Access logs, retention, and customer privacy

Access logs are useful for debugging, security, and abuse handling. They also contain IP addresses and request metadata that many privacy regimes treat as personal data. The tension is resolved by clear retention limits and a policy that matches the stated purpose.

What a reasonable policy looks like

• Retain detailed access logs only as long as needed for operations and security (often 7–30 days).
• Longer retention only for specific security or legal holds.
• No sale or secondary use of log data for advertising.
• Ability to export or delete when a legitimate request arrives.

Customers who ask “how long do you keep my visitors’ IPs” deserve a direct answer. Vague statements produce more tickets later.

Operational impact

Short retention reduces risk and storage cost. It also means that a debugging request that arrives six weeks after an incident may find the detailed logs already gone. Balancing those needs is part of running a host.

We keep logs long enough to investigate abuse and short enough that they do not become an unbounded privacy liability. The exact window is documented so customers and staff share the same expectation.

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