Privacy Policy

• Email address — when you sign up on our landing page, reserve a Founding Spot, or join our mailing list. We use this to send you updates about FoldingLink, your reservation status, and (only with your consent) marketing communications.
• Payment information — when you reserve a Founding Spot ($5 deposit). Payments are processed entirely by Stripe, our payment processor. We never see, store, or have access to your full credit card number or payment details. Stripe provides us with a payment token and the last four digits of your card for reference purposes only.
• Telegram username & profile — when you join our Telegram community. We can see your public Telegram username and profile picture. We do not collect your phone number or private Telegram data.
• Communications — when you contact us via email, Telegram, or other channels, we keep a record of that correspondence to assist you.

• Website analytics (privacy-first) — We use a self-hosted, cookieless analytics tool (Plausible or similar) that collects anonymized page views, referrer URLs, browser type, and country-level location. No personal identifiers. No cookies. No tracking across sites.
• App crash reports — If the FoldingLink App crashes, we may receive an anonymized crash log. You can disable this in settings.

We do NOT collect: your files, photos, videos, chat messages, browsing history, location data (beyond country-level analytics), contacts, or any content stored on your FoldingLink Box. Your content never passes through our servers.

• To provide the Services — process your Founding Spot reservation, send you product updates, and deliver the features you signed up for.
• To communicate with you — send transactional emails (reservation confirmation, shipping updates) and, if you've opted in, marketing emails about FoldingLink.

• Your files, photos, and videos live on your FoldingLink Box — a physical device in your home. They are never uploaded to our servers.
• Your social posts and content are published to the P2P network directly from your Box. We do not host, moderate, or control your content. You are the publisher.
• Your private chats are end-to-end encrypted between Nodes. We cannot read them — we don't have the keys.
• Your recommendation profile (what you like, who you follow) is stored locally on your Box. The algorithm runs on your hardware, not in a corporate data center.
• Remote access to your Node is established through direct peer-to-peer connections. We provide a lightweight relay service for cases where direct connections fail (NAT traversal), but the relay cannot decrypt your data.

In plain English: FoldingLink is more like a tool (like a hammer or a laptop) than a service (like Facebook or Google Drive). We build the hardware and software, but your data lives with you. If we disappeared tomorrow, your Box and your data would keep working.

• Essential cookies only: We may use a session cookie to maintain your reservation flow (e.g., remembering you've opened the early-bird modal). This cookie is strictly functional, expires when you close your browser, and does not track you.
• Analytics: We use a cookieless analytics tool. No personal identifiers. No tracking across sites.
• No ad networks. No retargeting pixels. No fingerprinting.

• Content you publish publicly (posts, shared files) is distributed across the P2P network and may be cached on other users' Nodes. This is how decentralized networks work — it's the trade-off for having no central server. You control what you publish.
• Private content (unshared files, private chats) stays on your Node and is never distributed to the network.
• Node discovery: Your Node communicates with other Nodes to discover content and maintain network connectivity. This involves sharing your Node's public address (IP) with peers, similar to how BitTorrent works. In this case, your node is more like a traditional nas.
• Relay service: In cases where a direct P2P connection is not possible, your Node may use our relay service. The relay forwards encrypted traffic between Nodes but cannot decrypt it. We do not log the content of relayed traffic.
• You are in control: You can choose to run your Node in "private mode" where it does not participate in public content distribution. See your Node settings.

• Email & reservation data: We retain your email and reservation records until you request deletion, or until 24 months after your last interaction with us (whichever is later), for legal and accounting purposes.
• Payment records: Transaction records are retained as required by applicable law (typically 7 years for tax purposes). Full payment card data is never stored by us.
• Analytics data: Anonymized analytics data is retained indefinitely in aggregate form (it cannot be linked back to you).
• Your Node data: We don't have it. You control retention and deletion of data on your Node.
• Deletion requests: Email [email protected] to request deletion of your personal data. We will respond within 30 days.

• Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Correction: Ask us to fix inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Deletion: Request that we delete your personal data ("right to be forgotten").
• Portability: Receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
• Objection: Object to certain types of processing (e.g., direct marketing).
• Withdraw consent: Where processing is based on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

Important note about Node data: Your files and content on your FoldingLink Node stay on your device wherever you are physically located. No cross-border transfer occurs because your data never reaches our servers.