I value the trust you place in me by visiting this blog and commenting on it. I want to ensure that you understand what information i gather about you, how I use it, and the safeguards I have in place in order to protect it. If you have additional questions, please email me to ask them. Please also recognize that I may, from time to time, make modifications to my blog’s policies, and you should periodically revisit this page if you want to see these changes.
How do I keep your information secure?
I trust and use the security features provided by WordPress. I take no actions beyond these, as provided by WordPress itself at their blog hosting site, in their core code, and in such plugins as WordPress makes available to me. This blog does not collect financial information and any request for it is, and should be considered, suspect. This blog asks for personal information solely in connection with posting a comment, where a name that should appear online, an email address that does not appear and is collected solely for the purpose of responding to enquiries under law as to the author of a comment, and a website/blog address the commenter may choose to promote. WordPress also tracks the IP address a comment is received from. Some commenters may elect to sign their comment using an industry-recognized inter-blog login such as OpenID, which carries this same information.
Wordpress may separately place cookies on your computer, or take other actions, but these are not accessible to me. Likewise, the authorization from OpenID or other inter-blog login mechanisms is not available to me, only the name/email combination required for a comment to be posted.
How do I use this information?
I allow the WordPress dashboard to retain the information that may be required to respond to law enforcement or legal requirements to produce documentation in the format it uses, and otherwise do not use this information. I do take note of the name given in a comment, to use solely to respond to that comment and recognize the writer by name.
Wordpress provides general statistics about readership (number of pages provided per day) that does not identify the readers (either by coming to the blog or via the blog’s RSS feed). I do look at these to understand which articles created an effect in readership.
What information do we share and with whom?
I do not rent or sell reader or commenter information to outside marketers. I also may provide information to regulatory authorities and law enforcement officials in accordance with applicable law or when we otherwise believe in good faith that the law requires it. Otherwise no information is shared, beyond the name of a commenter, which appears on the site along with their comment.
Wordpress may choose, at some point in the future, to change their policy on the protection and confidentiality of data connected with their customers’ blogs. I have no control over that. If I determine that such actions are detrimental, in my opinion, to my interests and the interests of my regular commenters, I shall close this blog or move it to a different hosting capability.
What is my commitment to children’s privacy?
Protecting the privacy of the young is especially important. No part of my blog is structured to attract anyone under 13. I will edit or remove comments I deem to be inappropriate, using an “acceptable to children under 13” standard for inflammatory language but not for content. I take no precautions beyond this, and readers under 13 are welcome.
Promotional Opt-outs
I do not send promotional emails from this site. Those wishing to be notified when new articles (posts) appear may opt-in via the RSS feed. Those wishing to be notified when new comments are added to any article may likewise opt-in via the RSS feed for comments. Those who opt-in may opt-out at any time simply by deleting the feed from their personal feed reader or consolidation page, which is under their control, and not mine, at all times.
Assertion of Rights
The underlying blog code is the property of WordPress; the template and plug-ins used for this blog are provided by WordPress, which may have made arrangements to distribute the work of an original author. All the articles which appear here are Copyright © 2010, Bruce A. Stewart, who reserves all rights in connection with them. All comments are the original work of their authors, who hold rights in regards to their work in exactly the same manner.
All quotation done in primary articles, and all linking to external websites, is done under the fair use provisions of the Copyright Act.
Comment authors are considered external sources for the purposes of subsequent publication by me in reusing my own work, and thus permission to quote will be sought or the comment excised during republication, except where the provisions of fair use allow a brief quotation to take place.
