Learned Words | Legal

Learned Words | Kymberly Fergusson

Legal and Disclaimer

Contact, copyright, affiliate disclaimer & privacy policy

On this page

In the context of the European legislation, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), I have updated the privacy and cookie policies below (January 2020).

Who am I?

The content of this site is copyright Kymberly Fergusson, including all photos unless otherwise attributed.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed on this site are purely my own, or in the case of guest blog authors, their own. I will always be honest in all of the content I publish.

This site occasionally contains affiliate links to products and services I recommend, which means when you click on a link that I recommend, I may receive a tiny commission. Not every link is an affiliate link (one I get paid for), but some are.

I am currently a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

If there is no disclaimer at the top and bottom of the post that I have been gifted something to review, then I have not been received any form of compensation for writing it.

If you have any questions about my affiliation with a certain product, please contact me for additional details.

Privacy Policy

With the GDPR in force since 25 May 2018, I want to tell you about how I gather and manage your personal information. I will always treat your personal data with the utmost care, and will never sell your information, or knowingly pass your information on to a third party without your consent.

The data I collect

When you visit this website

This website no longer uses analytics and no longer displays Google ads. Like all web servers, this site’s internet service provider’s web server logs information about which pages you access, and information about your device (device or browser type and IP).

If you play a video embedded on a page in this site or click through to YouTube, Google may set cookies and collect IP/browser data so that you can play the media in your browser.

When you sign up for the newsletter

When you signed up for my email newsletter, you have double-opted-in and given your consent to receive emails from me. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of the newsletter.

I use MailChimp to manage these newsletter lists – to satisfy the GDPR, MailChimp records your consent, and also records when you unsubscribe so that future emails are not sent to you. MailChimp uses tracking pixels to note who has opened a newsletter and/or clicked on links within the newsletter. If you do not want to allow this, please do not sign up for the newsletter, or simply unsubscribe.

MailChimp may host your data in the U.S. and is certified under the E.U.-U.S. Privacy Shield. MailChimp – privacy policy

When you contact me via email or direct messages, or interact with my content on other platforms

When you send an email or a direct message (social media or messenger services), or interact with the content or images I have published on various platforms, you choose and consent to send information to me like your email address, account name, real name, etc. I do not store contact details outside of email or DM content.

Please review the respective privacy policies of the various platforms I use (linked below), and consent to them processing your data and potentially storing it outside of the EU before you contact me via these channels:

I keep emails and direct messages for up to 5 years, after which they are routinely deleted, unless they need to be retained longer for tax or legal reasons. On content and social media platforms, you can delete your own comments and likes, or you can contact the service provider to do so. Emails to kymberly@learnedwords.com and kfergusson@learnedwords.com are sent through the web host’s servers. IONOS & 1and1 privacy policy

I use Google’s Gmail to receive and store some emails to my old email address (nifwlseirff@gmail.com, and others), with analytics disabled. Google may store the data in the U.S. and is certified under the E.U.-U.S. Privacy Shield. Gmail – privacy policy

I have disabled and deleted all comments and trackbacks on this blog to more easily comply with the GDPR.

Affiliate links: I do not have access to any personal data when you click on any affiliate links (such as Amazon or JapanesePod101.com) on this website, or on any content I have published on other platforms.

Advertising: My YouTube channel and content I have published on content platforms, like HubPages and Quora, may display advertising. I do not see any identifying information via these platforms about which ads visitors have seen, and am not paid directly by those advertising platforms.

You can block advertising and the trackers used by advertisers by using browser extensions for desktop computers or private web browsers on your mobile device.

Clients, customers and students

Invoices and receipts contain personal information and are required to be retained for tax and legal purposes. I keep these in both digital form (on my computer and backup drive), and in print. These records are deleted and shredded shortly after the tax record retention time has ended.

If you have sent a payment to me via Paypal or with a bank transfer, your personal data will be recorded in those platforms. I do not have access to or control over this data, and therefore cannot modify or delete it.

In the course of working together, we may use shared ‘cloud’ services to exchange files and information, like Dropbox or Google Drive, or task management systems (like Monday.com), or a freelancer platform like Upwork. At the conclusion of our contract, I shall endeavour to immediately remove my access to your information where possible, and only retain that which may be needed for tax purposes. Most of these platforms are likely to use servers in the USA – please review their privacy policies and consent to them processing your private information before you contact me via these platforms.

Patreon subscribers

If you subscribe to my Patreon channel, Patreon will share with me your name, and potentially your address for postal rewards and store this data on servers in the USA. You may also be invited to my Discord channel, where information is also stored on servers in the USA. Any information you share with me by commenting on posts on those platforms, or contacting me privately will be maintained by those platforms. Please review the Patreon privacy policy and the Discord privacy policy to consent to these platforms processing your personal data before you contact me via these channels.

Who I share your data with

I will comply with any and all court-ordered legal requests for data.

If you have sent me an email, Google (Gmail) will store your email. If you have subscribed to my newsletter, MailChimp will store your data. If you have contacted me via any other platform such as social media channels or instant messengers, the respective platform will store your data.

Mastodon server: I use the old.mermaid.town server - terms of service.

In the case of a data breach

If my computer, devices or service accounts have been compromised, I will notify you as required by the GDPR.

The rights you have over your data

You have the right to access, review or delete the personal information I have stored. Please send an email to me at kymberly@learnedwords.com. I will retain your request for review or deletion as required to do so by the GDPR.

How I protect your data

This website uses a secure, encrypted connection to communicate with your device (https). Where supported, I use two-factor authentication methods to access services and platforms, and strong, unique passwords.

This site does not use analytics tools, display advertisements, or allow comments, three of the common tools that set tracking cookies.

Should you see a cookie warning or request for permission when following a link that looks like it should be on this site (learnedwords.com), it is a broken link. Please report this link to me to help me avoid the squatters have set up pages to capture traffic to broken links on websites.

What are cookies?

Cookies are tiny text files that are saved on your computer (or device) anonymously identify your browser or platform. They can’t search your computer, can’t put viruses onto your computer, and contain no personal identifying information about you (they are nothing to be afraid of).

What types of cookies does this site use?

As this is a static site, it does not set cookies.

To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org.

There is also type of cookie called a “Flash Cookie” which is not used on this site and not covered by the above – see how to delete these.

Please be reassured, any information you provide will never be sold or passed onto a third party in such as a way that could identify you.