Privacy Policy (Last updated 5/3/2024)
This privacy policy explains how we collect and use personal information and the choices you can make.
Who we are
Our website address is: https://kathystrobos.com. The purpose of this blog is to share thoughts on writing, books, art, recipes, crafting and life in New York as well as updates on my book releases. We hope to meet other readers and writers.
What personal data we collect and why we collect it
We collect various types of personal information depending on how you interact with the site. This includes personal information you provide via comments and contact forms as well as digital identifiers collected indirectly via your browser or device. This is explained in more detail below.
In addition, we may automatically collect information about your computer hardware and software. This information can include your IP address, domain names, access times, and referring website addresses. This information is used for the operation of our website and to provide general statistics regarding the use of this 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 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.
Contact forms
If you provide your name and email address on a contact form, we may include that in a mailing list so that we may send you periodic updates.
To assist with sending you requested information, we use Jetpack to collect and store your email address. We will retain your email address for as long as the blog is active, subject to any requests by you.
To initiate and process subscriptions, the following information is used: subscriber’s email address and the ID of the post or comment (depending on the specific subscription being processed). In the event of a new subscription being initiated, we also collect some basic server data, including all of the subscribing user’s HTTP request headers, the IP address from which the subscribing user is viewing the page, and the URI which was given in order to access the page (REQUEST_URI and DOCUMENT_URI). This server data used for the exclusive purpose of monitoring and preventing abuse and spam.
Activity Tracked: Functionality cookies are set for a duration of 347 days to remember a visitor’s blog and post subscription choices if, in fact, they have an active subscription.
Jetpack outlines their use of your personal data and anonymized data at https://jetpack.com/support/for-your-privacy-policy/ here. You may opt out of the collection of your data by unsubscribing (we will remove your data) and contacting them using the instructions on their privacy page available at https://jetpack.com/support/privacy/ .
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.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance. Without these cookies, certain functionality may become unavailable.
For more information on cookies, please refer to our Cookie Policy.
Cookies in use include: _ga, _gat, _gid, _pinterest_cm, _ck_form, collect, r/collect
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 tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
See this page for Google Analytics security and usage of data.
Who we share your data with
We will never sell, rent or lease your personal information to a third party. We share your date with:
Service Providers and others who help with our business operations and assist in the delivery of our products and services including, but not limited to, application development, site hosting, maintenance, data analysis, infrastructure provision, IT services, customer service, email delivery services, payment processing, marketing, analytics, and enforcement of our Terms of Service Agreement and other agreements; This includes Google Analytics. Please see the section below specifically about Google Analytics.
Other users of the site if you identify yourself by making comments via the Comment Form;
Persons or entities with whom you consent to have your Personal Data shared;
Third parties in order to prevent damage to our property (tangible and intangible), for safety reasons, or to collect amounts owed to us
Third parties as we believe necessary or appropriate, in any manner permitted under applicable law, including laws outside your country of residence to: comply with legal process; respond to requests from public and government authorities, including public and government authorities outside your country of residence; enforce our Terms of Service Agreement and other agreements; protect our operations; protect our rights, privacy, safety or property, and/or that of our affiliates, you, or others; and allow us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain.
Google Analytics
We share your data with Google Analytics. Please review the Google privacy policy for partners, available at https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites to see how Google uses your data.
We use Google analytics to record information about the pages a user has seen, for example the URL of the page, time of day, device used, etc. The information that we collect is anonymized and sent to Google Analytics for analysis.
Google Analytics mainly uses first-party cookies to report on visitor interactions on this website. Users may disable cookies or delete any individual cookie. Learn more
In addition, Google Analytics supports an optional browser add-on that – once installed and enabled – disables measurement by Google Analytics for any site a user visits. Note that this add-on only disables Google Analytics measurement.
Google Analytics also collects Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to provide and protect the security of the service, and to give website owners a sense of which country, state, or city in the world their users come from (also known as “IP geolocation”).
See this page for Google Analytics security and usage of data.
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. If you subscribe to our mailing list, your email address is retained as long as we are sending out mailings, subject to any requests by you for deletion.
Google Analytics Data is retained for 24 months.
What rights you have over your data
If you 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.
Most advertising networks offer you a way to opt out of Interest Based Advertising. If you would like to find out more information, please visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ or http://www.youronlinechoices.com
Where we send your data
Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.
Third parties have access to your data as noted in this Policy.
How we protect your data
We take commercially reasonable measures to protect your data, but no security is guaranteed.
Children Under 13
We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of thirteen. If you are under the age of 13, you must ask your parents permission before you provide any personal information on this site.
Updates
We may change this Privacy Policy at any time. The most recent version of the Privacy Policy is indicated by the “Last Updated” date at the top of the Privacy Policy. All changes are effective immediately upon posting. Please review this Privacy Policy frequently to stay updated on changes that may affect you. Your continued use of this website signifies your continuing consent to be bound by this Privacy Policy. If we have any material changes to this Policy, then we will notify you via a Blog Post.
Contact information
If you have any questions, please contact us at kstrobos@yahoo.com with PRIVACY POLICY as the subject matter of the email.
Supplemental Notice to California Residents
If you are a California resident, California law may apply to how we collect and use your personal information, and what rights you have in some circumstances. The following terms supplement our Privacy Policy and explain the rights of California residents.
For information about what categories of personal information we may collect from our customers, the sources of that information, the purposes for collecting and using that information, and what types of third party service providers we may share that information with, please see our section titled What Personal Data we Collect and Why We Collect it.
California residents have the following rights:
- The right to request information about personal information that we have collected about that customer in the 12 months preceding the customer’s request (including the categories of information collected, the source of that information, the business purpose of that collection, the categories of third parties with whom that information is shared, and the specific pieces of personal information collected about that particular customer);
- The right to receive requested information in a readily-usable format if provided electronically;
- The right to request that we delete any personal information about the consumer that we have collected (although we may be entitled to retain some information for certain purposes);
- The right to opt-out of “sales” of personal information to third parties, if applicable; and
- The right to freely exercise your rights without being denied goods or services.
We cannot respond to your request to access or delete information unless we are able to both verify your identity or authority to make the request and confirm the personal information relates to you and/or your household. We will attempt to verify your request by asking you to provide identifying information. We will only use information you provide in your request for the purpose of verifying your identity or authority to make the request. You can also designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf. Your agent will need to provide a Power of Attorney authorizing the agent to act on your behalf, or will need to complete the same verification procedures that would be required for a request submitted by you directly, and provide information that allows us to verify your authorization.
We may deny deletion requests in whole or in part as permitted or required by applicable law. We do not charge a different price or rate or provide a different level or quality of goods or services based on your exercising your CCPA rights. We do not sell personal information.
To exercise your rights under California law, please contact us as follows: kstrobos@yahoo.com with CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS in the email subject line.
If you are a California resident under the age of 18, you may request and obtain removal of content or information you have publicly posted on such site. To make such a request, please send an email with the subject line “California Minor Content Removal Request” to kstrobos@yahoo.com. Please specify in your request which comment your request relates to and the specific information or content that you would like removed. Please note that your request does not ensure complete or comprehensive removal of the content or information, because, for example, some of your content may have been reposted by another visitor.