Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy for botblog.co.uk

Last Updated: March 6, 2026

1. Introduction

Welcome to botblog.co.uk (“we,” “us,” or “our”). We are committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal data. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your personal data when you visit our website and when you use Ask Bob, our AI assistant and backtesting service.

For the purpose of the UK GDPR, we are the data controller for any personal data we collect from you.

Our Details:

2. What Personal Data We Collect

Personal data means any information that can be used to identify an individual. We may collect the following types of data from you:

Website (botblog.co.uk):

  • Identity Data: Your name (if you provide it via our contact form).
  • Contact Data: Your email address (if you subscribe to a newsletter or use the contact form).
  • Technical Data: Your Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system, and platform.
  • Usage Data: Information about how you use our website, including the pages you visit, the time spent on those pages, and the links you click.
  • Communication Data: Records of your correspondence with us via email or other means.

Ask Bob (botblog.co.uk/ask-bob):

  • Usage Data: Questions you type, the page you were on, strategy text you paste for a Snapshot or backtest, and optional emailed reports. We store a salted hash of your IP, not the IP itself. Query rows auto-purge after 90 days.
  • Support Data: Records of correspondence when you contact us at info@botblog.co.uk or via our contact form.

3. How We Collect Your Data

We collect data in the following ways:

Direct Interactions: You may give us your Identity and Contact Data by filling in forms or corresponding with us via email. This includes data you provide when you:

  • Use our contact form.
  • Subscribe to our newsletter.
  • Use Ask Bob (questions, Strategy Snapshot, or backtest report emails).
  • Contact support.

Automated Technologies: As you interact with our website and Ask Bob, we automatically collect Technical and Usage Data. We use cookies and similar technologies (including Google Analytics) for this. See our Cookie Policy for more details.

Third Parties: We may receive data from third-party sources, such as:

  • Analytics Providers: Google Analytics, which may be based outside the UK and EU.
  • Email: IONOS SMTP sends newsletter, confirm, and Ask Bob report emails.
  • OpenAI: Ask Bob answers are generated via the OpenAI API. We send the question plus retrieved BotBlog snippets; we do not send payment card data.
  • Affiliate Networks: When you click on an affiliate link, a cookie may be placed by the affiliate network or merchant. This cookie does not contain personal data but helps track the referral.

4. Our Legal Basis for Processing Your Data

Under the UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis to process your personal data. We rely on the following:

  • Contract: We process your data where necessary to perform our contract with you (for example sending a Strategy Snapshot or backtest report you asked for).
  • Legitimate Interests: We may process your personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and where your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. For example, we use Google Analytics to understand how visitors use our site, and we rate-limit Ask Bob to prevent abuse.
  • Consent: We will process your personal data for specific purposes where you have given us clear consent. For example, when you sign up for our newsletter, you consent to us using your email to send you updates. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time by unsubscribing or contacting us.

5. How We Use Your Data

We use your data for the following purposes:

  • To operate and maintain our website and Ask Bob.
  • To send you a Strategy Snapshot or backtest report when you request one.
  • To send you our newsletter, if you have subscribed.
  • To respond to your inquiries, comments, and support requests.
  • To analyse website and app traffic and improve our content and services.
  • To monitor and prevent security breaches, fraud, and spam.

6. Data Sharing

We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal data to others. We may share your data with the following third parties who act as data processors on our behalf:

  • Google Analytics: For website and app usage analysis.
  • OpenAI: To generate Ask Bob answers.
  • IONOS: To send email from info@botblog.co.uk.
  • Cloudflare: Turnstile bot check on Ask Bob forms.
  • Affiliate Networks: To track commissions (data is pseudonymized and does not directly identify you).

7. Data Retention

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

  • Contact Form Data: We will retain this data for as long as it takes to resolve your query and for a short period afterwards for record-keeping.
  • Newsletter Subscription Data: We will retain this data until you unsubscribe.
  • Analytics Data: This data is typically retained for a maximum of 26 months.
  • Ask Bob queries: salted IP hashes and messages auto-purge after 90 days. Optional report emails are kept as sent mail on our mailbox host.
  • We do not take card payments or keep a shop on botblog.co.uk.

8. International Data Transfers

Our service providers, such as Google Analytics, OpenAI, Cloudflare (Turnstile), and IONOS (email), may transfer and process your data in countries outside the UK and the European Economic Area (EEA).

We will ensure that such transfers are made in a way that provides adequate protection for your data, either by relying on a country’s adequacy decision or by using specific contracts approved by the UK government or the European Commission.

9. Your Legal Rights

Under the UK GDPR, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

  • The right to be informed: To know how your data is being used.
  • The right of access: To request a copy of the data we hold about you.
  • The right to rectification: To have inaccurate data corrected.
  • The right to erasure (“the right to be forgotten”): To have your data deleted.
  • The right to restrict processing: To ask us to stop processing your data in certain circumstances.
  • The right to data portability: To request your data in a machine-readable format.
  • The right to object: To object to our processing of your data in certain circumstances.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact us at info@botblog.co.uk (or support@botblog.co.uk for Ask Bob). We will respond to your request within one month.

10. Complaints

You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s supervisory authority for data protection issues, if you believe we have not handled your data correctly. We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO, so please contact us in the first instance.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. We will post any changes on this page and update the “Last Updated” date at the top of this policy.

12. Contact Us

For any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:

13. Ask Bob (AI assistant)

When you use Ask Bob on botblog.co.uk, we process your chat questions and pasted strategy text to generate answers via OpenAI (API processor). We log questions (up to 500 characters), page context, and a hashed IP address for up to 90 days. Cached identical answers are stored for up to 24 hours. Strategy Snapshot emails are sent only when you enter your email and consent to storage for that report; we may store your email as a marketing lead if you tick the consent box (separate from the newsletter double opt-in). Legal basis: legitimate interests for the chat feature; consent for report email and lead storage. You may request erasure via info@botblog.co.uk.