Privacy Policy
WHO I AM
This website is a personal blog that is written by Lauren Schmitz. I do not have any employees or assistants.
WHAT PERSONAL DATA I COLLECT AND WHY I COLLECT IT
CONTACT FORMS
Information collected via contact form is used only by me to communicate with you regarding your inquiries. No one else receives this information.
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/
NEWSLETTER
When you sign up for my mailing list, your name and email are kept by my mailing list provider for the purpose of sending newsletters via email.
I collect your email address only if you voluntarily provide it to me. This may occur, for example, if you sign up to receive an email newsletter, posts by email, leave a comment, or enter a promotion. I will use your email address only for the purpose for which you provided it to me. You may opt out of such email communications at any time by clicking the “unsubscribe” button at the bottom of the email.
If you are a resident of a country in the European Economic Area (EEA), please refer to the section below entitled “Additional Rights of EEA Residents.”
ANALYTICS
I use Google Analytics to track anonymous usage data. Information is collected through the use of cookies and is used only to analyze site performance, and this gives me information on page views and site traffic (but NOT anything about who you are or any kind of personal information of any kind). You can turn off cookies at anytime by modifying your browser’s settings.
AFFILIATE LINKS
Some of the links on this site are ads, partners, or affiliate links. This means I might make a small commission if you buy from the linked sites.
I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a way for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
SECURITY LOGS
The IP address of visitors, user ID of logged in users, and username of login attempts are conditionally logged to check for malicious activity and to protect the site from specific kinds of attacks. Examples of conditions when logging occurs include login attempts, log out requests, requests for suspicious URLs, changes to site content, and password updates. This information is retained for 14 days.
COOKIES
Cookies are used by various plugins and scripts on my site in order to give me information about website visitors (analytics), to keep track of cookie consent/denial, by advertisers to monitor visitor behavior, and by various social media sites when I embed content from them.
If you leave a comment on the 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.
By using this site, you consent to the use of such cookies and the sharing of data captured by such cookies and our other third-party partners.
GOOGLE COOKIES
You can view, delete or add interest categories associated with your browser by visiting: https://adssettings.google.com
EMBEDDED CONTENT FROM OTHER SITES
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.
BLOCKING COOKIES
Most browsers allow you to refuse to accept cookies and to delete cookies. The methods for doing so vary from browser to browser, and from version to version. You can, however, obtain up-to-date information about blocking and deleting cookies via these links:
(a) https://support.google.com/
(b) https://support.mozilla.org/
(c) http://www.opera.com/help/
(d) https://support.microsoft.com/
(e) https://support.apple.com/kb/
(f) https://privacy.microsoft.com/
Please note that blocking cookies may have a negative impact on the functions of many websites, including my site. Some features of the site may cease to be available to you.
WHO I SHARE YOUR DATA WITH
I do not share names or email addresses sent via contact forms with any other party.
If you sign up for my mailing list, my mailing list provider will have your name and email address.
Google Analytics only retains info about visitors, pages viewed, etc. GA does not collect any info that could identify you personally (but they collect data around the web in various forms and aggregate it, so see further info below to manage that data).
Data collected by social media companies (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc) becomes part of the data that each collects; see their individual sites for information about managing your data.
This site is scanned for potential malware and vulnerabilities by WordFence. We do not send personal information to WordFence; however, WordFence could find personal information posted publicly (such as in comments) during their scan. For more details, please see WordFence’s privacy policy.
WordPress itself does not share any data with anyone.
HOW LONG I 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.
For users that register on our website, we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
SECURITY LOGS
Security logs are retained for 14 days.
GOOGLE ANALYTICS
Google Analytics keeps data on site traffic up to 14 months, the shortest retention period available (but remember, site stats do not have any info about who you are personally). While my site does not give Google any personal info about you, other websites might have at some point.
You can find out more & use tools to manage your Google data here: https://privacy.google.com/
HOW TO VIEW AND/OR DELETE YOUR DATA
If you have left comments on this website, you can 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.
HOW YOUR DATA IS PROTECTED
I use the plugins Wordfence to keep my site and your data secure. These services scan for malicious intruders, unauthorized access and/or changes, and keep me alerted if anything suspicious is noticed. They also block intrusion attempts to help keep the site more secure.
WHAT DATA BREACH PROCEDURES I HAVE IN PLACE
If anything on my site is ever compromised, I will notify the proper authorities and notify every affected person to the best of my ability.
ADDITIONAL RIGHTS OF EEA (EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AREA) RESIDENTS
If you are a resident of a country in the EEA, you have the rights, among others, to:
(i) access your personal data
(ii) ensure the accuracy of your personal data
(iii) the right to have us delete your personal data
(iv) the right to restrict further processing of your personal data, and
(v) the right to complain to a supervisory authority in your country of residence in the event that data is misused
If you believe that our processing of your personal information infringes data protection laws, you have a legal right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority responsible for data protection. You may do so in the EU member state of your residence, your place of work or the place of the alleged infringement.
You may exercise any of your rights in relation to your personal data by written notice to us addressed to the following: lauren@thesimplehomeschooler.
CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 13
This Website is not intended for children under 13 years of age. No one under age 13 may provide any information to the Website. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are under 13, do not use or provide any information on this Website or on or through any of its features/register on the Website, make any purchases through the Website, use any of the interactive or public comment features of this Website or provide any information about yourself to us, including your name, address, telephone number, email address, or any screen name or user name you may use. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 13 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 13, please contact me at EMAIL ADDRESS.
Mediavine Programmatic Advertising (Ver 1.1)
The Website works with Mediavine to manage third-party interest-based advertising appearing on the Website. Mediavine serves content and advertisements when you visit the Website, which may use first and third-party cookies. A cookie is a small text file which is sent to your computer or mobile device (referred to in this policy as a “device”) by the web server so that a website can remember some information about your browsing activity on the Website.
First party cookies are created by the website that you are visiting. A third-party cookie is frequently used in behavioral advertising and analytics and is created by a domain other than the website you are visiting. Third-party cookies, tags, pixels, beacons and other similar technologies (collectively, “Tags”) may be placed on the Website to monitor interaction with advertising content and to target and optimize advertising. Each internet browser has functionality so that you can block both first and third-party cookies and clear your browser’s cache. The “help” feature of the menu bar on most browsers will tell you how to stop accepting new cookies, how to receive notification of new cookies, how to disable existing cookies and how to clear your browser’s cache. For more information about cookies and how to disable them, you can consult the information at All About Cookies.
Without cookies you may not be able to take full advantage of the Website content and features. Please note that rejecting cookies does not mean that you will no longer see ads when you visit our Site. In the event you opt-out, you will still see non-personalized advertisements on the Website.
The Website collects the following data using a cookie when serving personalized ads:
- IP Address
- Operating System type
- Operating System version
- Device Type
- Language of the website
- Web browser type
- Email (in hashed form)
Mediavine Partners (companies listed below with whom Mediavine shares data) may also use this data to link to other end user information the partner has independently collected to deliver targeted advertisements. Mediavine Partners may also separately collect data about end users from other sources, such as advertising IDs or pixels, and link that data to data collected from Mediavine publishers in order to provide interest-based advertising across your online experience, including devices, browsers and apps. This data includes usage data, cookie information, device information, information about interactions between users and advertisements and websites, geolocation data, traffic data, and information about a visitor’s referral source to a particular website. Mediavine Partners may also create unique IDs to create audience segments, which are used to provide targeted advertising.
If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices to opt-in or opt-out of this data collection, please visit National Advertising Initiative opt out page. You may also visit Digital Advertising Alliance website and Network Advertising Initiative website to learn more information about interest-based advertising. You may download the AppChoices app at Digital Advertising Alliance’s AppChoices app to opt out in connection with mobile apps, or use the platform controls on your mobile device to opt out.
For specific information about Mediavine Partners, the data each collects and their data collection and privacy policies, please visit Mediavine Partners.
Changes to this PRIVACY POLICY
I may update my privacy policy from time to time. Thus, I advise you to review this page periodically for any changes. I will notify you of any changes by posting the new privacy policy on this page. These changes are effective immediately after they are posted on this page.
CONTACT ME
If you have any questions or suggestions about my privacy policy, do not hesitate to contact me via the contact page or at lauren@thesimplehomeschooler.