October 6, 2006

To say that privacy is important would be a ridiculous understatement. On the Internet, however, it takes on a whole new dimension. Just viewing a web page reveals things about your ISP and computer to the site owner–in this case, me. I want you to know that I take your privacy seriously. I'm not selling your email address to anyone or using it to spam you. I will, in fact, never knowingly reveal any private information about you to anyone else–especially your email address.

This document outlines the types of personal information received and collected when you comment here or [1] contact ptvGuy as well as outlining some of the steps I take to safeguard information. I hope this will help you make an informed decision about commenting here or contacting me.

Personal Information and Other Data Collected

• ptvGuy receives and collects personal information when you comment here or contact me including (possibly) your IP address, your email address, your name, your website, or anything else you may otherwise voluntarily reveal.
• ptvGuy may uses cookies (see below) and may use other technologies to enhance your online experience and to learn about how you use the site itself and the various services offered in order to improve quality.
• ptvGuy's web server automatically records information when you visit the website–as does almost any web server–including the URL, IP address, browser type and language, and the date and time of your visit.

Use of Cookies

Unfortunately, the misuse of cookies by some sites has resulted in a negative public view of what is essentially a benign text file designed originally to enhance the user experience, store certain information temporarily, and eliminate the redundant entering of the same information over and over. That's how this site uses cookies.

When visitors comment on this blog, they get cookies stored on their computer (unless they've set their browser to refuse them.) This is purely a convenience, so that the visitors won't need to re-type all their information again when they want to leave another comment. Three cookies are set for commenters:

• comment_author
• comment_author_email
• comment_author_url

All the data in the cookies is stored hashed. When a visitor returns to this blog, WordPress checks for the existence of these cookies, and then tries to compare the hashed data with the values stored in the WordPress database. These commenter cookies are set to expire a little under one year from the time they're set.

Uses

• We may use the information collected to provide the services you've requested including services that display customized content and advertising.
• We may also use the information collected for auditing, research, and analysis to operate and improve this site and any related services.
• We may share aggregated, non-personal information such as overall site statistics and such with third parties at our discretion.
• We may also share information with third parties in limited circumstances including when complying with legal process, preventing fraud or imminent harm, and ensuring the security of our site and services.

Your Choices

• We offer you choices when we ask for personal information.
• You are free to not provide personal information to us and/or refuse cookies in your browser, although some of our features or services may not function properly as a result.

Additional Information & Dispute Resolution

If you have any additional questions or feel that the stated privacy policies of this site have been violated, please use the information provided on my [2] contact page to contact me. I will make every attempt to answer your questions or resolve any disputes. Also, feel free to comment on or make suggestions concerning this privacy policy.

Sincerely,
Timothy Dungan (aka [3] ptvGuy)