Privacy Policy

Last updated: January 17, 2021

Allie Smaha (“I”, “us”, “we”, or “our”) is the sole owner and operator of this blog, alliemikenna.com (the “Service”).

This page informs you of our policies regarding the collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information when you use our Service.

We will not use or share your information with anyone except as described in this Privacy Policy.

1. Who we are

Our website address is: https://www.alliemikenna.com.

2. What personal data we collect and why we collect it

2.1. Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

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

2.2. 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.

2.3. Cookies

Cookies are files with small amount of data, which may include an anonymous unique identifier. Cookies are sent to your browser from a web site and stored on your computer’s hard drive.

We use cookies to personalize content, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media and analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you’ve provided to them or that they’ve collected from your use of their services.

You consent to our cookies if you continue to use our website. You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our website.

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 visit our login page, 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.

2.4 Log Data

We collect information that your browser sends whenever you visit our Service (“Log Data”). This Log Data may include information such as your computer’s Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, browser type, browser version, the pages of our Service that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages and other statistics.

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

Our Website also contains social media features such as the Facebook button and other widgets that operate on our Website. These features may collect information such as your IP address and the pages you are visiting on our site, and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. Social media features and widgets are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on the Website. Your interactions with these features are governed by the privacy statement of the company providing the applicable feature.

AllieMikenna.com is a for profit blog. It contains paid banner advertisements that are generated and managed by a third party network, GoogleAdSense. This site also includes relevant affiliate links in content which we try to clearly mark. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. That means that if you click on an affiliate link and make a purchase, we may receive a small commission at no cost to you. I only recommend products through referrals that we would actually use and own and all opinions or recommendations expressed are my own.

2.6 Personal data collected via Google Analytics: Cookies, Usage data

This site uses Google Analytics to improve the functionality of the site. This site and Google Analytics use first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookie) to inform and optimize content.

3. Who we share your data with

Data collected on this site is used for site improvement purposes (analyzing traffic, optimizing website and social media content). It may be shared with social media partners or analytics partners such as Google Analytics and GoogleAdSense who may combine it with other information that you’ve provided to them or that they’ve collected from your use of their services.

4. 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 (if any), 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.

Google Analytics data is retained for 26 months.

If you sign up for our email newsletter, your email address is retained indefinitely unless you ask to be removed from our list.

5. What rights you have over your data

5.1 Comments

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request 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.

5.2 Google Analytics

To provide website visitors more choice on how their data is collected by Google Analytics, Google has developed an Opt-out Browser add-on, which is available by visiting Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, to enable you to opt-out of Google’s programs.

5.3 Cookies

Cookies and other tracking technologies: For information on how to manage cookie settings click on the links below:

5.4 Email newsletter

To be removed from our email newsletter, please opt-out using this form.

6. Where we send your data

Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service. Cookies and usage data may be shared with Google Analytics but are only used by the site administrator.

7. Service Providers

We may employ third party companies and individuals to facilitate our Service, including DreamHost web hosting and Google Analytics, to provide the Service on our behalf, to perform Service-related services or to assist us in analyzing how our Service is used.

These third parties have access to your Personal Information only to perform these tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose.

8. Security

The security of your Personal Information is important to us, but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

9. Links To Other Sites

Our Service may contain links to other sites that are not operated by us. If you click on a third party link, you will be directed to that third party’s site. We strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of every site you visit.

We have no control over, and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third party sites or services.

10. Children’s Privacy

Our Service does not address anyone under the age of 18 (“Children”).

We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 18. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has provided us with Personal Information, please contact us. If we discover that a child under 18 has provided us with Personal Information, we will delete such information from our servers immediately.

11. Changes To This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page.

You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.

12. Contact information

Owner and Data Controller: Allie Smaha
16329 Springbrook Trail
Urbandale, IA, 50323
Owner contact email: alliemikennareads@gmail.com