Privacy Policy
Last updated 30 August 2026
This describes exactly what The Backchannel collects, why, and who else sees it. It is short because the site collects very little.
What is collected
When you sign in with Google or Discord, the site receives and stores:
- your account identifier at whichever of the two you used, which is how your account is recognised;
- your email address;
- your name, as that provider gives it.
Only the provider you sign in with is contacted, and only when you sign in. Choosing Discord tells the site your Discord identifier, email and display name, and nothing else: not the servers you are in, not your messages, and not who you talk to.
When you subscribe, the site additionally stores:
- an identifier for your customer record at Stripe;
- your subscription status and renewal date.
The site also records which invite code created your account, keeps a record of your sign-in sessions, and stores your place in each recording as described below.
For each signed-in device it stores when you signed in and the browser identification your device sends, so that devices can be told apart and the limits in the terms enforced. While you are playing something it records that this device is playing, which is how the limit of one stream at a time is enforced. That record stops counting sixty seconds after playback stops.
What is not collected
Card details never reach this site. Payment is handled entirely by Stripe on their own pages.
There is no analytics, no advertising, no tracking pixels, and no third-party scripts beyond the font used for the page design.
Your place in a recording
So that you can stop mid-recording and pick up where you left off, the site stores, for each recording you play, how far into it you are and whether you reached the end. This is saved every so often while you listen and once more when you leave the page.
It is one figure per recording, replaced each time, not a log of everything you have done. The row also carries the moment it was last saved, so the site knows when you last played that recording. Nothing counts how often you played it, the row is not tied to any device, and no history of your positions is kept: each save replaces the one before it.
You can clear the saved place for any recording from the library, which deletes that row outright.
Cookies
Only functional cookies are used, and only these: one that keeps you signed in; short-lived ones set while you are signing in, which are what protect against forged sign-in attempts; and, if you are creating an account, one lasting fifteen minutes that holds your place between signing in and entering your invite code. There are no advertising or tracking cookies, which is why the site does not ask you to accept any.
The sign-in cookie and the invite-code one each hold a random token. What is stored on the server is a one-way hash of it, so the stored copy cannot be turned back into a working session.
Who else sees your data
- Google handles sign-in, if you choose it. The site receives your identifier, email and name; Google's own privacy policy governs your relationship with them.
- Discord handles sign-in, if you choose it instead. The site receives your identifier, email and display name; Discord's own privacy policy governs your relationship with them. Nothing is shared back to Discord, and the site does not post, read messages, or look at your servers.
- Stripe handles payment and billing, and holds your card details under their own privacy policy.
- Cloudflare hosts the site, the database and the audio files as the operator's service provider.
Your data is not sold, rented, or shared with anyone else.
How long it is kept
Account data is kept while your account exists. Sign-in sessions expire after thirty days, and expired ones are deleted automatically. Records of payments are kept by Stripe for as long as their own obligations require.
Your choices
Write to hello@thebackchannel.xyz to see what is held about you, correct it, or have your account and its data deleted. Deletion removes your account; billing records held by Stripe are subject to their retention rules.
The site never emails you, and there is no marketing list to be on. It does email the operator when something needs attention, such as a backup that stopped running or a payment event that never arrived; those messages carry counts and error text, never your personal data. Stripe sends the email connected to your payments: receipts, notices when a card payment fails, and reminders when a card is about to expire. Those come from Stripe to the address on your Stripe customer record, and cannot be turned off separately from the subscription itself.
Children
The service is not intended for anyone under 18, and accounts are not knowingly created for them.
Changes
If this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it.