What’s all this then?
So, if you haven’t realised from the myriad of emails you’ve probably received. The EU has introduced new policies around the handling of personal information. While I’m supportive of the overall idea of users having better knowledge of and control over how their data is used, there has been absolutely no information or help for those of us who just run blogs as a bit of a hobby. I think that because I don’t make any money off this blog and it doesn’t in any way resemble a business, I’m exempt. But still, better safe than sorry. So I’ve tried to hash this guide together on how I use your data. I’m sure it’s probably teeming with things I’ve missed, but I’ve done my best, I promise.
Who we are
Our website address is: https://www.theantecedent.com. This is my own personal blog. If you need to get in touch, please use the contact form.
What personal data we collect and why we collect it
Analytics
I use Google Analytics to get a rough idea of who my audience is (my parents, for the most part). Nevertheless, here are some resources on how Google Analytics tracking works, their privacy policy, and and add-on to your browser that lets you opt out of their analytics (it works not just for my website, but any website).
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 anonymised 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.
I also use Akismet to avoid spam. Here’s what they say about their plug-in: “We collect information about visitors who comment on Sites that use our Akismet anti-spam service. The information we collect depends on how the User sets up Akismet for the Site, but typically includes the commenter’s IP address, user agent, referrer, and Site URL (along with other information directly provided by the commenter such as their name, username, email address, and the comment itself).”
Contact Form
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. 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 IP address, timestamp, name, email address, website, and message.
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
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 tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
Subscriptions
If you subscribe to my blog or a particular comment. I only keep your email and the date you subscribe. There’s a link to unsubscribe at the bottom of any email you receive.
Who we share your data with
As previously mentioned. You data gets shared with Google Anayltics. I also use Jetpack for the design and management of my website. You can see their information about privacy, privacy notice and privacy policy (no, I’ve no idea how they’re all different). According to them, the data handled is: “In general, the following data will be sent with each such usage event: IP address, WordPress.com user ID and username, WordPress.com-connected site ID, user agent, referring URL, timestamp of event, browser language, and country code.”
Finally, to reduce spam, I use Akismet. Their privacy policy is the same as Automattic.
How long we retain your data
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognise 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.
For Google Analytic, I use the standard retention setting (26 months).
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.
Your contact information
If you need to get in touch, or have concerns, please use the contact form.