Privacy Policy

octochat.tv (“we”, “us”, or “our”) is built on a privacy-first philosophy. We believe anonymity and genuine privacy are not features to be bolted on — they are the foundation of a safe random video chat experience. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect when you use the octochat.tv service (“Service”), how we use it, and the choices you have regarding your data.

By using the Service you agree to the practices described in this policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.

We collect the minimum information necessary to operate the Service. We never ask for your email address, phone number, or any government-issued identification.

2.1 Account Data

• Username — A unique handle you choose. This is your only identifier on octochat.tv.
• Password (hashed) — Stored using bcrypt, a strong one-way hashing algorithm. Your plaintext password is never stored or readable by us.
• Display name (optional) — A name shown to your chat partners if you choose to provide one.
• Gender (optional) — Used for gender-preference matching if you subscribe to Premium. You are not required to provide this.
• Date of birth (optional) — Used solely to verify you meet the minimum age requirement. We do not use it for advertising or profiling.
• Country / interests (optional) — Used to improve match quality. Not shared with other users directly.

We do not collect your email address. We do not collect your phone number. Accounts are inherently pseudonymous.

2.2 Usage and Session Data

• Session metadata — Approximate session start and end times and session duration, retained temporarily for moderation and safety purposes.
• Device and browser information — Browser type and version, operating system, and screen resolution may be collected to ensure compatibility and to assist moderation. We do not use device fingerprinting for tracking purposes.
• Chat messages — Text messages sent during a session are transmitted in real time. They are not stored permanently. Any messages temporarily buffered for delivery are automatically and securely purged on a regular basis.
• Moderation screencaps — Still images from video sessions may be captured periodically and used exclusively by our moderation team to review reported content and enforce our Terms of Service. These are automatically and securely purged on a regular basis regardless of review status.
• Reports and moderation records — If a user is reported, a record is created containing the report reason, any description provided, and associated session metadata. These records are retained as long as necessary to protect the safety of our community.

2.3 Payment Data

Premium subscriptions are processed by Stripe, a PCI-DSS Level 1 certified payment processor. octochat.tv never receives, transmits, or stores your full credit card number, card verification code, or bank account details. Stripe provides us only with a Stripe customer identifier and your current subscription status. All billing data is governed by Stripe's Privacy Policy.

We use the information we collect solely to:

• Provide the Service — Create and authenticate your account, establish chat sessions, and deliver video and text communication.
• Match users — Use optional profile fields (country, interests, gender) to find compatible chat partners and improve match quality.
• Moderation and safety — Review reports, enforce our Terms of Service, detect and respond to abuse, and protect the safety of our users — especially minors.
• Process payments — Manage your Premium subscription through Stripe.
• Improve the Service — Aggregate, anonymized usage patterns may be analyzed to improve reliability and features. This analysis never involves personally identifiable data.

We do not use your data for behavioral advertising, sell it to data brokers, or build user profiles for commercial purposes.

octochat.tv is designed to be ephemeral by default. Our data retention practices reflect a deliberate commitment to minimizing how long personal data exists on our systems.

• Chat messages — Not stored permanently. Any temporarily buffered messages are automatically and securely purged on a regular basis. There are no permanent conversation records.
• Moderation screencaps — Automatically and securely purged on a regular basis, whether or not they were reviewed.
• Session metadata — Retained temporarily for safety and moderation purposes, then purged.
• Account data — Retained for as long as your account is active. When you delete your account, all associated account data is permanently and irreversibly removed.
• Payment records — Stripe retains billing records per their own policies. We retain only the Stripe customer ID and subscription status.
• Moderation and ban records — May be retained longer than other data where necessary to protect user safety and enforce our policies.

We do not sell, rent, trade, or license your personal information to any third party. Period.

We share information only in the following limited circumstances:

• Stripe — To process Premium subscription payments. Only a Stripe customer identifier and subscription status flow back to us. See Section 2.3.
• Infrastructure providers — Hosting and networking providers who process data exclusively on our behalf, under data processing agreements, and who are contractually prohibited from using your data for any independent purpose.
• Law enforcement — When required by a valid legal process (court order, subpoena, or equivalent legal demand) or when we reasonably believe disclosure is necessary to prevent imminent harm to a person.
• Child safety organizations — Reports of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or suspected exploitation of minors are reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and relevant law enforcement as required by law. See Section 9.

We do not integrate any third-party advertising networks, social media pixels, or behavioral analytics platforms such as Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, or Mixpanel. Your activity on octochat.tv is not shared with data brokers or advertisers.

Protecting your IP address is a core design principle of octochat.tv. Unlike traditional peer-to-peer video chat services where your IP address is visible to your chat partner, octochat.tv routes all video and audio media through our own servers using a Selective Forwarding Unit (SFU) architecture.

This means:

• Other users never see your IP address at any point during a session.
• Your connection is made to octochat.tv servers only — never directly to another user's device.
• Your real location cannot be inferred by other participants from network-level data.

We do not log or permanently store IP addresses associated with your account or sessions. Transient network connection data required for routing is not retained beyond the life of a session.

We use a single, strictly necessary cookie to operate the Service:

• Authentication token (octochat-token) — An httpOnly, Secure session cookie that keeps you logged in. It contains a signed, opaque token — no personal information is embedded in the cookie itself. The cookie expires after a set period of inactivity or when you log out.

We do not use advertising cookies, analytics cookies, or any third-party tracking cookies. No cookie consent banner is needed because we use only a strictly necessary authentication cookie.

octochat.tv is strictly an 18+ service. Use of this Service by anyone under the age of 18 is prohibited.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of 18. If we discover or are notified that a user is under 18, we will:

• Immediately terminate their account and access to the Service.
• Permanently delete all data associated with that account.
• If any child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or child exploitation is involved, report it to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and cooperate fully with law enforcement.

If you believe an underage user is accessing the Service, please report it immediately to privacy@octochat.tv.

octochat.tv will cooperate with valid legal process from competent authorities, including court orders, subpoenas, and lawful government requests. We will provide only the specific data required by the legal demand and nothing beyond.

Where legally permitted, we will attempt to notify affected users of legal demands for their data before complying. We reserve the right to challenge overly broad or legally deficient demands.

Child safety is non-negotiable. We are required by law to report apparent violations involving child sexual abuse material (CSAM) to NCMEC via the CyberTipline (missingkids.org) and to cooperate with any resulting law enforcement investigation.

We take the security of your data seriously and implement multiple layers of protection:

• Encryption in transit — All connections to octochat.tv use TLS/HTTPS. Media transmitted through our SFU is encrypted end-to-end between your device and our servers.
• Password hashing — Passwords are hashed using bcrypt with an appropriate cost factor before storage. We cannot retrieve your password.
• Secure cookies — Authentication cookies are set with httpOnly and Secure flags, protecting them from JavaScript access and unencrypted transmission.
• Minimal data footprint — Our best security measure is simply not retaining data that could be compromised. By purging session data regularly, we limit the potential impact of any security incident.
• Server security — Servers are hosted in privacy-respecting jurisdictions with encrypted storage at rest.

No system connected to the internet is perfectly secure. While we take reasonable and industry-standard precautions, we cannot guarantee the absolute security of data transmitted over the internet. In the event of a security breach affecting your data, we will notify you as required by applicable law.

You have the following rights regarding your data:

• Access — You may request a summary of the account data we hold about you by contacting us at privacy@octochat.tv.
• Correction — You can update your display name, gender, country, and interests at any time from your Profile Settings page.
• Deletion — You can permanently delete your account at any time from your Profile Settings page. Deletion is immediate and irreversible: your username, hashed password, profile data, and all associated records will be permanently removed from our systems.
• Portability — Upon request, we can provide an export of the account data we hold about you in a machine-readable format.

Because we do not collect email addresses, deletion requests submitted via email at privacy@octochat.tv will require us to verify your identity as the account owner by other means before any action is taken.

octochat.tv is operated from servers in privacy-respecting jurisdictions. By using the Service, you acknowledge that your data may be processed in jurisdictions that may have different data protection laws than your country of residence.

We take steps to ensure that any cross-border data transfers are handled in accordance with applicable law and in a manner consistent with this Privacy Policy. If you have questions about international data transfers, please contact us at privacy@octochat.tv.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or other factors. When we make material changes, we will update the “Last updated” date at the top of this page.

For significant changes, we may provide additional notice (such as a notice on the Service or a message when you next log in). Your continued use of the Service after the effective date of a revised Privacy Policy constitutes your acceptance of the changes. If you do not agree to the revised policy, please delete your account and stop using the Service.

If you have questions, concerns, or requests related to this Privacy Policy or your personal data, please contact our privacy team at:

Email: privacy@octochat.tv

We aim to respond to all privacy inquiries within a reasonable timeframe. For urgent safety concerns, including potential CSAM or child exploitation, please also contact NCMEC directly at missingkids.org.