Effective Date: October 19, 2024
Introduction
Welcome to my website (“I,” “me,” or “my”). I value your privacy and am committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how I collect, use, share, and protect your information.
Who I Am
My website address is: https://www.bkofsky.com.
Information I Collect
I collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to me when you:
- Subscribe to My Blog: You may provide your name, email address, and phone number.
- Contact Me: You may provide your name, email address, phone number, and a message.
- Leave Comments or Inquiries: Any information you provide voluntarily through forms.
How I Use Your Information
I use the information I collect to:
- Send newsletters and marketing communications.
- Respond to inquiries and messages.
- Improve and analyze site traffic and user interactions.
Third-Party Services
I use third-party services to enhance my website’s functionality and user experience, including:
- MailPoet for email newsletters.
- Contact Form 7 for managing contact form submissions.
- Google reCAPTCHA v3 to prevent spam and abuse.
- Google Tag Manager for managing and implementing marketing tags.
Comments
When visitors leave comments on the site, I collect the data shown in the comments form, as well as the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help with 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. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
Media
If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.
Cookies
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 visit my login page, 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, I 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.
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 you just edited. It expires after one day.
Embedded Content
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.
Data Sharing
I do not sell your personal information. I may share your information with partners only when it is relevant to the purpose you provided it, such as managing inquiries or fulfilling requests. I may also disclose information to comply with legal requirements.
Data Security
I take the security of your information seriously. My website uses:
- SSL encryption to protect data during transmission.
- Cloudflare services to enhance security.
- Defender WordPress plugin to monitor and secure the site.
- Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) practices for added protection.
Data Retention
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 in a moderation queue.
Your Rights
You have the right to:
- Access and review the personal information I hold about you.
- Correct or update your information.
- Request the deletion of your personal information, excluding any data I am obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
If you wish to exercise these rights, please visit my Contact Page and submit a request through the provided form.
Where I Send Your Data
Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.
Changes to This Policy
I may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When I do, I will post the revised policy on this page with a new effective date.
Contact Me
If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or how I handle your personal information, please visit my Contact Page and fill out the form.