This document explains what user information is collected by the operators of 8kun (the "8kun Administration" or "8kun"), why it is gathered, where it is stored, and how it is handled and/or deleted.
8kun is a United States-based anonymous imageboard with servers in the state of California. 8kun does not require any personally-identifiable information to view or use the website and collects very little information from its users.
Accounts are not needed to use the website unless a user wishes to create and own a board and moderate it. As a Board Owner, the user is only required to pick a username; he or she may hire Board Volunteers and/or Reporters for his or her board, but this is not a requirement.
8kun automatically generates access logs showing all file requests by date and time as well as the requesting Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. Only the 8kun Administration can check 8kun's access logs. Access logs are rotated periodically, with the oldest entries being deleted when logs are rotated.
8kun allows users to upload, publish, and share text and media ("Posts"). Posts may or may not include personal information about the user or about third parties. 8kun does not exercise any control over Posts or any personal information embodied therein other than receiving and storing Posts at the direction of users and, in some circumstances, deleting and/or banning Posts.
When a user publishes a Post on 8kun, his or her IP address is hashed with a private salt, which is rotated periodically. When the private salt is rotated, new hashed IP addresses are generated, which makes it impossible to decrypt previous hashes with the latest private salt and resets all active bans against existing hashed IP addresses.
8kun stores the hashed IP addresses and other post parameters, such as the message body and the Subject, Email, and Name fields, if they were filled out. Any image/s or video/s uploaded by users with their Posts, if applicable, is/are also stored on the disk. This information is retained until one of the following happens:
When a user posts something on 8kun, his or her Internet Protocol (IP) address is hashed with a private salt, which is rotated periodically. This is how 8kun hashes the IP addresses of its users:
On 8kun, users are able to delete any Posts they make individually, unless Board Owners disable post deletion on their boards.
Users are not able to delete multiple or all their Posts at the same time (only Global Volunteers, Operators and the 8kun Administration, globally, and Board Owners and Board Volunteers, locally, can do that).
To make post deletion possible and to prevent users from deleting Posts they did not make, a user-specific password is set for each thread. By default, when a user posts in a thread, he or she is assigned a randomized password for that specific thread. Said randomized password lasts twenty-four (24) hours.
Alternatively, users may set their own passwords.
Post deletion passwords are stored in a cookie calleduid on the user's device and reset every day. When a password expires, any Posts associated with it can no longer be deleted by the user.
If a user chooses to disable JavaScript or post through Tor on 8kun, his or her Post will have no password and, thus, cannot be deleted. This is to prevent nonstaff third-party deletions among non-JavaScript / Tor users.
Post histories are a collection of all public-facing Posts associated with a hashed IP address that are currently active on the board where they were made.
Post histories do not include deleted or archived Posts. For example, if a thread is automatically pruned from a board or is deleted, the post history will adjust accordingly and stop showing any Posts that a given hashed IP address made in that thread.
When the 8kun private salt is rotated, all active hashed IP addresses start new post histories, unless there is a hash collision, which is extremely rare.
Locally, Board Owners and Board Volunteers are only able to view the posts histories from their respective boards. Board Owners may also prevent their Board Volunteers from looking at post histories.Globally, Global Volunteers, Operators, and the 8kun Administration have access to post histories locally, on a per-board basis. There are no global post histories. On 8kun, no one, not even the 8kun Administration, can see post histories across boards on a single queue, tab, screen, link, or otherwise.
Users do not have access to their post histories, but they may delete their individual posts or change their hashed IP address (using a VPN or a proxy, for example) to start new post histories. Post histories are not associated with any personal information or accounts other than the hashed IP address that was used to submit the Posts and, in fact, multiple people can share one post history if they are posting through a shared IP address or encounter the extremely rare condition of a hash collision.
When a hashed IP address is banned, it is added to two separate tables: bans and user action log.
All hashed IP addresses of active users are checked against the bans table to make sure users who were banned, for whatever reason, are unable to post until their bans have expired. The user action log table is used for generating all board logs across 8kun.
So, if a hashed IP address is banned, even for a second, it will remain stored in the user action log table forever, even though it might have already left the bans table after the ban expired. As for permanent global or local bans, the hashed IP address will remain stored in both tables forever, unless bans are reset because of a salt rotation or the hashed IP address is manually unbanned for whatever reason, in which case the hashed IP address will leave the bans table, but remain in the user action log table.
8kun is a federation of boards; boards are a collection of threads, organized as an index page or a catalog. Board Owners may define the number of pages (1 to 25) their boards will have.
As new threads are created, old threads are pruned, that is, they fall off the board when they exceed a specific page and are archived.
8kun has its own archival system. Archived threads include all nondeleted Posts (original post and replies) and deduplicated media.
If a thread or a Post is deleted before reaching the last board page, it is not archived, regardless of who deleted it. Posts anywhere on 8kun can be deleted by a Global Volunteer, an Operator, or the 8kun Administration. Posts on a particular board can be deleted by the Board Owner or a Board Volunteer or the user him/herself on boards where post deletion is enabled.
On 8kun, threads are built using a script based on the corresponding data from the database software. This building script generates static .html files that will be saved in the server and shown to any users/visitors who access the thread. When a thread is archived, the corresponding data in the database software is completely deleted, but all static .html files will be moved to the board's archive directory. Uploaded files, i.e., media, are not archived, but will show up in the archives if deduplicated.
Please note: hashed IP addresses are not archived or otherwise saved by the 8kun archival system. Only post parameters are archived: message body; Name, Email and/or Subject fields, if they are filled out; and embeds, if any.
If the static .html file is deleted for whatever reason, the archive will be gone from the 8kun servers forever.
8kun serves a few first-party cookies to users with and without accounts.
For users without accounts using, viewing, or posting through 8kun:
For users with accounts using, viewing, or posting through sys.8kun:
Please note: the 8kun media server and the 8kun archive do not serve cookies; the 8kun Nerv Center only uses local storage to save personal settings and preferences, such as filters and themes.
Furthermore, third parties may serve advertising-related cookies to 8kun users with and without accounts. Said advertising-related cookies may gather data and information about 8kun users with and without accounts. 8kun users may disable third-party cookies by installing ad blocking software on their browsers or disabling scripts.
8kun supports the following file formats: JPEG (.jpg); PNG (.png); GIF (.gif); WebM (.webm); MPEG-4 (.mp4); SWF (.swf); and PDF (.pdf).
Any files uploaded to 8kun are stored in the server only once using the deduplication technique. When a user uploads a file, the 8kun media server will check whether or not that file already exists – if it has already been posted, it will simply pull the file from the server and show it in the Post.
If a Post with an uploaded file is deleted or otherwise removed from the board, the file is deleted unless it is still being used in a different thread elsewhere on 8kun.
Locally, Board Owners and Board Volunteers are able to delete uploaded files that are found in breach of local board rules, but said files may remain in the media server if they are posted on a different 8kun board.
Globally, only Operators and the 8kun Administration are able to remove uploaded files from the media server and the entire website. The most common reason for removing uploaded files is violation of the 8kun Global Rule.
Archived posts will not retain any uploaded files, unless, through deduplication, they are being used elsewhere on 8kun and, therefore, in the media server.
As a clearnet website based in the United States of America, 8kun is required to comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) for the 17 U.S.C. § 512 safe harbor provisions to apply.
8kun provides claimants with a DMCA takedown notice template containing all the required elements of notification. To file a DMCA takedown notice with the 8kun Administration, please fill out this form and send it to compliance@8kun.top (backup: compliance@isitwetyet.com or compliance@isitwetyet.net).
For transparency purposes, actionable notices of claimed infringement may be posted on >>>/delete/, with redactions.
8kun has an automated SQL backup procedure in place. A full database snapshot is created every two hours and kept for a maximum of 48 hours. These backups can be used to restore boards in the event of a hack, data corruption, or any other type of content loss.
Alternatively, at the request of Board Owners, individual boards may be backed up by the Administrator. Such board backups include Posts; files; static pages; custom flags; settings; Board Volunteer and Reporter accounts; custom assets; and tags.
8kun's default JavaScripts allow users to set a number of options in their browsers. These option values are not sent to the 8kun servers. Instead, they are stored in the HTML5 localStorage object and used on the client by scripts to determine how elements on the page should be displayed.
For example, localStorage.own_posts determines if posts should say (You) after them, and localStorage.youtube_size determines how large YouTube embeds should appear on a user's browser.
The following account types exist: Administrator, Operator, Global Volunteer, Board Owner, Board Volunteer, and Reporter.
Only the Board Owner, Board Volunteer, and Reporter account types can be created by users.
On 8kun, accounts are entirely optional and generally used for 1) creating/moderating boards or 2) posting threads - on boards that have Reporter account types (for instance, >>>/newsplus/) or when a Board Owner decides to restrict thread creation to local staff members only.
As a privacy-by-default measure, users are not required to provide an email address and/or other personal information to set up an account.
Board Owners
When a board is created, a Board Owner account is set up as part of this process.
For Board Owner accounts, the only information 8kun requires is a username as well as a board title and a board subtitle. A random password and a random shared secret (for board recovery purposes) will be automatically assigned.
Board Volunteers
A Board Owner may hire Board Volunteers to help him or her with moderation duties, but this is not a requirement.
For Board Volunteer accounts, the only information 8kun requires is a username and a password, which are set by the Board Owner and which may be changed by the Board Volunteer at any time as long as he or she still has access to his or her account.
Reporters
A Board Owner may designate Reporters to create threads, but this is not a requirement. (Please note: Reporters are not able to ban, delete or otherwise moderate boards; they are not able to see post histories and they do not have any abilities other than being able to capcode and create threads on boards that might otherwise restrict thread creation to local staff members only.)
For Reporter accounts, the only information 8kun requires is a username and a password, which are set by the Board Owner and which may be changed by the Reporter at any time as long as he or she still has access to his or her account.
Board Owner account passwords are randomly generated and may be changed by Board Owners at their discretion. This password is hashed and stored in the database via bcrypt.
Board Owner shared secrets are also randomized, but they cannot be changed by users. With a shared secret, a Board Owner may contact the 8kun Administration to verify his or her identity for board recovery purposes and request a password reset or a username reminder, for example.
All actions taken by users with accounts are added to a user action log, which contains:
Only the Administrator account used by the 8kun Administration has full access to the user action log (not to be confused with the access logs discussed in item 2). Operators can access the user action log, but cannot view any hashed IP addresses contained therein (the word hidden will appear instead). Global Volunteers cannot access the user action log.
Furthermore, the public-facing board logs some 8kun boards have enabled are extracted from the aforementioned user action log. These board logs are kept for dispute resolution and transparency purposes. However, some Board Owners may choose to keep their board logs private. All Board Owners have access to their own board logs.
On 8kun, the Administrator, Operators, Global Volunteers, Board Owners, Board Volunteers, and Reporters can only see hashed IP addresses and the content users choose to post. Only the 8kun Administration has access to bare IP addresses in the form of access logs (per item 2 above).
As an anonymous imageboard, 8kun does not require anyone to have an account or enter an email or username or any personal information to post.
Account holders cannot delete their accounts themselves. However, they may ask the 8kun Administration to delete their Operator, Global Volunteer, Board Owner, Board Volunteer or Reporter accounts.
If a Board Owner wishes to delete his or her account upon proving, with the shared secret, that he or she owns the board in question, the surviving board will become immediately claimable.
Account deletion requests may be filed by emailing admin@8kun.top (backup: admin@isitwetyet.com or admin@isitwetyet.net).
All account types have a communications system that allows them to send private messages to other accounts. However, Board Owners may only message volunteers on their boards and vice versa. Board Owners cannot message each other or the volunteers of other boards. Board Owners and Board Volunteers can only message a Global Volunteer, an Operator or the Administrator if they were contacted first.
Messages are stored unencrypted on the server and are automatically purged every week.
When a private message is sent on 8kun, some information is added to the user action log: the sender's username, the sender's hashed IP address, the recipient's username, the recipient's hashed IP address, whether or not the message has been read, and the times the message was sent and read.
No one, not even the Administrator account, has access to the private messages of another account on 8kun. However, since private messages are not encrypted on the database, it is possible for a database engineer to view the contents of anyone's private messages when looking at the database tables.
It is possible to embed videos hosted on a third-party website instead of uploading a file. Currently, users can embed videos from the following websites: youtube.com, tora3.com, xhamster.com, vid.me, redtube.com, pornhub.com, vimeo.com, tube8.com, xvideos.com, youjizz.com, twitch.tv, dailymotion.com, vaughnlive.tv, liveleak.com, nicovideo.jp, streamable.com, soundcloud.com, xaniatube.com, vlive.tv, vocaroo.com, hooktube.com, and smashcast.tv. Because 8kun links directly to the thumbnail services of third-party websites, an HTTP request from your computer is sent to their servers when you view a video thumbnail.
8kun's only source of income is advertising.
8kun displays ads through softserve and/or third-party advertising services. softserve does not serve pop-up, pop-under, native, or any other type of intrusive ads other than a rotating 728x90 banner ad at the top of each thread, index page, and catalog of all 8kun boards (including archives and 404 pages) as well as a rotating 300x250 box ad at the bottom of each thread, index page, and catalog of all 8kun boards (including archives and 404 pages).
If you view or click on a softserve ad on 8kun, softserve will look at your IP address to generate country, click, and impression statistics. The IP address is then discarded as soon as said statistics are generated and no IP addresses are stored.
Furthermore, the 8kun front page will occasionally display ads that are not served by softserve. These banner ads may link to a website other than 8kun. 8kun does not collect any statistics or data related to the front-page banner ads that do not use the softserve system. Data or statistics for these banner advertisements may or may not be collected by the advertisers themselves.
8kun users may remove these ads by installing ad blocking software on their browsers or disabling scripts.
Important: 8kun does not track user behavior, reading/posting patterns, or which threads/boards users visit, read, click on, or otherwise access – on-site or off-site.
Please note: if a user visits softserve directly, he or she will be served with one cookie, csrftoken, a protection against cross-site request forgeries (CSRF).
Third-party advertising services may or may not collect data, statistics, or other information about 8kun users through third-party ads, cookies and/or scripts independently. Again, 8kun users may disable third-party ads, scripts and/or cookies by installing ad blocking software on their browsers or disabling scripts.
Tor Browser may be used to access 8kun's onion version of the website. Please refer to the Tor Project's Legal FAQ for more information.
Any nonpublic data 8kun collects, including access logs, post histories, and user action logs, may be disclosed to third parties if we believe disclosure is in accordance with, or required by, any applicable law, regulation, or legal process, including, but not limited to, a request by United States law enforcement accompanied by a legally-issued warrant or, given exigent circumstances, when presented with a request for voluntary emergency disclosure of information pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2702.
The 8kun Administration may also extend the period during which a specific record/log is kept in response to government-issued preservation requests or to otherwise comply with its legal obligations.
The 8kun Administration does not guarantee that any of the user information identified above has been collected or stored.
8kun does not track its users, on-site or off-site.
8kun does not sell, exchange, buy, market, or otherwise trade in user information.
Except as set forth above and with the exception of third-party advertising services, 8kun does not share user information with any unaffiliated individuals, companies, organizations, and/or third-party websites. (Please note: if embedding is allowed by a Board Owner, third-party websites may collect user information independently – use NoScript or similar script blocking add-ons on your browser of choice if you wish to counter this.)
It is the policy of the 8kun Administration to only share user information if served with a court order, a warrant, a subpoena, and/or other request authorized by law (including a 2702 emergency disclosure request by United States law enforcement).
Users who download the 8link software and register their IP address ("Link Operators") can connect directly to the 8kun backend. Link Operators are then able to set up a reverse proxy server, giving other users access to 8kun via the Link Operator's IP address.
If you connect to 8kun through a Link Operator's server, you may be giving the Link Operator access to your personal information. The 8kun Administration has no control over what information is collected by Link Operators or how such information is used. Users are encouraged to only access 8kun via third-party servers that they trust or to use the 8link software to set up their own private connection to 8kun.
Depending on where you live, you may have certain legal rights with respect to any personal information collected about you by 8kun or stored on 8kun servers, including the right to access, correct, remove, or restrict the use of your personal information. If you wish to exercise these rights, you may do so by contacting the 8kun Administration at compliance@8kun.top (backup: compliance@isitwetyet.com or compliance@isitwetyet.net). The 8kun Administration will respond to such requests in accordance with applicable data protection laws.
Please note that, because the 8kun Administration does not independently collect or maintain any personal information, there may be no reasonable method by which it can verify the identity of a person making a request to the degree of certainty required to delete information from 8kun.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or the practices of 8kun or wish to exercise your rights with respect to your personal information, please contact the 8kun Administration at admin@8kun.top (backup: admin@isitwetyet.com or admin@isitwetyet.net) or compliance@8kun.top (backup: compliance@isitwetyet.com or compliance@isitwetyet.net) or, alternatively, the following address: Is It Wet Yet, Inc., 270 Trace Colony Park Dr., Suite B, Ridgeland, MS 39157, United States of America.