matrix : tchncs.de

Terms of Service

1. Basics

1.1 Using this service means accepting our terms

If you interact with this service in any way, whether registered as a user or from a remote instance and even if you are an unauthenticated guest (currently not available), you agree and are bound to these terms written in this document.

1.2 This document evolves over time

If there are changes, you will be notified in our Announcements room and by the server, as you must agree to proceed. You can help making this document even better by discussing its contents in our Communityroom.

1.3 Breach of terms

Breaching any of these terms (and rules), may result in immediate deletion or remote blocking of your account (or server). You may contact the admin if you think that there was a mistake: https://tchncs.de/contact

2. Support

There are multiple ways to receive any support: try the tchncs.de Communityroom or tchncs.de/contact. There also are multiple Matrix specific communities in the Room Directory.

3. Play nice clauses

3.1 Use of this service

You agree to follow our rules (above) and German/European law while using this service. You will not do any harmful or malicious activities, or otherwise any kind of behavior considered "mean".

3.2 Room aliases

You may come to a situation where you are using an alias for a room, that later gets claimed by a rightful organisation. Of course such a request is being reviewed with much care and you will be contacted beforehand. tchncs.de has the right to transfer or modify aliases.

3.3 Illegal content

Any kind of illegal content (see rules section) will be removed if found. It also leads to suspension or remote-blocking of your account. Please contact us to provide details if in the need for reporting.

4. Account creation

4.1 eMail

In order to create your account, you must provide a valid non-throwaway email-address. We use this to verify your account, to notify you about messages or invites or to provide you a way to reset your password. This address will never be shared with 3rdparties.

Usage of known disposable email-domains will not work. It will either silently fail, or cause the service to throw an "unknown" error. This drastic measure was made due to pressure from spambots keeps on raising. If you need help, because now you unexpectedly cannot confirm your account, just send a quick message (while providing an actual address).

4.2 Minimum age

As we want to keep personal data stored about you at a minimum, we can't ask you to verify your parents consent in case you are between 13–16 year old. As a consequence, you must be at least 16 years old in order to be allowed to use this service. Exeptions may occour according the laws of your residential country. See also: (Art. 8 GDPR).

5. Storage of messages and media

Due to an issue with the Synapse software, it is currently not possible to enforce serverwide message retention as it would freeze the service. There is an open issue about this if you are curious: github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues/16489. Once this is resolved, there is likely going to be a poll about for how long tchncs shall store messages.

~~This server stores messages for a maximum amount of one year.~~ Purge jobs are running in the background automatically to make sure contents are deleted. Due to (encrypted) backups, this time may vary a few weeks.

6. Restriction & Termination

Your account might get restricted, blocked, disabled oder entirely terminated based on our sole discretion, without prior notice or any liability to you.

7. Encryption

This service may allow you (encrypted chats are enabled by default for all private chats) to encrypt your messages and uploads using end-to-end encryption. Some countries have specific laws you must comply with when using such a feature. You are responsible for checking this in advance. If we learn about such a law being violated by you, we have the right to suspend your account without notice.

8. 3rdparties

Parts of this service are actually provided by 3rdparties (usually Matrix.org, riot.im or vector.im) such as services in your clients integration manager, the SMS-provider or the integrated Jitsi service. For new accounts, we use Google ReCaptcha which we are not proud of. Please take the 3rdparties data protection notes into account.

9. Warranty

tchncs.de does not come with any warranty what-so-ever. You are using it at your own risk. You acknowledge that we do not control any 3rdparty contents and that at no point and kind of warranty is given.

10. Emergency service calls

Even tho technically a call-feature exists, it is over the internet and does not support any emergency calls what so ever.

11. Document history

2024, November: add warning for disposable email domains
2024, June: warning about message retention added to section 5
2022, February 20: adjust section 4.2 – Minimum age
2022, February 18: 👶

..:: tchncs :: matrix ::..

The Terms of use