Privacy Policy / Terms of Use
Welcome to I Am a Datapoint. These terms describe the agreement between you (a participant) and IADP when you use this site. We've written this in plain language and tried to be concise.
If you have questions, email iamadatapoint@gmail.com.
Agreeing to these terms
By creating an account, submitting survey responses, or otherwise using iamadatapoint.org, you agree to these Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. If you don't agree, please don't use the site.
Who we are
I Am a Datapoint is an independent research project. We are not a hospital, clinic, insurance company, or licensed healthcare provider. We are not affiliated with a university or funded by pharmaceutical companies.
Who can use this site
You must be 18 years of age or older and have the legal capacity to enter into this agreement. By using the site, you represent that both are true. If we learn that someone under 18 has created an account, we will delete it.
Your account
- You are responsible for keeping your password confidential and for all activity under your account.
- One account per person, please. (If you do end up making multiple - please just comment saying (this is my 2nd account, it's helpful for analysis purposes.)
- If you suspect unauthorized access to your account, tell us as soon as you can.
What this is — and what it isn't
This is a research project, not a clinical service.
The questions we ask, the comparisons we show you, and the findings we publish are for research and general interest. None of it is medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or a substitute for the judgment of a qualified professional. The goal is to inform those things eventually, through properly regulated channels.
Specifically:
- Your personalized results are descriptive comparisons, not a diagnosis.
- Seeing that you fall in a particular range does not mean you have — or don't have — any specific condition.
- Our findings are patterns across a self-selected sample of the internet, not clinical truths.
- Nothing on this site should be used to make medical decisions. Talk to a qualified professional.
What we collect
Account information. When you register, we require a username and a password (stored as a cryptographic hash).
Survey responses. The core of what we do. You voluntarily provide answers to questions, which range across demographics, personality, life experiences, and related topics. These responses are the dataset.
Technical data. Like most websites, our servers track basic technical information: IP address, browser type, device type, and pages visited. This is used for security and to understand general traffic patterns.
What we do not collect: your legal name, home address, phone number, government ID, or actual medical records.
How we use your data
- Research. Your answers, combined with those of other participants, help us identify patterns, subtypes, and relationships in mental health data.
- Giving something back. You receive personalized results showing how your answers compare to others. That's the "give" in "give, don't take."
- Public aggregate findings. Over time, we will publish anonymized, aggregated results (see our Results page). These are patterns across the whole dataset — individual responses are never identifiable.
- Academic sharing. We may share aggregate, de-identified findings in blog posts, preprints, or peer-reviewed publications. Your individual responses are not shared in identifiable form.
Who sees your data
The project team. A small group of people running the project have access to the database. The team is listed on our Team page.
Service providers. The infrastructure that runs this site — web hosting on AWS EC2 — processes some data on our behalf. These providers operate under their own privacy commitments and only process data as needed to run the site.
No advertisers or no data brokers. We do not sell your data. We do not share subject level survey responses with advertising networks, social media platforms, or data brokers.
Your rights and choices
- Access your data. Log in anytime to review what you've submitted.
- Export your data. Email us and we'll send you a copy of your responses.
- Correct errors. Edit your profile or email us to update information.
- Delete your account. Email us, and we'll delete your account and associated responses from our active database within 30 days. Note: aggregate, anonymized data already incorporated into published findings cannot be retroactively removed, because individual contributions to aggregates are not separately identifiable.
- Withdraw from the research. Deleting your account withdraws your data from ongoing and future research use.
If you're in California, you have additional rights under the CCPA. If you're in the EU or UK, you have rights under the GDPR, including the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. We extend these rights to all users regardless of location.
Legal basis (for EU/UK users)
We process your data based on your explicit consent, which you provide when you register and submit responses. You may withdraw consent at any time by deleting your account. Mental health data is "special category" data under the GDPR, and we treat it accordingly.
Cookies and tracking
We use a minimal set of cookies — just what's needed to keep you logged in and remember basic preferences. We may use privacy-respecting analytics to understand site traffic patterns. We do not use Facebook Pixel, Google advertising cookies, or third-party behavioral tracking on this site.
Data retention
We retain your account and responses as long as your account is active, or as needed to support the research project. If you delete your account, identifiable data is removed within 30 days.
Changes to this policy
If we make material changes to this policy, we'll update the "Last updated" date at the top and notify registered users by email. Continued use of the site after changes means you accept the updated policy.