Privacy & sovereignty
Your data stays in Canada.
On servers we choose, under laws written to protect you. Here's exactly where your data lives and who can see it.
- Location
- Beauharnois, QC
- Provider
- OVHcloud (EU-owned)
- Law
- PIPEDA · Law 25
- US hosting
- None
Where your data lives
Hosted in Québec
Servers and file storage run on OVHcloud in Beauharnois, Québec. OVHcloud is European-owned.
No US hosting
One Québec deployment serves users in both Canada and Europe.
Legal protection
PIPEDA and Québec's Law 25 apply. The EU recognises Canada as adequate, which covers EU users.
One deliberate exception
If you turn on notifications, Apple or Google delivers them: a device token and a content-free signal. No message, sender or names.
Who can see what
- Only you
- You & your friend
- Public
- Moderators
| What | Who can see it | Where it's kept |
|---|---|---|
| Secret key | Only you | On your phone, protected by its security chip. Leaves only if you back it up. |
| Name and profile photo | Anyone | Québec server. Public, like a username. |
| Posts | Anyone with your ID | Québec relay. Your feed shows only friends, but posts are public and other apps can copy them. |
| Friends list and blocks | Only you | Québec relay, encrypted with your own key. |
| Messages | You & your friend | Québec relay, end-to-end encrypted. The relay sees only recipient ID, size and approximate time. |
| Photos and videos in messages | You & your friend | Encrypted on your phone. Québec storage holds only the encrypted file, for 7 days. |
| Calls | You & your friend | Not stored. End-to-end encrypted and relayed to hide your IP address. |
| Text you write with AI help | Only you | Never leaves your phone. |
| Reports you submit | Moderators | Québec server. You're stored as a keyed hash, not your ID. Deleted 180 days after a decision. |
Every detail is in our privacy policy.
What we don't do
- Ask for your email, phone number or contacts
- Log requests or IP addresses
- Use analytics, trackers or advertising IDs
- Target ads: sponsored posts are the same for everyone
- Sell or share your information
- Send anything you write to a cloud AI
- Host anything in the United States
Built on Nostr
Open protocol. No lock-in.
Your identity is a key you hold, not an account we own. Use the same key in other compatible apps, or bring an existing key into SovTalk. If you leave, your identity leaves with you.
The trade-off, plainly
Public posts and profiles can be read and copied by other apps. Deleting them removes them from SovTalk's server and app, not from copies others already made.
Encrypted messages stay unreadable to everyone except you and your friend.