Privacy Policy
Who I am
This is the personal website of author Grace R. Pringle, at https://gracepringle.com. This page explains what personal information the site collects, why, who it is shared with, and what you can do about it. If you have any questions, please get in touch through the contact page.
My newsletter
When you sign up for my newsletter (for example, to get the free eBook), I collect your email address, plus the date and the IP address you signed up from, which helps prevent abuse. You’ll get an email asking you to confirm your subscription, and you won’t be added until you do.
I only send emails you have signed up for. Every email has an unsubscribe link, and you can unsubscribe at any time. Newsletter emails record whether they are opened and which links are clicked, which helps me write better newsletters.
The newsletter is managed on this website with MailPoet, and emails are delivered by Postmark. Your details stay on the list until you unsubscribe or ask me to delete them.
Contact form
If you send a message through the contact form, I receive your name, email address and message by email, and a copy is kept on this website so I can refer back to our conversation. I only use these details to reply to you. You can ask me to delete them at any time.
Comments
When you leave a comment, the site collects the details in the comment form, plus your IP address and browser user agent string to help detect spam. The comment form is also protected by Google reCAPTCHA (see below).
An anonymized string created from your email address (called a hash) may be sent to the Gravatar service to check whether you use it. The Gravatar privacy policy is available at https://automattic.com/privacy/. Once your comment is approved, your profile picture is visible to the public next to your comment.
Comments and their details are kept indefinitely, so that follow-up comments can be recognized and approved automatically.
Analytics
I use Google Analytics to understand how visitors use the site: which pages are read, roughly where visitors are located, what kind of device and browser they use, and general demographic and interest information that Google provides. Google Analytics uses cookies to do this. You can read Google’s privacy policy, and you can opt out of Google Analytics on every site with Google’s opt-out browser add-on.
The site is also delivered through Cloudflare, which provides basic, cookie-free visit statistics.
Security
To protect the site from spam, hacking attempts and abusive bots, security tools on the site log the IP address, browser user agent and pages requested by visitors, and may block addresses that behave suspiciously. This information is only used for security. Most of it is deleted automatically over time; the addresses of blocked bots are kept so they stay blocked.
The login and comment forms use Google reCAPTCHA, which checks that you are a person rather than a bot. reCAPTCHA collects information about your device and how you use the page and sends it to Google. Its use is subject to Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
Cookies and browser storage
- Google Analytics sets cookies (such as
_ga) to recognize returning visitors. They last up to two years. - Google reCAPTCHA may set cookies from Google on pages that use it.
- Comments: if you choose to save your details when commenting, your name, email and website are stored in cookies for one year, so you don’t have to type them again.
You can delete or block cookies in your browser settings. The site still works without them.
Embedded content and third-party services
Some pages include content from other websites, such as my Instagram feed or embedded videos. Clicking through to Instagram, or playing embedded content, works just as if you had visited that website, which may collect data about you, use cookies and track your interaction with it.
To display properly, pages also load fonts and icons from Google Fonts and Font Awesome, which means your browser connects to their servers and they receive your IP address.
Who your information is shared with
I don’t sell or rent your personal information. It is only shared with the services that help run this site:
- Cloudflare, which delivers and protects the website;
- Postmark, which delivers emails;
- Google, for Analytics, reCAPTCHA and fonts;
- Automattic, for Gravatar profile pictures on comments.
Some of these services process data outside Canada, including in the United States. If you request a password reset, your IP address is included in the reset email.
Your rights
You can ask to see the personal information I hold about you, ask me to correct it, or ask me to delete it. You can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time using the link in any email. To make a request, please use the contact page. This doesn’t include information I have to keep for administrative, legal or security reasons.
