Privacy and the recipient's choices
Display modes, unlisted pages, search-engine indexing, the public profile, what the issuer and the public see, and what account deletion does to a certificate.
OSINT Certificates is built for people who often work under a handle. The recipient controls what the public page shows; the issuer controls what is recorded; OSINTverse signs the record and publishes the keys.
Display modes
A certificate records a name and, optionally, a handle. The public page shows one of:
| Mode | Page shows | When |
|---|---|---|
| Name only | The name | Always available. |
| Handle only | The handle, with a note that the name is withheld | When the type allows it and the recipient has a handle on record. |
| Name and handle | Both | When the type allows it and there is a handle. |
The issuer chooses which modes a type allows; the recipient picks among them after claiming, on Dashboard → Certificates. Before the claim, the page shows the first mode the type allows that the data supports.
Switching modes never changes the signed record. The record holds a salted commitment to each field; the public JSON discloses the value and salt of the shown field only, so a withheld name cannot be confirmed by guessing. Details are on How verification works.
Unlisted pages
Every verification page is reachable by link only until the recipient turns on Let search engines index the page for that certificate. Until then the page and its JSON twin answer with noindex, and the page is not in the sitemap. Issuers cannot override this.
The page has no third-party scripts and no tracking pixels. The only measurement is a view counter the issuer sees; no visitor logs are kept for a page.
The email has no open or click tracking.
The public profile
A recipient can list a certificate on their public profile at /u/{username}. The profile exists only once at least one certificate is listed; an account that lists nothing has no public page. It shows:
- the account name when at least one listed certificate discloses the name, otherwise the username only,
- the avatar,
- the social links from the profile settings,
- the listed certificates, each with its own display mode, status, issuer, and link to the verification page.
Revoked and superseded certificates never appear on a profile. The profile is noindex unless at least one listed certificate is set to be indexable.
What the public sees, and what it never sees
| Public page and JSON | Issuer console and REST API | Nobody |
|---|---|---|
| Title, description, issuer name and trust level, recipient as disclosed, dates, fields, skills, evidence link, status, public revocation reason, signatories, record, hash, signature | Everything public, plus the recipient's email and handle, the display mode, the listed and indexable flags, the personal message, the private revocation reason, the email delivery status, the view count, the event log | Claim tokens (hashed at rest), salts of withheld fields, the signing key |
Searches, cases, wallets, and API keys are never linked to a certificate in either direction.
Data roles
The issuer decides who receives a certificate and what it says; OSINTverse processes recipient data (name, email, optional handle, the issuer's fields) on the issuer's behalf to sign, deliver, and display it. Field keys and labels that look like personal data (birth dates, ID numbers, addresses, phone numbers, and similar) are refused in the type editor.
Reporting a certificate
Every verification page has a report link. Use it when a certificate names you without your consent, looks forged, or was issued by someone pretending to be an organisation. OSINTverse can revoke a certificate or suspend an issuer; a suspended issuer's certificates keep their real status and say so.
Account deletion
Deleting your OSINTverse account (Settings → Delete account, with its recovery window) does this to your certificates:
- the certificate is unlinked from your account,
- it is removed from your profile and set to
noindex, - the verification page keeps working by id, with the display mode you last chose,
- the issuer keeps its record, including your email, as the controller of that data.
The record is not revoked, because a revoked-by-deletion certificate would misrepresent what the issuer awarded. To have a certificate withdrawn, ask the issuer to revoke it, or report it.
Deleting the issuer's team
A team that has issued at least one certificate cannot be deleted. Deleting a team would remove the issuer, its credential types, and every certificate it issued, and their verification pages would stop resolving; the deletion request is refused with that explanation. The way out is a suspension: a team owner asks an OSINTverse admin to suspend the issuer, issuing stops, and every certificate stays verifiable with its real status. Revoke what should no longer stand first; a revoked certificate keeps its page and says so.
A team whose issuer never issued anything can still be deleted; the empty issuer goes with it.