Communications & Records Retention

Every word spoken inside the Table leaves a trace. Some traces burn after a day. Some remain forever. What follows is the record of how long each trace endures.

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1. Principles

• We retain each category of data for the minimum period necessary for its stated purpose, subject to statutory obligations.
• Where retention is driven by law (tax, accounting, lawful records), statutory periods prevail.
• Where retention serves abuse investigation or safety, we retain metadata but not content beyond the content's burn window.
• Where retention serves your own access (your Oath recording, your vote history), only you may read it.

2. Retention schedule

Data	Retention	Notes
Comms message content (E2E encrypted)	24 hours default (configurable to 48h / 72h)	After burn, content is cryptographically deleted.
Comms message metadata (sender, recipient, timestamp)	30 days	Retained for abuse investigation only.
Forum posts and comments	Life of account	Deleted on account burn.
Vote records	Life of account	Exported to you on GDPR Art. 15 request.
Endorsement logs	Current cycle + 90 days, then archival	Historical cycles archived in aggregate form.
Council Minutes	Indefinite	Public historical record of the Council.
Dossier Portrait (face-obscured composite)	Life of account	Crypto-shredded on burn.
Voice recording of the Oath	Life of account	Accessible only to you. Crypto-shredded on burn.
Mission submission media (photo, GPS, QR)	Until mission verified + 30 days	Then deleted, except audit metadata.
Payment records (Stripe receipts, invoices)	7 years	Estonian accounting and tax law.
Legal acceptance log	Indefinite	Legal obligation. Exportable under GDPR Art. 15.
Server access logs	90 days	Security monitoring, fraud prevention.
IP address / device fingerprint	1 year	Fraud prevention; separated from identity.
IRL geofence events	Mission lifetime + 30 days	Only captured while a mission is active.
Marketing consent records	Until withdrawn + 36 months	Evidence of valid consent.

3. What happens when you burn your identity

"Burning your identity" is a 7-day soft-delete with grace. On day 8:

• Your codename is released back to the chapter's namespace (after a lockout period).
• Dossier portrait, Oath recording, and profile survey are crypto-shredded.
• Forum posts and comments are deleted.
• Comms messages were already burned; residual metadata ages out within 30 days.
• Balance history is anonymised; balances are forfeited.
• Vote and endorsement logs are pseudonymised and retained for cycle-audit integrity.
• Payment records and legal acceptance log are retained per statutory obligation.

4. Your rights

Rights under GDPR Articles 15–22 apply to all categories above. See the Privacy Policy for how to exercise them. Contact: privacy@thehightable.international.

5. Changes

Changes to this schedule are announced in-Service and by updating the "Last updated" date. Where a change reduces a retention period, it applies to existing data; where it extends a period, it applies only prospectively unless required by law.