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Privacy Policy Page

The Gardening Cook (RJS & CGS Enterprises, LLC) uses by the following privacy policy:

We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it. The purpose of this Privacy Policy is to let you know about the personally identifiable information we might collect and how it may be used. This policy only applies to The Gardening Cook. Our website address is: https://thegardeningcook.com.

padlock with words privacy policy embedded.

WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT AND HOW IS IT USED?

Information You Voluntarily Submit to the Website: We may collect personal information from you such as your name, address, or email address. This could happen when you leave a comment on a blog post, or subscribe to our newsletter.

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

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included since other visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Avatars Prior to May 22, 2018 our site allowed avatars for comments. An avatar is an image that follows you from website to website that appears beside your name when you comment on sites that allow avatars. We no longer permit avatars on The Gardening Cook, since they can potentially identify the person who comments.

Information We Collect from Others: We may receive information about you from other sources.  The Website utilizes the social sharing buttons which may link to your accounts on the various social media platforms.

Automatically-Collected Information: We automatically collect certain information about you and the device with which you access the Website. For example, when you use the Website, we will log your IP address, operating system type, browser type, referring website, pages you viewed, and the dates/times when you accessed the Website. We may also collect information about actions you take when using the Website, such as links clicked.

Cookies: We may log information using cookies, which are small data files stored on your browser by the Website. We may use both session cookies, which expire when you close your browser, and persistent cookies, which stay on your browser until deleted, to provide you with a more personalized experience on the Website.

HOW YOUR INFORMATION MAY BE USED

We may use the information collected in the following ways:

  • To operate and maintain the Website;
  • To send you promotional information, such as newsletters. Each email promotion will provide information on how to opt-out of future mailings;
  • To send you technical notices, updates on policies, or security alerts;
  • To respond to your comments or inquiries;
  • To provide you with user support;
  • To track and measure advertising on the Website;
  • To protect, investigate, and deter against unauthorized or illegal activity.

THIRD-PARTY USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We may share your information with third parties only when you explicitly authorize us to share your information.

Additionally, the Website may use third-party service providers to service various aspects of the Website. Each third-party service provider’s use of your personal information is dictated by their respective privacy policies.

The Website currently uses the following third-party service providers:

Google Analytics – this service tracks Website usage and provides information such as referring websites and user actions on the Website. Google Analytics does not capture your IP address or any other personal information, since we have it set to anonymize data to prevent that from happening.

Mail Chimp – this service is used for delivery of email updates and newsletters. We store your name and email address for purposes of delivering such communications.  Please refer to Mail Chimp’s privacy policy for further information.

This list may be revised from time to time at the Website’s sole discretion. Except when required by law, we will not sell, distribute, or reveal your email addresses or other personal information without your consent.

At this time, your personal information is not shared with any additional third-party applications.

ANONYMOUS DATA

From time to time, we may use anonymous data, which does not identify you alone, or when combined with data from other parties. This type of anonymous data may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses. Examples of this anonymous data may include analytics or information collected from cookies.

PUBLICLY VISIBLE INFORMATION

If you leave a comment on this website, certain information may be publicly visible.  For instance, you may register to leave a comment and voluntarily leave your name and email address, as well as a URL to a website. Your email address will never be available publicly.  At your option, you may also add a link to your website which will be visible. Users may see your username, and website information (if you entered this.)

COOKIES

The Website uses cookies to store visitors’ preferences, record user-specific information on what pages users access or visit, ensure that visitors are not repeatedly sent the same banner ads, customize Website content based on visitors’ browser type or other information that the visitor sends. Cookies may also be used by third-party services, such as Google Analytics, as described in this privacy policy.

We use cookies to identify which pages are being visited the most often. This helps us analyze data about web page traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it our reader’s needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes and then the data is removed from the system. This is done after 50 months but new visits from you reset the start date. Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

HOW TO OPT OUT OF COOKIES

Users may, at any time, prevent the setting of cookies, by the Website, by using a corresponding setting of your internet browser and may thus permanently deny the setting of cookies. Furthermore, already set cookies may be deleted at any time via an Internet browser or other software programs. This is possible in all popular Internet browsers. Please note, however, if users deactivate the setting of cookies in your Internet browser, not all functions of our Website may be entirely usable.

LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES

Our website may contain links to other websites that we feel will be of interest to you. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide while visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by our privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look for the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

Articles on this site may from time to time include embedded content (such as videos or images). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

SOCIAL SHARE BUTTONS

All of the posts on The Gardening Cook use social share buttons so that you can share the post to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other social media platforms.  We do not require personal data for you to be able to use these share buttons, but you will need an account at the social site before you can share the content forward.  Each social site is different in the data they collect on members. Be sure to read their privacy policies before using social media.

SECURITY

We are committed to ensuring that your data is secure. In order to prevent unauthorized access to our site, we have put in place several physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect from you online. The Gardening Cook has a SSL certificate for your safe browsing.

ADVERTISING

DISPLAY ADS

The Gardening Cook uses Mediavine as our ad management system to serve content and advertisements when you visit the Website, which may use cookies, as noted above.

RETARGETING ADS

From time to time, the Website may engage in remarketing efforts with third-party companies, such as Google, Facebook, or Instagram, in order to market the Website. These companies use cookies to serve ads based on someone’s past visits to the Website.

AFFILIATE PROGRAM PARTICIPATION

The Website may engage in affiliate marketing, which is done by embedding tracking links into the Website. If you click on a link for an affiliate partnership, a cookie will be placed on your browser to track any sales for purposes of commissions.

The Gardening Cook is a participant in both Link Share and Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and links to Amazon.com.  As part of these program, the Website will post customized links, provided by Link Share or Amazon, to track the referrals to their websites. This program utilizes cookies to track visits for the purposes of assigning commission on these sales.

NEWSLETTERS

On the Website, you may subscribe to our newsletter, which may be used to send details of our newest posts for advertising purposes. All newsletters sent may contain tracking pixels. The pixel is embedded in emails and allows an analysis of the success of online marketing campaigns. Because of these tracking pixels, we may see if and when you open an email and which links within the email you click. Also, this allows the Website to adapt the content of future newsletters to the interests of the user. This behavior will not be passed on to third parties.

RIGHTS RELATED TO YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Your right OPT-OUT – You may opt-out of future email communications by following the unsubscribe links in our emails. You may also notify us at cgspeake@gmail.com to be removed from our mailing list.

Your right to ACCESS – You may access the personal information we have about you by submitting a request to cgspeake@gmail.com.

Your right to AMEND – You may contact us at cgspeake@gmail.com to amend or update your personal information.

FORGET ME – In certain situations, you may request that we erase or forget your personal data. To do so, please submit a request to cgspeake@gmail.com.

Please note that we may need to retain certain information for record keeping purposes, or when required by law.

SENSITIVE PERSONAL INFORMATION

At no time should you submit sensitive personal information to the Website. This includes your social security number, information regarding race or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, health information, criminal background, or trade union memberships. If you elect to submit such information to us, it will be subject to this Privacy Policy.

CHILDREN’S INFORMATION

The Website does not knowingly collect any personally identifiable information from children under the age of 16. If a parent or guardian believes that the Website has personally identifiable information of a child under the age of 16 in its database, please contact us immediately at cgspeake@gmail.com and we will use our best efforts to promptly remove such information from our records.

Mediavine Programmatic Advertising (Ver 1.0)

The Website works with Mediavine to manage third-party interest-based advertising appearing on the Website. Mediavine serves content and advertisements when you visit the Website, which may use first and third-party cookies. A cookie is a small text file which is sent to your computer or mobile device (referred to in this policy as a “device”) by the web server so that a website can remember some information about your browsing activity on the Website.

First party cookies are created by the website that you are visiting. A third-party cookie is frequently used in behavioral advertising and analytics and is created by a domain other than the website you are visiting. Third-party cookies, tags, pixels, beacons and other similar technologies (collectively, “Tags”) may be placed on the Website to monitor interaction with advertising content and to target and optimize advertising. Each internet browser has functionality so that you can block both first and third-party cookies and clear your browser’s cache. The “help” feature of the menu bar on most browsers will tell you how to stop accepting new cookies, how to receive notification of new cookies, how to disable existing cookies and how to clear your browser’s cache. For more information about cookies and how to disable them, you can consult the information at https://www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies/.

Without cookies you may not be able to take full advantage of the Website content and features. Please note that rejecting cookies does not mean that you will no longer see ads when you visit our Site. In the event you opt-out, you will still see non-personalized advertisements on the Website.

The Website collects the following data using a cookie when serving personalized ads:

  • IP Address
  • Operating System type
  • Operating System version
  • Device Type
  • Language of the website
  • Web browser type
  • Email (in hashed form)

Mediavine Partners (companies listed below with whom Mediavine shares data) may also use this data to link to other end user information the partner has independently collected to deliver targeted advertisements. Mediavine Partners may also separately collect data about end users from other sources, such as advertising IDs or pixels, and link that data to data collected from Mediavine publishers in order to provide interest-based advertising across your online experience, including devices, browsers and apps. This data includes usage data, cookie information, device information, information about interactions between users and advertisements and websites, geolocation data, traffic data, and information about a visitor’s referral source to a particular website. Mediavine Partners may also create unique IDs to create audience segments, which are used to provide targeted advertising.

If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices to opt-in or opt-out of this data collection, please visit Opt Out – NAI: Network Advertising Initiative. You may also visit http://optout.aboutads.info/#/ and http://optout.networkadvertising.org/# to learn more information about interest-based advertising. You may download the AppChoices app at YourAdChoices.com | AppChoices to opt out in connection with mobile apps, or use the platform controls on your mobile device to opt out.

For specific information about Mediavine Partners, the data each collects and their data collection and privacy policies, please click here.

CONTACT INFORMATION

At any time, you may contact us at cgspeake@gmail.com for questions related to this Privacy Policy.

Last updated: May 25, 2018.