This privacy policy describes the privacy practices for the website, https://www.andysifferman.com. This is the personal website of Andrew Sifferman.
Our Privacy Policy may change from time to time. You can always find the most recent version of our Privacy Policy on this page.
Information We Collect
We collect the following information from visitors to our website:
If you use our Contact form to contact us, we require you to provide your name and email address, in order to enable us to properly respond to your inquiry.
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). Administrators of this website can also see and edit that information.
If you click on a “Like” button in the blog, we update a counter stored on our server that records the aggregate number of Likes for the associated blog page or comment.
We also collect non-personally identifiable information relating to your use of our website through the use of cookies stored in your browser.
Comments
If you submit a comment to the blog, we require your name and email address, in order to be able to properly attribute the information and/or opinions you submit.
Your comment, along with your name, email address, IP address, browser user agent string, and referrer are also sent to the Akismet anti-spam service in order to prevent spam comments from flooding our website. Here is a link to Akismet’s Privacy Notice that explains how they use this data.
We also allow you to voluntarily provide the address of a website to be associated with the name and email address you provide when submitting comments.
In addition, 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. Here is a link to Gravatar’s Data Privacy support page that explains how they use this data. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
How We Use Your Information
We do not, and will not, sell or rent the information we collect to anyone. We will not share your information with any third party, other than for the purposes described below.
We use the information you provide for the following purposes:
- To fulfill your requests.
- If you voluntarily comment on a blog post on this website, we publish your comment publicly, along with the name you provide when submitting your comment. Your comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.
- If you provide the address of a website with your comment, we provide a link to that website when a reader of your comment clicks on your name.
- We do not publish the email address you provide with blog post comments. If we wish to contact you privately regarding your blog post, we will do so using the email address you provided.
- If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.
- If cookies are enabled in your browser, we use the information provided by cookies to personalize your experience while you are on our website, and for website usage statistics.
Google Analytics
This website uses Google Analytics to help us analyze how visitors use this site. Google Analytics uses cookies to collect standard internet log information in anonymous form, such as your IP address, device type and operating system, referring URLs, and location, and visitor behavior information such as pages visited. This anonymous information is transmitted to Google, and is not retained on this website’s server. This information is processed to compile statistical reports on site activity. We use these reports to evaluate aggregate visitor usage so that we can assess the relevance of the content to visitors to our website.
Google Analytics does not provide to the operators of this website any personally identifiable information about you. We will never use Google’s analytics tool to track or to collect any personally identifiable information about you. We will not associate any data gathered from this site with any personally identifiable information from any source, unless you expressly submit that information via a fill-in form on our website.
Here are links to Google’s Privacy Policy and Google Terms of Service.
If you don’t want Google Analytics to be used in your browser, you can install the “Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-On”, provided by Google.
Third-Party Content and Social Media
Embedded content on this website from other providers may track your interaction with our content. For example, if we embed a video from YouTube into a page or a post on our site, Google will track your interaction with that video. Similarly a click on a social “share” button may result in a third party tracking that activity – such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc. To disable this third-party tracking, you can set your browser to always block third-party cookies. Doing so might still allow the content to work, but no visitor data will be sent to a third party.
These third-party 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.
Security of Your Information
The information we collect is stored on password-protected computers/servers. The computers/servers on which we store personally identifiable information are kept in secure locations.
You should be aware that any information you voluntarily send to us over the internet, whether by email, or by using a form on our site, may be intercepted by third parties en route, and for this reason is insecure. Therefore, you should assume that any information you send us via these methods is non-confidential.
Because the blog on this website is a public blog, if you comment on a blog post, the information you provide with your comment (including your name and website address, but not your email address) can be collected and used by third parties without our knowledge. This may result in unsolicited messages from other individuals or third parties. Such activities are beyond the control of the operators of this website and are outside the scope of this policy.
How long we retain your data
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely, unless deleted by the website administrators. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
Your Choices
- You may choose to disable third-party cookies, or all cookies, in your web browser.
- If you have an account on this website, 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.
- Your use of this website is voluntary. You may choose whether to comment on a blog post. You may choose to visit, or not to visit, this website.
Children Under 13
This website is intended for a general audience, and is not directed at children under 13 years of age.
We do not knowingly gather personal information (as defined by the U.S. Children’s Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA) in a manner not permitted by COPPA. If you are a parent or guardian and you believe we have collected information from your child in a manner not permitted by law, contact us. We will remove the data to the extent required by applicable laws.
Disclaimer
Our privacy policy does not apply in instances of improper and/or illegal activity, and we may share your information when required by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary in order to conform to the law. In addition, we may disclose your personal information to law enforcement authorities investigating suspected illegal activity.
How to Contact Us
You may contact us using our Contact Form.