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Privacy & cookies

Applies to the ireadingroom.com website. Last updated 23 August 2026.

No analytics until you choose to accept. No analytics script is loaded and no analytics request is made unless you press “Accept” on the cookie banner. Declining, or ignoring the banner, means no analytics at all. Simply reading this site contacts no third party. The one exception is deliberate and only happens if you start using the contact form — see If you send us a message.

Who is responsible

Reading Room is the data controller for this website. Contact: support@ireadingroom.com.

What is collected, and when

If — and only if — you accept, this site loads Google Analytics 4, which sets two cookies in your browser:

Google Analytics then records page views, scrolling, and which call-to-action links are clicked, along with the standard technical information a browser sends (approximate location derived from IP, browser and device type, referring site). Google Analytics 4 does not store IP addresses.

What is never collected

No page content, article titles, search terms, arXiv categories, or project descriptions are ever included in analytics data. No advertising or cross-site tracking signals are ever enabled. Analytics events carry only a fixed set of predefined labels — for example, which of the three sign-up buttons was clicked.

This is enforced in the code itself: the site has no general-purpose event function, only a small number of narrowly typed ones whose parameters are restricted to a fixed list of values, so free text cannot reach an analytics payload.

Separately, and regardless of analytics: your saved papers, annotations, and project descriptions in the Reading Room app are private and are never shared with third parties.

Why, and on what legal basis

The purpose is narrow: to understand how many people visit this page and which parts of it lead to creating an account. The legal basis is your consent, GDPR Art. 6(1)(a). You may withdraw it at any time, and withdrawing is as easy as giving it.

Who processes the data

Google Ireland Limited (and Google LLC) act as processors under Google’s data processing terms. See Google’s privacy policy. You can also install Google’s opt-out browser add-on to block Google Analytics on every site.

How long it is kept

Event-level analytics data is retained for 14 months, then deleted automatically.

Your choice, and how to change it

Your decision is stored in your own browser under rr_consent in local storage, for 180 days, after which you will be asked again. That entry exists solely to remember and honour your choice, so it is strictly necessary and is not itself subject to consent. It contains no identifier and is never sent anywhere.

To change your mind, use Cookie settings in the footer of the home page. Clearing your browser storage also resets it.

If you send us a message

The about page carries a contact form. Nothing on it is collected unless you fill it in and press send — there is no partial capture and no keystroke logging.

When you do send one, three things are recorded:

They are stored in a private Google Sheet, so Google Ireland Limited (and Google LLC) act as a processor for that data. They are used to read and answer your message and for nothing else: never added to a mailing list, never used for advertising, never sold. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in answering people who contact us, GDPR Art. 6(1)(f) — and Art. 6(1)(b) where your message concerns an existing account.

Messages are kept for 24 months and then deleted. Ask us sooner and we will delete yours on request.

The form is protected by Cloudflare Turnstile, an anti-spam check that replaces a CAPTCHA. Its script is loaded from challenges.cloudflare.com only once you interact with the form, so a visit that never touches it contacts Cloudflare not at all. Turnstile inspects browser signals to tell a person from a bot; Cloudflare states that it does not access or transmit form entries or other page inputs. It may set short-lived cf_chl_rc_* cookies, which exist to run the check itself. Because it is strictly necessary to protect a service you actively asked for, it is not gated behind the cookie banner — but it never runs unless you begin using the form.

Your browser sends this data to us and not to Google: the form posts to ireadingroom.com, and our own server passes it on. Prefer no form at all? Email support@ireadingroom.com directly.

Your rights

You have the right to access, rectify, erase, restrict, and object to processing of your personal data, and to data portability. You may also lodge a complaint with your local data protection supervisory authority. To exercise any of these, email support@ireadingroom.com.