Singularity Weblog Privacy Policy

Last updated: April 28, 2026

The short version

We’re an independent media operation. We collect the bare minimum we need to run the Site, send the newsletter, moderate comments, and understand which articles people actually read. We don’t sell your data. We don’t rent your email. We don’t use your data to train AI models, and we don’t let anyone else do so either. We follow Canadian and international privacy law, and we’ll cooperate with you if you want to access, correct, or delete what we have.

If you want the long version, with the legal references, read on.

Who we are

The Site (SingularityWeblog.com) is owned and operated by Singularity Media Inc. (“Singularity Weblog,” “we,” “us”), a company incorporated in Ontario, Canada.

The data controller for the purposes of this policy is Singularity Media Inc. The privacy contact is Nikola Danaylov, reachable through the contact form.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, share, and protect your personal information when you visit the Site, subscribe to our newsletter, leave a comment, or otherwise interact with us. It works alongside our Terms of Service and our Affiliate and Compensation Disclosure.

The legal frameworks we follow

Singularity Weblog is based in Ontario. The privacy laws that apply to us, and that shape this policy, are:

  • PIPEDA, Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. The primary federal law governing how we handle personal information.
  • CASL, Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation. Governs our newsletter and any other commercial electronic communication we send.
  • GDPR and UK GDPR, for visitors and subscribers in the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom.
  • CCPA / CPRA, where applicable to California residents.

Where these frameworks impose stricter requirements, we apply the stricter requirement.

What information we collect

Information you give us directly:

  • Your name and email address when you subscribe to the newsletter
  • Your name, email, and message when you use the contact form
  • Whatever you choose to put in a Disqus comment (handled by Disqus, see below)
  • Information you provide in any survey, listener question, or guest pitch

Information we collect automatically:

  • IP address and rough geolocation
  • Browser type and version, operating system, device type
  • Referring URL, pages viewed, time spent on the Site
  • General usage patterns (which articles get read, which links get clicked)

Information we don’t collect:

  • We don’t process payments directly. Paypal and Patreon handle their own membership data; affiliate links route you to Amazon and others, who handle their own checkout under their own privacy policies.
  • We don’t ask for sensitive categories of data (race, religion, political views, health, biometric data, etc.). If you share any of that voluntarily in a comment or message, we’d rather you didn’t, and we won’t use it for anything beyond responding to you.

Why we collect it (legal bases)

Under PIPEDA, GDPR, and similar frameworks, we need a lawful reason to process your personal data. Ours are:

  • Consent. Newsletter subscriptions, comment posting, and contact form messages. You opted in; you can opt out.
  • Legitimate interest. Site analytics (understanding which content works), security and spam protection, and basic technical operation of the Site. These do not override your privacy rights, and you can object to any of them.
  • Legal obligation. Where law requires us to retain or disclose data (tax records, lawful subpoenas, regulatory requests).
  • Contract. Where you’ve entered into a paid relationship with us (such as a Patreon tier or speaking engagement booking).

How we use your information

  • To send you the newsletter you subscribed to
  • To respond to your messages
  • To moderate and approve comments
  • To understand site traffic in aggregate
  • To detect and prevent spam, abuse, or fraud
  • To comply with legal obligations
  • To protect our rights, our readers’ rights, and the integrity of the Site

What we do not do with your information

  • We do not sell your personal data to anyone, ever
  • We do not rent, barter, or trade your email address
  • We do not use your personal data to train AI models, and we do not authorize others to do so. This mirrors the prohibition on AI training in our Terms of Service.
  • We do not share your information with advertisers for behavioral targeting

Who we share your data with

A short list, with reasons:

  • MailChimp (Intuit Inc., U.S.) for newsletter delivery and email analytics
  • Disqus (Zeta Global, U.S.) for comment hosting and moderation
  • Google Analytics (Google LLC, U.S.) for aggregate site analytics, with IP anonymization enabled
  • Our web hosting provider for standard hosting operations, including server logs
  • Patreon (if you support us there), under Patreon’s own privacy policy
  • Law enforcement and regulators, only where legally required by court order, subpoena, or applicable law

If we ever sell, merge with, or transfer the business, your data may transfer along with it. Any successor entity will be bound to honor this Privacy Policy. If a successor wishes to handle your data in a way materially inconsistent with this policy, we’ll notify you and give you a meaningful opportunity to opt out before any change takes effect.

International data transfers

Several of our service providers (MailChimp, Disqus, Google Analytics) operate in the United States. If you’re in the EU, UK, or another jurisdiction with data export rules, your data may be processed in the U.S. under those providers’ safeguards (Standard Contractual Clauses, Data Privacy Framework certification, or equivalent mechanisms).

Cookies and tracking

The Site uses cookies and similar technologies for three reasons: to make the Site work, to understand how it’s used in aggregate, and to display embedded content from other services (mainly YouTube, podcast players, and social embeds).

First-party cookies (set by us):

  • WordPress login cookies if you have an account on the Site. Login cookies last two days (two weeks if “Remember Me” is selected). Screen-option cookies last one year. A temporary post-edit cookie expires after one day. None of these contains personal data beyond what’s needed for site function.

Third-party cookies (set by services we use):

  • Google Analytics 4 (_ga, _ga_*) for site analytics, with IP anonymization enabled
  • YouTube (GPS, YSC, VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE, PREF, and others) When YouTube videos are embedded
  • Disqus for the comment system, including its own cookies if you choose to be remembered between visits
  • MailChimp for newsletter open and click tracking

Opting out of cookies:

You can refuse cookies in your browser settings. Most modern browsers let you block all cookies, block third-party cookies, or delete cookies on close. The trade-off: some Site features may not work properly.

For Google Analytics specifically, install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

For general guidance on managing cookies in any browser, allaboutcookies.org is a useful reference.

Embedded content from other sites

Articles on the Site may include embedded videos (YouTube), audio players (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, and others), and social media posts (X, BlueSky, LinkedIn, and others). Embedded content behaves as if you’d visited the source site directly. Those sites can set their own cookies, run their own tracking, and apply their own privacy policies, none of which we control.

How long we keep your data

  • Newsletter subscribers: until you unsubscribe, plus a short retention window for compliance and audit
  • Comments: retained indefinitely for thread continuity, unless you request deletion
  • Contact form messages: up to five years, often less in practice
  • Analytics data: as configured in Google Analytics 4 (current default retention setting applies)
  • Server logs: typically 30 to 90 days, depending on hosting provider settings

If you’d like specific data deleted sooner than these retention windows, ask. We’ll act on the request unless we have a legal obligation to retain.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you have some or all of the following rights:

  • Access: ask us what personal data we hold about you
  • Correction: ask us to fix inaccurate data
  • Deletion: ask us to erase your data (“right to be forgotten”)
  • Portability: ask for your data in a common, machine-readable format
  • Restriction: ask us to limit how we use your data
  • Objection: object to processing based on legitimate interest
  • Withdraw consent for any processing based on consent
  • Privacy signals: we honor Global Privacy Control (GPC) browser signals as opt-out requests where applicable law requires
  • Lodge a complaint with a privacy regulator:
    • Canada: Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (priv.gc.ca)
    • UK: Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk)
    • EU: your local data protection authority
    • California: California Attorney General’s Office (oag.ca.gov)

To exercise any of these rights, write to us through the contact form. We respond within 30 days, often sooner.

Newsletter and CASL compliance

Our newsletter is sent in accordance with Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL). That means:

  • You must give explicit consent before being added (handled via the signup checkbox on the Site)
  • Every newsletter we send identifies us clearly and includes our business address
  • Every newsletter contains a working unsubscribe link, processed within 10 business days (usually instantly via MailChimp)
  • You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in any newsletter, or by writing to us through the contact form

Children and minors

The Site is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13, or under 16 in jurisdictions where GDPR-K or local law sets that as the relevant threshold.

If you believe we have collected information from a minor in violation of this policy, contact us, and we will delete it promptly.

Comments specifically

Comments are handled by Disqus. To comment, you need a Disqus account. The data you submit (name, profile photo, comment text, IP address, browser user-agent string) is stored and managed on Disqus’s servers in accordance with Disqus’s privacy policy.

If your Disqus profile uses Gravatar, an anonymized hash of your email address may be sent to Gravatar to retrieve your profile picture. Gravatar’s privacy policy is at automattic.com/privacy.

For spam detection, comment metadata may be processed through automated services.

Media uploads

If you upload images to the Site (rare; usually only contributors), be aware that EXIF metadata embedded in image files (including GPS location data) can be downloaded by site visitors. Strip EXIF data from any image you upload if location privacy matters to you.

Security

We host the Site only over HTTPS. We use reputable third-party providers for newsletter delivery, comment hosting, and analytics, all of whom maintain their own security programs. We do not store payment card data on our own servers.

No system is perfectly secure. If you become aware of a security issue with the Site, please report it through the contact form so we can investigate.

Data breach procedures

If we become aware of a data breach affecting your personal information, we will:

  • Notify the relevant regulator within the timeframe required by applicable law (72 hours under GDPR, “as soon as feasible” under PIPEDA’s breach reporting rules)
  • Notify affected individuals where the breach poses a real risk of significant harm
  • Document the breach, our response, and any corrective measures

External links

The Site contains links to other websites. We can’t guarantee the accuracy of information on linked sites, and inclusion of a link does not constitute endorsement. Linked sites operate under their own privacy policies.

Changes to this Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we’ll change the “last updated” date at the top of this page. If the changes are material (new categories of data collection, new third-party processors, changes affecting your rights), we’ll do our best to flag them more visibly, including via newsletter notice where appropriate.

We will not use personal information collected under a previous version of this policy in a way materially inconsistent with the policy in effect at the time of collection, without your consent.

Contact

For questions about this Privacy Policy, to exercise any of your rights, or to report a privacy concern, reach us through the contact form.

Singularity Media Inc., Ontario, Canada