a prison of our own device.
SibLINGSHOT ON THE BLEACHERS takes your privacy seriously.
This privacy policy - after petitioning those volunteers at WOT (Web of Trust) for some assistance - describes what personal information is collected, and how it is used. What began with a tangle of horns actually prompted me to take the time to explore my own motivations as an adjunct to the lack of transparency, and simple misundertanding, governing certain popular practices; and how even non profit web endeavours might inadverently breach personal privacy.
Routine Information Collection
Routinely, web servers track basic information about their visitors. This information includes - but may not be limited to - IP addresses, browser details, timestamps and referring pages. None of this information can personally identify specific visitors to this site. SibLINGSHOT ON THE BLEACHERS tracks information solely as a means to better identify how much interest a particular piece generates. Since only a tiny fraction of visitors tend to comment, this in itself is an unreliable indicator of 'page turns' or reading habits.
In short, I am curious as to what degree the time and energy I invest here stimulates appetite.
Cookies and Web Beacons
At present, SibLINGSHOT ON THE BLEACHERS makes use of Feedjit's LIVE TRAFFIC FEED, which appears as a widget below all sidecar links. That this feed is highly visible to all visitors should allay potential fears; the Feedjit widget tracks new visitors alighting on a page and displays their geographic location in addition to time spent on the site.
Please be aware, in order to perform its primary function as designed, Feedjit apparently stores an LSO cookie - or Adobe Flash cookie - on a user's computer. Since Feedjit appears to be built on Flash architecture, this is unavoidable.
So far as I understand it, this cookie is quite innocuous, and it is possible to opt out by clicking on the menu on the foot of the widget and disabling said cookie by chosing the "ignore me on this computer" prompt.
For further information on Feedjit and its own policy on privacy, see here.
In addition to Feedjit, SibLINGSHOT ON THE BLEACHERS also employs Statcounter and Google Analytics for detailed traffic analysis. For more information with regards these third parties, follow the links provided.
Other third parties - those sites to which I link - may also use cookies, scripts and/or web beacons to track visitors in a similar fashion; to display advertisements or Flash content. Such tracking is done directly by third parties through their own servers and is subject to their own privacy policies.
Please be reminded that SibLINGSHOT ON THE BLEACHERS is a non commercial enterprise; an open house through which to express and exchange opinion, writing, and an ongoing fascination with the soundtrack to life in the global village.
Nothing is passed on to any third party. No bodily fluids, no rosy little rash.
Safeguarding Your Own Privacy
Be assured that you can change your browser settings to disable cookies if you have privacy concerns. Disabling cookies for all sites is not recommended as it may interfere with your use on some of those sites you habitually revisit. The better option is to disable or enable cookies on a per-site basis. If you use Firefox, for example, you might want to install Flashblock. Consult your browser documentation for instructions on how to block cookies and other commonplace tracking mechanisms.
A number of utilities - including Beef Taco (Targeted Advertising Cookie Opt-out); Better Privacy (an LSO specific safeguard); Privacy Choice (a tracker watcher) - are freely available to safeguard against and block all manner of cookies.
For a comprehensive - and comprehensible - guide to mult-platform web security, access to free security software and online scanning sevices, IssViews compiles a multitude of diagnostics and solutions to explore in a verified 'safe' environment. As is the case with WOT, IssViews is an independently funded and voluntarily staffed resource.
Contact Information
Concerns or questions about this privacy policy - in particular, reservations relating to any of those applications outlined above - can be directed to myself, ib, c/o siblingshot@gmail.com for further clarification.
