Privacy Policy

This policy describes the USS Absurdities Mail service and these information pages.

Information used by the mail service

The service processes recipient email addresses, requested display names where applicable, verification receipts, verification codes, and the message text needed to deliver story-attribution and crew-application verification emails.

For the designated sending mailbox, the service stores OAuth authorization credentials, including a refresh token, and obtains short-lived access tokens to send messages. The requested Google permission is gmail.send. The integration does not request permission to read, search, or download mailbox contents.

Purpose and sharing

Information is used to send requested verification messages, confirm email access or attribution permission, operate the service, and investigate delivery or security problems. Message recipients and message contents are transmitted to Google to deliver mail. Google processes that information under its own policies, and messages may remain in sending and receiving mailboxes.

The application is hosted on DigitalOcean, and these information pages are intended for Cloudflare hosting. Hosting providers process information necessary to deliver and protect their services. We do not sell Google user data, use it for advertising, or use it to train artificial-intelligence models.

USS Absurdities Mail’s use and transfer of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Protection and retention

Mail authorization credentials are kept in protected server files with restricted access. Communication with Google’s mail and authorization services uses HTTPS with certificate verification. Short-lived access tokens are held in application memory.

Authorization credentials are retained while the sending connection is needed. Verification records and related consent or audit history may be retained with protected story or application records and their backups. Codes have a limited validity period. We do not promise immediate removal from every backup.

Your choices

The sending-mailbox operator can revoke authorization through Google Account connections. Revocation prevents further use of that authorization; it does not automatically erase messages already sent or records already retained.

Contributors can contact the XO to ask about their information, correct an email address, request removal, or withdraw permission for public attribution. Requests are reviewed in light of existing consent, story preservation, security, and audit records. Verifying an email address or public name does not authorize story publication by itself.

These information pages

These pages contain no analytics scripts, forms, or advertising. Hosting providers may process technical information such as IP addresses and request details for delivery and security. Following an external link subjects the visit to that provider’s policies.

Contact and changes

For privacy requests or questions, contact xo.uss.absurdities@gmail.com. Changes to this policy will be posted here with an updated revision date.

Revision prepared: 23 October 2026.