Last updated 1/28/2024
Hi there! This Privacy Notice explains how I, BJ Sikes, processes information about the visitors of my website. Read on!
What This Privacy Notice Covers
To keep things simple, in this Privacy Notice I’ll refer to the users of the services I provide through my website as “Users.” Visitors to my Site can read published content and interact with my Site through features such as comments, “likes,” poll/survey responses, and follows. I put together this Privacy Notice to help my Users understand the information I collect about them and how that happens on my Site. Alright, with those introductions out of the way, let’s turn to how I collect, use, and share information about visitors to my Site.
Information I Collect About Visitors to my Site
I collect information about visitors to my site in a few different ways—I collect certain information that the visitors provide to the Site and I collect some information automatically.
Information a Visitor Provides to a Site
I’ll start with information that visitors provide directly to a Site, which primarily happens when visitors type into a text field on a Site, like a comment field or a sign-up form. Here are the most common ways in which a visitor directly provides information to my Site:
- Follower and Subscriber Information: When a visitor signs up to follow or subscribe to my Site using Jetpack or WordPress.com, I collect the sign-up information which typically includes an email address.
- Site Comments: When a visitor leaves a comment on a Site, I collect that comment, and other information that the visitor provides along with the comment, such as the visitor’s name and email address.
- Crowdsignal Survey Responses: When a visitor completes a poll, quiz, or other type of survey prepared via Crowdsignal.com, I collect the visitor’s responses to those surveys, and other information that the survey owner requires for a poll/quiz/survey response, like an e-mail address.
- Other Information Entered on the Site: I may also collect other information that a visitor enters on the Site—such as a contact form submission, a search query, or Site registration.
Information I Automatically Collect from the Site
I also automatically collect some information about visitors to a Site. The information I automatically collect depends on which of the services the Site uses. I’ve listed examples below:
- Technical Data from a Visitor’s Computer and Etcetera: I collect the information that web browsers, mobile devices, and servers typically make available about visitors to a Site, such as the IP address, browser type, unique device identifiers, language preference, referring site, the date and time of access, operating system, and mobile network information.
- Visitor Interactions: I collect information about a visitor’s interactions with my Site, including the “likes” and “ratings” left by visitors to my Site using WordPress.com or Jetpack.
- Location Information: I may determine the approximate location of a visitor’s device from the IP address. I collect and use this information to, for example, tally for my Users how many people visit my Site from certain geographic regions. If you’d like, you can read more about my Site Stats feature for WordPress.com sites and Jetpack sites.
- Akismet Commenter Information: I collect information about visitors who comment on Sites that use my Akismet anti-spam service. The information I 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…oh, and the comment itself, of course).
- Jetpack Site Activity: I collect visitor activities related to the management of the Site, such as login attempts/actions and comment submission and management actions. For more information, please see the Jetpack Privacy Center.
- Information from Cookies and Other Technologies: A cookie is a string of information that a Site stores on a visitor’s computer, and that the visitor’s browser provides to the Site each time the visitor returns. Pixel tags (also called web beacons) are small blocks of code placed on Sites. This Site uses cookies and other technologies like pixel tags to help identify and track visitors and Site usage, and to deliver targeted ads when ads are enabled for free WordPress.com sites or when ads are enabled on a Site through WordAds or Jetpack Ads (see the “Other Tools” section below for more details). For more information about my use of cookies and other technologies for tracking, including how visitors can control the use of cookies, please see this Cookie Policy.
Other Information Provided by my Users
I also collect any other information about visitors to my Sites. For example, I may upload a directory or other information about Site visitors and customers to the “backend” administrative platform for managing the Site.
How I Use Visitor Information
I use information about Site visitors in order to provide my Services to my Users. In addition to the above, I use some information about Site visitors who are also our Users as described in our Privacy Policy. I may also use and share information that has been aggregated or reasonably de-identified, so that the information could not reasonably be used to identify any individual. For instance, I may publish aggregate statistics about the use of my website.
How I Share Visitor Information
I may share information collected about Site visitors in the limited circumstances spelled out below:
- Legal Requests: I may disclose Site visitor information in response to a subpoena, court order, or other governmental request. For more information on how I respond to requests for information, please see these Legal Guidelines.
- To Protect Rights, Property, and Others: I may disclose Site visitor information when I believe in good faith that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect the property or rights of my Users, third parties, or the public at large. For example, if I have a good faith belief that there is an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury, I may disclose information related to the emergency without delay.
- Information Shared Publicly: Information that visitors choose to make public is–you guessed it–disclosed publicly. That means, of course, that information like visitor comments and “likes” are all available to others, including information about the visitor that is displayed in connection with a comment or “like” (such as a visitor’s WordPress.com username and Gravatar). Public information may also be indexed by search engines or used by third parties.
How Long I Keep Visitor Information
If I am not legally required to keep it, I generally discard information about Site visitors when no longer needed for the purposes for which I collect and use it—those purposes which are described in the “How I Use Visitor Information” section above.
Other Tools
My Site may contain ads from third party ad networks and advertisers, and I may integrate other tools and services on my site (such as Google Analytics and third party plugins). Please note that this Privacy Notice only covers the collection of information by BJ Sikes, and does not cover the collection by any third party. Ad networks and analytics providers may set tracking technologies (like cookies) to collect information about visitors’ use of a Site and across other websites and online services, such as a visitor’s IP address, web browser, mobile network information, pages viewed, time spent on pages, links clicked, and conversion information. This information may be used by those companies to, among other things, analyze and track usage, determine the popularity of certain content, and deliver advertisements that may be more targeted to visitor interests. For more information about how to manage and delete cookies, visit aboutcookies.org, and for more information on interest-based ads, including information about how visitors may be able to opt out of having their web browsing information used for behavioral advertising purposes, please visit aboutads.info/choices (US based) and youronlinechoices.eu (EU based).
BJ Sikes, author 