Privacy Policy

This is the official website of author Richard Carrier, Ph.D. (www.richardcarrier.info). It is currently run by Richard Carrier as a sole proprietor and administrator.

Personal Data Collected & Why

Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site my WordPress system collects the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection and combat malicious attacks. An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here. After approval of your comment, your profile picture may be visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Cookies

This site uses only the standard cookie procedures employed by most WordPress suites:

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you have an account and you log in to this site, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me,” your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

Embedded Content from Other Websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Analytics

I track and store all standard analytical data from every browser accessing my site in the same way almost every website does. This data is not shared except in aggregate (e.g., as graphs or statistics, i.e., with all personally identifying information removed) or when a legal process requires it. It might be kept indefinitely. And I do sometimes consult this information to vet users and protect against malicious attacks and other threats.

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are also retained indefinitely. This is so the system can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue. I also consult this information to vet users and protect against malicious attacks and other threats. For users that register here, the system also stores the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

Visitor comments are also checked through an automated third-party spam detection service.

Rights You Have over Your Data

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of any specific kind of personal data this site retains that you ask for. You can also request that I erase any personal data about you the system is holding. This does not include any data I am obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

How My Site Protects Your Data

My site employs several layers of commercial security protocols (including a two-factor login). All devices I use to access it either logout immediately after my work is concluded or lock to a password screen after a short delay.