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Data Confidentiality

How Synap ensures data privacy and sovereignty

Core Principle​

The Data Pod is the sovereign guardian of all user data. External services never store user data persistently and only receive temporary, read-only access when explicitly authorized.

Mechanisms​

1. Temporary Access Tokens​

All external service access uses time-limited JWT tokens:

  • Maximum validity: 5 minutes
  • Scope-based: Only authorized data types
  • Non-reusable: Tied to unique requestId
  • Audit trail: All token generation logged

2. Read-Only Access​

External services can only:

  • ✅ Request specific data types (scope-based)
  • ✅ Read data (never write)
  • ✅ Submit insights (transformed to events by Data Pod)

External services cannot:

  • ❌ Store data persistently
  • ❌ Access data without explicit authorization
  • ❌ Write directly to database

3. Audit Trail​

Every interaction is logged:

{
  type: 'hub.data.requested',
  userId: 'user-123',
  data: {
    requestId: 'req-456',
    scope: ['preferences', 'calendar'],
    timestamp: '2025-01-20T10:00:00Z',
  },
}

Data Processing Policy​

In External Services​

  • ✅ Data received in memory only
  • ✅ No persistent storage
  • ✅ Automatic garbage collection
  • ✅ Anonymized error logs (IDs only)

Exceptions​

  • Temporary cache: Maximum 60-second TTL (encrypted)
  • Debug logs: Only IDs, never user content

GDPR Compliance​

Right to be Forgotten​

Users can revoke external service access at any time:

POST /trpc/hub.revokeAccess
{
  "serviceId": "service-123"
}

All active tokens are immediately invalidated.

Data Portability​

All data remains in the user's Data Pod. Users can export their data at any time.

Transparency​

Users can view the complete audit log of all external service access through the Data Pod API.

Minimization​

External services only request data that is strictly necessary for the requested operation.

Best Practices​

  1. Request minimal scope - Only ask for what you need
  2. Respect token expiration - Never use expired tokens
  3. Log all access - Complete audit trail
  4. Handle errors gracefully - Don't expose user data in errors
  5. Implement data contracts - Cryptographic commitments for compliance

Next: See Data Sovereignty for more details.