Privacy Policy

Updated March 22, 2019

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Get your Mai Tai, put your feet up, and let’s talk privacy. I love privacy and value it, especially yours. Privacy on a website is essentially informed consent, which means you can say “no” at any time, and consent is sexy. I mean, who wants some email you didn’t ask for popping up in your in box? That’s just annoying, and a little creepy.

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So, what exactly am I talking about? Well, the only information I store on my website (chantalmer.com) is information you provide freely. My website is protected by SSL which ensures everything sent to and from my server is encrypted. I also have powerful security software to maintain security on my site to the best of my ability.

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Still with me? Good. Now, let’s talk about the information you give me.

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Newsletters

When you subscribe, I collect your first name, IP address (the address of your computer), and email address so I can send you updates about what is going on in my world. Don’t worry, updates will be infrequent because none of us wants to be bombarded with emails. Want to be removed from this list? Click unsubscribe at the bottom of any newsletter or send me an email.

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In addition, my newsletters send a message back to me when they are opened. This helps me to better design future content, hopefully making it more enjoyable for you. I view and store the statistics about whether you’ve opened the newsletters or not.

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Comments

I encourage healthy discussion and love to hear what you have to say, but you should know that when you leave a comment, your name, email address, IP address (the address from your computer), and your comments will be collected. Remember, you can say “no” at any time. If you ever want to have your comments removed, send me a quick note through the form below and I’ll remove them.

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Unfortunately, there are people who like to fill websites with spam comments, and my site is no exception. I use CleanTalk to protect my site from spam. In order to do their job, CleanTalk compares your information to a list of known spam senders, which means they will store your information for a few days. If you’re concerned about them processing your data, then I encourage you not to leave comments. We’re here to relax and enjoy ourselves. If you’re stressed out about your data, you’re not having fun, and that’s worse than sand in your bathing suit!

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The information CleanTalk collects includes the commenter’s IP address, user agent, referrer, and Site URL (along with other information directly provided by the commenter such as their name, username, email address…oh, and the comment itself, of course. CleanTalk doesn’t do anything with the data and they purge it in a few days. However, I keep the data (um, it’s your comments) and store it in my database.

 

Contact Forms

My contact form requests your name, email address, the subject and message that you wish to send me. Your IP address is also captured by the system. This information is checked for spam as noted above and then transmitted to me via email. It is not stored on my website but is stored on my server to keep from getting lost. During that transmission, the data will be sent through normal email channels. stored on my server in order to keep

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Cookies

I make fabulous chocolate cookies (just ask my kids), but those are not the cookies we’re talking about here. I use cookies on this site to personalize the site. A cookie is a small text file that is placed on your hard disk by a Web page server. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer. Cookies are uniquely assigned to you and can only be read by a Web server in the domain that issued the cookie to you. One of the primary purposes of cookies is to provide a convenience feature to save you time. For example, if you personalize a web page, or navigate within a site, a cookie helps the site to recall your specific information on subsequent visits. This simplifies the process of delivering relevant content, eases site navigation, and so on. When you return to the Web site, the information you previously provided can be retrieved, so you can easily use the site’s features that you customized.

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You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Many Web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can modify your browser settings to decline cookies if you prefer. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of this or other websites you visit.

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Website Activity Tracking

Keeping track of two kids, a husband, a goof-ball dog, a cat, who is constantly plotting my death, and socks (Why can no one ever find their socks?) is enough, to say nothing about writing. That’s why my hosting company and Google Analytics provide me with basic data on those who access my site. The data stored in this manner is not traceable back to any individual and is deliberately generalized. It provides me with information related to the country of origin of site visitors, what browser they are using, and how long they stayed on the site.

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In addition, Google and other search engines track website visitors. This is something that happens whenever you use the internet. If you do not want to be tracked, please consider using a private browser window.  The information that these search engines store is not traceable to one individual and so is very generic in nature. I do not store this information; however, I do occasionally look at it so that I can tell what people are searching for when they come to my site. This helps me provide more relevant content.

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Children

The forms on this site are not intended to be used by anyone under the age of 16 without parental consent.

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Changes to this Statement

On occasion, I may update this privacy statement. When I do, I will also revise the “last updated” date at the top of the privacy statement. For material changes to this privacy statement, I will notify you by placing a prominent notice on the home page of my Web site. I encourage you to periodically review this privacy statement to stay informed about how I am helping to protect the personal information I collect. Your continued use of the service constitutes your agreement to this privacy statement and any updates.

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Note to International Users

I live and work in the US, and that’s where this site is hosted. If you are accessing the site from outside the United States, by providing your information to the site, you are consenting to the transfer of your information to the United States for processing and maintenance in accordance with this Privacy Notice. You are also consenting to the application of United States law in all matters concerning the site.

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Now that we’ve gotten all of that out of the way, put down your Mai Tai and let’s go have some fun!