Privacy Policy

At Microbe Notes, accessible from https://microbenotes.com/, one of our main priorities is the privacy of our visitors. This Privacy Policy document contains types of information that are collected and recorded by Microbe Notes and how we use it.

If you have additional questions or require more information about our Privacy Policy, do not hesitate to contact us.

Who we are

Our website address is https://microbenotes.com.

Log Files

Microbe Notes follows a standard procedure of using log files. These files log visitors when they visit websites. All hosting companies do this and a part of hosting services’ analytics. The information collected by log files includes internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, Internet Service Provider (ISP), date and time stamp, referring/exit pages, and possibly the number of clicks. These are not linked to any information that is personally identifiable. The purpose of the information is for analyzing trends, administering the site, tracking users’ movement on the website, and gathering demographic information.

What personal data we collect and why we collect it

Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection. We collect information about visitors who comment on Sites that use our Akismet anti-spam service. The information we collect depends on how the User sets up Akismet for the Site, but typically includes the commenter’s IP address, user agent, referrer, and Site URL (along with other information directly provided by the commenter such as their name, username, email address, and the comment itself).

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: https://automattic.com/privacy/.

After approval of your comment, your name, your email address, your website, and profile picture may be visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

What data do you provide?

Subscription

We collect your name and email address from our subscription box (only if you enter your name and email address yourself) in order to:

  • Send information, respond to inquiries, and/or other requests or questions.
  • Market to our mailing list or continue to send emails to our clients.

If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from receiving future emails, you can follow the instructions at the bottom of each email.

Contact forms and Request Notes Form

The information from the contact forms and request notes form are kept for a certain period for customer service purposes, but we do not use the information submitted through them for marketing purposes.

How do we protect your data?

Our website is protected and scanned on a regular basis for security holes and known vulnerabilities in order to make your visit to our site as safe as possible. We use regular Malware Scanning Tools to protect our user’s and users’ data. We have been making our best efforts to use all reasonable industry standards to secure your personal data. Once we have received your personal information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorized access.

Cookies

“Cookies” are small pieces of information that are stored by your browser on your device. Like most websites, we use cookies to keep track of your activity and enhance your experience. We also use cookies to assist us in the fight against fraud or malice. If you wish not to receive cookies, you can disable them on the toolbar of your browser at any time.

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 visit our login page, 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.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

The Website may engage in affiliate marketing, which is done by embedding tracking links into the Website. If you click on a link for an affiliate partnership, a cookie will be placed on your browser to track any sales for purposes of commissions.

Different browsers provide different methods to block and delete cookies used by websites. You can change your browser’s settings to block/delete the cookies. To learn more about managing and deleting cookies, visit wikipedia.org, www.allaboutcookies.org.

Like many websites, this website sets and uses cookies to enhance your user experience — to remember your personal settings, for instance. Advertisements may display on this website and, if so, may set and access cookies on your computer; such cookies are subject to the privacy policy of the parties providing the advertisement. However, the parties providing the advertising cannot access this site’s cookies. These parties usually use non-personally identifiable or anonymous codes to obtain information about your visits to this site. For more information about this type of online advertising, about cookies, and how to turn this feature off, please visit this link. Please note that turning off advertising cookies won’t mean that you are not served any advertising, merely that it will not be tailored to your interests.

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 tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Analytics

We may collect analytics data, or use third-party analytics tools and services, to help us measure traffic and usage trends for the Service. These tools collect information sent by your browser or mobile device, including the pages you visit and other information that assists us in improving the Service. We collect and use this analytics information in aggregate form such that it cannot reasonably be manipulated to identify any particular individual user.

You can opt-out by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page or permanently using the Google Analytics Opt Out Browser add on. The add-on prevents the Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js, analytics.js, and dc.js) from sharing information with Google Analytics about visits activity.

DoubleClick DART cookies (Google AdX)

We also may use DART cookies for ad serving through Google’s DoubleClick (Google AdX), which places a cookie on your computer when you are browsing the web and visit a site using DoubleClick advertising (including some Google AdSense advertisements).  This cookie is used to serve ads specific to you and your interests (”interest based targeting”).

The ads served will be targeted based on your previous browsing history (For example, if you have been viewing sites about visiting Las Vegas, you may see Las Vegas hotel advertisements when viewing a non-related site, such as on a site about hockey).  DART uses “non personally identifiable information”.  It does NOT track personal information about you, such as your name, email address, physical address, telephone number, social security numbers, bank account numbers, or credit card numbers.

You can opt-out of this ad serving on all sites using this advertising by visiting http://www.doubleclick.com/privacy/dart_adserving.aspx

You can choose to disable or selectively turn off our cookies or third-party cookies in your browser settings, or by managing preferences in programs such as Norton Internet Security.

However, this can affect how you are able to interact with our site as well as other websites.  This could include the inability to login to services or programs, such as logging into forums or accounts.

Deleting cookies does not mean you are permanently opted out of any advertising program.  Unless you have settings that disallow cookies, the next time you visit a site running the advertisements, a new cookie will be added.

Google Privacy Policy- https://policies.google.com/privacy

Google Ads Privacy and cookies- https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads

Our Advertising Partner

This Site is affiliated with Publisher First, Inc. dba Freestar (“Freestar”) for the purposes of placing advertising on the Site, and Freestar will collect and use certain data for advertising purposes. To learn more about Freestar’s data usage, click here: https://freestar.com/privacy-policy/.

Opt-out: Users can set preferences for how Google advertises to you using the Google Ad Settings page.

How long we retain your data

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store 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.

What 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 the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request us by email that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Where we send your data

Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.

Children’s Information

Another part of our priority is adding protection for children while using the internet. We encourage parents and guardians to observe, participate in, and/or monitor and guide their online activity.

Microbe Notes does not knowingly collect any Personal Identifiable Information from children under the age of 13. If you think that your child provided this kind of information on our website, we strongly encourage you to contact us immediately and we will do our best efforts to promptly remove such information from our records.

California Online Privacy Protection Act (CalOPPA)

The first state law in the nation to require commercial websites and online services to post a privacy policy, the California Online Privacy Protection Act (CalOPPA) went into effect in 2004. It was amended in 2013 to require new privacy disclosures regarding the tracking of online visits. (See More)

According to CalOPPA, we agree to the following:

  • Our privacy policy is shown on the home page of our website.
  • There is a link on our home page where visitors can visit our privacy policy page.
  • The privacy policy is linked to our homepage via a hypertext link that contains the word “privacy,” and can be clearly seen on our home page to the visitors.
  • Users will be notified of any privacy policy changes by visiting our Privacy Policy Page.
  • Users are able to change their personal information by emailing us.
  • Users can visit our site anonymously.

California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)

Under the CCPA, California consumers have the right to:

  • The right to know about the personal information a Microbe Notes collects;
  • The right to delete personal information collected from Microbe Notes (with some exceptions);

User Rights under GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)

  • The right to be informed – You can know about our privacy policy and how we process your data from our Privacy Policy Page.
  • The right to access – You have the right to request Microbe Notes for copies of your personal data.
  • The right to rectification – You have the right to request that Microbe Notes correct any information you believe is inaccurate. You also have the right to request Microbe Notes to complete the information you believe is incomplete.
  • The right to erasure – You have the right to request that Microbe Notes erase your personal data, under certain conditions.
  • The right to restrict processing – You have the right to request that Microbe Notes restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
  • The right to object to processing – You have the right to object to Microbe Notes’ processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
  • The right to data portability – You have the right to request that Microbe Notes transfer the data that we have collected to another organization, or directly to you, under certain conditions.

Please note that we may ask you to verify your identity before responding to such requests.

Online Privacy Policy Only

This Privacy Policy applies only to our online activities and is valid for visitors to our website with regards to the information that they shared and/or collect in Microbe Notes. This policy is not applicable to any information collected offline or via channels other than this website.

Consent

By using our website, you hereby consent to our Privacy Policy and agree to its Terms and Conditions.

Contact

If there are any issues or questions regarding this privacy policy, please email us at microbenotes@gmail.com

Last Updated On: 2024-11-15