City Forum: privacy & security
City Forum is a private, self-hosted server for mycityforum.com. This page states plainly what is protected, from whom, and what is not.
What the server cannot read
- Encrypted rooms: message content is end-to-end encrypted between your devices. New rooms are encrypted by default.
- City Forum Call media: in encrypted rooms, audio and video are encrypted between participants. The media relay (SFU) forwards ciphertext it cannot decode.
What the server can see
| Metadata | Which accounts exist, which rooms they belong to, when messages and calls happen, device lists, and connection IP addresses while connected (IP history is kept for at most one day). |
|---|---|
| Unencrypted rooms | If an administrator or user creates a room without encryption, its content is readable by the server operator. |
| Profiles | Display names and avatars are visible to people who share a room with you. |
Hardening in place
- Invite-only registration, no guest access, no email or phone lookup.
- Federation is off by default: this server does not exchange data with other servers.
- Presence, link previews and third-party analytics are disabled; no data is sent to any telemetry or analytics service.
- Administrator API is not reachable from the internet.
- Services run in locked-down containers behind a default-deny firewall, with automatic security updates.
What you should do
- Set up your recovery key and verify each of your devices, so key backups and device trust work.
- Compare security codes with people you meet with when privacy matters (room info → People → Verify).
- Use a long unique password; never share registration tokens publicly.