Last Updated: 14 April 2025
1. Introduction
Welcome to Codey Grove, https://www.codeygrove.com (hereinafter: “the website”), a personal blog where I document my technical career journey and share my learning experiences. This privacy policy explains how I collect, use, and protect your information when you visit my blog, leave comments, or contact me through the contact form. This policy also outlines your rights regarding your personal data, in accordance with applicable laws like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for users in the European Union and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) for users in California.
2. Information I Collect
Please be aware that visiting my blog and interacting with its features, such as leaving comments, involves the automatic processing of certain data by Namecheap web server and WordPress. This includes your IP address, browser information, and requested pages. The legal basis for this processing is that it is necessary for the operation of the website. Even if you object to certain processing activities, these essential processes will still occur.
- Comments: When you leave a comment, I collect your name (or chosen pseudonym), email address (not publicly displayed), and the content of your comment. I also collect your IP address and browser user agent string to help prevent spam. IP addresses are collected for security purposes, including spam prevention and website traffic analysis.
- Contact Form: If you use the contact form, I collect your first name, last name, email address, and the message you provide.
- Log Data: My web server (hosted by Namecheap) automatically collects log data, including your IP address, browser type, operating system, and the pages you visit.
3. Website Analytics (MonsterInsights & Google Analytics)
I use MonsterInsights, a WordPress plugin that connects my website to Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google Ireland Limited for users in the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland, and Google LLC for the rest of the world (“Google”). Google Analytics uses cookies and similar technologies to collect and analyze information about how you use my website, including:
- IP Address (anonymized): MonsterInsights is configured to anonymize your IP address to protect your privacy.
- Usage Data: This includes information about the pages you visit, the time spent on those pages, how you got to the site (e.g., from a search engine, social media, or direct link), the links you click, and your interactions with the website.
- Browser Information: Type and version of your web browser.
- Operating System: Type of operating system you are using.
- Device Information: Type of device (e.g., desktop, mobile, tablet) and screen resolution.
- Demographic and Interest Data (if enabled in Google Analytics): This may include age, gender, and interests, based on Google’s advertising cookies and third-party audience data. I only access this data in aggregated and anonymized form.
- MonsterInsights makes it easier for me to access and understand this data within my WordPress dashboard.
4. Cookies (Including Analytics Cookies)
This website uses cookies. Specifically:
- WordPress utilizes cookies for essential functions like maintaining user sessions and remembering comment form information.
- Google Analytics Cookies: Google Analytics uses its own cookies to track your interactions on the website. These cookies collect information as outlined in Section 3 above. These cookies may include first-party cookies (set by the website itself) and third-party cookies (set by Google).
You can manage cookies through your browser settings; however, disabling them may impact website functionality and the ability of Google Analytics to track your visit. For more information on how Google uses cookies, please visit Google’s Privacy Policy and Google Analytics’ Cookie Usage on Websites.
5. Use of Information
Comments: I use your comment data to display your comments on the blog and facilitate discussions.
Contact Form: I use your contact form data to respond to your inquiries and provide support.
Log Data: I use log data to analyze website traffic, diagnose technical issues, and ensure website security.
Website Analytics (MonsterInsights & Google Analytics): I use the information collected by Google Analytics through MonsterInsights to:
- Understand how visitors use my website.
- Analyze website traffic and trends.
- Improve the content and user experience of my blog.
- Measure the effectiveness of my content and marketing efforts.
- Gain insights into my audience demographics and interests (in anonymized and aggregated form, if enabled).
Cookies: Cookies are used for essential website functionality.
6. Data Retention
Comments: Comments and their associated data are retained indefinitely to facilitate ongoing discussions, unless I manually delete them.
Contact Form: Contact form submissions are retained for 30 days to allow me to respond to your inquiries and for record-keeping purposes. After 30 days, the data is deleted.
Log Data: While I aim to retain server access logs for no more than 14 days, hosting provider’s system automatically deletes archived logs at the end of each calendar month. I acknowledge this limitation and are working within these constraints.
Website Analytics Data: Google Analytics retains data for a period I configure in Google Analytics settings. I will review and adjust these settings periodically to ensure data is retained only as long as necessary for the purposes outlined in this policy. You can find more information about Google Analytics data retention policies here: Google Analytics Data Retention.
7. Sharing Your Information
I do not sell or rent your personal information to third parties. I collect only the personal information necessary to provide the services described in this policy. Your comments are publicly visible on the blog. I may share your information with service providers who help me operate the blog. These service providers include:
Namecheap: My website is hosted on Namecheap servers. Namecheap’s privacy policy can be found here: https://www.namecheap.com/legal/general/privacy-policy/. Namecheap, as my hosting provider, processes server log data, including IP addresses, and other data related to the operation of the website. They are acting as a data processor. I do not share your email addresses or name with Namecheap.
Akismet: To protect my blog from spam, I use the Akismet anti-spam service. When you leave a comment, Akismet processes the comment content, your name, email address, IP address, browser user agent string, and other comment metadata. Akismet’s privacy policy can be found here: https://akismet.com/privacy/. The legal basis for this processing is my legitimate interest in protecting my blog from spam. Akismet acts as a data processor.
Google Analytics: I share anonymized and aggregated website usage data with Google for the purpose of website analytics as described in Section 3. Google acts as a data processor. Google may also use the data collected to contextualize and personalize the ads of its own advertising network. You can learn more about how Google uses your data in its privacy policy: Google’s Privacy Policy.
I may disclose your information if required by law.
8. Your Rights
- GDPR (EU Users):
- You have the right to access, rectify, erase, restrict processing, and receive your data in a portable format. For data portability requests, I will provide your data in a commonly used, machine-readable format, such as CSV or JSON.
- You have the right to object to the processing of your data.
- The legal basis for processing data related to essential website functionality (WordPress cookies, server logs) is that it is necessary for the operation of the website. The legal basis for processing your data for contact form inquiries is consent, for comment management is my legitimate interest in providing the Service and communicating with users, and for website analytics is my legitimate interest in understanding website usage to improve the blog.
- CCPA (California Users):
- You have the right to know what personal information I collect about you.
- You have the right to request the deletion of your personal information.
- You have the right to opt-out of the “sale” of your personal information (note: as a personal blog, I do not “sell” your personal information as defined by the CCPA).
- You have the right to non-discrimination for exercising your CCPA rights.
To exercise these rights, please contact me at https://www.codeygrove.com/contact-us/ page or email to contactus@codeygrove.com with a clear description of your request. I may require you to provide proof of identity. I will respond within 45 business days. If I cannot fulfill your request, I will explain why.
I strive to maintain the accuracy of your personal information. If you believe your data is inaccurate, please contact me at https://www.codeygrove.com/contact-us/ page.
9. Security
I take reasonable measures to protect your personal information, including using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption to protect data transmitted between your browser and our server, and implementing strong password policies and least privilege access controls to the backend of the website. I also ensure that our hosting provider has current and up to date security policies. However, no method of online transmission is 100% secure.
10. Children’s Privacy
This blog is not intended for children under 13. I do not knowingly collect data from children under 13. If I become aware that I have collected personal information from a child under 13, I will take steps to delete it as soon as possible.
11. Changes to This Policy
This privacy policy will be reviewed and updated periodically, at least annually, or as required by changes in law or practice.
12. Contact Us
If you have any questions, please contact me at https://www.codeygrove.com/contact-us/ page.
