Last updated: March 17, 2020
Who I am
This website is run by me, Sherry Y. Smith. I do not have any employees or assistants.
What Personal Data I Collect and Why I Collect It
Contact Forms
Information collected via contact form is used only by me to communicate with you regarding your inquiries. No one else receives this information.
Comments
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.
Newsletter
When you sign up for my mailing list, your name and email are kept by my mailing list provider for the purpose of sending newsletters via email.
I collect your email address only if you voluntarily provide it to me. This may occur, for example, if you sign up to receive an email newsletter, posts by email, leave a comment, or enter a promotion. I will use your email address only for the purpose for which you provided it to me. You may opt out of such email communications at any time by clicking the “unsubscribe” button at the bottom of the email.
If you are a resident of a country in the European Economic Area (EEA), please refer to the section below entitled “Additional Rights of EEA Residents.”
Analytics
I use Google Analytics to track anonymous usage data. Information is collected through the use of cookies and is used only to analyze site performance, and this gives me information on page views and site traffic (but NOT anything about who you are or any kind of personal information of any kind). You can turn off cookies at anytime by modifying your browser’s settings.
Affiliate Links
Some of the links on this site are ads, partners, or affiliate links. This means I might make a small commission if you buy from the linked sites.
Security Logs
The IP address of visitors, user ID of logged in users, and username of login attempts are conditionally logged to check for malicious activity and to protect the site from specific kinds of attacks. Examples of conditions when logging occurs include login attempts, log out requests, requests for suspicious URLs, changes to site content, and password updates. This information is retained for 14 days.
Cookies
Cookies are used by various plugins and scripts on my site in order to give me information about website visitors (analytics), to keep track of cookie consent/denial, by advertisers to monitor visitor behavior, and by various social media sites when I embed content from them.
If you leave a comment on the 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.
When you log in, the site 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.
By using this site, you consent to the use of such cookies and the sharing of data captured by such cookies and our other third-party partners.
Google Cookies
You can view, delete or add interest categories associated with your browser by visiting: https://adssettings.google.com. However, these opt-out mechanisms themselves use cookies, and if you clear the cookies from your browser your opt-out will not be maintained. Google’s privacy policy is available at: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/
Embedded Content from other sites
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.
Blocking Cookies
Most browsers allow you to refuse to accept cookies and to delete cookies. The methods for doing so vary from browser to browser, and from version to version. You can, however, obtain up-to-date information about blocking and deleting cookies via these links:
(a) https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647?hl=en (Chrome);
(b) https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-and-disable-cookies-website-preferences(Firefox);
(c) http://www.opera.com/help/tutorials/security/cookies/ (Opera);
(d) https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/17442/windows-internet-explorer-delete-manage-cookies (Internet Explorer);
(e) https://support.apple.com/kb/PH21411 (Safari); and
(f) https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/windows–10-microsoft-edge-and-privacy(Edge).
Please note that blocking cookies may have a negative impact on the functions of many websites, including my site. Some features of the site may cease to be available to you.
Who I Share Your Data With
I do not share names or email addresses sent via contact forms with any other party.
If you sign up for my mailing list, my mailing list providers, Mailchimp and ConvertKit, will have your name and email address.
Google Analytics only retains info about visitors, pages viewed, etc. GA does not collect any info that could identify you personally (but they collect data around the web in various forms and aggregate it, so see further info below to manage that data).
Data collected by social media companies (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc) becomes part of the data that each collects; see their individual sites for information about managing your data.
This site is scanned for potential malware and vulnerabilities by Sucuri’s SiteCheck. We do not send personal information to Sucuri; however, Sucuri could find personal information posted publicly (such as in comments) during their scan. For more details, please see Sucuri’s privacy policy.
WordPress itself does not share any data with anyone.
How Long I 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.
Security Logs
Security logs are retained for 14 days.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics keeps data on site traffic up to 14 months, the shortest retention period available (but remember, site stats do not have any info about who you are personally). While my site does not give Google any personal info about you, other websites might have at some point.
You can find out more & use tools to manage your Google data here: https://privacy.google.com/your-data.html.
How to view and/or delete your data
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 we send your data
Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.
This site is part of a network of sites that protect against distributed brute force attacks. To enable this protection, the IP address of visitors attempting to log into the site is shared with a service provided by ithemes.com. For privacy policy details, please see the iThemes Privacy Policy.
How Your Data Is Protected
I use the plugins Wordfence and iThemes Security to keep my site and your data secure. These services scan for malicious intruders, unauthorized access and/or changes, and keep me alerted if anything suspicious is noticed. They also block intrusion attempts to help keep the site more secure.
What Data Breach Procedures I Have In Place
If anything on my site is ever compromised, I will notify the proper authorities and notify every affected person to the best of my ability.
Additional Rights of European Economic Area Residents
If you are a resident of a country in the EEA, you have the rights, among others, to:
(i) access your personal data
(ii) ensure the accuracy of your personal data
(iii) the right to have us delete your personal data
(iv) the right to restrict further processing of your personal data, and
(v) the right to complain to a supervisory authority in your country of residence in the event that data is misused
If you believe that our processing of your personal information infringes data protection laws, you have a legal right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority responsible for data protection. You may do so in the EU member state of your residence, your place of work or the place of the alleged infringement.
You may exercise any of your rights in relation to your personal data by written notice to us addressed to the following: sh**********@gm***.com.
Children Under the Age of 13
This Website is not intended for children under 13 years of age. No one under age 13 may provide any information to the Website. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are under 13, do not use or provide any information on this Website or on or through any of its features/register on the Website, make any purchases through the Website, use any of the interactive or public comment features of this Website or provide any information about yourself to us, including your name, address, telephone number, email address, or any screen name or user name you may use. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 13 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 13, please contact me at sh**********@gm***.com.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
I may update my privacy policy from time to time. Thus, I advise you to review this page periodically for any changes. I will notify you of any changes by posting the new privacy policy on this page. These changes are effective immediately, after they are posted on this page.
Contact Me
If you have any questions or suggestions about my privacy policy, do not hesitate to contact me via the contact page or at sh**********@gm***.com.
