Privacy policy
Last updated
This policy explains what Barking Dog Spider stores about you, why, who else sees it and how long we keep it. Making Stuffs Ltd is the controller of your personal data.
What we collect
- Your account: your email address, your password (stored only as a salted hash, never as you typed it), when you created the account, when you last signed in, and whether you've confirmed your email address.
- Sign-in records: a hashed record of each signed-in browser, which lasts up to 30 days, and of your API token for connecting AI tools (MCP), which lasts up to a year, with the date each one expires. Sign-in codes and reset links are stored hashed and expire.
- IP addresses: used to limit sign-in, sign-up and other attempts, to stop abuse. We hold them in the server's memory while a limit applies and don't store them in our database. They can appear in our web server's error logs (for example when a request fails while the service restarts); those logs are rotated, capped in size and used only to fix problems.
- What you create: the URLs you crawl and the crawl data, saved crawls, crawl settings, schedules and the exports they produce.
- Email addresses for crawl emails: the address you enter to receive scheduled exports or crawl-complete emails. It has to be your own, confirmed address.
- API keys you add for third-party services, such as AI providers, PageSpeed and link metrics, saved with your settings.
- Google tokens, if you connect Google, and the email address of the Google account you connected.
- Usage counts: how many URLs you've crawled each month, and your plan.
- Admin records: if we change your account (for example your plan or limits), we log what we did and when.
Why we use it
- To run your account and the service, which is our contract with you.
- To keep the service secure and stop abuse, which is in our legitimate interests.
Cookies and storage on your device
We set one strictly necessary cookie, hopper_session, which keeps you signed in for up to 30 days or until you sign out. While you connect Google, we set a second, hopper_oauth, for up to 10 minutes; it's only sent back to our Google sign-in step and is deleted once that's done. We don't use advertising or tracking cookies.
The app also keeps a few things in your browser's local storage: your layout choices, such as column widths and panel layout, and, if you use it without an account, a random ID for your workspace. None of this is sent to anyone else.
Analytics
Analytics isn't running on our public pages or in the app, so we don't count visits.
Who we share it with
- Contabo hosts our server, in its EU region.
- Paddle will handle payments when paid plans open. As the merchant of record, Paddle collects your payment details itself; we don't see them.
- Services you connect, such as Google, OpenAI, Anthropic and link metrics providers, using your own keys or account. They receive only what you send them through your own account with them, under their own terms.
We send email from our own mail server, so no third-party email provider sees your messages. We don't sell your data.
Where it's kept
Your data is held on our server in the EU, which the UK treats as giving adequate protection. Services you connect may process data elsewhere, under their own terms.
How long we keep it
We keep your data until you delete it or your account. Deleting your account removes your account, sign-ins, saved crawls, settings, API keys, schedules, exports, Google tokens, plan and usage records straight away. The log of changes we've made to your account stays, but no longer links to you by email address.
We take a backup every night and keep each one for 14 days, so anything you delete is gone from our backups within 14 days. We don't use our hosting provider's own backups.
Your rights
Under UK GDPR you have the right to:
- access the data we hold about you;
- correct it if it's wrong;
- delete it: delete your account yourself from your account page, or email us;
- take it with you: export your crawls from the app;
- object to how we use it.
To use any of these, email barkingdog@makingstuffs.com. If you're unhappy with how we've handled your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.
Contact
Questions about this policy or your data: email barkingdog@makingstuffs.com.
Who we are
Barking Dog Spider is run by Making Stuffs Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales, company number 14615742. Registered office: Unit A, 82 James Carter Road, Mildenhall, Suffolk, IP28 7DE. Email barkingdog@makingstuffs.com.