Privacy
Folding@home is built so that contributing your computer's idle power to biomedical research doesn't require giving up your privacy. This page describes what we collect, what we don't, and how to exercise your rights.
What we collect
- Folding work-unit results from your computer. This is scientific data — protein conformations, energies, trajectories — not personal data.
- A username and team number you choose when configuring the client. Usernames are not unique — many donors can use the same name — so a single name on the leaderboards does not identify any one person.
- A passkey, which is a pseudonymous identifier derived from an email address you supply via a one-way function. The email itself is discarded at the moment of derivation and is not stored, logged, or transmitted anywhere afterwards.
- Machine names you set for your own devices, visible only on your own account.
- Standard web server logs, including IP addresses, kept for operational and abuse-prevention purposes.
What we don't collect
- We do not store email addresses, real names, mailing addresses, payment details, or any contact information about donors.
- We do not use third-party advertising, tracking, or behavioral analytics. Our visitor analytics is self-hosted and cookieless — no cross-site tracker, no advertising ID.
- We do not sell, share, or rent any donor data to third parties.
How long we keep things
- Web access logs: 30 days.
- Donor account records (usernames, points, team membership, machine list): for as long as the account exists.
- Aggregated scientific results: indefinitely, as part of the published research record.
Deleting your data
You can delete your Folding@home account directly from the v8 web client (Settings → Account). This removes your account record and machine list from our systems.
Because usernames are not unique to individuals and are not stored alongside identifying information, we generally cannot identify "your" entries on public leaderboards on request — but conversely, those entries cannot identify you either.
Scientific results that have already been incorporated into peer-reviewed research cannot be retracted after publication. This is permitted under GDPR Article 17(3)(d) (the research exemption from the right to erasure).
Where your data lives
Folding@home is operated by a consortium of academic and non-profit research groups. Web and stats infrastructure is hosted primarily in the United States. If you connect from the European Union or the United Kingdom, the limited donor metadata described above is transferred to and processed in the US under standard contractual safeguards where required.
Your rights
If you are in the EU, UK, or another jurisdiction with comparable rules, you have rights of access, rectification, objection, restriction, and erasure with respect to any personal data we hold about you (subject to the research exemption above). You may also file a complaint with your national data protection authority.
Given how little donor-identifying data we hold, many requests under these rights can already be self-served (account deletion in the client) or do not apply (we hold no email/name to release or correct).
Contact
Privacy questions: projectmanager@foldingathome.org.