monocles - legal notice

Disclaimer and General

Liability for content

The content of our pages and applications has been created with the utmost care. However, we cannot guarantee the correctness, completeness and up-to-dateness of the content. As a service provider, according to § 7 Abs.1 TMG, we are responsible for our own content on these pages and applications according to the general laws. According to § 8 to 10 TMG, however, we as service providers are not obliged to monitor transmitted or stored third-party information or to investigate circumstances that indicate illegal activity. Obligations to remove or block the use of information under the general laws remain unaffected by this. However, liability in this respect is only possible from the date of the knowledge of a concrete infringement of law. When we become aware of the corresponding violations, we will remove this content immediately.

Liability for links

Our offer contains links to external websites of third parties, on whose content we have no influence. Therefore, we cannot guarantee this foreign content. The respective provider or operator of the pages is always responsible for the contents of the linked pages. The linked pages were checked for possible legal violations at the time of linking. Legal content was not recognizable at the time of linking. However, permanent control of the linked pages is not reasonable without concrete evidence of a violation of the law. When we become aware of violations of law, we will remove such links immediately.

Copyright

The contents and works created by the website operators on these pages and applications are subject to German copyright. The reproduction, processing, distribution and any kind of exploitation outside the limits of copyright require the written consent of the respective author or Actor. Downloads and copies of these pages and applications are only permitted for private, non-commercial use. Unless the content on this site has been created by the operator, the copyrights of third parties are respected. In particular, third-party content is identified as such. If you are still aware of a copyright infringement, we would ask you to provide an appropriate notice. When we become aware of legal violations, we will remove such content immediately.

Data protection

The use of our websites and applications is usually possible without providing personal data. Insofar as personal data (for example name, address or e-mail addresses) are collected on our pages, this is always voluntary. This data will not be passed on to third parties without your express consent. We would like to point out that data transmission on the Internet (e.g. in communication via e-mail) can have security gaps. Complete protection of the data against access by third parties is not possible.
The use of contact data published within the scope of the imprint obligation by third parties for sending unsolicited advertising and information materials is hereby expressly objected to. The operators of the pages and applications expressly reserve the right to take legal action in the event of unsolicited sending of advertising information, such as spam emails.
The monocles search which is based on a highly modified open source meta search eninge and the monocles translator does not log or save any data or information of users. This includes no logging of the IP. If you change the default settings the search engine only saves information for this settings and only locally on your devices. We will never know what you've set, searched or translated. But we are not responsible for the sites and the sites contents which are linked in the search results.

Terms of use

The monocles services are available or to purchase from 18 years of age, but they are excluded if the services are used for illegal purposes or if server operation is disturbed, for example, by excessively high traffic or by too many connection attempts per second etc. If someone disregards these rules, their account and/or the IP address will be blocked as soon as possible. In DoS attacks and the like, the attacker's ISP is informed. Accounts whose registration has been initiated but not paid within a period of 7 days will be deleted unannounced after this period. In addition, we do not accept or delete accounts with brand names or inappropriate names.

Privacy Policy regarding a monocles chat account

Our general policy regarding your data is to save as much as needed and as little as possible. This document will try to explain what personal data we store and how we handle that.

What we store

Account data
- Your user name and hash of your password
- Your email address if you provide one. This will only be used to provide you with a way to recover your password.
- The date of your account creation and the end of your next payment interval.
Messages
- Offline messages. If someone sends you a message while you are offline that message will be stored until you get back online.
- Archive. By default we will be keeping an archive of your messages for later retrieval by yourself. This can come in handy if you log in with a new device and want access to your message history and is also required if you want to use the OMEMO encryption with multiple devices. You can opt-out of this by setting your server-side archiving preferences with your XMPP client.
Files. Every file you share with a contact or a conference will be uploaded and stored for later retrieval by the recipients.
Other data
- A list of your contacts (Roster, Buddylist). This list is maintained by you. You decide who goes on that list and who gets deleted.
- Semi public data you are publishing for your contacts to see like your avatar or the OMEMO public keys.
- Other private data your XMPP client might upload like a list of conference bookmarks.
Offline messages, the archive (MAM) and files are stored for 30 days. We reserve the right to shorten this time span to in the future if really needed.

What we don’t store

Your IP address or any information that could be inferred by that address like your location.
The time when you login. - Or more general the times when you use our services.
A correlation between your account and your payment information for longer than it is necessary to fulfil our return policy.

How we handle your data

Our servers are located in Germany and are hosted by netcup. The monocles.de instance is self hosted.
If you delete your account all related information will be deleted with it. Including your files and messages.
All backups are encrypted.

Even though we will never look at the contents of your messages or files nor process them in an automated fashion we strongly advise you to use the OMEMO encryption whenever possible.

Privacy Policy regarding the monocles chat Android XMPP client

Effective Date: 02/18/2024

Thank you for using the monocles chat Android XMPP client ("the App"). This Privacy Policy is designed to help you understand how your personal information is collected, used, and shared when you use the App.

Information Collection and Use

The App does not collect, store, or share any personal information unless explicitly provided by the user for the purpose of XMPP communication. The App facilitates communication through XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol) and relies on the user's chosen XMPP provider for data exchange.

XMPP Communication

The App requires access to your chosen XMPP provider's servers for the purpose of sending and receiving messages, managing contacts, and other XMPP-related activities. The App does not store or process this data on its servers.

Firebase Push Messages

The App does not use Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) to deliver push notifications for incoming messages. monocles chat (Android) does not store or process FCM data on its servers.

Data Security

monocles chat for Android takes the security of your data seriously. The XMPP communication is encrypted, and the App does not store or process messages on external servers.

Permissions

The App requests specific permissions to function properly. These permissions include network access for XMPP communication and push notifications, as well as device storage access for media sharing if applicable. monocles chat (Android) does not misuse these permissions and only uses them for the intended purpose of providing the XMPP communication service.

Data Handling Procedures

monocles chat for Android comprehensively discloses how user data is accessed, collected, used, and shared:

Types of Data: The App accesses and processes data related to XMPP communication, including messages and contact information provided by the user.
Parties with Access: monocles chat for Android interacts with the user's chosen XMPP provider for data exchange.
Secure Data Handling: XMPP communication is encrypted to ensure the secure exchange of information. monocles chat for Android follows secure data handling procedures to protect user data during transmission.
Avatars and other images: By logging in to the monocles chat Android app with an XMPP provider and setting up an avatar the avatar will be uploaded to the providers XMPP server through an TLS encrypted connection. The avatars will be visible to users authorised by the user. Images that are send in the monocles chat android app can also be uploaded to the providers XMPP server. This can be done end-to-end encrypted or unencrypted through the encrypted TLS connection. The XMPP provider is responsible for what happens with the image files. When choosing monocles XMPP services the images will never be sold or further processed except for receipt, the necessary intermediate storage and dispatch to the recipient selected by the user.

Developer’s Data Retention and Deletion Policy

monocles chat for Android does not retain personal or sensitive user data on external servers. The App adheres to a data retention and deletion policy that ensures user data is only stored for the duration necessary to provide the XMPP communication service. Users have the ability to manage their data through the settings provided within the App.

Using the monocles.eu provider

If you use the monocles.eu please refer to their privacy policy.

Using the monocles.eu XMPP provider is optional. monocles chat for Android will connect to almost any other XMPP provider.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about our Privacy Policy, please contact us at support@monocles.eu.

By using the App, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy.

Privacy Policy regarding live location sharing in monocles chat

monocles chat lets you optionally share your live location – your continuously updated, real-time geographic position – with a chat contact or group for a limited, self-chosen duration (for example 15 minutes, 1 hour, 8 hours, or a custom period).

When this data is processed

Location data is only collected and transmitted when you actively start live location sharing and explicitly choose a sharing duration. monocles chat never shares your location in the background without your action, and never shares it by default.

What is processed

While a live location session is active, your device periodically determines your current coordinates (latitude and longitude) from your device's location services and sends them to the recipient(s) of the conversation you selected. The recipients can see your position and its updates on a map for the duration of the session.

Encryption

Live location messages are sent with the same encryption setting as any other message in the conversation. If the chat uses OMEMO end-to-end encryption, your location data is end-to-end encrypted and cannot be read by the monocles servers that relay it. If end-to-end encryption is disabled for the conversation, your location data is transmitted without end-to-end encryption (it is still protected in transit by the transport-layer (TLS) connection between your device and the server). Please keep this in mind when deciding whether to share your live location in an unencrypted conversation.

Role of the monocles server

The monocles server does not process, analyse, or otherwise use your live location data. It acts only as a relay: it forwards the message to the intended recipient(s) and does not retain or evaluate its content. When the message is end-to-end encrypted, the server cannot read the location data at all.

Duration and control

Sharing stops automatically when the duration you selected expires. You can also end sharing at any time before then by tapping “Stop sharing”. Once a session ends, your device stops sending location updates.

Map previews

To display a location on a map inside the chat, monocles chat requests a static map image from a map preview service. This request includes the coordinates to be displayed so the corresponding map image can be returned. To minimise the number of requests, the map preview shown in a live location message is refreshed at most once per minute while sharing is active. Map preview requests are not linked to your account or your chat identity.

Recipients

Your live location is only transmitted to the specific contact or group you chose to share it with. The location updates remain in the recipients' chat history on their devices as ordinary messages; you have no control over locally stored copies on other people's devices.

Retention

monocles does not store your live location on its servers beyond what is technically necessary to relay the messages to the recipient(s).

Legal basis (GDPR)

Where the GDPR applies, the processing of your location data is based on your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR), which you give each time you start a live location session and which you can withdraw at any time by stopping the sharing.

All information subject to amendments.

Legal notice