About this website
This website, jamescroft.co.uk, is operated by James Croft. I am responsible for how personal information collected through the website is used.
This policy explains what information is collected, why it is used, the services involved and your choices and rights. It covers this website and my use of information you provide through its features. External websites have their own privacy policies.
For privacy questions or requests about your information, please use the options on the Contact page. Please do not post private information or identity documents in an article comment.
Comments
When you leave a comment, WordPress collects the information you enter, including your name, email address, comment and optional website address. It also collects your IP address and browser information to help detect spam and protect the discussion.
If your comment is approved, the comment and your displayed name are public. Your website link and avatar may also appear. Your email address is not displayed as part of the public comment.
I use this information to moderate comments, respond to questions and maintain useful discussions.
The site uses Akismet, provided by Automattic, to check comments for spam. Comment content and associated information, such as your name, email address, IP address and browser information, may be sent to Akismet for this purpose. See Akismet’s privacy information and Automattic’s visitor privacy notice.
If you choose to remember your details when commenting, WordPress stores your name, email address and website in your browser. This is optional: you can comment without selecting it.
Email subscriptions
You can subscribe to new posts or follow-up comments through WordPress and Jetpack’s subscription service, provided by Automattic. The service processes your email address, subscription choices and technical information needed to deliver the emails and prevent abuse.
Jetpack’s newsletter service also provides engagement statistics, which can include whether an email was opened and whether a link was clicked, together with associated device and approximate location information. These statistics depend on the service configuration and your email software; an open count is not proof that you read an email.
You can manage or cancel your subscription using the links in subscription emails. Subscribing is optional and is not required to read the website.
For information about Automattic’s processing, see its visitor privacy notice.
Contacting me
If you contact me, I use the information in your message and the contact details you provide to respond and handle any follow-up.
The Contact page links to LinkedIn. If you use LinkedIn or another external platform to contact me, that platform processes information under its own privacy policy. I also process the information you share with me to deal with your message.
Website analytics
With your permission, I use Google Analytics and Jetpack Stats to understand how people use the website and where it can be improved.
This helps me understand which articles are useful, what readers search for, how they find the website and whether they follow links to supporting projects or videos.
Depending on the interaction and enabled feature, analytics can record:
- pages viewed, referral information and campaign information in links;
- engagement time and scroll activity;
- search terms entered in the website’s search box;
- clicks on outbound links, including links to GitHub project code and YouTube;
- clicks on downloadable files;
- interactions with supported embedded videos;
- browser, device, language and approximate location information; and
- cookies or other identifiers used to distinguish visits and sessions.
A click through to YouTube or a project repository does not, by itself, tell me what you do on that external site. Supported embedded videos may provide separate play, progress and completion events.
The purpose of this measurement is to improve the website and its content. I do not intentionally send names, email addresses or contact-message contents to Google Analytics. Please avoid entering private information in the website’s search box, as search terms can be included in analytics.
Google Analytics and Jetpack Stats are optional. They are enabled only when you allow them through the website’s cookie preferences. You can reject optional analytics, choose between the available services and withdraw your permission using the cookie settings button.
Withdrawing permission stops future optional tracking controlled by those settings. It does not automatically delete information already collected. You can contact me about information rights as explained below.
Analytics reports often present combined statistics, but that does not mean all information processed by the providers is anonymous.
See Google’s privacy policy and Automattic’s visitor privacy notice for their processing information.
Cookies and your choices
Cookies are small files stored by your browser. The website uses WPConsent to manage your choices about optional cookies and services.
Necessary cookies support essential functions, such as remembering your consent choice. Optional statistics services remain disabled until you allow them. Optional comment remember-me cookies are controlled by the choice in the comment form.
Your website consent choice is remembered for 180 days, after which you may be asked again. You can change it earlier using the cookie settings button. You can also delete cookies through your browser; this may reset saved preferences or affect some features.
The cookie records configured for this website are listed below, including their purposes and recorded durations.
Avatars, embedded content and external links
Some pages load externally hosted content, including avatars from Gravatar, an Automattic service. Loading an externally hosted image or other content can disclose technical information, such as your IP address and browser information, to its provider.
Where Gravatar is used to match a commenter’s profile image, a hash derived from the commenter’s email address is sent to the service. This should not be treated as making the information anonymous. See Gravatar’s privacy information.
Pages may also contain embedded content, such as YouTube videos. Where an embed is blocked by the website’s consent controls, it will not load until you permit it. When it loads, the provider may receive technical information and use its own cookies or identifiers. That provider’s privacy policy applies to its processing.
Ordinary links to GitHub, YouTube, LinkedIn and other sites take you to those services when you follow them. Social sharing buttons let you choose to share an article through an external platform; they do not post to your account automatically.
When I use personal information
I use the following lawful bases for the activities described here:
| Activity | Lawful basis and purpose |
|---|---|
| Operating and protecting the website, checking spam, moderating comments and responding to enquiries | Legitimate interests in maintaining a secure website, useful discussions and a way to respond to readers, balanced against your rights. |
| Optional website analytics | Consent, which you can withdraw through cookie preferences. |
| Sending optional post or comment subscription emails | Consent, which you can withdraw using the subscription controls or unsubscribe links. |
| Processing needed to meet an applicable legal requirement | Legal obligation. |
You can object to processing based on legitimate interests. Contact me through the Contact page so I can consider your request.
Providing information for a comment, subscription or enquiry is voluntary. Without the information needed for that feature, I may be unable to provide it or respond. Optional analytics consent is not a condition of reading the website.
Who receives information
The service providers involved in the activities above include:
- Google: optional Google Analytics and any Google-hosted embedded content you load, such as YouTube.
- Automattic: Jetpack subscriptions and statistics, Akismet spam checking and Gravatar where used.
If you contact me through another platform, that platform also receives information under its own privacy policy. Approved comments and the associated displayed name are public.
Information may also be disclosed where required by law. The providers’ own notices explain any processing they carry out for their own purposes.
Processing outside the UK
Google and Automattic operate internationally, so information may be processed outside the UK, including in the United States.
Google describes its use of the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and approved contractual safeguards in its data-transfer information. Automattic describes its use of approved contractual arrangements for transfers outside the UK in its privacy policy.
You can use the Contact page to request more information about the safeguards relevant to this website, including how to obtain a copy where available.
How long information is kept
Retention depends on why the information is needed and the service that holds it:
- Approved comments: while the article and its discussion remain available and the comment remains relevant, subject to moderation and applicable deletion requests.
- Enquiries: while needed to answer the message, complete follow-up and resolve any issue arising from the correspondence. Relevant records may be kept longer where needed for a particular dispute or legal obligation.
- Subscriptions: while your subscription is active. After unsubscribing, limited records may remain where needed to honour your preference, prevent unwanted emails or meet a legal requirement. Automattic’s provider-side retention is explained in its privacy information.
- Rejected comments and spam: while needed for moderation, spam investigation or handling a challenge to the decision, then removed in accordance with the site’s moderation process. Akismet’s provider-side processing is described in its privacy information.
- Google Analytics: for up-to 14 months. The event retention setting does not apply to standard aggregate reports, which can remain available for longer. Analytics cookie lifetimes are separate from this retention setting.
- Jetpack statistics and newsletter engagement: provider-held information is subject to Automattic’s retention practices. Its visitor privacy notice describes the limited lifetime of certain technical logs and analytics processing; other records may be retained for different periods.
- Consent choices: the website remembers your choice for 180 days. Individual cookie durations are listed in the cookie information above.
Where a record is no longer needed for its purpose, it should be deleted or anonymised. Retention within an external service can differ from retention in WordPress or my correspondence records.
Security
The website uses HTTPS to protect information in transit. No website or communication method can guarantee complete security. Please avoid including unnecessary sensitive information in comments or messages.
Your rights
Depending on the circumstances, you may have rights to access your information, correct it, request deletion, restrict its use, object to processing and obtain or transfer certain information in a portable format.
Where processing relies on consent, you can withdraw it. This does not affect the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.
Use the Contact page for a privacy request or concern. I may need to confirm your identity before disclosing information. I will respond within the applicable statutory timeframe and explain any relevant exceptions.
You can also complain to the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office. See the ICO’s complaints information.
Changes to this policy
I will update this policy when the website’s features or use of personal information changes. The date above shows when it was last updated.