Who we are
MySouthborough.com a blog for locals by a local at the website https://mysouthborough.com.
I hate when I see privacy policies are so long/technical you have no idea what you are agreeing to.
I used a template to make sure I covered my legal bases. But, I want to share my basic intentions up front:
- Software/plugins allow me to look at browsing patterns and demographics (e.g. Google analytics – presumably based on cookies). But I don’t sell information about specific visitors’ cookies.
- I use commenter data to filter spam and identify issues about compliance with commenting guidelines. (It also allows commenters the option of being notified when more comments are posted on the comment stream.)
- I don’t “out” anonymous commenters. (Though, commenters have been known to accidentally unmask themselves by what they have written. If you reveal your identity by sharing too much information or playing games, that’s your responsibility.)
- I don’t use contact information of commenters or subscribers for specifically promoting the blog or third party vendors. (Of course, subscribers receive all of the blog posts that day that are automatically downloaded. And, on occasion, if an error has been big enough, I’ve been known to follow up with a special correction email. But I don’t send separate emails to promote vendors.)
- I don’t give away or sell anyone’s contact information
Caveats, include that sometimes other embedded software (e.g., Facebook posts, YouTube, etc.) have their own privacy policies. I can’t account for what they do with cookies that they collect. Also, I’m not a tech-head. I can tell you that my site is based on a WordPress template. I have several plugins supporting it. If you want more info on what those are, feel free to email me at mysouthborough@gmail.com.
Below is the more detailed version. The italicized language is filled in by me. The rest is template legalese.
What personal data we collect and why we collect it
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. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
Media
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.
Contact forms
Cookies
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 have an account and you log in to this site, 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
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.
Analytics
Who we share your data with
I don’t intentionally “share” your data with anyone. The plugins supporting the operation of this website access some of the data to filter spam, etc. I do not sell commenters’ contact information or use it to market the blog or third parties.
If you choose for your comment to be anonymous, I won’t out you. (Though, commenters have been known to accidentally unmask themselves by what they have written. If you reveal your identity by sharing too much information or playing games, that’s your responsibility.)
Subscribers’ email addresses are only used for emailing the blog posts. Commenters emails are only used for comment related purposes.
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.
What rights you have over 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.
Your contact information
Subscribers’ email addresses are only used for that purpose. Commenters’ email addresses are used only for comment related purposes. I do not sell subscribers’ or commenters’ contact information or use them for any other form of marketing for the blog or third parties.