Effective date: October 20, 2026
This policy explains what personal information Second Order AI (“we”, “us”) collects when you visit secondorderai.com, how we use it, who we share it with and the choices you have. We keep it short because we collect very little.
The short version
- You can read the site without giving us any personal information.
- We use Google Analytics, which sets cookies, to understand how people use the site. We don’t use advertising cookies, and we don’t sell or share your information for advertising.
- If you use our contact form, we use your name, email address and message only to reply to you.
- Like most websites, our hosting and security services record basic technical information, such as IP addresses, to keep the site running and safe.
Information we collect
When you contact us
Our contact form asks for your name, your email address and your message. All three are needed for us to read and answer your message; if you prefer not to provide them, we won’t be able to reply. The form sends your message to our email inbox. It is not stored in our website’s database.
Technical information collected automatically
When you visit any page, your browser automatically sends information to our web server. Our host’s server logs and our security software may record your IP address, browser and device type, the pages you request, the referring page, and the date and time of your visit. We use this only to run, secure and troubleshoot the website, for example to block malicious traffic. We do not use it to build profiles of visitors.
Analytics
We use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, to understand how visitors use the site, such as which stories are read, how people find us and which devices they use. Google Analytics uses cookies and similar technologies to collect information such as the pages you visit, how long you stay, the website that referred you, your browser and device type, and your approximate location based on your IP address. We see this information in summary reports and do not use it to identify you personally.
Google processes this information on our behalf and may store it on servers in the United States and elsewhere. You can learn more in How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services. To stop Google Analytics from collecting information about your visits, you can install the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on or block cookies in your browser.
Cookies
Cookies are small files that a website stores in your browser. We use cookies for analytics, as described above, and for people who sign in to manage the website. We do not use advertising or social media cookies. You can delete or block cookies in your browser settings; the site will still work without them. Where the law requires it, we will ask for your consent before setting analytics cookies. Our fonts are hosted on our own server, so loading a page does not send your information to a font provider.
How we use your information
- To reply to you when you send a story tip, a correction or feedback, and to act on corrections.
- To run and protect the website, including detecting and blocking spam, attacks and abuse.
- To understand and improve the website, using summary analytics about which stories and pages people read.
- To meet legal obligations, for example if we receive a valid legal request.
We do not use your information for marketing, we do not send newsletters, and we do not make automated decisions about you.
Who we share information with
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with anyone for advertising. We share it only with service providers that help us run the website, and only for that purpose:
- Our web hosting provider, which stores the website and its server logs in the United States.
- Our email provider, which receives and stores messages sent through the contact form.
- Our website security provider, which may receive information such as IP addresses involved in suspicious activity so it can identify and block attacks. It processes this data in the United States.
- Backup storage, where we keep copies of the website so it can be restored if something goes wrong.
- Our analytics provider, Google, which collects and processes information about how the site is used, as described in the Analytics section above.
We may also disclose information if the law requires it, to protect our rights or the safety of others, or as part of a sale or transfer of the website, in which case this policy would continue to apply to your information.
How long we keep it
We keep contact form messages only as long as we need them to deal with your message and keep a reasonable record of our correspondence, and then delete them. Server and security logs are kept for a limited period set by our host and security software, and are then deleted or overwritten. Analytics data is kept for a limited period set in our Google Analytics settings and then deleted automatically. Backups are replaced on a rolling basis.
Your choices and rights
You can ask us to tell you what personal information we hold about you, to correct it or to delete it by sending a request through our contact form. We will respond within the time required by the law that applies to you. Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights under local privacy laws, and we will honor them where they apply.
Do Not Track and online tracking
Some browsers can send a “Do Not Track” signal. Our website does not currently respond to these signals, because there is no common standard for how to do so. We do not use your information to track you across other websites for advertising. Google Analytics collects information about your use of our site over time, and Google may combine it with other information as described in its policies. You can limit this with the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on or by blocking cookies, as described above.
Visitors from the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom
We are based in the United States, and your information is processed there. Where European or UK data protection law applies, we rely on our legitimate interests to reply to messages you send us and to keep the website secure, and on your consent for analytics cookies. You can withdraw your consent at any time. You have the right to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to our use of your personal information, and to receive a copy of it in a portable format. To use these rights, contact us through the form. You also have the right to complain to the data protection authority where you live, such as the Information Commissioner’s Office in the UK.
Children
Second Order AI is a general-audience news site and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, please contact us and we will delete it.
Links to other websites
Our stories link to the original reporting on other websites. Those sites have their own privacy policies, and we are not responsible for how they handle your information.
Security
We use HTTPS encryption, a web application firewall and regular updates to protect the website. No website can be completely secure, but we take reasonable steps to protect the information we hold.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we will post the new version on this page and update the effective date at the top. If a change is significant, such as a new kind of data collection, we will also note it clearly on this page.
Contact us
For questions about this policy or to make a privacy request, please use our contact form.