Privacy Policy
Who we are
Our website address is: http://davidchristopherjohnston.com.
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: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment. Comments are currently disabled on our website.
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
Data Used: If Akismet is enabled on the site, the contact form submission data — IP address, user agent, name, email address, website, and message — is submitted to the Akismet service (also owned by Automattic) for the sole purpose of spam checking. Additionally, if reCAPTCHA (by Google) is enabled by the site owner, the sharing party’s IP address will be shared with that service. You can find Google’s privacy policy here.
The actual submission data is stored in the database of the site on which it was submitted and is emailed directly to the owner of the form (i.e. the site author who published the page on which the contact form resides). This email will include the submitter’s name, email address and message. Our website uses WP Forms Lite, which does not use user tracking cookies (UUIDs) and does not collect or store the IP address or User Agent details. Contact form submission data is not used by our website for marketing purposes.
Data Synced: Post and post meta data associated with a user’s contact form submission. If Akismet is enabled on the site, the IP address and user agent originally submitted with the comment are synced, as well, as they are stored in post meta.
Cookies
Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect standard Internet log information and visitor behavior information. When you visit our website, we may collect information from you automatically through cookies or similar technology. For further information, visit allaboutcookies.org and see the “Types of Cookies” subsection below.
We use necessary cookies to enable core functionality such as security, network management and accessibility. We also use analytical cookies to help us improve our website by collecting and reporting information on how you use it. The cookies collect information in a way that does not directly identify anyone.
You can set your browser not to accept cookies, and the above website tells you how to remove cookies from your browser. You can also decline to accept cookies when prompted on first visiting our website. However, in a few cases, some of our website features may not function as a result.
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.
Types of Cookies
| Category of cookies | Why we use these cookies |
| Strictly Necessary | These cookies are essential for websites on our services to perform their basic functions. These include those required to allow registered users to authenticate and perform account related functions, as well as to save the contents of virtual “carts” on sites that have an ecommerce functionality. |
| Functionality | These cookies are used to store preferences set by users such as account name, language, and location. |
| Security | We use these cookies to help identify and prevent potential security risks. |
| Analytics and Performance | Performance cookies collect information on how users interact with our websites, including what pages are visited most, as well as other analytical data. We use these details to improve how our websites function and to understand how users interact with them. |
| Advertising | These cookies are used to display relevant advertising to visitors who use our services or visit websites we host or provide, as well as to understand and report on the efficacy of ads served on our websites. They track details such as the number of unique visitors, the number of times particular ads have been displayed, and the number of clicks the ads have received. They are also used to build user profiles, including showing you ads based on products you’ve viewed or acts you have taken on our (and other) websites. These are set by Automattic and trusted third party networks, and are generally persistent in nature. |
| Third Party / Embedded Content | Sites hosted on WordPress.com make use of different third party applications and services to enhance the experience of website visitors. These include social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter (through the use of sharing buttons), or embedded content from Youtube and Vimeo. As a result, cookies may be set by these third parties, and used by them to track your online activity. We have no direct control over the information that is collected by these cookies. |
Embedded content from other websites
Articles or pages 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
This site uses Jetpack WordPress.com Stats for collecting and managing analytical information. The data it collects is detailed below:
Data Used: IP address, WordPress.com user ID (if logged in), WordPress.com username (if logged in), user agent, visiting URL, referring URL, timestamp of event, browser language, country code. Important: The website owner does not have access to any of this information via this feature. For example, a website owner can see that a specific post has 285 views, but he/she cannot see which specific users/accounts viewed that post. Stats logs — containing visitor IP addresses and WordPress.com usernames (if available) — are retained by Automattic for 28 days and are used for the sole purpose of powering this feature.
Activity Tracked: Post and page views, video plays (if videos are hosted by WordPress.com), outbound link clicks, referring URLs and search engine terms, and country. When this module is enabled, Jetpack also tracks performance on each page load that includes the JavaScript file used for tracking stats. This is exclusively for aggregate performance tracking across Jetpack sites in order to make sure that our plugin and code is not causing performance issues. This includes the tracking of page load times and resource loading duration (image files, JavaScript files, CSS files, etc.). The website owner has the ability to force this feature to honor DNT settings of visitors. By default, DNT is currently not honored.
Compliance with Law
We may use any data collected to comply with applicable laws, to investigate a complaint made by another user, or to prevent and detect unlawful and criminal activity, fraud and misuse of, or damage to, the site or the products, content or services made available through it, and to take the appropriate legal action against those responsible.
Who we share your data with
Sharing Buttons
Data Used: When official sharing buttons are active on the site, each button loads content directly from its service in order to display the button as well as information and tools for the sharing party. As a result, each service can in turn collect information about the sharing party. When a non-official Facebook or a Pinterest sharing button is active on the site, information such as the sharing party’s IP address as well as the page URL will be available for each service, so sharing counts can be displayed next to the button. When sharing content via email (this option is only available if Akismet is active on the site), the following information is used: sharing party’s name and email address (if the user is logged in, this information will be pulled directly from their account), IP address (for spam checking), user agent (for spam checking), and email body/content. This content will be sent to Akismet (also owned by Automattic) so that a spam check can be performed. Additionally, if reCAPTCHA (by Google) is enabled by the site owner, the sharing party’s IP address will be shared with that service. You can find Google’s privacy policy here.
Links to third-party websites
Articles or pages on this site may contain links to other websites. 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 our website, including tracking your interaction with our website if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
Our privacy policy applies only to our website, so if you click on a link to another website, you should be aware that these websites have their own terms and conditions and you should read their privacy policy and terms of use; our website does not accept any responsibility or liability for these third-party policies.
Anonymised Data
Where possible data collected by our website is anonymised in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulations (“GDPR”) We may share anonymised data that does not identify you personally at our complete discretion.
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.
If you contact us through the Contact Form Page, your data is used solely for the purpose of requiring to your query/request.
What rights you have over your data
Our website would like to make sure that you are fully aware of all of your data protection rights under the GDPR. Every user is entitled to the following in relation to personal information that our website may hold about you:
The right to access – you have the right to request copies of your personal data. We retain the right to charge you a small fee for this service.
The right to rectification – you have the right to request that we correct any information you believe is inaccurate. You also have the right to request that we complete information that you believe is incomplete.
The right to erasure – you have the right to request that we erase your personal data, under certain conditions. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes
The right to restrict processing – you have the right to request we restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
The right to object to processing – you have the right to object to our processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
The right to data portability – you have the right to request that we transfer the data we have collected to another organisation, or directly to you, under certain conditions.
If you have any questions above our Privacy Policy or the personal data we hold on you, please do not hesitate to contact us using the contact form on our website. If you make a request, we have one month to make an initial response to you.
Where we send your data
Visitor comments and contact form queries may be checked through an automated spam detection service (see “Contact Forms” subsection above for details). Analytical data is sent to Jetpack WordPress.com Stats (see “Analytical Data” subsection above for details). Wherever possible personal data provided by you is anonymised.
Additional information
How we protect your data
Information you provide to our website is stored on the secure servers of the server provider. We also use HTTPS on our website to ensure connections are secured. Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although this website will take reasonable steps to protect your information, our website cannot guarantee the security of the information you transmit to the website; any transmission is at your own risk.
By using our website and providing your information you accept the inherent risks of providing information and dealing online and will not hold us responsible for any breach of security that is due to circumstances beyond our reasonable control.
What data breach procedures we have in place
We will contact you in the event of any data breach and inform you of any content shared. We will then take appropriate steps to ensure the breach is investigated and any necessary steps are taken to ensure breaches will not re-occur.
What third parties we receive data from
Our website does not receive personal data about individuals from third parties other than those listed in this Privacy Policy.
What automated decision making and/or profiling we do with user data
Our website does not process personal data using automated decision making and/or profiling, and would only do so with your explicit consent.
Industry regulatory disclosure requirements
Our website follows the requirements of the GDPR relating to the use of personal data and information and any related disclosures.
Changes to our Privacy Policy
Our website keeps our Privacy Policy under regular review and places any updates on this web page. This Privacy Policy was last updated on 28 March 2020.