Privacy Policy

Last updated: February 20, 2026

Who We Are

Oracle at Belfry is a self-hosted platform based in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. We currently operate Manifold Chess Club, a chess community offering online play, in-person tournaments, and more.

Oracle at Belfry is independently operated — no investors, no advertising, no third-party data deals.

What We Collect

When you use our services, we collect some data. Here's what and why:

• Account information: Your username, email address, and display name — created through our single sign-on system when you sign up. We need this to identify your account and communicate with you.
• Service usage data: Game records, analysis history, and other chess-related activity. This data is needed to provide the service.
• Eligibility verification: Some features (events, age-specific spaces) require verification of locality or age bracket. We use verifiable credentials (such as BC Wallet) to confirm eligibility. The verification is cryptographic — we never see the underlying credential data (your address, date of birth, etc.). We only receive the derived status (e.g., "verified local as of [date]" or "youth/adult/senior") and when it was last checked. Locality is re-verified periodically. Age bracket is checked per-event and regularly for access to age-gated spaces such as youth chats. Because we never receive your date of birth, age bracket must be re-verified rather than calculated — this is by design.
• Server logs: IP addresses, access times, and basic request data. Standard web server stuff — used for debugging and keeping things running.

Where Your Data Lives

Everything is stored on our own hardware in Canada. We don't use AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, or any other cloud provider. Your data doesn't leave our infrastructure.

There are no third-party analytics services, no tracking pixels, no CDNs serving your content. It's our servers, our network, our responsibility.

What We Don't Do

• We don't sell your data. Ever. To anyone.
• We don't show you ads.
• We don't share your information with third parties.
• We don't use your data for profiling or targeted anything.

Data Retention

We keep your data for as long as your account is active. If you want to leave, just ask — we'll remove your personal information (email, display name) and close your account. Your game history and ratings will be retained under your username to preserve the integrity of the rating system and your opponents' records. This mirrors standard practice in competitive chess platforms. Server logs are rotated daily and retained for 14 days.

Your Rights

You can:

• Access your data — request a copy in a portable format. To prevent abuse, export requests are limited to once every 30 days.
• Correct your data — edit your profile and account details directly through your account settings.
• Close your account — available through your account settings. Your personal information (email, display name) will be removed and your account deactivated. Game history and ratings are retained to preserve rating integrity and your opponents' records.

Canadian Privacy Law

We operate in Canada, and PIPEDA (the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act) applies. We take our obligations under it seriously.

Open Source

Most of our software is open source. You can audit what we run, see how data flows, and verify our claims. Source code is available on request.

Contact

Questions, concerns, or data requests? Email admin@oracleatbelfry.com.