Who I am

I am Sharon Villines the editor and publisher of the StrongNeighborhoods.info. See biography page. The website address is: https://strongneighborhoods.info

The What and Why of Collecting Personal Data

Comments

If and when you leave comments on the site, the data shown in the comments form, your IP address, and browser are sent to my spam detection service to be checked out for fraud or whatever else you might be up to.

I do not connect to Gravatar so they cannot track your activity. The comic icons for Monsters are randomly assigned when you create an account so readers can easily identify comments made by the same person. Even more importantly, however, I believe they add a bit of humor and color.

Contact Forms

Information from contact or subscription forms is only available to me, Sharon Villines. The mailing service I use for distributing newsletter updates, MailPoet, does not maintain the subscriber list. It is stored and maintained by me on the Strong NeighborhoodsStrong neighborhoods have good communications, maintain supportive networks, and are self-organizing and resilient. More site. The mailing service does check your email address for validity before it hits send.

Cookies

When you visit the login page, a temporary cookie is set 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, several cookies are set to save your login information and your screen options. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me,” your login will be saved for two weeks. The login cookies are removed when you log out of your account.

If you leave a comment you may choose whether to save your name and email address in a cookie or two. These are for your convenience so you will not have to fill in your details again tomorrow. They last for one year.

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. It expires after 1 day.

Embedded Content from Other Websites

Articles may include embedded content from other websites (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the same way as if you had visited the other website. They may collect data about you, set cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with the embedded content. If you have an account and are logged in to that website, it can track your interaction with the embedded content. 

I have no control over this or even know if it is happening or not.

Shared Data

I don’t share data with anyone, except that the anonymous visitor counter on the front page is public. I have no idea who would want my data anyway.

How Long We Retain Your Data

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so I can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them for moderation.

If you register for newsletter updates, I store the information you provided in your user profile. You can see, edit, or delete your personal information at any time (except you cannot change your username without deleting your account and resubscribing with a new username). As an administrator, I can also see and edit the information on your user page (except the username).

What Rights You Have Over Your Data

If you have an account on this site or have left comments, you can request a file of the personal data on file. You can also request that I erase any of your personal data. This does not include any data I am obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes (I have no idea what data that might be so I don’t but I’m supposed to warn you).

Where We Send Your Data

Email addresses on comments and subscriptions are checked by my automated spam detection service. I will be flagged if you are identified as a spammer. 

Protecting Your Data

Siteground is my website host so all website data is stored on a server owned and maintained by them. Their excellent privacy and security services are enabled at the server level. In addition, I have security software installed within the site.

Data Breach Procedures

If despite the security software installed, the site is hacked I will be notified by one or more of several levels of security software. I will have to fix the site and will let you know if any privately stored information was stolen—passwords and usernames.

Receiving Third-Party Data

Except notices informing me of spammers or non-working email addresses on subscriptions, I receive no data from anyone about you except what I receive from you.

Automated Decision making and/or Profiling

I don’t know what this is so I doubt if I use it. If you do, please let me know.

Industry Regulatory Disclosure Requirements

When I recommend a book or other resource, I may receive minuscule royalties for referring you to another website for more information or to purchase a book. My only affiliation at the moment (27 January 2020) is Amazon. I doubt there will be more because it is hard enough to keep those links updated. I do not track whether you use the links or not so feel no obligation to use them for my sake. (But I do recommend the books because I think you would be better informed and happier if you read them.)