Caveat
This website uses the WordPress platform, version 7.1.3; the theme Author Blog Pro by RSWP Themes; and a small number of additional components (called ‘plugins’) from various developers.
As publisher of this website I must declare that I know very little about site security apart from applying the recommended measures and updates. Nor do I know much about private data and what happens to it in the depths of the internet, nor how it is kept safe or left vulnerable.
What I can say with certainty is that I have no interest in knowing anyone’s private data unless for an ordinary purpose such as exchanging emails or letters or payments; nor have I any interest in stealing anyone’s private data, altering it, selling it, ‘hacking’ with it, or doing any such thing.
I expect and hope that everyone and every company that uses its premises, equipment, software and expertise to make websites such as this possible does abide by the data protection regulations required by law and operates by accepted professional standards with regard to keeping all data safe and secure.
What follows are the WordPress recommendations for a Privacy notice:
Comments
Suggested text: When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.
An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
Media
Suggested text: If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.
Cookies
Suggested text: If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.
If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.
Embedded content from other websites
Suggested text: Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
Who we share your data with
Suggested text: If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.
How long we retain your data
Suggested text: 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.
What rights you have over your data
Suggested text: If you 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.
Where your data is sent
Suggested text: Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.