In this online world, how our personal data is stored, used and shared should be incredibly important to us all. With this in mind I thought I would write this statement to explain exactly what happens with your personal data in relation to your visit to my blog.
Before I do that let me be totally honest and say that I am the only person who writes this blog so only I can see the personal data mentioned below. I write this blog to share information with like-minded people and for no other purpose. I will never share your personal data with anyone else, nor will I use it for any financial purposes.
Because I use WordPress (which is run by parent company Automattic) to write my blog, certain personal information is collected and stored during your visit as you interact with the site. It is collected to help the site run and to provide me with a vague idea of who is interested in and using my blog. This information is collected and stored by WordPress but is also visible to me and, for that reason, I have a responsibility to let you know what happens to your data.
A big thank you to Cat of My Peacock Books for the bones of this statement which I adapted to fit my blog. This statement has not been checked by a legal professional and is my interpretation of what is required.
5.6.18 Edited to add: If you are wondering about GDPR and your own blog, WordPress have now added this useful set of guidelines for you.
Now…. Here comes the technical bit….
What data is collected and used?
The following data is automatically collected and stored during your visit:
When commenting on any post or page the following information is collected and stored: commenter’s name, email address, and site URL (if provided to the comment form), submission date/time, and IP address.
If you decide to comment on any post or page while logged into and using a WordPress account or social media account, e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Google+ your user ID on that account as well website url (if available) and MD5 hash of your email address (if available) will also be collected.
This blog has Akismet anti spam enabled and the following is sent to Akismet for the sole purpose of spam checking: commenter’s name, email address, site URL, IP address, and user agent. You can find out more about Akismet by following the link at the bottom of every blog page.
When signing up to follow this blog your WordPress ID and/or email is collected and stored. Following the blog will send you regular emails from WordPress.com when new posts are released on this blog. You will not receive any other emails except these and are free to cancel these emails and unfollow this blog at any time.
Your data will not be shared or sold to any third parties except in compliance with law authorities. You will not be contacted via email at any time, except in receiving updates as detailed above, unless you have expressly requested to be contacted in this way through a direct email to me.
When emailing me via direct email all information in addition to your name, email and url address will be kept private and confidential and will only be used to directly respond to you via email. Any additional information you provide while contacting me will not be shared with any third parties and will be deleted after a reasonable period of time.
Activity Tracking
This site has cookies enabled by default. Cookies are small pieces of data that are stored on your computer/browser when visiting this website. You will see a strap appear at the bottom of the screen when you open up my blog where you can accept cookies (once accepted it will disappear). You are free to disable cookies and do not have to consent to their use, however this website requires cookies to be enabled to function properly. When commenting on this blog the comment author’s name, email address, and site URL (if provided during the comment submission) are stored in cookies. For more information on what cookies are and how to control cookie usage please click here
This blog uses WordPress which provides general analytical information of all users activities including country location of users and which links are clicked and any search terms which may be used while looking on the website or entering the website via certain search engines. This information provides me with general details of where blog users come from and which posts/pages are most viewed. These general statistics of where blog visitors originate and which posts/pages are most clicked may be shared however they will not be identified to specific persons or accounts.
Advertising
No money is earned by me via any advertisements which may be seen on this blog. Advertisements appearing on this blog are part of WordPress which this blog currently subscribes to. I am not responsible for any information collected via the clicking of ads or the use of cookies (if they are used to create more targeted advertising).
Other
Data Syncing is enabled on this site and means that a shadow version of this blog is saved onto the WordPress servers. This includes any commenters personal information collected (as listed above). I am not responsible for this synced version of data. For more information on this and general information about using/interacting with WordPress blogs please see Automattic’s privacy notice.
Your safety & rights to data control
You are free to know what personal data is collected and ask for its deletion if you wish. Please email madebypatch@gmail.com for this. At the time of writing this WordPress is still working on enabling its users to delete the information collected during visits. As soon as this is enabled I will be able to delete all information on your visit if you wish it to be deleted.
Data protection of minors
This blog is free to view by all ages. It is not my intention to collect personal information of those below the age of 16. It is a parent/guardian’s duty to provide suitable supervision and consent. If you are a parent/guardian of a minor who’s data has been collected and wish for it to be removed you are free to email madebypatch@gmail.com to request this.
Entering competitions/giveaways
Should I hold a competitions or giveaways on this blog, users participating will be required to provide names and email addresses to enter. Details of individual competitions/giveaways will be included on the relevant blog posts as well as be included in the rules of that competition/giveaway. By entering you consent to be contacted via the email you have used to enter.
Winners may be required to provide mailing addresses (where the prize is a physical item as opposed to a digital item) Winners names/user IDs may also be used in subsequent blog posts to identify the winner of the competition/giveaway. All information provided to me via any competition/giveaway will be kept until a valid winner is identified and contacted then all information of all entrants will be deleted.
Changes to policy
This privacy policy is intended to be in line with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and applies from 25th May 2018.
Occasional changes may be made to this policy without warning. Please check this page frequently to read any changes. By continuing to use this site you accept any subsequent changes made to the privacy policy.
Further information
For more information or if you have any questions or concerns feel free to contact me at: madebypatch@gmail.com
Click here for more information on Automattic Privacy Policy.
For more information on GDPR and your rights please contact the Information Commissioners Office (ICO).
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