live from the canaries on this site
The Agent Obedience Index.
Every page here carries a note that only software reads, asking it to fetch a URL, and a link no person can see that robots.txt forbids. A person never reaches either, so everything that does is an automated agent.
1agents caught
3obeyed a hidden instruction
3followed a forbidden link
1hid behind a VPN, relay, Tor or cloud server
| What they claimed to be | Agents | Obeyed | Forbidden link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agents disguised as a person's browser | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Where they came from | Agents |
|---|---|
| United States | 1 |
| How they connected | Agents |
|---|---|
| Cloud or hosting (likely a proxy or a server) | 1 |
An agent is one network and user agent pair. Categories come from what each request claimed; user agents can be forged, which is why we publish categories and not names. Location is where the network placed the request, so an agent behind a VPN, relay or cloud server shows that exit, not where it really runs; the connection table says how many hid that way. The named breakdown, by claimed agent, network and city, is available to customers and partners. Counting since 2026-09-18.