PRIVACY POLICY
Who I am
I am Mark Simmons, an author based in Liskeard, Cornwall. My website address is: https://marksimmonsauthor.uk
What personal data I collect and why
Comments
When visitors leave comments or reviews on the site, I 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.
Cookies
My site uses the following cookies:
- Google Analytics cookies – these are set for monitoring and tracking visitors’ behaviour on the site.
- WordPress logged-in cookies – these are used by WordPress to authenticate logged-in visitors, password authentication and user verification.
- WooCommerce cookies – these are used by the WooCommerce plugin to track visitors and their purchased items in the cart.
If you leave a comment on my 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, I 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, it 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.
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.
Who I share your data with
I don’t share your data with third parties in a way as to reveal any of your personal information like email, name, etc. However, some data is transferred and/or stored with third-party services I use, like cloud-based services and payment processors. This is done as a way to provide you with a better overall service and user experience.
Here are the services I use to make my own service better for you:
- PayPal – I use Paypal as a payment processor. During checkout, a client will provide login information and credit card info. This information is processed directly within this gateway payment and we do not save it on our sites. Review their privacy policy here: https://www.paypal.com/en/webapps/mpp/ua/privacy-full
Analytics
I use Google Analytics to provide you with a more personalised service when visiting other websites.
You can change the settings on your browser to prevent cookies being stored on your computer or mobile device without your explicit consent. Your browser “help” section will normally provide details on how to manage the cookie settings.
To opt out of Google’s cookies please visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout or for any other marketing cookies –http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/ or visit www.allaboutcookies.org.
If you have any further questions about cookies then please contact me at [email protected]
How long I retain your data
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so I can recognise and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
For users that register on my website (if any), I 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 I hold about you, including any data you have provided to me. You can also request that I erase any personal data I hold about you. This does not include any data I am obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
Where I send your data
Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.
Your contact information
Website orders
If you place an order on my site, I will require some personal information in order to ship your order to you. I require your name, address and email address. You can check out as a guest or you can choose to register an account with me, in which case your personal details will be saved, making future checkouts quicker and easier. You can close the account at any time by logging into your dashboard or you can contact me at [email protected] and I will do it as soon as possible.
Mailing list
If you join my mailing list, I will require your name and email address. Permission for this will be requested when you sign up to the list. You can cancel your subscription to the mailing list at any time and you will receive no further communications from me.
Additional information
How I protect your data
This website has a valid SSL certificate which means it is run on a secure https network. This encrypts user communications with the servers so personal identifiable information is never captured by third parties without authorisation. I update my software including WordPress version, WordPress plugins and theme regularly to ensure that the website remains as secure against virus and hack.
What data breach procedures I have in place
In case of a data breach, I will immediately go through affected users and will attempt to reset passwords if needed after informing the user.
Further information
If you require further information regarding our privacy policy, please contact us at [email protected].
Contacting me
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, the practices of this site, or your dealings with this site, please contact me at:
Mark Simmons
[email protected]