Documents/README.PrivacyPolicy

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Privacy Policy
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.. include:: prologue.rst

General Statements
==================

BRLTTY is a screen reader for braille users.
It doesn't introduce any content of its own
- it just renders, in braille, whatever is on the user's screen.
It's just as safe to use by anyone of any age, therefore,
as the host (computer, phone, tablet, etc) itself is.

We're unaware of any law anywhere which would consider it inappropriate for a  child to be using BRLTTY.
In fact, we believe that blind children should be encouraged to use it
because we believe that literacy, i.e. the ability to read and write,
is just as important for them as speech is.

BRLTTY doesn't filter the screen's content.
Any content that can be read on the screen by a sighted child
is presented in braille and, therefore, is just as readable by a blind child.
It's the responsibility of the developers of any given program, app, website, etc
to control access to any questionable or reprehensible content
that they feel the need to present.
Likewise, if a parent has any concerns in this area
then he/she should make use of any applicable parental controls
that the host platform offers.

If the braille device has a keyboard then it can be used for typing.
This necessarily means that BRLTTY is transiently aware of
any information that's being typed,
including sensitive information such as passwords.
This information is only retained long enough for,
and exclusively for the purpose of,
forwarding it through to the host as typed input.

In addition to primarily being a screen reader for braille users,
BRLTTY also contains support for reviewing the screen's content via speech.
Unlike braille, where it's in direct control of the rendering,
a third-party TTS (Text to Speech) engine is used to translate screen content into speech.
We have no control over the privacy policies that apply to any of the third-party TTS engines.
If a user wishes to use the speech capabilities of BRLTTY
then he/she should become familiar with the privacy policy of the TTS being used.

BRLTTY is an open source project.
Suppliers (manufacturers, vendours, distributors, etc)
should be aware that any code in any of its drivers
that's necessary for the successful and effective operation of a braille device
has necessarily become public.
All other information that we (BRLTTY's developers) learn or become aware of
(future plans, proprietary features, etc)
while in discussions with or by reading documentation provided by any supplier
isn't shared with the public.

BRLTTY neither requests nor in any other way tries to obtain
information about its users.
Also, no information about its users, their host devices, etc
that BRLTTY is either actively or passively aware of
is shared with others (yes, this includes not even with us).

While BRLTTY doesn't transmit any data,
it does preserve the following as local data:

* User configuration (also known as settings or preferences).
* Operational logs that, by default, don't contain sensitive data like screen content, typed input, etc.

If we, BRLTTY's developers, would like to have a look at
debugging information in order to find the cause of a problem
then we explain to the user which of BRLTTY's log categories would need to be enabled
and what sensitive information would, therefore, become visible to us.
It's still his/her own decision to enable the logging and to send the log to us.

Android
=======

BRLTTY requests the following Android permissions:

.. include:: android-permissions.rst