Privacy Policy

Last Revised: November 8, 2020

We care about and respect your privacy, so we’ve put together this privacy policy to explain to you what information we collect, how we use it, and what options you have if any of that makes you uncomfortable.

This policy applies to information we collect through this website. It does not apply to any other information collected through other means.

Please read this policy carefully. If you continue to use this website, you are consenting to our collection and use of your information in accord with this policy. If you do not like this policy or do not wish to grant such consent, your recourse is to simply refrain from using this website.

We may also change this policy from time to time. If you continue to use this website after such changes, you are consenting to our continued collection and use of your information in accord with this policy, as amended. For convenience, we include the date of last revision above.

If You’re Under 18 Years Old

This website is not intended for people under the age of 18 years old. If you’re under the age of 18 years old, you must close your browser now and stop using this website. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18 years of age, and if we discover any such information, we will delete it. If you believe we might have information about a person under 18 years of age, please contact us (using the information below).

How the Internet Works: A Crash Course

Understanding some of the information we collect as part of your use of this website and why we collect it requires a basic understanding of how the internet works. When you plug in your DSL or cable modem, that modem asks your internet service provider (e.g., Comcast) for what’s called an internet protocol (IP) address. That address uniquely identifies your modem on the internet, and while some internet service providers (ISPs) will make sure to give you the same IP address every time you connect (called a “static” IP address), most do not.

As part of that process where your ISP assigns an IP address to your modem, your ISP also tells your modem which “phone books” to use (called DNS servers). Your computer asks the “phone book” servers to look up a particular website, and the DNS server gives your computer the “phone number” (IP address) for that website.

For example, if you type “www.google.com” in your web browser, your computer (through your modem) sends the website’s name to the “phone book” server. That server looks up the name and sends the “phone number” (IP address) for “www.google.com” back through the internet to your computer. In our case, it’s 172.217.2.14. (The IP address can vary by where you’re at in the world.)

Your computer takes that “phone number” from the DNS server, calls it up, and says “Hey, show me the website for www.google.com.” The computer (called a “web server”) on the other end of that “phone” call then sends your computer the code for Google’s website, which your computer uses to show you the website in your web browser.

All of that happens in a fraction of a second. And all of that is important to understand the information we collect.

This Website Uses a Proxy

This website, however, adds one extra step in the process described above. It’s called a “proxy.” Think of this “proxy” as a kind of receptionist. Instead of calling our web server directly, your computer calls a receptionist, who then routes the call to our web server. This receptionist makes sure your computer (and the rest of the internet) never learns our web server’s direct “phone number,” which keeps our web server from getting a bunch of spam calls.

The “proxy” service we use is called Cloudflare. In addition to keeping our web server from getting a bunch of spam calls, Cloudflare also helps keep it secure, by protecting from certain kinds of attacks. It’s more than just a receptionist; it’s a firewall. And that helps keep the information we collect secure, as explained more below.

The Information We Collect

When your computer tells the DNS server to look up our website, it gets the IP address of our web server’s “receptionist” back. Your computer calls up our web server’s “receptionist” and asks for our website. The “receptionist” transfers the call to our web server. Our web server answers by giving your computer this website, which is why you’re reading this policy right now. In order to do that, our web server has to know your computer’s “phone number” (IP address) to send send this website back to your computer through the internet. That brings us to the first category of information we collect.

IP Address

As part of that exchange where your computer asks our web server for this website, both our web server and its “receptionist” keep a record of your computer’s IP address. Think of it as a “caller ID.” Your computer’s IP address gets recorded in a file on both our web server and its “receptionist,” along with all of the other computers that have “called” for this website. Our web server needs your IP address in order for certain security functions to work properly. (Our web server’s receptionist also needs your IP address because it keeps acting as an intermediary when our web server gives your computer the website.) We keep the log file indefinitely as part of our efforts to maintain the security of this website; however, our web server’s “receptionist” only retains the record for four hours. You cannot limit our collection and use of your IP address for these purposes.

Your IP address is also collected through a program called Jetpack, which is operated by Automattic, Inc. (the makers of WordPress). We collect this information to ascertain the part of the world (city and state) from which visitors are accessing this website, as well as for general security purposes. This information is stored on Automattic’s servers for 30 days or less, and is subject to their privacy policy, which you should review.

Contact Information

You’ll notice that our website features a handy contact form that allows you to easily send us a note or get in touch with S. Wyatt Young (the author of much of the content on this website). As part of that process, we collect the information you give us in the contact form, including your first and last name, e-mail address, and phone number. That information is necessary for us to respond to you. If you’d rather we not have it, then do not contact us.

If you use our contact form to contact us, your information gets stored in a database of readers that we maintain with a cool company called Mailchimp. We store this information for the purpose of staying in touch with you about new and exciting content. The information we store with Mailchimp is subject to their privacy policy, which you should also read (just the “Privacy for Contacts” portion, though). You can limit our collection and use of your information for these purposes by simply not using our contact form.

If you have a WordPress.com account and are logged in, Jetpack also uses whatever contact information you have stored with Automattic, Inc. (e.g., your e-mail address and user ID) to track your activity on this website, for security purposes, subject to and in accordance with their own privacy policy.

Behavioral Data

In addition to using your IP address as we’ve described above, Jetpack monitors how you use this website—for example, the articles you look at and the order in which you view them. It also makes note of the web browser you’re using, the size of your screen, the language of your web browser, any files you download or links you click on, and the date and time of that activity. Jetpack also keeps track of how often you visit this website, the last time you visited, and when you first visited.

This information helps us to make sure that this website is friendly and easy for everyone to use, whether they’re using it on their iPhone or desktop, browsing it in Spanish or in English. It also helps us make sure our content is interesting to read. The collection and retention of this information is subject to Jetpack’s Privacy Policy, which you should read.

Cloudflare, our web server’s “receptionist,” also stores similar information, but for another, important purpose: to help us evaluate security threats to our web server, including the volume of threats and where those threats originate (e.g., China). You cannot limit our collection or use of this information through Cloudflare.

Cookies

Finally our website uses cookies—bits of information this website stores on your computer that help make your use of this website more enjoyable.

There are three ways in which our website uses cookies for everyday visitors like you. The first way is to keep track of visitors who have acknowledged the collection and use of data according to this privacy policy. The sole reason for this is so that you don’t have to keep clicking that “no problem” button with every page you visit. It’s basically your web browser saying to this website, “Hey, this guy (or gal) has already said it’s no problem, so don’t ask him (or her) again.” This cookie stays in your web browser for three months. After that, you’ll be asked to click the “no problem” button again.

The second manner in which cookies are used on this website for everyday visitors is by Jetpack, to facilitate some of the functionality described above. These cookies stay in your web browser for anywhere from 30 minutes to 13 months, depending on what they’re used for.

The third and final manner in which cookies are used on this website for everyday visitors is by Cloudflare, which uses cookies as part of the security for our web server. These cookies stay in your web browser for anywhere from 30 seconds to 30 days, depending on what they’re used for.

You can limit this website’s ability to use cookies by disabling cookies in your web browser—effectively taking the “enjoyable” part out of this not-so-delectable treat by saying to this website, “No, thanks. I’d rather have you ask me on every single page I visit if I consent to the collection and use of my information according to this policy.” Maybe that’s your cup of tea. It sure ain’t ours. We also believe disabling cookies may make it more likely Cloudflare will see you as a “threat” (but that’s part of their secret sauce, so we can’t know for sure).

Who We Share Your Data With

We allow Automattic, Inc., to collect information about you through the Jetpack program installed on this website. That information is described in and subject to their privacy policy. The only information we provide to Mailchimp from this website is the information you provide in your contact form, and it is collected and used in accordance with Mailchimp’s privacy policy (for “contacts” like you). Cloudflare also stores information as part of its “receptionist” role explained above, which is subject to Cloudflare’s privacy policy (for “end users” like you).

You will notice this website includes various advertisements. We partner with two companies—Adsetica Limited, a Gibraltar company, and Ad Market Limited, a Cyprus company—which together provide the advertisements you see throughout this website. We receive compensation for allowing these companies to place advertisements on this website. These companies may also collect information about you, including through the use of cookies. The collection of this information by these companies is subject to their respective privacy policies (here and here). Aside from anonymized data about your interactions with the advertisements (e.g., how many times people clicked on ads), we do not have access to or exercise any control of the data these companies collect through these means.

We will also share your data in every manner necessary to comply with our legal obligations in response to valid requests. While we cannot predict every request that might be made of us, the most typical request is in the form of a subpoena or other court order. If, in our sole judgment, the request is egregiously out of the norm or violates a right we believe you have (irrespective of your jurisdiction), we will try to notify you, assuming it is consistent with our legal obligations to do so.

We do not and will not sell the information that we collect from your use of this website.

How We Protect Your Information

You’ll notice (from the little padlock in your web browser’s address bar) that this entire website is encrypted. That means everything sent between your computer and our web server can’t be read by anyone else snooping around on the internet. In addition, once your information actually gets to our web server, it’s protected by several standard security measures. The disclosure of these measures, however, would compromise that security, so we keep them secret.

If we ever learn that the security of our web server, or of any party with which we share your information, was compromised, we will employ every effort to notify you of both the extent of the breach and the information that was accessed. These efforts include a notification on this website and, if we have your e-mail address, an e-mail to you. We cannot guarantee there will never be such a breach; however, because of the security measures which Mailchimp, Cloudflare, and we all employ, we believe such a breach is unlikely to occur.

Your Options If You Don’t Like This

Notwithstanding our efforts to respect your privacy (described extensively above), we understand if you’d rather we didn’t collect and use information about you. You might be familiar with certain data protection laws like the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, and the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation. We do not believe we are subject to these laws, and nothing we’ve said above should be construed otherwise. To be clear, nothing in this privacy policy amounts to us conceding or submitting to the jurisdiction of any government or court other than those of the State of Utah and the United States.

That said, because we care about and respect your privacy, we are willing to consider a request to view, correct, or delete data that we’ve collected about you, if you’re not a jerk about it. If you ask us nicely and if we grant your request, it won’t change your ability to use this website. To submit such a request, fill out the form below.

Note that if you use multiple devices to access this website, you will need to fill out the form on each device in order to view, correct, or delete all of the data we have concerning your use of this website.

After submitting the form, you will receive an e-mail from us to verify your request. Once verified (and, again, assuming you’re not a jerk about it), we will respond to your request and likely do as you have (nicely) requested—or at least provide you with a reason that we can’t do what you’ve asked.

Changes to This Policy

We may make changes to this privacy policy at any time. When we do, we will update the date above to reflect the latest version. You will also be asked to click the “No Problem” button again (sooner than the three-month expiration date specified above). If we have an e-mail address on file for you, we will attempt to notify you by e-mail of any changes. Regardless, you should check this policy periodically for changes that we might make to it, using the date set forth above as your guide.

If you continue to use this website after any such change to this privacy policy, you have consented to the collection and use of your information in accordance with this privacy policy, as it has been and was amended.

Copyright Notice

This privacy policy is subject to copyright protections by the attorney who drafted it. You may not copy or use this privacy policy without the express permission of that attorney. He actively monitors the internet for copies of this policy, and polices his copyrights hereto.

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