# Write.as data retention & privacy questions

**URL:** <https://discuss.write.as/t/write-as-data-retention-privacy-questions/7774>\
**Category:** Uncategorized\
**Tags:** writeas\
**Created:** [January 8, 2023, 12:26pm UTC](https://discuss.write.as/t/write-as-data-retention-privacy-questions/7774 "2023-01-08T12:26:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![writeprivacy](https://discuss.write.as/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/e0b2c6/32.png) [@writeprivacy](https://discuss.write.as/u/writeprivacy)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2023, 12:26pm UTC](https://discuss.write.as/t/write-as-data-retention-privacy-questions/7774/1 "2023-01-08T12:26:02Z")

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Hello,

When you delete a post (both anonymous or account linked), how long will it remain on the write.as servers before being really deleted?  
When deleted, does it get overwritten immediately? How long does it linger on write.as service backups and/or servers?

Maybe the question could also be answered for the other musing studio projects, such as snap.as

Thank you!

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**Author:** ![matt](https://discuss.write.as/user_avatar/discuss.write.as/matt/32/2760_2.png) [@matt](https://discuss.write.as/u/matt)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2023, 5:39pm UTC](https://discuss.write.as/t/write-as-data-retention-privacy-questions/7774/2 "2023-01-16T17:39:59Z")

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Great questions!

Deleting a post immediately deletes it in our database – there is no “undo” mechanism or anything like that. Data might remain live for a few seconds in our replica databases while they get synced up. Otherwise it will stay purely in our database backups (in case of catastrophic failure) for 20-30 days.

The same exact policy goes for all of our products, including Snap.as. Though with Snap.as, we have a CDN layer for serving up images, which may retain them for a bit after they’re deleted. But the image is instantly deleted at its source, as well as any metadata, such as captions.

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**Author:** ![writeprivacy](https://discuss.write.as/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/e0b2c6/32.png) [@writeprivacy](https://discuss.write.as/u/writeprivacy)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2023, 9:03am UTC](https://discuss.write.as/t/write-as-data-retention-privacy-questions/7774/3 "2023-01-17T09:03:50Z")

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Thanks Matt!  
The posts databases, and backups, are all encrypted, right?

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**Author:** ![matt](https://discuss.write.as/user_avatar/discuss.write.as/matt/32/2760_2.png) [@matt](https://discuss.write.as/u/matt)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2023, 3:30pm UTC](https://discuss.write.as/t/write-as-data-retention-privacy-questions/7774/4 "2023-01-17T15:30:56Z")

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All data is encrypted in transit, and personally identifying information (e.g. your email address) is encrypted at rest – both in the live database and backups – as mentioned in the Privacy Policy.

Since this a platform for sharing on the public internet, posts aren’t encrypted at all. It would just be a bit pointless and make the platform harder to use. So if you need something like that, I’d recommend an encrypted notes app like [Standard Notes](https://standardnotes.com/).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![writeprivacy](https://discuss.write.as/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/e0b2c6/32.png) [@writeprivacy](https://discuss.write.as/u/writeprivacy)\
**Post date:** [January 19, 2023, 12:26pm UTC](https://discuss.write.as/t/write-as-data-retention-privacy-questions/7774/5 "2023-01-19T12:26:14Z")

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Thanks for sharing what is and not encrypted Matt!  
I imagined posts to be encrypted as an additional layer of protection in case of security breaches, but your explanation makes (as always) total sense.