Privacy Policy

May 24, 2024

At Decoding Retirement Life (DRL), we collect data to help develop and improve our content, and for use in running data analytics to assist in the performance of our site. We respect the privacy of our users and are committed to protecting it. This privacy policy lays out the data we collect, how we use this data, and your rights as users. This site is created in WordPress and hosted by Bluehost.

Please read this policy carefully. By using our Website you are agreeing to the terms of this Privacy Policy.  Any changes to this policy will be noted on the announcement bar at the top of the website pages and will stay up for one week.

How is data collected?

DRL collects data from three (3) sources:

  • Comments
  • The contact form
  • From your usage of the site

What data is collected?

Each source of data collects the following information:

1: Comments: When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form. This information includes the visitor’s name and email address, along with the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help with spam detection. 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 (if you are using one) is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

2: Contact Form: If you contact us using the contact form provided on the website we will collect your name and email address only. IP addresses and geolocation data are not collected from use of the form. Information collected enables us to respond to your comment and to enhance the user experience and address user concerns. It is not used for marketing purposes nor will it be shared with any third party.  

3: Site usage: Each time you visit the site, DRL collects information on your visit. This includes each page you visit, the amount of time you spend on the site, bandwidth, and traffic sources. Also collected is your IP address which provides location data and browser information. 

Cookies

Cookies are small files that contain data that are sent by a website to a user’s browser. Cookies help improve the functionality of the site and are used for analytics. WordPress uses functional cookies for several of its features. 

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. User cookies track your visit to the website and are saved for 15 days. All personal information is stored as hashed or encrypted data. 

How do we use the data we collect?

Usage data enables DRL to improve our content and to make it most useful to its visitors. For instance, metrics like numbers of visitors to the site and to each page allows DRL to determine which parts of the website are of greatest interest to our visitors and to plan future content accordingly. To do this, data is analyzed in the aggregate, not on an individual level. Additional data are used to enable the optimal functioning and operations of the site. 

Data from the contact form allow us to respond to you. Data collected from comments allow us to determine that they are coming from an actual user and are not spam.

How long do we retain your data?

If you leave a comment, or send a comment form, 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. Names and addresses from the contact form will be kept for up to 6 months.    

Who do we share your data with?

Bluehost collects analytic data through Webalizer and AWStats as described below. WordPress does not collect any personal data about visitors nor does it share any personal data. This site makes use of several plug-ins which enhance its capabilities. These are free plugins obtained through WordPress.  WordPress.org requires that all free plugins obtain user consent before enabling usage tracking. DRL uses Akismet as an anti-spam service. Akismet collects information about visitors who leave comments on the site. The information typically collected includes 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).  You can look at Akismet’s privacy policy here:

We do not currently display ads from third parties on our site or share data with any third parties apart from those listed above that are used for the functioning of the site.

Links to other websites

DRL contains many links to external websites. Our links are provided to help visitors have easy access to additional information beyond what is provided on our site. Any recommendation inherently implied from these links are personal opinions based on personal experience only, we do not receive any compensation for these links. When you choose to click on an external link you will leave the Decoding Retirement Life website and will be taken to a new website. Other websites will be governed by their own privacy policies and may collect information from you, track you through third-parties, use cookies, etc. DRL has no responsibility for information collected from external sites.

Analytics

Bluehost gets data for analytics from AWstats (Advanced Web Statistics) and Webalizer. Analytic data includes key statistics like unique visitors, page views, hits, bandwidth, and number of visits. You can opt out of Bluehost’s analytics data by contacting Bluehost and requesting removal of your data.  WordPress does not collect any analytics data.

AWStats uses web server logs to keep track of web site visit statistics and to identify potential pitfalls such as not found pages and search engine indexing issues. It does not use cookies. The processing of personal data with AWStats is based on legitimate interests to help identify what is and is not working on our website and improve the user experience.

AWstats processes the following personal data:

  • IP address
  • Date and time
  • URL of the page being viewed
  • URL of the page that was viewed prior to the current page
  • User Agent of the browser

Webalizer works in a similar way by analyzing web server log files, and extracting such items as client’s IP addresses, URL paths, processing times, user agents, and referrers, etc., producing HTML reports. Webalizer keeps a year’s worth of reports.

How do we protect your data?

We understand the importance of data security and will do our utmost and in good faith to protect your data using commercially acceptable means. Through Bluehost, DRL has an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certification which encrypts data and provides a secure connection between users and the DRL website. We also use two factor authentication for an added level of security to protect access to the website by hackers. We only work with reputable third-party vendors that are provided directly through WordPress.

What rights do you have over your data?

If you have left comments on our site, 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 that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obligated to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes. You can also request to have contact form data deleted at any time.

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)

This website is not targeted to children under the age of 13 and does not expect to collect any data from them. If we are notified by a parent or guardian that we have unknowingly collected data from a child under the age of 13 we will delete that data.

California Online Privacy Protection Act (CalOPPA)

This policy complies with CalOPPA by providing the following information:

  • The types of personal data collected
  • Third parties and affiliates with whom your data is shared
  • How users can request their personal data
  • How notifications of updates to this policy will be announced and the date of the last update

Finally, DRL does not respond to browser do-not-track (DNT) signals.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for visitors from the European Economic Area

The GDPR protects the privacy of residents of the European Economic Area. There are 8 rights that the GDPR grants as follows:

  • The right to information
  • The right of access
  • The right to rectification
  • The right to erasure (known as “the right to be forgotten”)
  • The right to restrict processing of your data
  • The right to data portability
  • The right to object
  • The right to avoid automated decision-making

These rights are addressed in the sections listed above. However, these rights are not absolute and may have limitations or exceptions in some cases. Of further note, this website does not collect any sensitive personal data. The data collected is in the legitimate interest of operating this website. This website is built on a WordPress platform; WordPress is GDPR compliant. You can opt out of Bluehost’s analytics data by contacting Bluehost and requesting removal of your data. This is one of several rights that the GDPR gives individuals, including the right to restrict processing, portability, and objection. 

Contact Information

Please use the contact form available of DRL if you have any questions about this policy or the data we collect about you.