Privacy, plainly.

The short version

Streamless FM is a hobby community radio station based in Gippsland, Victoria. There is no advertising, there are no analytics trackers, and we never sell or trade your information. Listening needs no account. The personal information we collect is the names you choose to put in a shout-out and, if you choose to join the regulars, your first name, your town and your birthday. We only email you if you ask us to. This policy explains our approach in line with the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), and it covers both this website and the Streamless FM Android app.

1. What we collect

• Shout-outs. Your name, who the shout-out is for, and an occasion picked from our list. Use any names you like: first names or nicknames are plenty.
• A random session ID. The player stores a random identifier on your own device (in your browser on the website, and in the app's private storage on Android) so we can apply fair rate limits to shout-outs. It isn't linked to your identity, it isn't an advertising ID, and it doesn't follow you around other websites or apps. It is sent to us only when you submit a shout-out.
• A random listening ID. The player and the app also store a second random identifier, created the first time you press play, and send it to our stream server each time you start listening. We use it to count how many different devices tune in and how many come back. An IP address on its own is a poor counter: a mobile connection changes address between sessions, so one listener looks like several, while everyone in a house shares a single address. This ID identifies a device rather than a person, so your phone and your laptop count as two. It is not an advertising ID, it is not shared with anyone, and it never influences which songs the station plays. Clearing your browser data, or uninstalling the app, gives you a fresh one.
• The regulars account, if you join one. Joining is entirely optional and the station works the same without it. You sign in with Google, which tells us your email address and the name on your Google account; you then give us a first name for the DJ to use, your town, and a birthday if you want one marked. The first name and the town are there to be read on air while you are listening, which is the whole point of the feature, and every part of it has a switch on your account page. We never ask for a surname, and we do not receive your Google password or anything else from your Google account.
• Your email address, and whether you said we may use it. Signing in gives us an address whether we want one or not, so we record separately whether you ticked the box that lets us write to you, and the date you ticked it. Left unticked, and it is unticked unless you tick it, the address sits there unused: we send nothing.
• Your Discord account, if you connect one. Also optional. If you use the Connect Discord button on your account page, we store your Discord user ID and the handle it shows, so that we can add you to our Discord server, give you the regulars role there, and take that role back if you disconnect. We do not keep any Discord password or login, we cannot read your messages, and we cannot see anything you do in other servers. Disconnecting removes the role and makes us forget the ID; whether you stay in the server after that is up to you.
• A voice recording, if you send one. If you record a station ID for us, we keep the recording along with the first name and town you typed with it, and the fact that you agreed we could broadcast it. Nothing is recorded until you press record, and nothing leaves your device until you press send. The recording is stored privately: no link serves it and nobody but the station can play it. If we use it, what goes to air is the recording itself, which is your voice saying your first name and your town, because that is what a station ID is. If we don't use it, it is simply never played.
• Local settings. Preferences like your volume level, and the name you last sent a shout-out under, are saved on your own device only. They never leave it unless you send another shout-out.
• Server logs and listener counts. Like almost every website and radio stream, our servers record standard technical logs (IP address, browser type, time of connection) for security and to count listeners. Listener numbers shown on the player are aggregate only. Because our music licences cover Australia only, IP addresses are also used to check, in the moment, that a connection is coming from within Australia.

2. How we use it

• To run the station: the names in your shout-out may be read on air by a presenter or the AI DJ. That's the fun of it, so only include names you're happy to have broadcast.
• To keep the service working, secure, fairly rate-limited, and available only within Australia.
• To look at aggregate listening numbers so we know what's working.
• To say hello to the regulars on air: your first name, your town and your birthday are used by the DJ, and only while you are actually listening.
• To put you in our Discord server and give you the regulars role, if you connect a Discord account, and to take that role back if you disconnect or delete your account.
• To email you about the station, but only if you have asked us to. It is an unticked box when you join and a switch on your account page afterwards, you can turn it off at any time, and every email we send will have a way to stop them in it. We will not email you about anything you did not agree to, and we will never pass your address to anyone else.

We do not use your information for advertising or profiling, we do not build a picture of your taste, and we never sell or trade it. Nothing about what you listen to affects which songs the station plays, and nothing about what you listen to is ever used to decide what to send you.

3. Who we share it with

Nobody, except the service providers that host the station (our web host, database provider and stream server), who store data on our behalf, Google, who handle the sign-in if you join the regulars, and Discord, if you choose to connect a Discord account. Some of these providers may store data on servers located outside Australia; where that happens, the data is limited to what's described above (shout-outs, regulars account details and technical logs). Album artwork lookups are made from our own server to Apple and Last.fm using only song and artist names; no information about you is included. We'll disclose information if genuinely required by Australian law.

4. Cookies and local storage

We don't use advertising or third-party tracking cookies. The player uses your browser's local storage for three first-party things only: your volume setting, the random session ID and the random listening ID described above. Clearing your browser data removes all three. The Android app keeps the equivalent handful of values in its own private storage; uninstalling the app removes them.

5. Keeping and deleting information

Shout-outs and play history are kept so the station can operate and to meet music-licensing reporting obligations. The stream server's raw access logs, which are where your IP address and listening ID appear, are deleted automatically after 30 days. The listening records we build from those logs are kept for longer, because music licensing is reported year by year. Those records keep the listening ID and a scrambled form of the IP address, never the address itself. If you'd like a shout-out removed, email us and we'll sort it out. You can also ask us what information we hold about you, or ask us to correct it, although in almost every case the honest answer will be "a shout-out and nothing else". A voice recording you sent us is yours to take back at any time, for any reason or none: email us and it comes out of rotation that day. Recordings we did not use are deleted once they have been reviewed and a few months have passed.

6. Children

The station is family-friendly and shout-outs don't require any account or personal details. If you're a parent and want a child's shout-out taken down, just ask.

7. The Android app

The Streamless FM Android app is the same station in a smaller box, and it collects the same things, nothing more. To be specific about what leaves your phone:

• Shout-outs. If you send one, the two names, the occasion you picked, and the random session ID are sent to us. Nothing else.
• Playing the radio. Your device connects to our stream and reads what's currently playing. As with any internet connection, our stream server and database provider see your IP address; it's used to serve the audio and to check the connection is coming from Australia, as our music licences require. The app sends the random listening ID described above with that connection, so we can count devices rather than addresses.
• Album artwork. Cover art is looked up by song and artist name, and no information about you is included in that lookup. The picture itself is then downloaded by your phone from Apple's image servers, which means Apple sees your IP address the same way any website you visit would. We don't tell them who you are, because we don't know either.
• The Sample tab. The thirty second previews and the video clips play straight from Apple's servers to your phone rather than through us, so the same applies: Apple sees the connection, and we send nothing about you with it. Band photos on the song pages come from Deezer in the same way.
• Casting. If you send the radio to a speaker or a TV, your phone uses Google's Cast service to find devices on your own network and hands the speaker our stream address. The speaker then connects to us directly, as its own device, and we count it as one. We don't send the random listening ID with it.
• What we don't do. No advertising or advertising IDs, no analytics or crash-reporting SDKs, no location, no contacts, no microphone, no notifications other than the playback controls, and nothing is backed up to your cloud account. The app asks for one permission only: showing that playback notification.

Signing in is optional. The app can be used without an account, and everything it stores on the phone goes when you uninstall it. To have a shout-out removed from our records, email us at the address below.

8. Deleting your account

If you joined the regulars, you can delete your account at any time and we keep nothing back. Deleting removes your sign-in, your first name, your town, your birthday if you gave one, and the record of what you listened to. It cannot be undone.

There are two ways to do it, and both delete the same things:

• In the app. Open the menu, then Delete my account.
• On the web. Go to streamless.fm/account/delete, or open streamless.fm/regulars and choose Delete my account. Both do the same thing.

If you would rather we did it for you, email hello@streamless.fm from the address you signed in with and we will remove it.

9. Questions or complaints

Email hello@streamless.fm and we'll do our best to fix any concern quickly. If you're not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at oaic.gov.au.

We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top will always tell you when it last changed. Our terms of use are at /terms.