How we respond to data requests

From courts, police, parole and probation, immigration and other government agencies. Version: October 2, 2026. [OWNER TO CONFIRM: lawyer review and effective date]

Draft. Words in [square brackets] are decisions the SidexSide owner still has to make. This page is not legal advice.

Why this matters here

People on SidexSide may be on parole, probation or supervised release. Some are not citizens. Their journals, moods and whereabouts are what someone building a case against them would want. We built SidexSide so most of that can’t be handed over, because we never have it in a form we can read. For what we do have, this is our policy.

Our rules

We don’t volunteer information. We don’t work for, report to or share with parole, probation, courts, police or immigration. Being on SidexSide is never reported to anyone.
Valid legal process only. We answer only a request that is legally binding on us and properly served: a subpoena, court order or search warrant, as the law requires. We don’t answer informal letters, emails or calls, even from an officer, a prosecutor or a case worker.
As little as possible. We read every request narrowly. We push back on requests that are too broad, unclear or not backed by law. We hand over only what the law forces us to.
We tell the person. Before we hand anything over, we tell the member, so they can get a lawyer and object. If a court order forbids it, we tell them as soon as it ends. We ask the court to keep any gag order short. [OWNER TO CONFIRM: minimum notice, for example 10 days]
We can’t hand over what we can’t read, and we won’t try to. We won’t build a way into locked data, change the app to capture one person’s data, or weaken the locking.
We keep a record of every request and what we did. We plan to publish counts once a year. [OWNER TO CONFIRM: whether and how to publish]

What we have, and what we don’t

We can’t provide it (we can’t read it)	We may have it, and could be forced to provide it
What anyone wrote in a private message	That an account exists, when it was made, and who let it in and vouched
Journals, moods, check-ins, plans, firsts	The email address (email accounts), the sign-in name (accounts without email), the first name
The profile: release date, hometown, where someone lives, emergency contact	Who an account is connected to or has blocked
Passwords or recovery codes	Who messaged whom and when (not what was said)
Anything kept only on a phone (everything in an account without email)	Help out posts, group chat messages, and reports with a copy of the reported message
IP addresses or locations (the gateway removes IPs; search never stores locations)	Steady Ground answers a person is sharing with a case team, only while they share
Which screens someone used (usage counts are never tied to an account)	Kept reports about a deleted account (60 days)

We don’t know anyone’s criminal record, supervision status, officer or immigration status. When a co-creator checks a public court record to let someone in, we keep only the fact that it was checked, not what it said.

Requests we treat specially

Parole and probation officers. A condition of supervision binds the person, not SidexSide. We don’t answer an officer without legal process that binds us.
Immigration. We require a judicial warrant or court order. An administrative warrant or subpoena alone is not enough, unless the law requires it. [OWNER TO CONFIRM: lawyer to confirm]
Case teams. A case worker sees only what a person chooses to share. We don’t answer their questions about members, with or without paperwork. Legal process from an agency that employs a case worker is handled like any other request.
Preservation requests. If asked to preserve data until legal process arrives, we preserve only what is named, for 90 days, and don’t hand it over without the process. [OWNER TO CONFIRM: whether to tell the member]
Requests from other countries. We respond only through the process US law requires, such as a treaty.

Emergencies

If a post or report shows a real and immediate threat to someone’s life, or abuse of a child, a co-creator may tell emergency services. They share only what is needed to prevent the harm. We record every emergency disclosure, and tell the person afterward unless that would put someone in danger. [OWNER TO CONFIRM: lawyer to check any state reporting duties]

How to send a request

Legal process must be served on [OWNER TO CONFIRM: legal name, registered agent and postal address]. Courtesy copies by email: [email protected] (an email alone is not valid service). Please include:

the agency, the person making the request, and how to reach them;
the legal authority;
the specific account (sign-in name, email address or friend code);
the specific information asked for, and the time period.

We don’t accept requests through the app or through a co-creator’s personal contact details.

Changes

If our practice changes, we will update this page and tell members in the app.