Privacy Policy
Effective 27 October 2026. This policy explains what Forester Christensen, a sole trader in New Zealand trading as Forester ("Forester", "we", "us") collects when you use forester.dev, Forester Share (share.forester.dev), its API and the Forester storage node, and what we do with it. We are the controller of this information.
What we collect
If you sign in
Your email address, name, profile picture link and Google account identifier, provided by Google when you sign in with Google. We never see your Google password.
If you subscribe to Pro Vault
Your plan, price, billing period, subscription status and the customer and subscription identifiers our payment processor Stripe gives us. Card details are entered on Stripe and never reach our servers.
When you share files
Share details: title, file names, sizes, types and folder paths, when the share was created and expires, whether it has a password (stored only as a one-way hash), and counts of views and downloads. We record download events (which file, how many bytes, when and whether it went peer to peer or through our servers). We do not record who downloaded it.
Technical information
Like any website, our servers and our network provider Cloudflare see your IP address and basic request details (browser type, the page or file requested, time). We use IP addresses briefly to limit abuse (for about a minute). Our own servers do not write visitors' IP addresses to their logs in normal operation. If we turn on detailed logging to diagnose a fault, those logs may include them and are deleted within 30 days. Cloudflare and Hostinger keep their own short-lived logs under their policies. We approximate your country from your connection to show prices in your currency.
Your files
Files stored on our network are encrypted before they leave our servers and are split into pieces held on storage nodes. Node operators, including Forester's own nodes, hold only encrypted pieces they cannot read. The keys are held by our servers so that we can deliver your files to the people you share them with. This means Forester's systems can access file contents when needed to provide the service, for example to deliver a download. We do not look through your files and do not use them for any other purpose, including training any model.
When a person at Forester can open a file
Only in three situations: to act on an abuse report about that share, when you ask us to (for example for help with your own files), or to answer a legal request. The person must record which of these applies and a reference before anything is shown, and every opening is logged. Our admin tools do not show file names, titles or links otherwise. Password protected shares still need their password. Shares reported as child sexual abuse material are blocked straight away and are never opened by us; they are removed and reported to the authorities.
Direct transfers
To make transfers fast, Forester Share connects devices directly when it can, using WebRTC. A direct connection necessarily reveals each side's IP address to the other: a sender and recipient connected peer to peer can see each other's IP addresses, and a browser downloading directly from a storage node can see that node's address. Our servers help the two sides find each other but do not keep these addresses.
Storage nodes
If you run a node, we receive and keep: the node's identifier and public key, the name you give it, its software version and platform, the disk space it offers, holds and has free, a fingerprint of its storage volume (used to stop the same disk being counted twice), results of storage checks, how much data it has sent and received, and the network addresses it advertises for direct transfers. Its owner's Dashboard shows this information. The node software contacts our servers and share.forester.dev to check for and download signed updates.
Browser storage
Forester Share does not use advertising or analytics cookies. It stores a few items in your browser's local storage so it works: a random token that lets your browser manage the shares it created, your sign-in session if you sign in, passwords you have entered for protected shares (so you do not retype them), and whether you turned on notifications. You can clear them at any time in your browser settings. Signing in with Google loads Google's sign-in service, which is subject to Google's privacy policy.
forester.dev loads its fonts from our own server and sets no cookies. share.forester.dev currently loads its fonts from Google Fonts, which means Google receives your IP address when the page loads.
Why we use it
- To provide the services you ask for: sending, storing and delivering files, accounts, the Dashboard and nodes (performance of a contract).
- To take payments and keep records required by tax and accounting law (contract and legal obligation).
- To keep the services secure and working: limiting abuse, investigating reports, fixing faults and checking that nodes hold what they claim (legitimate interests).
- To comply with the law and respond to valid legal requests (legal obligation).
We do not sell personal information, share it for advertising or use it to build profiles.
How long we keep it
- Free shares: deleted automatically when they expire, normally after 72 hours (up to 7 days where offered), or sooner if you delete them.
- Pro Vault files: while your subscription is active, then at least 30 days after it ends, as described in the Terms.
- Account information: until you ask us to delete your account.
- Billing records: as long as tax and accounting law requires, typically up to 7 years.
- IP addresses: about a minute for abuse limits. Detailed diagnostic logs, when we turn them on, are deleted within 30 days.
- Node records: while the node is linked to your account, plus traffic history for 35 days.
Your rights
Depending on where you live, you can ask us to access, correct, delete or export your personal information, and to restrict or object to how we use it. You can delete shares yourself at any time. To make any other request, including deleting your account, email [email protected] from the address on your account. We answer within 30 days. We may need to keep some information where the law requires it, such as billing records.
If you are unhappy with how we handle your information, please tell us first. You also have the right to complain to a data protection authority: in New Zealand, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, or the authority where you live.
International transfers
Our servers, service providers and storage nodes may be in countries other than yours, and storage nodes run by the community can be anywhere. Where data protection law requires it, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as standard contractual clauses for transfers of personal information. File pieces on community nodes are encrypted and cannot be read by the people running them.
Security
Connections are encrypted with TLS, stored files are encrypted, node instructions are signed so only our servers can issue them, and node software updates are signed and checked before they install. No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your personal information, we will tell you and the authorities as the law requires.
Children
Forester is not meant for children under 13, or under the minimum age for online services where they live. We do not knowingly collect their information. If you believe a child has given us information, contact us and we will delete it.
Changes
We will update this policy when what we collect or how we use it changes. The effective date at the top shows the current version. For material changes we give notice on the site or by email before they apply.
Contact
Forester Christensen, a sole trader in New Zealand trading as Forester
Email: [email protected]