Last updated: 22 July 2026
HN Radio is a personal, non-commercial project that turns the top Hacker News stories into a daily audio podcast. This page explains what data the site handles and why. The short version: we collect as little as possible, we don't run ads or third-party trackers, and you can use the whole site without an account.
If you just listen and read, nothing about you is sent to our servers beyond the standard web request. "Stars" — the episodes, chapters and topics you save — are stored only in your browser's local storage, on your device. They never leave your browser unless you choose to sign in. We set no advertising or cross-site tracking cookies, and use no third-party analytics.
Sign-in is entirely optional and uses Google Sign-In, brokered by Amazon Cognito. When you sign in:
hnr_user) to keep you signed in, a small
non-sensitive hint cookie (hnr_ui) that the browser is signed in, and a
short-lived handshake cookie (hnr_login) that exists only during the sign-in
exchange. None of these are used for advertising or cross-site tracking.Our content delivery network (Amazon CloudFront) records standard access logs, which include IP addresses, for security, abuse prevention and operations. These are retained for a limited period and are not used to build advertising or marketing profiles.
We use the little we collect only to run the service — to show you your saved stars and keep you signed in. We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data, and we do not share it with anyone except the infrastructure providers below who operate the service on our behalf.
HN Radio is not directed at children under 16 and does not knowingly collect their data.
We may update this policy; the "last updated" date above reflects the most recent change.
Questions about privacy? Email naraga@gmail.com.