Privacy

The Administator of this blog is a privacy advocate who strongly believes in maximising visitor privacy, and has taken active steps to reduce the amount of data collectible per page visit. Such steps have included the removal of advertising, social sharing functions, third-party widgets and detailed analytics technology. Through the modification of a legacy design theme, the blog has also maintained full functionality without the need for active scripting. You are thus not required to enable JavaScript to access or navigate this site.

However, as part of a Google-owned platform, this site uses cookies from Google to deliver services and analyse traffic. Assuming you take no specific steps to hide them, your IP address and user agent will be collected by Google, along with routine performance and security metrics. This is the bare minimum level of data collection possible here on the Blogger platform.

CONVENTIONAL COOKIES

Cookies are text files or (more likely in the 2020s) database entires, containing small pieces of information from a website. They are stored on, and read from your computer or device.

This blog is subject to Google's cookie policy, accessible via the link below...

Cookie Policy

The Administrator of this blog, as a separate entity, does not collect, or attempt to collect, any personally identifying information relating to blog visitors who make no effort to specifically provide it. This applies across all device types.

ANALYTICS

As of 23 December 2021, this blog no longer uses Google Analytics to measure visitor stats, so Google Analytics cookies will no longer be used.

However, the Blogger platform still natively delivers its own general usage statistics to the Administrator. The statistics delivered do not pinpoint detailed information such as a visitor's specific location (beyond their country), visit times or page view durations, and cannot realistically be used by the Administrator to identify visitors or micro-analyse their behaviour.

SOUNDCLOUD

A small minority of pages on the site contain SoundCloud streams. If you visit a page with a SoundCloud stream, you'll find SoundCloud's privacy policy accessible from the stream itself.

ADVERTISING AND COOKIES

Advertising, and the cookies that support it, are not currently in use on this site.

OTHER COOKIES

As part of an effort to reduce tracking on this blog, both Twitter widgets and third-party social sharing buttons have been removed.

BLOCKING COOKIES AND ATTAINING BETTER PRIVACY

You are not obliged to accept cookies, and you can still use this site if you choose to block them. Nearly all browsers allow the blocking/disabling of all cookies, or the blocking of third party cookies only, or a selective arrangement in which you choose which specific sites or domains you want to allow to place/read conventional cookies. It's easy to find instructions on how to block or disable cookies for specific browsers via a web search.

You should know that blocking cookies in your browser (rather than using on-site consent forms) is a much better, more comprehensive and more reliable way to reduce your trackability, since it also helps to block technologies such as "dark storage". There's an insight into how the technologies overlap here. I would also suggest reading the Privacy Guide on Popzazzle if you're serious about making deep changes to your general trackability, rather than the superficial changes provided by individual consent form opt-outs.

EXTERNAL CONTENT

This blog incorporates hyperlinks, both text-based and pictorial, to other websites. The Administrator of this blog accepts no responsibility for content you may find on the third-party sites you access via hyperlinks. Separate sites will also have their own privacy policies, which are a separate agreement between you and them, and are not covered in this notice.

CONTACT

The contact form has been withdrawn from this site, and now resides on the WordPress.com platform.

The Contact Page hyperlinked above allows visitors to message the blog administrator. The Contact form requests a name and an email address, and the message can contain any information the sender wishes to submit. Users of the Contact facility are advised never to submit any sensitive information.

If a reply to a Contact message is warranted, The administrator will use the name and email address provided, and the content of the message, for the purpose of replying. Personal information submitted will not be retained by the administrator for any longer than it is needed for its original intended purpose. The sender's IP address is integrated into the message and will be received by the administrator as part of the email.

Senders of Contact messages should be aware that most email transmission falls into the hands of large tech companies, who make money through the collection of data.

The administrator will not publish or pass on the contents of any Contact message unless one or more of these conditions applies...

  • The sender explicitly states that the message is for publication.
  • The message contains information which the administrator believes could put any party at risk.
  • The content of the message relates to an illegal act.

PRIVACY STATEMENT

The Administrator of this blog does not collect any personal information from or about visitors who do not deliberately provide personal information. If visitors do deliberately provide personal information, it is handled in accordance with UK Data Proteection Law - strictly confined to the exact purpose for which it is interpreted to have been provided, and only retained for as long as it takes to fulfil that purpose. The visitor's own consent is the absolute and sole basis on which the administrator of this blog will retain data relating to an individual visitor.

Last updated 20 March 2023.