Privacy
Your camera.
Your data.
HomesteadWatch is designed around local control, minimal data collection, and clear boundaries about the outside services a self-hosted installation may use.
Privacy by design
HomesteadWatch is designed for self-hosting. The aim is to let home users view and manage their own camera system without making a HomesteadWatch-operated cloud service the centre of that system.
The public HomesteadWatch website is a static site. It does not use advertising trackers, behavioural analytics, tracking pixels, or website user accounts. HomesteadWatch does not require an email address simply to read the website.
Camera footage and application data
HomesteadWatch is intended to run on infrastructure controlled by the person operating it. Camera streams, snapshots, account information, and other application data are handled by that self-hosted installation rather than being uploaded to a central HomesteadWatch camera cloud.
Notifications and external services
Optional Web Push notifications depend on browser and operating-system push infrastructure. Depending on the device and browser, encrypted notification delivery may involve a browser-vendor push service. Protected camera content is not intended to be placed inside the notification itself; it is loaded from the user's HomesteadWatch installation after access is authorised.
Other optional infrastructure, such as Tailscale, Headscale, ntfy, Caddy, go2rtc, or FFmpeg, is separately installed and subject to the operator's own configuration and the relevant provider or project terms.
Email and feedback
If you contact HomesteadWatch by email, the information you provide is used to respond to your message, investigate feedback or security reports, or deal with licensing enquiries as appropriate. Email is handled through Proton Mail.
General correspondence is not intended to be kept indefinitely and will normally be deleted when it is no longer useful, generally within 12 months of the last relevant contact. Some records may be retained for longer where reasonably necessary for security, legal, licensing, dispute-resolution, or accounting purposes.
Useful technical knowledge may be retained after personal details are removed or reduced. For example, a camera compatibility issue can be documented without keeping an individual's email thread forever.
Server and security information
Limited technical information may be processed where reasonably necessary to operate, secure, diagnose, or protect the website and its infrastructure. It is not used to build advertising profiles or sell information about visitors.
Your choices
There is currently no mailing list and no website account system. If either is introduced later, this notice will be updated before those features are offered.
Questions about this notice can be sent to homesteadwatch@proton.me.
This notice describes the HomesteadWatch project website and project communications. A person running their own HomesteadWatch installation is responsible for the privacy and data-protection obligations that apply to their own use.