How we protect submitters, sources, and contributors while maintaining research integrity
We cannot identify you from a submission, even if legally compelled. Your IP address is cryptographically hashed (one-way encryption) before storage, making it mathematically impossible to determine your identity.
When you submit an event:
Hashing Method: We use SHA-256 with a secret salt, creating a 64-character hash. This is a one-way cryptographic function - there's no way to reverse it to get your original IP address.
Example: 192.168.1.1 becomes a3f2d9e1b4c7... (cannot be reversed)
Retention: Hashes are automatically deleted after 30 days or when a submission is approved/rejected, whichever comes first.
Database Backups: Even our backups only contain these irreversible hashes.
We balance anonymity with protection against abuse:
10 submissions per hour from the same IP address (determined by hash). This prevents automated spam while allowing legitimate multiple submissions.
Every submission is reviewed by trained researchers before publication. This human verification catches sophisticated spam, ensures quality, and protects the integrity of the database.
If you legitimately need to submit more than 10 events per hour, you can:
Inspired by Wikipedia's editor privacy model, we protect the identity of our researchers and curators:
Reviewers and curators operate under pseudonyms, not real names. When you see "Event reviewed by curator_j_smith", that's a username, not a real identity.
Our curators research and document politically sensitive material. Protecting their anonymity:
Like Wikipedia's CheckUser system, we maintain internal audit trails for accountability (who edited what, when) without exposing real identities publicly. This balances transparency with safety.
Some researchers use different pseudonyms for different types of work (e.g., one for data entry, another for sensitive investigations). This is allowed and encouraged as a privacy-protection strategy.
Note: Submissions via Tor are welcomed and encouraged. We will never block Tor users.
If you're submitting information that could put you at legal or professional risk:
We believe in radical transparency about data collection. Here's everything we collect:
| Data Type | How Stored | Retention |
|---|---|---|
| Submission content | Plaintext in database | Indefinite |
| IP address | Hashed (SHA-256) | 30 days max |
| User agent | Hashed (SHA-256) | 30 days max |
| Submission timestamp | Timestamp | Indefinite |
| Tracking ID | Random string | Indefinite |
We're committed to transparency about our privacy practices. If you have questions, concerns, or suggestions:
Privacy protection is not a feature we can turn off for convenience. It's built into the architecture of our system. We cannot compromise your anonymity even if we wanted to, because we designed it to be mathematically impossible.