Blacksky.Community Privacy Policy

Blacksky.Community Privacy Policy

Effective Date: August 13, 2025

This Privacy Policy (this "Policy") describes how Blacksky Algorithms Inc. ("Blacksky," "we," or "us") collects, uses, and shares personal information on blacksky.community, a social networking client that runs on the Authenticated Transfer Protocol ("AT Protocol") with additional features built to support the Blacksky community (collectively, the "Services").

Unless otherwise indicated, all terms in this Policy have the same definitions as those in our blacksky.community Terms of Service, the agreement that governs your use of the Services.

Please note that this Policy does not apply to third-party services that you might use on the AT Protocol, including personal data servers hosting content from other users on the AT Protocol and third-party software used to access and format content on Blacksky's services (collectively, "Third-Party Services"). These Third-Party Services may have their own privacy policies, which we encourage you to read.

Blacksky Algorithms, Inc. is an independent and community-driven organization that develops decentralized tools for creating safe, independent online space. To support our work, click here. Blacksky is not owned by or affiliated with Bluesky Social, PBC ("Bluesky").

1. What Information We Collect

When you use the Services, we collect the following information.

1. Information You Give Us

We collect the following information that you provide to us directly:

  • Account and Profile Information. If you create an account through the Services, we will collect personal information such as your name, email address, phone number, and preferred username. We will also collect your profile photos and biographic information you provide as a part of your user account. This is the case whether you use Blacksky's own personal data server or a third-party personal data server.
  • User Content and Direct Messages. Your use of the Services includes the ability to submit content that will be shared with users of the Services and users of Third-Party Services, including but not limited to other services using the AT Protocol ("User Content"). User Content includes both messages intended for public view, and direct messages meant for individual users. Blacksky collects this information as it facilitates those communications.

Please note that on the AT Protocol as currently implemented all direct messages sent to or from users (regardless of which personal data service they use) pass through servers owned or controlled by Bluesky. These messages are not end-to-end encrypted, and Bluesky reserves the right to inspect those messages in certain circumstances. For more about their practices when handling this information, please see their AT Protocol Network Services Privacy Notice.

  • Your Communications with Us. If you contact us directly related to the Services, we will collect what you share with us, along with your contact information.

2. Automatically Collected Information

We also collect the following information:

  • Browser and Device Information. As with most online services, when you access and use the Services we automatically record some information about you and your device. For example, when using the Services through a browser, we may collect the configuration information that your browser provides us, including your IP address (which can be used to derive your general location), date and time of connection, browser settings and configuration, the HTTP referral information, the pages you viewed, and related information. Your smartphone or browser may allow you to control or disable our access to some of this information, but doing so may impair some of the functionality of the Services. (Blacksky does not process the "Do Not Track" signal that is sent by some web browsers.)
  • Usage Information. When you use an app to connect to the Services, the app may collect and share information about your usage patterns, including the types of content with which you interact, the frequency and duration of your activities, and similar information.
  • Cookies. We may use "cookies," "session tokens," or other automated mechanisms to collect information about you on the Services. Cookies are small files that are stored on your browser or smartphone's temporary files. They make use of the Services easier to navigate by saving login information and preferences and recalling other aspects of your use of the Services. Your smartphone or browser may allow you to disable cookies, but doing so may impair some of the functionality of the Services.

2. How We Use the Information that We Collect

We may use the information collected about you in order to operate, develop, research, modify, and improve the Services and any other related services. This may include using your information:

  • To provide the Services;
  • To share your User Content over the Services and Third-Party Services, and to maintain a record of any User Content that you submit;
  • To market and promote the Services, or to spotlight you or your User Content as popular or trending on the Services, although we will not publicly imply your sponsorship or endorsement of Blacksky or the Services without your prior consent;
  • To provide administrative notices applicable to your use of the Services;
  • To respond to your questions and comments and provide user support;
  • To develop and improve the Services, including by analyzing trends in statistics regarding visitors' use of the Services;
  • To protect against and prevent infringement, unauthorized use and access of the Services, breaches of our Terms of Service, trust and safety issues, and claims and other liabilities;
  • To comply with applicable legal requirements, court orders, legal proceedings, and document requests; and
  • For any other use to which you give consent.

As a part of this use, we may access and view any User Content that you submit, including direct messages. We do not review direct messages unless such messages are (1) reported to Blacksky moderators; (2) are related to an investigation of significant violations of our Terms of Service; or (3) as required by law.

3. Information that We Share

We share your information in the following ways:

1. Public Content

Some content, including User Content, is designed to be shared publicly or with other users of the Services or with Third-Party Services. We share such information accordingly.

2. Blacksky and Its Contractors

Members of the Blacksky team, and any independent contractors that they work with, may have access to your information as is reasonably needed for the operation of the Services.

3. Service Providers

Blacksky may work with Third-Party Services and other service providers in order to operate the Services, and may share user information with such providers as is needed for those service providers to work with Blacksky.

As a part of the Services, we are connected with the AT Protocol relays, including the relay provided by Bluesky Social, PBC. This means that some of your personal information is shared with Bluesky as it transmits your profile information and User Content to other users of services on the AT Protocol. Direct messages are also transmitted through Bluesky for delivery to other users, regardless of which personal data server they use for communication. For information on how Bluesky Social, PBC uses this information, please see their AT Protocol Network Services Privacy Notice.

Blacksky uses Cloudflare, Digital Ocean, and OVHCloud to host aspects of the Services. For information about how Cloudflare handles user information, please see the Cloudflare Privacy Policy. For information about how Digital Ocean handles user information, please see the Digital Ocean Privacy Policy. For information about how OVH handles user information, see the OVH Privacy Policy.

4. Business Transfer

If Blacksky is acquired by another company, goes into dissolution, or otherwise transfers ownership or assets, it may sell or transfer user information as part of that transaction.

5. Legal Compliance

Blacksky may share information if we believe, in our sole discretion, that such disclosure is necessary in order to comply with any court order, subpoena, or other legal process, including an order to respond to any government or regulatory request. Unless prohibited by relevant law or impractical due to time sensitivity, we will endeavor to contact you prior to sharing this information so that you can raise any appropriate objections in the relevant legal forum.

We may also share information if we believe such disclosure is necessary to enforce or apply our Terms of Service and other agreements, or if we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of Blacksky, our users, or others.

6. Aggregate Analysis

We may share aggregated, non-personally-identifiable information derived from user information for any business purpose, including for analyzing general usage information or to help identify new features or partners for the Services.

4. Deletion of User Content

Please see our Terms of Service for information about how to delete User Content and how we handle such requests.

5. Communication With Others

The Services allow you to communicate with other users of the Services, as well as Third-Party Services. If you choose to disclose information to other users while using the Services, you do so at your own risk.

6. Children Under 13 Years of Age

Children under the age of 13 are not permitted to use, access or register on the Services in any way. We do not knowingly collect or solicit information from anyone under the age of 13. If we learn that Blacksky has collected personal information from a child under the age of 13, we will delete that information as quickly as possible.

7. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time at our sole discretion. If we do, we'll let you know by posting the updated Privacy Policy on the site, and may send other communications.

8. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Policy, please contact support@blacksky.app.