I made this page to demonstrate to you that your privacy is important to me. Read on and I’ll discuss the type of information that my site collects from it’s visitors and exactly why it does so.

Routine Information Collection – First of all, you should know that pretty much all websites keep track of some basic info that is associated with the people who visit websites. They are often just keeping track of information about the computer that was used to visit the site. Some examples of the types of data that websites might collect are the IP addresses that the visitor came from, how the visitor found the website, which web browser the visitor viewed the website with, what the screen resolution for the computer that the visitor used was, what time the visit was, and more.

Now, before you go put on your little “tin foil” hat and get all worried about big brother watching your every move, you should know that this information can’t be used to find out your personal identity. It’s mostly used to help the designers of websites optimize their site for the types of visitors they get as well as for other administration and maintenance purposes.

I have no interest whatsoever in collecting data such as your home address, what your name is, how many kids you have, where you work, who you’re married to, etc. I may, however, be interested in knowing things like whether you visit my website through Firefox or Internet Explorer because if I find out that most of you are visiting through Internet Explorer, I may want to take extra precautions to make sure that my website displays perfectly in that Browser.

Another example of the type of information I might be interested in is what country that the majority of my website viewers are from. This type of information could help me to provide content that is specifically applicable to the types of people who are frequenting my site.

Hopefully you’re starting to see the picture here. Okay, if you’re clear so far, let’s move on.

Some Info on The Use of Cookies and Web Beacons – In some cases, websites use what are affectionately known as “cookies” to store info about certain preferences that a website visitor might have. These cookies can also be used to remember the browsing history associated with a particular visitor and this information can be used to provide the visitor with more personalized content.

In other cases, these cookies as well as scripts and or web beacons may be used by various advertising partners or other third parties to track info about website visitors. In cases like these, the information that these tools collect can be used to display advertisements that particular website visitors might find more appealing or interesting. You should know that this type of tracking is handled directly through the advertisers or third parties as consequently, these actions are subject to their individual privacy policies.

Some Info on Controlling Your Privacy – I would like to inform you that if you don’t like the idea of cookies being used to track your web activity, you can adjust the setting in your web browser and customize how cookies are used or disable them entirely. Before you get carried away, you may want to consider disabling or enabling cookies for specific sites instead of just enabling or disabling them for all sites. Let me give you a brief example of why this might be a good idea. I visit some sites that ask me to input my zip code so that region specific information can be displayed when I visit them. For example, I might visit one particular website that shows what the weather forecast is going to be for the next week where I live. Each time I return to that website, the site knows to display the weather forecast for my area and not for New York because the site uses cookies to remember this type of information. This is just one example of how cookies can be useful and I hope you see what I’m talking about here.

Here’s Some Special Information About Google Advertising – I would also like to inform you that some third party vendors such as Google also use cookies and they use them to display specific ads to website visitors based on the visitors previous visits to certain websites. The advertisements that are served up to website visitors by Google, Inc., and or other affiliated companies could be controlled via the use of cookies. Google utilizes a cookie called the DoubleClick DART cookie to serve up ads to web visitors based on the history of their visit to my website and or their visit to various other sites on the Internet. My site, as well as many other sites on the Internet display Google Adsense ads. If a person views or clicks on an Adsense ad, a cookie may be placed on their computer. This cookie can then collect information about a web surfers preferences and display advertisements that might be more appropriate for the specific web user the next time they visit a website that displays Adsense ads. To learn more about this cookie, click here: DoubleClick DART Cookie Info

I would also like to tell you that if you should so desire, it’s easy to opt out of the use of the DoubleClick DART cookie. For those of you who may want to do that, simply click here: Advertising Opt-Out Page.

You should know that any of the tracking that Google does through the use of cookies and or other mechanisms is subject to their own privacy policies. It’s easy to learn about Google’s privacy policies. If you are interested in reading about them, simply click right here: Google Privacy Policy.

Some Info About Third-Party Advertising – Occasionally, my website may also display advertising messages from third party ad networks and or third party vendors. Just like you can opt out of the use of cookies by Google, you can also opt out of the use of these cookies. There are two ways to do this.

First, you can visit the individual websites for these advertisers on a case by case basis and opt out of specific third party advertisers. If you would like to see a list of some of these third party advertisers, simply click here: Vendors Certified For Third-Party Ads

Second, you can go to the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out website where it’s possible to opt out of several of these cookies in one handy location. Note that it’s not possible to opt out of “all” cookies here. If you would like to visit that website, simply do so by clicking here: www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp

Need More Information? – I hope I have done an adequate job of clarifying how cookies may be used on my website but if you still have questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. Simply send me an email by clicking on the tab that is labeled “Contact Information” located at the top right section of my website.

Please note that this privacy policy may be modified at any time without notice.

Privacy Policy last modified: September 8th, 2011