--- /dev/null
+Communications with servers - and your privacy
+==============================================
+
+The Special Circumstances YPP PCTB client talks to two different
+servers for different purposes.
+
+(The information below is true if you invoke the system using the main
+`ypp-commodities' program. If you want to know the relationships
+between it and its various helper programs, and the specific
+behaviours of the helpers, you'll have to read the source. Sorry.)
+
+
+1. PCTB server
+==============
+
+This records everyone's uploads of commodity prices and allows you to
+conveniently search for good trade routes using the PCTB website.
+
+We upload to the PCTB server if you select the --upload option, and
+not otherwise.
+
+We also query the PCTB server to determine possible island names, if
+we don't recognise the island and want to ask you about it. It is not
+currently possible to disable this behaviour, but if you don't select
+an operating mode (like --upload) which needs to know your island, it
+won't happen.
+
+
+2. YPP SC PCTB client dictionary server
+=======================================
+
+This server maintains the master copies of various databases which are
+used to assist the OCR process. Collectively I call these
+`dictionaries'. There is a dictionary of character and island name
+images, of new commodity names, and of notable known OCR
+misrecognitions. These are used for the commodity screen OCR, for
+determining your island name, and for checking whether commodities not
+found on the PCTB server are real.
+
+By default, we ask the server for appropriate updated dictionaries
+every time we run; this is done with the rsync protocol (indeed, by
+invoking rsync). You can disable this with --dict-local-only.
+
+If we find a screen display we don't understand, we will ask you about
+it by popping up a window which allows you to select the island (or
+provide character set information - see README.charset). Your answers
+to these questions are recorded locally and will be used by your
+client in future.
+
+By default, these dictionary updates are also submitted to my server.
+That allows me to check them; if they are correct, I will include them
+in the master database so that everyone gets the benefit of them.
+If there are any incorrect submissions, I can contradict them in the
+master database so that your client will automatically behave
+correctly anyway.
+
+So, thanks for your help!
+
+
+Dictionary submissions (uploads) include your pirate name by default
+--------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+These dictionary submissions are reported to me along with the ocean
+name and your pirate name.
+
+I will only use this to talk to you about your dictionary submissions
+(for example, to let you know if you have made a mistake, or to thank
+you for your contributions).
+
+However, if you prefer to be anonymous, you can tell your PCTB client
+not to mention your pirate name (in the GUI, or with the --dict-anon
+option). In this case I won't see your ocean or your pirate name,
+although of course the actual images in your submissions may reveal
+your island and thus your ocean.
+
+
+User interface for privacy
+--------------------------
+
+The dictionary submission feature, and whether to quote your pirate
+identity, is exposed in and controllable from the dictionary update
+GUI, for maximum visibility. The settings in the GUI are not recorded
+anywhere from one run to the next. If you want to consistently
+increase your privacy setting, use the --dict-* privacy options.
+See the table of options in the README for details.
+
+Having said all that, please do not upload data to the PCTB server
+without also participating in dictionary sharing. If you don't update
+your dictionary, your parses may be wrong and thus the data you upload
+to PCTB may be wrong. If you don't submit your dictionary entries,
+any mistakes you make will remain uncorrected.
+
+
+Records kept
+------------
+
+I keep a permanent log of all the submissions, including date, time,
+submitting pirate or IP address, and YPP SC PCTB client version.
+This is so that I have enough information to go back and fix the
+dictionary if anything goes badly wrong (for example, if a particular
+client is broken).
+
+My rsync server (file server) also records your IP address when your
+client fetches new master dictionaries; those logs are used only for
+debugging the rsync server (which also serves many other files), and
+they are routinely expired, currently after about two months.
+
+The information about the source of a submissions doesn't appear in
+the dictionaries as available for download, so other people won't
+know you're using my program.
+
+I don't know what records the actual PCTB server keeps, but the upload
+process tells the server your ocean and island name, and your PCTB
+upload client version number (including the fact that it's this Linux
+client). The PCTB server is not told your pirate name.
~yarrgweb / ypp-sc-tools.db-test.git / blobdiff