Privacy Policy – The Echo Chamber

This Privacy Policy explains what information The Echo Chamber, a Discord bot developed by Garry Marshall, collects and how it is used. Garry Marshall acts as the data controller for the information described below. By using The Echo Chamber, you agree to this Privacy Policy.

In short: The Echo Chamber keeps what members deliberately add to their server's archive — and nothing else. It does not read or log your conversations.

Information We Collect

The Echo Chamber stores information only when a member uses one of its features:

Memories: the title, story, category and date a member writes, whether the memory is public or private, and the Discord user ID of the member who preserved it.
Pictures: a picture a member adds to a memory. The bot keeps its own copy, shrunk and re-encoded, which removes information hidden in the file, such as the location where a photo was taken.
Preserved messages: when a member preserves or nominates a message, the message's author (as a user ID), channel, message ID and link. The message text is only offered as a starting point in the form; the archive stores what the member submits. If the message has a picture, the member chooses whether the memory keeps a copy of it.
Echoes: which members said they remember a memory, and when.
Recollections: the text a member adds to a memory, and who added it.
Links between memories: which memories are connected, and who connected them.
Time capsules: the messages members seal, who wrote them, the capsule's channel and its opening date.
Server settings: such as the Daily Echo channel and time, the nomination threshold and the timezone.

The Echo Chamber does not read your chat history, does not store messages nobody chose to preserve, and does not store your username, avatar or online status. It doesn't request any privileged Discord intents. Names shown on memory cards are displayed by Discord from user IDs; exports look names up at the moment they are made.

Operational Logs

To keep the bot running reliably, it keeps a short log of what happens: which commands were used (by whom, in which server and channel), and events such as memories being preserved, edited or deleted. Titles of private memories and letters to your future self are never written to the log. Log files are deleted automatically after seven days.

How We Use Your Information

We use this information only to operate The Echo Chamber: to show, search and export your server's archive, to count echoes, to post the Daily Echo, to open time capsules on their date, to respond to your requests, and to provide support. We don't use it for advertising, profiling or training AI models, and the bot does not use AI at all.

Who Can See What

Public memories can be seen by members of the server they were preserved in. Each server's archive is separate; nothing is shared between servers.
Private memories, and their pictures, are shown only to the member who preserved them. They never appear in search results for others, the Daily Echo or server exports.
Sealed time capsules can't be read through the bot by anyone — including their author and the moderators — until they open. Letters to your future self are delivered only to you.
Server exports contain only public, archived memories (with their pictures) and opened community capsules.

Sharing Your Information

We do not sell or share your information with third parties, and it is not sent to any external service. We may disclose information only where required to do so in response to a valid legal process or a request from a law enforcement agency or regulatory authority.

Data Retention and Deletion

Information is kept for as long as it is part of your server's archive. You stay in control:

/forget-me removes everything you've contributed to a server's archive: memories you preserved (with their pictures), your echoes, your recollections and your time capsule messages. Memories that other members preserved from your messages remain, including a picture they kept from the message, but no longer name you as the author.
/memory-delete removes a single memory you preserved, and /memory-image removes just its picture.
Server administrators can delete the server's entire archive at any time with /echo-admin delete-archive.
When the bot is removed from a server, that server's data is kept for 30 days — so re-inviting the bot restores everything — and is then deleted automatically.

The bot makes regular backups of its database to protect against data loss. Backups are replaced automatically on a rolling basis, so deleted information may remain in a backup for a limited time until it is overwritten. Backups are only used to restore the service.

You may also ask us to delete your information by contacting us (see below).

Data Security

Your information is stored on a secure server located in the European Union, operated by the bot owner, and is not sent to external third-party services. We take reasonable measures to protect it from unauthorized access, alteration or destruction. However, no security measure is perfect, and we cannot guarantee the absolute security of your information. Please don't put passwords or other sensitive secrets in memories, pictures or time capsules.

Your Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, export or delete the information we hold about you, or to object to or restrict its processing. You can export your own contributions yourself with /my-memories export, delete them with /forget-me, or contact us to exercise any of these rights. If you are in the European Union, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

Children's Privacy

The Echo Chamber is not directed to children under 13, and you must be old enough to use Discord in your country. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone who does not meet Discord's minimum age requirement.

Changes to this Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time and will post the updated policy on this website. Your continued use of The Echo Chamber after the changes take effect indicates your acceptance of the revised policy.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, you can reach us through our Discord community server.