Why you should care about your privacy

This website is run through WordPress, and it, just like many websites on the internet, uses user data for various functions such as generating ads, saving user-entered information, and sometimes helping train AI.  All users on the website, https://portfolio.rdees.madisonwebclass.com, should be aware of how their information is being used.  Details are listed below.

Comments

When you and other visitors leave comments on the site, the data in the comments are collected.  Also, the IP address and browser user agent string are collected to help detect spam.

A hash, which is a string of text with missing details, is created from the email of origin, and it may be provided to Gravatar to track usage. Gravatar’s privacy policy is available at https://automattic.com/privacy/.  After a comment is approved, the sender’s profile picture is visible to the public in the comment itself.

Why you should turn off location tags

If you upload any images here, you should avoid uploading images with EXIF GPS (some embedded location data) included. This is because all visitors can download and extract any location data from images on the website.  You have been warned.

Cookies (sarcastic hooray)

Okay, so does everybody here know what cookies are?  I mean, half the time I’m on the internet I see them everywhere. 

For those of you too innocent to know, here are the basics.  If you leave a comment here, you may opt-in to saving your name, email address, and website in cookies.  Now, they say that these are for convenience, and so that you don’t have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment.  However, who knows what each individual company uses for them.  These cookies should last for one year once created. 

If you visit the login page, there will be a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies.  Sounds redundant, but okay.  This cookie, apparently, contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.  Again, to each their own on this front.

When you log in, there are also several cookies to save your login information and screen display choices.  Yay.  These login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year, hopefully.  If you select “Remember Me” (which is an option, I guess), then it will persist for two weeks.  If you log out, they will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser.  I hope you really love cookies at this point.  This cookie, supposedly. includes no personal data and indicates the post ID of the article you edited. It expires after 1 day, or so I’m told.

If you don’t trust them after reading this, then honestly I don’t either.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). They behave in the exact same way as if you have visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you (in case you haven’t figured that out already), use cookies (in case you missed those), embed additional third-party tracking (*internal screaming*), and monitor your interaction with said embedded content, which includes tracking your interactions with them if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Data sharing

If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.

Any other occurrences of data sharing are completely unknown to Seigayama.

Data retention

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely.  This is so any follow-up comments can automatically be recognized and approved instead of holding them (hostage) in a moderation queue.

For those of you who register on our website (if any at all), the personal information provided is also stored in their user profile.  All users can see, edit, and/or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username, so don’t pick anything stupid). Website administrators can also see and edit that information because screw your privacy.

Your data rights

If you have an account on this site or have left comments, you can request to get an exported file of the personal data that held.  This includes any data you have provided.  You can also request that any personal data held be erased.  This does not include any data that is obligatorily kept for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Data sending

Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.

Any other occurrences of data sending are completely unknown to Seigayama.

In conclusion

Yeah, so it turns out that websites take a decent amount of personal data from you, but only if you give them said information.  Stay safe out there, and do not get swindled by turtles!