Updated: August 25, 2018

Individuals who wish to download or have their data deleted from this website can do so here.

Overview

In order for us to operate this blog/website, it is sometimes necessary for us to collect or process information about you. In general terms, this information will take one or more of the following forms: Personal data:
  • Information that you provide to us directly, for example, when you complete an online form or send us a message via our website;
Non-personal data:
  • Information that is automatically sent to us by your computer’s internet browser when you visit our website, such as your computer’s technical address (or ‘IP address’) or which particular internet browser you are using;
  • Information about how you use our website, such as which pages you visit, how frequently you visit the site, and the like.
This privacy policy (this “Policy”) sets out the detail of what information we collect, as well as how that data is used and protected. The Policy applies to all users of this site. By using this Site you agree to comply with this Privacy Policy.

How to contact me

I can be contacted at any time via any of the social media accounts linked to this website.

Definition of ‘personal data’

We define the term ‘personal data’ to mean any information that allows us to identify you personally. Examples include your name, email address, phone number, etc. This type of information is needed to provide our services and information about our services to you. This information would include any information submitted through a contact form on this site.

How long we retain your data

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue. For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

Who we share data with

The only people or organizations that are granted access to personal data are:
  • Myself and any contracted support staff
  • Our cloud hosting service
  • Our email service providers
  • Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service

How your data is protected

We use reasonable and appropriate physical, electronic, and administrative safeguards to protect personal data from loss, misuse and unauthorized access, and disclosure. These safeguards include:
  • Forcing all site traffic to the HTTPS protocol to ensure encrypted connections / preventing “man-in-the-middle” attacks.
  • Installation of WordPress firewall software to prevent malicious scans and/or attacks against the website.
  • Discourage “brute force attacks” via a limited number of login attempts before being forced to wait to attempt to login again.
  • Ensuring website is not infected with or spreading malware through regular malware scans.
  • Use of automated spam filtering to prevent readers from being able to click on malicious links contained within comments.

In the event of a data breach

In the event of a data breach, this website will go offline until such time that the nature of the breach can be determined and remedied. All clients and registered users (if any) of this website will be notified ASAP of such breach and provided as many details as possible with regards to the scope of the breach and any data that may be compromised.

Access to your personal data

If you are a client, have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Types of non-personal data collected

Technical data (such as ‘IP address’)

When you visit our website, our system will note a record of your visit in our server logs, and usually this record will include the technical ‘IP’ address that is associated with your device and the browser type and version that you are using. Because this website makes use of the Cloudflare CDN service, all IP addresses recorded inside the web server logs belong to Cloudflare instead of individuals browsing the site. Cloudflare, however, does not affect IP addresses processed by firewall or analytics software. These systems that are in place on this site have been configured to anonymize IP address data to prevent the ability to identify any one individual who uses the website. Furthermore, we do not and will not use the content of server access logs to discover an identifiable individual. We therefore do not consider that data held within any form of server logs falls within the scope of ‘personal data’, and so we do not seek your consent to collect it.

Cookies and ‘similar technologies’

Necessary. We may use cookies, web beacons, or other similar technologies that are necessary to the operation of our sites, services, applications, and tools. This includes technologies that allow you access to our sites, services, applications, and tools; that are required to improve security; or that allow you to make use of our functions such as shopping-carts, saved search, or similar functions; Statistical. We may use cookies, web beacons, or other similar technologies to assess the performance of our websites, applications, services, and tools, including as part of our analytic practices to help us understand how our visitors use our websites, determine if you have interacted with our messaging, determine whether you have viewed an item or link, or to improve our website content, applications, services, or tools; Preferences. We may use cookies, web beacons, or other similar technologies that allow us to offer you enhanced functionality when accessing or using our sites, services, applications, or tools. This may include identifying you when you sign into our sites or keeping track of your specified preferences, interests, or past items viewed so that we may enhance the presentation of content on our sites; Marketing. We may use first-party or third-party cookies and web beacons to deliver content, including ads relevant to your interests, on our sites or on third party sites. This includes using technologies to understand the usefulness to you of the advertisements and content that have been delivered to you, such as whether you have clicked on an advertisement. Complete information on what cookies are in use on this website can be found on the Cookie Information page.

Website analytics

We use Google Analytics to better understand what people look at on our website. When people visit our site, information about their visit (such as which pages they look at, how long they spend on the site and so on) is sent in an anonymous form to Google Analytics (which is controlled by Google). The data contains information about anyone who uses our website from your computer, and there is no way to identify individuals from the data. As analytics information is not personal data, we do not specifically ask for your prior consent. You can learn more about Google’s practices at https://policies.google.com/privacy/partners, and view its currently available opt-out options at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Policy for Children

We do not knowingly solicit information from or market to children under the age of 13. If you become aware of any data we have collected from children under age 13, please contact us using the contact information provided below.

California Privacy Rights

California Civil Code Section 1798.83, also known as the “Shine The Light” law, permits our users who are California residents to request and obtain from us, once a year and free of charge, information about categories of personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes and the names and addresses of all third parties with which we shared personal information in the immediately preceding calendar year. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit your request in writing to us using the contact information provided below. If you are under 18 years of age, reside in California, and have a registered account with the Site, you have the right to request removal of unwanted data that you publicly post on the Site. To request removal of such data, please contact us using the contact information provided below, and include the email address associated with your account and a statement that you reside in California. We will make sure the data is not publicly displayed on the Site, but please be aware that the data may not be completely or comprehensively removed from our systems.

Changes To This Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy is effective as of August 25, 2018 and will remain in effect except with respect to any changes in its provisions in the future, which will be in effect immediately after being posted on this page. I reserve the right to update or change our Privacy Policy at any time and you should check this Privacy Policy periodically. Your continued use of the Service after we post any modifications to the Privacy Policy on this page will constitute your acknowledgment of the modifications and your consent to abide and be bound by the modified Privacy Policy.

Governing Law

This Policy shall be governed under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States of America without regard to its conflicts of law provisions.