Privacy Policy – Simply Smart Gardening

Your privacy is very important to me.

The primary purpose in collecting information from or about you is to provide you with a safe, smooth, efficient, and customized experience.

There are a lot of technicalities that you’ll see on this page, but here are the basics in non-legal jargon:

  • I use analytics software to understand what visitors like the most on my website. This tracks how and where you navigate on my site. Personal data is not stored.
  • If you sign up for my email list or request that I email you a free resource, I’ll send you the incentive you signed up for and regular emails to help you be a better gardener. I do not share or sell my email list.
  • I also have a Facebook pixel and the Pinterest tag on my site to better understand how you interact with those two platforms so that I can gauge what content you like the most.
  • If you leave a comment on my blog, it attaches your IP address to your email address. This helps me monitor spam.

At Simply Smart Gardening I have a few fundamental principles that I follow:

  1. I don’t ask you for personal information unless I truly need it. (I can’t stand it when companies ask you for things like your gender or income level for no apparent reason.)
  2. I don’t share your personal information with anyone except to comply with the law, develop our products, or protect our rights.
  3. I don’t store personal information on my servers unless required for the on-going operation of my site.
  4. Mastermind Media, Inc. operates several websites including this one. It is Mastermind Media’s policy to respect your privacy regarding any information I may collect while operating this website.

And now for the legal stuff:

This website and its content are owned by Mastermind Media (“Company”, “we”, or “us”). The term “you” refers to the user or viewer of SimplySmartGardening.com (“Website”).

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy on the Website at any time without notice. Use of any information or contribution that you provide to us, or which is collected by us on or through our Website or its Content is governed by this Privacy Policy. By using our Website or its Content, you consent to this Privacy Policy, whether or not you have read it. If you do not agree with this Privacy Policy, please do not use our Website or its Content.

Website Visitors

Like most website operators, Simply Smart Gardening collects non-personally-identifying information of the sort that web browsers and servers typically make available, such as the browser type, language preference, referring site, and the date and time of each visitor request. Simply Smart Gardening’s purpose in collecting non-personally identifying information is to better understand how Simply Smart Gardening’s visitors use its website. From time to time, Simply Smart Gardening may release non-personally-identifying information in the aggregate, e.g., by publishing a report on trends in the usage of its website.

Simply Smart Gardening also collects potentially personally-identifying information like Internet Protocol (IP) addresses for logged in users and for users leaving comments on our blogs. Simply Smart Gardening only discloses logged in user and commenter IP addresses under the same circumstances that it uses and discloses personally-identifying information as described below, except that blog commenter IP addresses are visible and disclosed to the administrators of the blog where the comment was left.

Use of “Cookies”

This notice complies with the EU Cookie Law (2011)

This site uses cookies – small text files that are placed on your machine to help the site provide a better user experience. In general, cookies are used to retain user preferences, store information for things like shopping carts, and provide anonymized tracking data to third party applications like Google Analytics. As a rule, cookies will make your browsing experience better. However, you may prefer to disable cookies on this site and on others. The most effective way to do this is to disable cookies in your browser. We suggest consulting the Help section of your browser or taking a look at the About Cookies website which offers guidance for all modern browsers.

We do not set any personally identifiable information in cookies, nor do we employ any data-capture mechanisms on our Website other than cookies. You may choose to disable cookies through your own web browser’s settings.

We use cookies to personalize content, to provide social media features and to analyze our traffic. We also share anonymous information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Cookies are small text files that are placed on your machine to help the Website provide a better user experience. The cookies cannot identify you.

In general, cookies are used to retain user preferences, store information for things like shopping carts, and provide anonymized tracking data to third party applications like analytics software.

As a rule, cookies will make your browsing experience better and some features may not work as intended. We have no access to or control over any information collected by other individuals, companies or entities whose website or materials may be linked to our Website or its Content. But you may prefer to disable cookies on this site and on others. The most effective way to do this is to disable cookies in your browser. We suggest consulting the help section of your browser or taking a look at the About Cookies website which offers guidance for all modern browsers.

A cookie is a string of information that a website stores on a visitor’s computer, and that the visitor’s browser provides to the website each time the visitor returns. Simply Smart Gardening uses cookies to help us identify and track visitors, their usage of the Simply Smart Gardening website, and their website access preferences. Simply Smart Gardening visitors who do not wish to have cookies placed on their computers should set their browsers to refuse cookies before using Simply Smart Gardening’s website, with the drawback that certain features of Simply Smart Gardening’s website may not function properly without the aid of cookies.

Gathering of Personally-Identifying Information

Certain visitors choose to interact with Simply Smart Gardening in ways that require Simply Smart Gardening to gather personally-identifying information. The amount and type of information that Simply Smart Gardening gathers depend on the nature of the interaction. For example, we ask visitors who comment on our blog to provide a username and email address. For those who wish to receive updates via email, we collect their emails. For those who purchase a product that Simply Smart Gardening offers for sale, we collect their emails and name in order to fulfill purchases. In each case, Simply Smart Gardening collects such information only insofar as is necessary or appropriate to fulfill the purpose of the visitor’s interaction with Simply Smart Gardening. Simply Smart Gardening does not disclose personally-identifying information other than as described below. And visitors can always refuse to supply personally-identifying information, with the caveat that it may prevent them from engaging in certain website-related activities.

Aggregated Statistics

Simply Smart Gardening may collect statistics about the behavior of visitors to its websites. For instance, Simply Smart Gardening may monitor the most popular pages in analytics software or data screened by the Akismet service to help identify spam. Simply Smart Gardening may display this information publicly or provide it to others. However, Simply Smart Gardening does not disclose personally-identifying information other than as described below.

Protection of Certain Personally-Identifying Information

Simply Smart Gardening discloses potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information only to those of its employees, contractors and affiliated organizations that (i) need to know that information in order to process it on Simply Smart Gardening’s behalf or to provide services available at Mastermind Media’s websites, and (ii) that have agreed not to disclose it to others. Some of those employees, contractors and affiliated organizations may be located outside of your home country; by using Simply Smart Gardening’s websites, you consent to the transfer of such information to them.

Simply Smart Gardening will not rent or sell potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information to anyone.

Other than to its employees, contractors and affiliated organizations, as described above, Simply Smart Gardening discloses potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information only in response to a subpoena, court order or other governmental request, or when Simply Smart Gardening believes in good faith that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect the property or rights of Simply Smart Gardening, third parties or the public at large.

If you are a registered user of a Simply Smart Gardening website and have supplied your email address, Simply Smart Gardening may occasionally send you an email to tell you about new features, solicit your feedback, or just keep you up to date with what’s going on with Simply Smart Gardening and our products. If you send me a request (for example via a support email or via one of my feedback mechanisms), I reserve the right to publish it in order to help clarify or respond to your request or to help support other users. Simply Smart Gardening takes all measures reasonably necessary to protect against the unauthorized access, use, alteration or destruction of potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information.

Submission, Storage, and Sharing of Personal Data

To use our Website or its Content, we may seek personal data, including your name, email address, street address, city, state, billing information, or other personally identifying information (“Confidential Information”), or you may offer or provide a comment, photo, image, video or any other submission when visiting or interacting with my website and its content (“Other Information”). By providing such Confidential Information or Other Information to us, you grant us permission to use and store such information.

Your Confidential Information is stored by us internally or through a data management system. Your Confidential Information will only be accessed by those who help to obtain, manage or store that Information or who have a legitimate need to know such Confidential Information.

There may be an occasion where we may ask for demographic information such as gender or age, but if you choose not to provide such data and information, you may still use the Website and its Content, but you may not be able to use those services where demographic information may be required.

Confidentiality

We aim to keep the Confidential Information that you share with us confidential. Please note that we may disclose such Confidential Information if required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that: (1) such action is necessary to protect and defend our rights or property or those of our users or licensees, (2) to act as immediately necessary in order to protect the personal safety or rights of our users or the public, or (3) to investigate or respond to any real or perceived violation of this Privacy Policy or of our Disclaimer, Terms and Conditions, or any other terms of use or agreement with us.

Viewing by Others

Note that whenever you voluntarily make your Confidential Information or Other Information available for viewing by others online through this Website or its Content, it may be seen, collected, and used by others, and therefore, we cannot be responsible for any unauthorized or improper use of the Confidential Information or Other Information that you voluntarily share.

Passwords

To use certain features of the Website or its Content, you may need a username and password. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of the username and password, and you are responsible for all activities, whether by you or by others, that occur under your username or password and within your account. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized or improper use of your username or password or any other breach of security. To help protect against unauthorized or improper use, make sure that you log out at the end of each session, requiring your username and password.

It is your responsibility to protect your own username and password from disclosure to others. We cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to protect your username, password, or account information. If you share your username or password with others, they may be able to obtain access to your personal information at your own risk.

By using our Website and its Content, you agree to enter true and accurate information on the Website. If you enter a bogus email address, we have the right to immediately inactivate your account.

We will use our best efforts to keep your username and password(s) private and will not otherwise share your password(s) without your consent, except as necessary when the law requires it or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary, particularly when disclosure is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to others or interfering with our rights or property.

Unsubscribe

You may unsubscribe to our e-newsletters or updates at any time through the unsubscribe link in the footer of all e-mail communications.

We manage email lists through a list management system. Unsubscribing from one list managed by us will not necessarily remove you from all publication email lists. If you have questions or are experiencing problems unsubscribing, please contact me.

Anti-Spam Policy

We have a no-spam policy and provide you with the ability to opt out of our communications by selecting the unsubscribe link in the footer of all e-mails. We have taken the necessary steps to ensure that we are compliant with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 by never sending out misleading information. We will not sell, rent or share your email address.

Comments

Comments and other content submitted to Akismet anti-spam service are not saved on our servers unless they were marked as false positives, in which case we store them long enough to use them to improve the service to avoid future false positives.

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Compliance

We do not collect any information from anyone under 13 years of age in compliance with COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act), and our Website and its Content is directed to individuals who are at least 13 years old or older.

Anonymous Data Collection and Use

To maintain our Website’s high quality, we may use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our server and to administer the Website by identifying which areas of the Website are most heavily used, and to display content according to your preferences. Your IP address is the number assigned to computers connected to the Internet. This is essentially “traffic data” which cannot personally identify you, but is helpful to us for marketing purposes and for improving our services. Traffic data collection does not follow a user’s activities on any other Websites in any way. Anonymous traffic data may also be shared with business partners and advertisers on an aggregate basis.

Privacy Policies of Other Websites

We have no responsibility or liability for the content and activities of any other individual, company or entity whose website or materials may be linked to within our Website or its Content, and thus we cannot be held liable for the privacy of the information on their website or that you voluntarily share with their website. Please review their privacy policies for guidelines as to how they respectively store, use and protect the privacy of your Confidential Information and Other Information.

Assignment of Rights

In the event of an assignment, sale, joint venture, or other transfer of some or all of our assets, you agree we can assign, sell, license or transfer any information that you have provided to us. Please note, however, that any purchasing party is prohibited from using the Confidential Information or Other Information submitted to us under this Privacy Policy in a manner that is materially inconsistent with this Privacy Policy without your prior consent.

Notification of Changes

The Website may at any time, without notice to you and in its sole discretion, amend this policy from time to time. Please review this policy periodically. Your continued use of this Website after any such amendments signifies your acceptance thereof.

We may use your contact information to inform you of changes to the Website or its Content, or, if requested, to send you additional information about us. We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify or otherwise alter our Website, its Content and this Privacy Policy at any time. Such changes and/or modifications shall become effective immediately upon posting our updated Privacy Policy. Please review this Privacy Policy periodically. Continued use of any of information obtained through or on the Website or its Content following the posting of changes and/or modifications constitutes acceptance of the revised Privacy Policy.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact Simply Smart Gardening.

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