Privacy Policy

Your privacy is critically important to the owner of this site. As such, we have a few fundamental principles:

  • We are thoughtful about the personal information we ask you to provide and the personal information that we collect about you through the operation of our services.
  • We store personal information for only as long as we have a reason to keep it.
  • We aim to make it as simple as possible for you to control what information on your website is shared publicly.

Below is our Privacy Policy, which incorporates and clarifies these principles.

Who We Are and What This Policy Covers

Our website address is: https://becomeagnome.com (the site). This site was created for fun, and we hope it provides you with some joy. This privacy policy is provided out of legal necessity and to be transparent with site visitors.

Information Collected

We only collect information about you if we have a reason to do so. The primary data we collect comes from two sources:

  • If and when you provide information directly to us.
  • Through your interactions with the site, such as analytic data.

Information You Provide to Us

It's probably no surprise that we collect information that you provide to us directly. When you communicate with us, we store a copy of our communications. Here are some examples:

  • Guestbook: When you fill out the guestbook on the site we collect the data shown in the guestbook form, and also your IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.
  • Other Communication: When you communicate with us via form, email, or otherwise, we store a copy of our communications (including any call recordings as permitted by applicable law).

Information We Collect Automatically

  • Analytics: When you interact with this site we use a self-hosted Umami instance that collects some information such as your location, browser, etc. This site does not use Google Analytics.

How and Why We Use Information

Purposes for Using Information

We use information about you for the purposes listed below:

  • To ensure quality, maintain safety, and improve our Services. For example, by monitoring and analyzing how users interact with the site so we can make our Services easier to use.
  • To fix problems with our Services. For example, by monitoring, debugging, repairing, and preventing issues.

Sharing Information

How We Share Information

  • Spam Detection: When filling out the guestbook this site uses Akismet and StopForumSpam to reduce spam. Learn how your data is processed with Akismet at https://akismet.com/privacy/
  • Advertising: This site does not partner with or have special relationships with any ad server companies.

Information Shared Publicly

Information that you choose to make public is — you guessed it — disclosed publicly. Please keep this in mind when deciding what you would like to share publicly.

Security

While no online service is 100% secure, we work very hard to protect information about you against unauthorized access, use, alteration, or destruction, and take reasonable measures to do so.

This site's physical hosting facilities has appropriate security measures to protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of information that we have collected from you at our site.

Your Rights

If you are located in certain parts of the world, including some US states and countries that fall under the scope of the European General Data Protection Regulation (aka the "GDPR"), you may have certain rights regarding your personal information, like the right to request access to or deletion of your data.

How to Delete Your Data

You have the right to request deletion of your personal information at any time. This includes:

  • Guestbook entries you have submitted
  • Email communications with us
  • Any other personal data we have collected

To request deletion of your data:

  1. Email us at privacy@becomeagnome.com
  2. Include "Data Deletion Request" in the subject line
  3. Provide enough information for us to identify your data (such as the email address or name used in the guestbook)
  4. Specify what data you would like deleted

Timeline: We will respond to your deletion request within 30 days and complete the deletion within 45 days of verification.

Note: Some information may need to be retained for legal or security purposes (such as preventing spam), but we will inform you if this applies to your request.

European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

If you are located in a country that falls under the scope of the GDPR, data protection laws give you certain rights with respect to your personal data, subject to any exemptions provided by the law, including the rights to:

  • Request access to your personal data
  • Request correction or deletion of your personal data
  • Object to our use and processing of your personal data
  • Request that we limit our use and processing of your personal data
  • Request portability of your personal data

You also have the right to make a complaint to a government supervisory authority.

US Privacy Laws

Laws in some US states require us to provide residents with additional information about the categories of personal information we collect and share, where we get that personal information, and how and why we use it.

In the last 12 months, we collected the following categories of personal information, depending on the Services used:

  • Identifiers (like your name, contact information, and device and online identifiers)
  • Internet or other electronic network activity information (such as your usage of our Services)
  • Geolocation data (such as your location based on your IP address)
  • Audio, electronic, visual or similar information (such as your profile picture, if you uploaded one)

You can find more information about what we collect and sources of that information in the Information We Collect section above.

We collect personal information for the business and commercial purposes described in the How and Why We Use Information section. And we share this information with the categories of third parties described in the Sharing Information section.

In some US states you have additional rights subject to any exemptions provided by your state's respective law, including the right to:

  • Request a copy of the specific pieces of information we collect about you
  • Request deletion of personal information we collect or maintain
  • Request correction of personal information we collect or maintain
  • Opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information (Note: We do not sell your personal information)
  • Receive a copy of your information in a readily portable format
  • Not receive discriminatory treatment for exercising your rights

Contacting Us About Your Rights

Email: privacy@becomeagnome.com

When you contact us about one of your rights under this section, we'll need to verify that you are the right person before we disclose or delete anything. For example, if you are a user, we will need you to contact us from the email address associated with your account. You can also designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf by giving us written authorization. We may still require you to verify your identity with us.

Your Choices

You have several choices available when it comes to information about you:

  • Set your browser to reject cookies: You can usually choose to set your browser to remove or reject browser cookies before using our website, with the drawback that certain features may not function properly without the aid of cookies.
  • Request data deletion: See the "How to Delete Your Data" section above for detailed instructions.
  • Stop using this site: While we hope you enjoy this site and that you understand we respect your privacy, if you do not agree to these terms, then you may choose to not visit this site.

Privacy Policy Changes

From time to time, this site may use your information for new, unanticipated uses not previously disclosed in our privacy notice. If the information practices change at some time in the future, this site will post the policy changes to notify you of these changes. This site reserves the right to change this agreement at any time and without notice. If you are concerned about how your information is used, you should check the site periodically.

Questions? Contact us at privacy@becomeagnome.com