Hi! This privacy policy explains how information about you, the visitor, is being processed when you visit marshavalk.com.

WEBSITE

Marshavalk.com is a WordPress.com website. This means that I (Marsha) do not automatically collect data from my visitors, but Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, does.

How Automattic collects your information

Information you provide to marshavalk.com

This primarily happens when you type into a text field on the site, like a comment field or a sign-up form. The most common ways in which you directly provide information to marshavalk.com are:

Follower and Subscriber Information: When you sign up to follow or subscribe using Jetpack or WordPress.com, Automattic collects the sign-up information requested by marshavalk.com, which typically includes an email address.
Site Comments: When you leave a comment on marshavalk.com, Automattic collects that comment and other information that you provide along with the comment, such as your name and email address.
Other Information Entered on the Site: Automattic may also collect other information that you enter on marshavalk.com – such as a contact form submission, a search query, or site registration.

Information Automattic automatically collects from marshavalk.com

Automattic also automatically collects some information about marshavalk.com visitors:

Technical Data from a Visitor’s Computer and Etcetera: Automattic collects the information that web browsers, mobile devices, and servers typically make available to marshavalk.com when you visit the 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: Automattic collects information about your interactions with marshavalk.com, including the ‘likes’ and ‘ratings’ you leave using WordPress.com or Jetpack.
Location Information: Automattic may determine the approximate location of your device from the IP address. Automattic collects and uses this information to, for example, tally how many people visit marshavalk.com from certain geographic regions. If you’d like, you can read more about their Site Stats feature for WordPress.com sites and Jetpack sites.
Akismet Commenter Information: Automattic collects information when you comment on marshavalk.com to catch spam. It typically includes your IP address, user agent, referrer, and Site URL (along with other information directly provided by you such as your name, username, email address and the comment itself).
Information from Cookies and Other Technologies: A cookie is a string of information that a website stores on your computer, and that your browser provides to the website each time you return. Pixel tags (also called web beacons) are small blocks of code placed on websites. Automattic uses cookies and other technologies like pixel tags to help identify and track visitors and site usage. For more information about Automattic’s use of cookies and other technologies for tracking, including how you can control the use of cookies, please see their Cookie Policy.

Other information provided by marshavalk.com

Automattic also collects any other information that I provide to them about you. For example, I could upload a directory or other information about visitors and customers to the ‘backend’ administrative platform for managing marshavalk.com. I don’t know how to do that, and I don’t have a need for it, but if I ever do need it, I will update this Privacy Policy.

How Automattic uses your information

Automattic uses information about you so I can use Automattic’s services to, for example, create and manage marshavalk.com, sell products and services on marshavalk.com, flag and fight comments from spammers, and collect information through polls, quizzes and other surveys.

In addition to the above, Automattic uses some information about you if you are also one of their users as described in their Privacy Policy.

Automattic 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, Automattic may publish aggregate statistics about the use of their services.

How Automattic shares your information

Automattic may share information collected about you in the limited circumstances spelt out below:

Subsidiaries, Employees, and Independent Contractors: Automattic may disclose your information to their subsidiaries, their employees, and individuals who are their independent contractors that need to know the information to help Automattic provide services to marshavalk.com, or to process the information on Automattic’s behalf. Automattic requires their subsidiaries, employees, and independent contractors to follow their Privacy Notice for information shared with them.
Third Party Vendors: Automattic may share your information with third-party vendors who need to know this information to provide their services to Automattic. This group includes vendors that help Automattic provide their services to marshavalk.com. Automattic requires vendors to agree to privacy commitments to share information with them.
Legal Requests: Automattic may disclose your information in response to a subpoena, court order, or governmental request. For more information on how Automattic respond to requests for information, please see their Legal Guidelines.
To Protect Rights, Property, and Others: Automattic may disclose your information when they believe in good faith that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect the property or rights of Automattic, their users, third parties, or the public at large. For example, if Automattic has a good faith belief that there is an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury, they may disclose information related to the emergency without delay.
Business Transfers: In connection with any merger, sale of company assets, or acquisition of all or a portion of Automattic by another company, or in the unlikely event that Automattic goes out of business or enters bankruptcy, your information would likely be one of the assets that is transferred or acquired by a third party. If any of these events were to happen, their Privacy Notice would continue to apply to your information and the party receiving this information may continue to use this information, but only consistent with Automattic’s Privacy Notice.
Information Shared Publicly: Information that you choose to make public is disclosed publicly. That means, of course, that information like comments and ‘likes’ are all available to others, including information about you that is displayed in connection with a comment or ‘like’ (such as a WordPress.com username and Gravatar). Automattic provides a “firehose” stream of public data (including comments) from websites to provide that data to firehose subscribers, who may view and analyse the content, but do not have rights to re-publish it publicly. Public information may also be indexed by search engines or used by third parties.

Other Tools

Ad networks and analytics providers may set tracking technologies (like cookies) to collect information about your use of a website and across other websites and online services, such as your 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, analyse and track usage, determine the popularity of certain content, and deliver advertisements that may be more targeted to your 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 you may be able to opt out of having your web browsing information used for behavioural advertising purposes, please visit aboutads.info/choices (US based) and youronlinechoices.eu (EU based).

At the moment marshavalk.com doesn’t contain ads from third-party ad networks, and my WordPress subscription doesn’t allow Google Analytics and most third party plugins. I do occasionally use affiliate links that enable me to earn a percentage of any sales generated by those links. I will always tell you when a link on the blog is an affiliate link!

I also have widgets and links to social media platforms on marshavalk.com including Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest. Your interactions with those widgets and platforms are governed by the privacy policies of the companies that provide them.

Marshavalk.com includes links to other websites. If you submit personal information to any of those websites, your information is governed by their privacy policies.

I use the MailChimp email service to occasionally send newsletters. If you are subscribed to my newsletter or want to subscribe to my newsletter, your name and email address is being forwarded to and stored by MailChimp. Any information you provide me is also used by MailChimp to help me send you the newsletter.

If you would like to know more about what information MailChimp gathers and tracks, you can find their privacy policy here: MailChimp Privacy Policy.

If you ever want to unsubscribe from my newsletter, you can do so with this form: Unsubscribe from Marsha’s newsletter

Marsha.

Privacy Policy