted when you sign out. A session that simply expires after 30 days is not yet deleted automatically.
• IP addresses in the sign-in log. Cleared after 90 days; the entries themselves stay until your account is deleted
• Account, sign-in identities, passkeys and sign-in log. Deleted when your account-deletion request completes; file one in your account settings, or ask at contact@ochk.io
• Support emails. Retained as long as necessary; deleted on request

06 Data security

Reasonable safeguards · no warranty

• HTTPS encryption for all data in transit
• Secure hosting with regular security updates
• Rate limiting and abuse monitoring

No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure. We use reasonable measures but do not warrant the security of your data and are not liable for unauthorized access, loss, or theft — see the Terms of Service. If we become aware of a breach of personal data we hold, we will notify affected users and any competent supervisory authority as required by applicable law, including the 72-hour window under Article 33 of the UK & EU GDPR.

07 Your rights

Access · correction · deletion

• Access & portability. Request a copy of your personal information in a machine-readable format
• Correction. Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information
• Deletion. Request deletion of personal information we hold (data published to public networks cannot be deleted by us — see retention)
• Objection. Object to or restrict processing in certain circumstances
• Withdraw consent. Withdraw consent where consent is the legal basis for processing

To exercise any right, email contact@ochk.io. We respond within 30 days.

08 International transfers

OrangeCheck is operated from the United States. If you access OrangeCheck from elsewhere, your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the US or other countries where our service providers operate. For users in the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, we rely on appropriate safeguards for international transfers.

09 Regional rights

CCPA · GDPR · UK · other

California (CCPA / CPRA)

• Right to know the categories of personal information collected
• Right to delete and to correct your personal information
• Right to opt out of sale or sharing — we do not sell or share personal information
• Right to limit use of sensitive personal information — we do not collect sensitive PI as defined by the CPRA
• Right to non-discrimination for exercising your rights

Europe (GDPR) & United Kingdom (UK GDPR)

• Legal basis. Consent, contract performance, legitimate interests (security, abuse prevention, service improvement), and legal obligations
• Your rights. Access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability, objection, and withdrawal of consent
• Supervisory authority. Right to lodge a complaint with your local EU/EEA data-protection authority, or the UK ICO
• EU/UK representative. If and when required, we will designate an Article 27 representative and publish the details here

Other jurisdictions

If you reside in a jurisdiction with a comprehensive privacy law — including Brazil (LGPD), Canada (PIPEDA / Law 25), Australia, Japan (APPI), South Korea (PIPA), Switzerland (FADP), or any U.S. state privacy law — you have the equivalent rights of access, correction, deletion, portability, and objection. Email contact@ochk.io and we will honour applicable rights under the law of your residence.

10 Children's privacy

OrangeCheck is not intended for children under 13 (or the applicable age of digital consent in your jurisdiction). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe we have, email contact@ochk.io immediately and we will delete it.

11 Changes to this policy

• We will update the "last updated" date above
• For material changes, we will provide prominent notice on the website
• Continued use after changes constitutes acceptance