Who we are

Our website address is: https://dd764.org/scuttlebutt3

What personal data we collect and why we collect it

Over time, the data we collect and how we handle it may change. Also, plugins used by this site may change their handling of data. Therefore, these privacy and data protection terms may be updated at any time without notice.

Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and that data is shared with Akismet, a spam prevention organization. The information they collect typically 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, and the comment itself).

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. Gravatar is a service that displays a globaly recognizable image related to you on the Internet.

The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here.  After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

When you comment on posts or pages, you may engage in conversations with other visitors regarding almost any topic. Any information you share this way is up to you. If you provide information in your comments, remember that it is a public place. Each person must assume responsibility for his or her own actions.

Guestbook

During the course of your visit, you may sign our Guestbook. When you do, we ask you for information that can identify you. You can rest assured that we do not share this information with other organizations for any reason. Your email address and telephone number will be visible to other logged-in visitors, but not to spambots – software that harvests email addresses and other personal information from web sites.

When a visitor wants to see information in the guestbook he or she will have to register and log in. Registrations are closely monitored and spammers are blocked ASAP.

Media

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Contact forms

When you contact us via one of our Contact Forms, you are required to provide your email address so that we can respond to you.  This information, as well as your message, is stored in our database indefinitely so that we can refer to communications between you and us at any time in the future.  Data shared with us in Contact Forms is not shared with any other party.

This site has the Relevansi plugin installed, which provides a better user experience when searching.  All searches performed using the internal site search are logged in the database, including the following information: the search query, the number of hits found, user ID for users who are logged in and date and time.  The search logs are stored indefinitely.

Cookies

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer so that when you return to our site, the computer can provide you with personalized information. Nothing in a cookie can identify you. It only records information that you provide us when you set preferences or complete a form. No other computer can read the cookies we place on your computer. They do not contain executable or harmful files. Without the use of cookies, most web sites (the really useful ones) will not function.

If you leave a comment on our 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.

If you have an account and you log in to this site, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

Browser Information

Our site gathers information from your browser so that it can present our pages in the most readable form. Browsers are not all alike, so when we can tell which browser you’re using, we can give you a better visual or interactive experience. None of the information gathered from your browser is used by us in any other way.

Legal Caveat

In the unlikely event that a visitor comes under investigation by Law Enforcement Authorities, we may be required to provide any information that can be considered as evidence of illegal behavior. If that occurs, you will be notified that your information is being requested.

Embedded Content from Other Websites

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, they may use cookies, they may embed additional third-party tracking, and they may monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

ReCaptcha

Google reCAPTCHA (Google Inc.)  Google reCAPTCHA is a SPAM protection service provided by Google Inc.  The use of reCAPTCHA is subject to the Google privacy policy and terms of use.  Place of processing: United States.

ReCAPTCHA is that last item on each of our forms that you have always checked to confirm that you are not a robot.  However, it has evolved so that it works in the background, so you won’t see that checkbox now.  ReCAPTCHA collects personal information from users to make this determination that they’re human and not a bot. So, what personal information does the reCAPTCHA collect? First, the reCAPTCHA algorithm will check to see if there’s a Google cookie placed on the computer being used. Then, an additional reCAPTCHA-specific cookie will be added to the user’s browser, and a complete snapshot of the user’s browser window at that moment in time will be captured, pixel by pixel.

Some of the browser and user information collected at this time includes:

  • All cookies placed by Google over the last 6 months,
  • How many mouse clicks you’ve made on that screen (or touches if on a touch device),
  • The CSS information for that page,
  • The date,
  • The language your browser is set to,
  • Any plug-ins you have installed on the browser, and
  • All Javascript objects

By checking the ReCAPTCHA box, you are giving your permission to have this data transferred to Google’s servers and you agree to their privacy terms.

Analytics and Aggregated Statistics

Our web host helps us gather statistics about the number of visitors and which pages they visit and how long they stay. They can also tell us what web page you came from in order to get to our site. This information is used solely for monitoring site activity and helping to improve your experience.

This site did also have an account with Google Analytics until June 2, 2018 at which time the account was deleted.  Google Analytics provided us with anonymous site traffic data.  At no time has this site contracted with Google Adsense to provide advertisements on our site, nor have we ever advertised through Google Adwords.

Who we share your data with

We do not share any personal data directly with any other organization for any purpose.  For exceptions, refer to the following sections:

How long we 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.

What rights you have over your data

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request, by emailing the webmaster:

  • To receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us;
  • 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.

Additional information

How we protect your data

Your data is protected primarily by the superior quality code that comprises a WordPress site.  That being said, there are also other protections in place:

  • This site’s software is regularly updated to ward off new security threats; automatic updates are in place.
  • The administrative account (the only account that can change other users’ data) is protected with a 20-character, randomly chosen password which my most estimates would take millions of years to crack with today’s computers.  Tomorrow that could change, but for now the admin password is considered to be secure.
  • The administrative account is also protected with 2-factor authorization.  For an impostor to log in under the administrator’s username, that impostor would also have to have simultaneous access to the administrator’s cell phone.
  • Spambots are thwarted by several methods: “Akismet” plugin, “Stop Spammers” plugin, and the Google “ReCaptcha” service.
  • The site administrator is alerted every time a form is submitted, a new user is registered, or the guestbook is signed. Any spammers that make it through our defenses are promptly deleted.
  • The complete site and corresponding databases are backed up daily and moved to a separate location.

What data breach procedures we have in place

In the event that our database of users were to be accessed by an unauthorized person or entity, we will immediately send an email notice to all affected users.  The data that we collect are:

  • your username
  • an encrypted form of your password (which we cannot decrypt)
  • phone number (optional)
  • your email address
  • postal address
  • service info – years served aboard the USS Lloyd Thomas and your rating/billet

We do not collect financial data, social security number, birth date or other additional data that could be personally identifiable.  If you are a registered user of our site, please follow conventional wisdom and do not use the same password for any other site.