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aTox privacy policy
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1. aTox uses libtoxcore (https://github.com/TokTok/c-toxcore) to provide
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instant messaging and audio/video conference functionality.
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2.1 aTox stores your Tox profile only on your device, it's not stored on any
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server.
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2.2 If someone gains access to the Tox profile stored on your device, they can
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claim your identity on Tox.
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2.3 As a consequence of storing the profile only on the device, you can't
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restore your Tox profile if you lose it.
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3. aTox stores the message and audio/video call logs only on your device, they
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are not stored on any other server.
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4. All the data sent over the network, including messages and audio/video
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calls, are sent encrypted in such a way that only the intended recipient can
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decrypt them.
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5.1 All the data sent over the network, including messages and audio/video
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calls, are sent directly to the intended recipient without use of any central
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server, with a few exceptions as follows.
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5.2 Tox tries to establish a direct, peer-to-peer, connection with the
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recipients. In some cases it's not possible due to the network restrictions
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(restrictive NATs), in which case libtoxcore uses a relay node to relay all
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your conversations with a recipient. Note that by #4 the relay node can't
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decrypt contents of messages and audio/video calls, as the relay node is not
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the intended recipient of them.
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5.3 If you have TCP mode enabled, your traffic is routed though a relay node.
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Note that by #4 the relay node can't decrypt contents of messages and
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audio/video calls, as the relay node is not the intended recipient of them.
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5.4 If you have specified a HTTP or SOCKS5 proxy, libtoxcore will relay the
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traffic using that proxy. Note that by #4 the proxy can't decrypt contents of
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messages and audio/video calls, as the proxy is not the intended recipient of
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them.
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6.1 In order to be able to discover other Tox users and be discovered by them,
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libtoxcore uses DHT. Every Tox client is a DHT node. The data that is stored in
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DHT is 1) your temporary DHT public key, which can't be used to identify you as
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it's generated randomly and changes every time you restart aTox, and 2) your IP
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address.
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6.2 The implication of this is that everyone can traverse the DHT and find the
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IP addresses of all Tox users, including you. Everyone can tell that someone on
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your IP address is running Tox. Those IP addresses might be the actual
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addresses of Tox users, or addresses of proxies if the Tox users used a proxy.
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If you don't want to let anyone know that you are running Tox on your IP
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address, you should use a proxy.
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6.3 Tox is designed to prevent any user you have not authorized (added as a
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friend) from finding the association of your Tox ID and IP address based on DHT
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data.
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7. To connect to the DHT aTox utilizes a list of bootstrap nodes maintained by
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Tox Project at https://nodes.tox.chat/. aTox chooses several of the bootstrap
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nodes of this list at random and connects to them.