Privacy information

First things first: I do not sell any information provided to me by visitors (such as email addresses).

However, while K´s VienNature Culturegram is my private blog, it is located on a WordPress.com platform, and WordPress provides certain automated services that I use to manage this blog. For example, visitors to my site can read published content and interact with the site through features such as comments, “likes,” and follows. They can also follow the blog via an email subscription, and link to my social media pages, such as Instagram and my Facebook page through social media buttons provided on this site´s homepage.

WordPress.com is administered by Automattic , who process information about the visitors of their users´ (such as I) website (such as this blog). I therefore disclose here relevant information provided by Automattic on what they collect from visitors to my site.

Information Automattic collects about visitors to this site

Information a visitor provides to this site

They’ll start with information that visitors provide directly to this site, which primarily happens when visitors type into a comment field or a sign-up form. Here are the most common ways in which you may provide information to this site:

Follower and Subscriber Information: When a visitor signs up to follow or subscribe to this site using WordPress.com, they collect the sign-up information requested by the site, which includes an email address.
Site Comments: When a visitor leaves a comment on this site, they collect that comment, and any other information that the visitor provides along with the comment, such as the visitor’s name and email address.
Other Information Entered on the Site: They may also collect other information that a visitor enters on the Site–such as a contact form submission, a search query, or site registration.

Information they automatically collect from this site

Automattic also automatically collects some information about visitors to this site. The information they automatically collect depends on which of their services the Site uses. They have listed some examples below:

Technical Data from a visitor’s computer and devices: They collect the information that web browsers, mobile devices, and servers typically make available about visitors to this site, such as the IP address, browser type, unique device identifiers, language preference, referring site, the date and time of access, operating system, and mobile network information.
Visitor interactions: They collect information about a visitor’s interactions with this site, including the “likes” and “ratings” left by visitors to this site using WordPress.com or Jetpack.
Location information: They may determine the approximate location of a visitor’s device from the IP address. They collect and use this information to, for example, tally for their Users how many people visit their Sites from certain geographic regions. If you’d like, you can read more about their Site Stats feature for WordPress.com sites and Jetpack sites.
Akismet commenter information: They collect information about visitors who comment on Sites that use their Akismet anti-spam service. The information they collect depends on how the User sets up Akismet for the Site, but 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…oh, and the comment itself, of course).
Intense Debate Commenter information: They collect information about visitors who comment on Sites that use their Intense Debate service (which my site does not). The information that they collect depends on how the User sets up Intense Debate for the Site, but typically includes the IP address and account information on the Site, along with the comment.
Information from cookies and other technologies: A cookie is a string of information that this site stores on a visitor’s computer, and that the visitor’s browser provides to the Site each time the visitor returns. Pixel tags (also called theyb beacons) are small blocks of code placed on Sites. Automattic uses cookies and other technologies like pixel tags to help identify and track visitors and Site usage, and to deliver targeted ads when ads are enabled for free WordPress.com sites or when ads are enabled on this site through WordAds or Jetpack Ads (see the “Other Tools” section below for more details). For more information about their use of cookies and other technologies for tracking, including how visitors can control the use of cookies, please see their Cookie Policy.

Other information provided by managers of the site

Automattic also collects any other information that users provide them about visitors to their sites. For example, a user may upload a directory or other information about site visitors and customers to the “backend” administrative platform for managing the site. (I do not do this.)

How they use visitor information

They use information about site visitors in order to provide their services to my site. This just means that, for example, I use their service to create and manage my blog, keep track of comments and of subscribers, and potentially flag and fight comments from spammers. In addition to the above, they use some information about those visitors to my site who are also Users (e.g. because they also have a WordPress account) as described in their Privacy Policy. They may also use and share information that has been aggregated or reasonably de-identified, so that the information could not reasonably be used to identify any individual. For instance, they may publish aggregate statistics about the use of their services.

How they share visitor information

They may share information collected about site visitors in the limited circumstances spelled out below:

Subsidiaries, Employees, and Independent Contractors: They may disclose site visitor information to their subsidiaries, their employees, and individuals who are their independent contractors that need to know the information in order to help them provide their services to their Users and their sites, or to process the information on their behalf. They require their subsidiaries, employees, and independent contractors to follow this Privacy Notice for information about visitors that they share with them.
Third Party Vendors: They may share site visitor information with third party vendors who need to know this information in order to provide their services to them. This group includes vendors that help them provide their services to their Users and their sites. They require vendors to agree to privacy commitments in order to share information with them.
Legal Requests: They may disclose site visitor information in response to a subpoena, court order, or other governmental request. For more information on how they respond to requests for information, please see their Legal Guidelines.
To Protect Rights, Property, and Others: They may disclose site visitor information when they believe in good faith that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect the property or rights of Automattic, their Users, third parties, or the public at large. For example, if they have a good faith belief that there is an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury, they may disclose information related to the emergency without delay.
Business Transfers: In connection with any merger, sale of company assets, or acquisition of all or a portion of their business by another company, or in the unlikely event that Automattic goes out of business or enters bankruptcy, site visitor information would likely be one of the assets that is transferred or acquired by a third party. If any of these events were to happen, this Privacy Notice would continue to apply to site visitor information and the party receiving this information may continue to use this information, but only consistent with this Privacy Notice.
Information Shared Publicly: Information that visitors choose to make public is–you guessed it–disclosed publicly. That means, of course, that information like visitor comments and “likes” are all available to others, including information about the visitor that is displayed in connection with a comment or “like” (such as a visitor’s WordPress.com username and Gravatar). They provide a “firehose” stream of public data (including comments) from Sites to provide that data to firehose subscribers, who may view and analyze the content, but do not have rights to re-publish it publicly. Public information may also be indexed by search engines or used by third parties.

Other Tools

Their Users’ Sites may contain ads from third party ad networks and advertisers, and their Users may integrate other tools and services on their sites (such as third party plugins). Please note that this Privacy Notice only covers the collection of information by Automattic, and does not cover the collection by any third party. Ad networks and analytics providers may set tracking technologies (like cookies) to collect information about visitors’ use of this site and across other websites and online services, such as a visitor’s IP address, web browser, mobile network information, pages viewed, time spent on pages, links clicked, and conversion information. This information may be used by those companies to, among other things, analyze and track usage, determine the popularity of certain content, and deliver advertisements that may be more targeted to visitor interests. For more information about how to manage and delete cookies, visit aboutcookies.org, and for more information on interest-based ads, including information about how visitors may be able to opt out of having their web browsing information used for behavioral advertising purposes, please visit aboutads.info/choices (US based) and youronlinechoices.eu (EU based).

Note: This Privacy Notice does not apply to the information Automattic collects about those who visit other websites hosted by Automattic (such as automattic.com, wordpress.com, jetpack.com, or akismet.com)–that is covered in their own Privacy Policy.

Privacy for Social Media plugins

Privacy Policy for the use of Facebook plug-ins (Like-Button)

On my page there are plugins of the social network Facebook, provider Facebook Inc., 1 Hacker Way, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA. The Facebook plugins can be recognized by the Facebook logo or the “Like-Button” (“Like”) on my site.

When you visit my page, the plugin establishes a direct connection between your browser and the Facebook server. Facebook receives the information that you have visited our site with your IP address. If you click on the Facebook “Like-Button” while you are logged into your Facebook account, you can link the contents of this page to your Facebook profile. As a result, Facebook can assign the visit to this page to your user account. We point out that as the author of my pages I am not aware of the content of the data transmitted and their use by Facebook. For more information, see the Facebook Privacy Policy.

If you do not want Facebook to associate your visit to our pages with your Facebook user account, please log out of your Facebook user account.

Privacy Policy for the use of Instagram

Functions of the service Instagram are integrated on my site. These features are provided by Instagram Inc., 1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA, 94025, United States. If you are logged into your Instagram account, you can link the contents of my site to your Instagram profile by clicking on the Instagram button. This allows Instagram to associate the visit to my site with your user account. I point out that as the author of this site I am not aware of the content of the transmitted data and their use by Instagram.
For more information, see the Instagram Privacy Policy.

Privacy Policy for the use of Twitter

On my site functions of the service Twitter are included. These features are available through Twitter Inc., 1355 Market Street, Suite 900, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA. By using Twitter and the “Re-Tweet” function, the websites you visit are linked to your Twitter account and shared with other users. This data is also transmitted to Twitter. I point out that as author of this site, I am not aware of the content of the transmitted data and their use by Twitter. For more information, see the Twitter Privacy Policy.
You can change your privacy settings on Twitter in the Account Settings.