IronSpider.ca Privacy Policy

As a courtesy to all visitors, this page outlines everything you need to know about how any personally identifiable information (that you give by consent) or any generic information (collected automatically) is potentially retrieved and handled from any and all visits to IronSpider.ca.

Overview

In a nutshell, you have nothing to worry about.

More specifically...

1. NO PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION IS COLLECTED ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE WITHOUT YOUR EXPRESS PERMISSION.
2. NO PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION COLLECTED ON THIS SITE IS EVER GIVEN OR SOLD TO THIRD PARTIES.

Express permission means that you knowingly entered information into a web form and then clicked on the 'Submit' button (or equivalent) for that form. Any such form at this site is entirely optional and facilitates various optional services.

Some completely generic information may be collected about all visitors to this site. Some of it is collected through the use of web server log files. Other generic information may be collected through the use of cookies. This information is used to provide aggregate statistical data about user trends connected with this website (e.g., how many hits to which web pages, which country most visitors come from, etc).

The setting of cookies can be directly managed from your web browser's Options or Preferences dialog.

All of the above is outlined in much greater detail in the following...

Personally Identifiable Information

You are not required to fill out any forms providing personally identifiable information in order to browse this site. All forms requesting such information are entirely optional and facilitate various optional services. There is only one place on this site where you might be asked to submit personally identifiable information.

These are:

1. My blog comment form — This includes any comment form at the bottom of any post to my blog. Here there are three required fields: Name, Email and Comment. This is the default setting imposed by the blogging software I use (Wordpress). Once again, if you're paranoid about using your real name then simply use a pseudonym. Blog comments are generally one-way communications although occasionally people ask for technical support. 99% of the time, I will reply by posting a comment to my blog directly below yours. Occasionally, if a public reply is not appropriate, I will send a reply to the email address you entered. If you know that a personal email reply won't be necessary and you're paranoid about using your real email address then simply enter me@example.com in the Email field and that'll do fine.

Web Server Log Files

IronSpider.ca is hosted at Lunarpages and, like most professional web hosts, the web servers at Lunarpages makes use of log files. The information collected by the log files is taken from the standard HTTP headers sent by all major web browsers. Every time you visit a web page at this site, one or more entries will be entered into the web server's log files depending on how many web files (HTML, CSS, Javascript, graphics files) are associated with web page you visited. This information contains no personally identifiable information and typically includes:

• Your IP address
• The date and time you visited the web page
• The web page/file requested
• The type of HTTP request
• Whether the web page/file request was successful or not
• Which web browser you're using
• The page you visited directly before (known as the referring URL)
• The search engine used to get to the web page (if applicable)
• Keywords used in a search engine to find the web page (if applicable)
• Which operating system is installed on your computer

This information is fed into web statistics programs such as Analog and Webalizer to provide aggregate statistical data about user trends connected with this website (e.g., how many hits to which web pages, which country most visitors come from, etc). Using web statistics programs to glean information from web server log files is standard across the internet and is part of the basic web hosting package at Lunarpages.

Your IP Address

The only information in any web server log file that even comes close to personally identifying you as an individual is your IP address. An IP address is a special number assigned to each and every computer hooked up to the internet. Your IP address is typically assigned to your computer by your internet service provider. It is constructed of four numbers ranging from 0 to 255 and each number is separated by a dot.

An example of an IP address: 172.16.254.1

You can get your IP address by visiting WhatIsMyIP.com (or simply type "what is my ip" into Google).

Knowing your IP address presents no security risk as it can only be used to find the geographical location and/or the host name of your internet service provider. You can see an example of this by visiting an IP address locator (or simply type "ip address locator" into Google).

Beyond that, your internet service provider is legally responsible for all the data that actually connects your IP address to you as an individual (according to the laws of your country). Typically, the only way anyone can connect your IP address to you as an individual is if they contact your internet service provider directly and specifically demand this information. And typically, only proper authorities are permitted to make such requests and only under extreme circumstances (such as you are suspected of committing a heinous internet crime). You should visit and peruse the security and privacy policy of your internet service provider for more details about this.

If you're still really paranoid about leaving this kind of standard information on web servers as you surf around the internet, you can do a search on Google for "web proxy" to learn how to surf the internet anonymously (although surfing anonymously has problems of its own).

Cookies

Cookies are simple and secure .txt files set to be saved on your computer. They are set by the Javascript and/or PHP coding of the web pages you visit as you surf around the internet. All major web browsers are designed to read and write cookies. They are standard and widely in effect. Here at IronSpider.ca, cookies are set for your web browsing convenience and are also used for web analytics and by some of my business partners for monitoring advertisements that I allow to be placed on this site.

More specifically...

• Some cookies set by this site are for your browsing convenience. I personally set up the implementation of these cookies or installed programs that use such cookies. These cookies in particular are:
  
  
  1. Blog Comments — If you leave a comment on my blog, you are required to enter your name and your email address (see personally identifiable information for details). The cookie set by my blog program (Wordpress) will remember this information so that you don't have to re-enter it if you return to my blog to post another comment. This is for your convenience.
  2. Some cookies may be set by external web analytics programs. These programs provide aggregate statistical data about user trends connected with this website (e.g., how many hits to which web pages, which country most visitors come from, etc). This helps me analyze visitor traffic for the purposes of user friendliness and quality control. For example, placing a link to this privacy policy in a different spot in the menu may result in more people visiting this page. Information like this is extremely important to me and is ultimately important to you as a user of this site. The external web analytics programs used here at Iron Spider are Google Analytics and Statcounter. I have no access or control over cookies set by these external web analytics programs. Please see other privacy policies for more information.
  3. Some cookies may be set by business partners (e.g., advertisements and third party advertisements on this site). I have no access or control over cookies set by business partners. Please see other privacy policies for more information.
  4. Google, as a third party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on this site. These cookies include the use of the DoubleDART cookie which may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. For more information about the DoubleDART cookie and for an easy one-click method of opting out of it, visit this page at Google.

All major web browsers provide a means to control the setting of cookies in the browser itself. Please see your web browser options and/or documentation for more information.

Some examples of accessing cookie control in web browsers:

For Internet Explorer, click on Tools » Internet Options » Privacy » Advanced
For Firefox, click on Tools » Options » Privacy

Be advised that completely disabling the setting of cookies in your web browser can ultimately result in some inconvenience as you browse the internet. For example, when visiting a website that requires a username and password —such as a forum— you'll have to manually type this information in each and every time. The popular 'Remember Me' option will no longer work because this typically relies on cookies being enabled in your web browser.

Other Privacy Policies

Here are the privacy policies of various business partners and external web analytics programs affiliated with or used by IronSpider.ca:

• Google Analytics and Adsense Privacy Policy
• Yahoo Privacy Policy
• Statcounter Privacy Policy
• Godaddy Privacy Policy
• Commission Junction Privacy Policy
• Your Mailinglist Provider Privacy Policy

Who's in Charge Here

My name is Robert Darrell (although I prefer Rob). I own the domain name IronSpider.ca and I handcoded this website entirely from scratch —including all the free website templates and all the MySpace layouts. I am fully in charge of all maintenance and all updates here at this site. I currently reside in Montreal, Canada. I can be contacted here.


Best regards,
Rob Darrell
Proprietor and webmaster of ironspider.ca


See also:

• Conventions Used on this Website