Privacy Policy | MadRobot

This policy explains how MadRobot (“we”) handles data when you use madrobot.blog or the MadRobot app for iPhone and iPad. MadRobot is run by Ross Nicholson, who is responsible for this site under data protection law. You can contact us about anything in this policy at contact@madrobot.blog.

The short version

You don’t need an account to read MadRobot.
We don’t use cookies or advertising trackers of our own.
We count visits with Cloudflare Web Analytics and Ahrefs Web Analytics, which don’t use cookies or track you across websites (see below).
We collect anonymous reading statistics (how often people return, where they come from, how far they read) with no cookies and no IDs, and you can opt out with one click (see below).
If you turn on story alerts, we keep only the anonymous delivery address your browser gives us for them, and delete it when you turn alerts off (see below).
If you use the MadRobot app for iPhone or iPad and allow notifications, we keep only the random token Apple gives the app for delivering alerts (see below).
Some articles embed posts from X or videos from YouTube. Only on those pages, those services can receive technical data and may use cookies (see below).
We don’t collect or store personal data about you, unless you sign up for our newsletter, when we keep your email address only to send it (see below), and we don’t sell or share anything.

Reader polls

Polls are anonymous. When you vote, the only thing we store is one more vote for the answer you picked. We don’t store who voted, your IP address or any identifier.

To stop you seeing the question again after you’ve voted, your own browser remembers that you’ve voted in that poll. This is kept in your browser’s storage, never sent to us, and you can clear it at any time by clearing your browser’s site data.

Settings saved in your browser

If you switch on dark mode, that choice is also saved in your own browser’s storage so the site remembers it. Like your poll status, it never leaves your device.

On iPhone and iPad, if you close the bar suggesting our app, your browser remembers when you closed it so it stays hidden for a day. That note also stays on your device.

Hosting and security

The site is hosted by Cloudflare, which processes technical information such as IP addresses and browser details in order to deliver pages and protect the site from attacks. Cloudflare does this as our service provider, and we don’t receive or keep that information. Our fonts are hosted on our own site, so reading MadRobot doesn’t connect your browser to any third-party font or advertising services.

Visitor counts

To know how many people read MadRobot and which pages they visit, we use Cloudflare Web Analytics. A small script from Cloudflare records anonymous page views, such as the page, the referring site, your country and your browser type, and reports them to us only as totals. It doesn’t use cookies or local storage, doesn’t build a profile of you or follow you across other websites, and doesn’t give us your IP address or any way to identify you. Cloudflare describes how it works in its Web Analytics page and privacy policy.

We also use Ahrefs Web Analytics, which works the same way: a small script from Ahrefs records anonymous page views (the page, the referring site, your country, browser and device type) and shows them to us only as totals. It doesn’t use cookies or local storage and doesn’t track you across websites. Ahrefs explains how it handles data in its privacy policy.

Reader statistics

To understand how MadRobot is read, and whether people come back, our own pages collect some anonymous reading statistics. They don’t use cookies, and they never include a name, an ID, your IP address or anything else that could single you out.

Your browser keeps a small note in its own storage (not a cookie): the first and the most recent day you visited, how many different days that adds up to, and where you first came from (for example a search engine, Reddit or a link someone shared). Once a day it sends us an anonymous summary of that note: how many days you’ve visited (in ranges such as “4 to 7 days”), how long since your last visit, where you first came from and where you came from today, and the week you first visited. When you leave a page, it also sends how far down the page you scrolled and roughly how long the page was open, in broad ranges.

When these summaries reach us, Cloudflare adds the country your connection comes from and we note whether you’re on a phone, tablet or computer. We store only running totals per day for each combination, such as “12 returning readers from Germany on phones today”. We don’t keep IP addresses or browser details, and we can’t link one summary to another or to a person. We use these totals to decide what to write and improve the site, never for advertising, and we don’t share them.

You can switch this off at any time. The button below stops this browser sending any reading statistics and deletes the note it keeps. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, we treat that as opting out automatically. Clearing your browser’s site data for madrobot.blog also deletes the note.

Story alerts

If you turn on story alerts with the bell at the top of the page, your browser asks your permission and then gives us a delivery address for alerts, made by your browser’s push service (Apple, Google, Mozilla or Microsoft, depending on your browser). We store only that address and the two public keys your browser sends with it so alerts can be encrypted. We don’t receive or store your name, email, IP address or browsing history, and the address can’t be used to identify you.

We use it only to send you alerts about new MadRobot stories. The content of each alert is encrypted so that only your browser can read it. To stop alerts, tap the bell and choose “Turn off alerts”, which deletes your address from our database straight away, or block notifications for madrobot.blog in your browser settings. If your browser’s push service tells us an address no longer works, we delete it too.

MadRobot app

The MadRobot app for iPhone and iPad shows the same stories as this site, and you don’t need an account to use it. If you allow notifications, Apple gives the app a push token: a random identifier that lets Apple deliver alerts to your device. The app sends it to us, and we store only that token, so we can send you an alert for every new MadRobot story. We don’t receive or store your name, email, Apple ID, location or IP address, and the app has no advertising or tracking.

We keep daily totals (how many alerts were sent, how many devices joined or left) for our own statistics, never anything about a single device. To stop alerts, turn off notifications for MadRobot in the app or in your device’s Settings, or delete the app; we delete a token as soon as Apple tells us it no longer works. Stories you save in the app stay on your device and, if you use iCloud, in your own iCloud account so they also appear on your other devices; they’re never sent to us. The app also remembers on your device where you stopped in long stories and which polls you’ve voted in. Poll votes from the app are counted like votes on this site (see Reader polls).

Embedded posts from X

Some articles include posts embedded from X (formerly Twitter). On those pages only, your browser loads the post directly from X. That means X receives technical information such as your IP address, browser details and the page you’re reading, and X may set or read cookies under its own privacy policy. We ask X not to use this information to personalise your experience, but we don’t control what X does with it and we don’t receive any of it. Pages without an embedded post don’t connect to X at all.

If you’d rather not load content from X, you can block third-party scripts or cookies in your browser. You’ll still see the text of each post and a link to it on X.

Embedded videos from YouTube

Some articles include videos embedded from YouTube. We use YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode (youtube-nocookie.com), which doesn’t set cookies until you play the video. On those pages your browser loads the player directly from YouTube, which receives technical information such as your IP address, and if you press play, YouTube (owned by Google) may use cookies and similar technology under Google’s privacy policy. Pages without an embedded video don’t connect to YouTube.

Links to other sites

Our articles link to the original sources we report on. Those sites have their own privacy policies, and we’re not responsible for how they handle your data.

If you sign up for our newsletter, MadRobot: The Week in AI, your email address is sent to and stored by Buttondown, the service we use to send it. We use your address only to send you the newsletter and messages about your subscription, such as the email asking you to confirm it. We never sell or share it.

We don’t track whether you open our emails or which links you click. Every email has a link to unsubscribe, and when you do, you stop receiving it straight away. You can also ask us to delete your address at any time at contact@madrobot.blog. Buttondown handles your address as our service provider, under its privacy policy.

Emailing us

If you email us, we’ll use your email address and message only to reply, and we won’t add you to any list. You can ask us to delete your emails at any time.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, including under the UK GDPR and EU GDPR, you have rights over your personal data, including to access it and have it deleted. Because we don’t store personal data from visiting the site, there’s usually nothing for us to find, but you can always email contact@madrobot.blog with any questions.

If you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled your data, you can complain to a data protection authority. In the UK that’s the Information Commissioner’s Office; in the EU, it’s the authority in your country.