Diaspora/Diaspora

In short: everything. Communication between pods is always encrypted (using SSL and diaspora*’s own transport encryption), but the storage of data on pods is not encrypted. If they wanted to, the database administrator for your pod (usually the person running the pod) could access all your profile data and everything that you post (as is the case for most websites that store user data). This is why we give you the choice which pod you sign up to, so you can choose a pod whose admin you are happy to trust with your data. Running your own pod provides more privacy since you then control access to the database.

Can the administrators of other pods see my information?

Once you are sharing with someone on another pod, any posts you share with them and a copy of your profile data are stored (cached) on their pod, and are accessible to that pod’s database administrator. When you delete a post or profile data it is deleted from your pod and a delete request is sent to any other pods where it had previously been stored. Your images are never stored on any pod but your own; only links to them are transmitted to other pods.

Aspects

What is an aspect?

Aspects are the way you group your contacts on diaspora*. An aspect is one of the faces you show to the world. It might be who you are at work, or who you are to your family, or who you are to your friends in a club you belong to.

When I post to an aspect, who sees it?

If you make a limited post, it will only be visible to the people you had placed in that aspect (or aspects, if it is made to multiple aspects) before making the post. Contacts you have who aren’t in the aspect have no way of seeing the post. Limited posts will never be visible to anyone who you haven’t placed into one of your aspects.

Can I restrict the posts in my stream to just those from certain aspects?

Yes. Click “My aspects” in the side-bar and then click individual aspects in the list to select or deselect them. Only the posts by people in the selected aspects will appear in your stream.

Do my contacts know which aspects I have put them in?

No. They cannot see the name of the aspect under any circumstances.

If I remove someone from an aspect, or all of my aspects, are they notified of this?

No. They are also not notified if you add them to more aspects, when you are already sharing with them.

How do I rename an aspect?

Click “My aspects” in the side-bar from a stream view and click the pencil icon by the aspect you want to rename, or go to your Contacts page and select the relevant aspect. Then click the edit icon next to the aspect name at the top of this page, change the name and press “Update”.

Once I have posted something, can I change the aspect(s) that can see it?

No, but you can always make a new post with the same content and post it to a different aspect.

Can I post content to multiple aspects at once?

Yes. When you are making a post, use the aspect selector button to select or deselect aspects. “All aspects” is the default setting. Your post will be visible to all the aspects you select. You could also select the aspects you want to post to in the side-bar. When you post, the aspect(s) that you have selected in the list on the left will automatically be selected in the aspect selector when you start to make a new post.