I am committed to safeguarding the personal information entrusted to me by all visitors, registered users, and customers of akairondragon.ca. I manage your personal information in accordance with Alberta’s Personal Information Protection Act and other applicable laws. This policy outlines the principles and practices I follow in protecting your personal information.

A copy of this policy is provided to any visitor, registered user, or customer on request.

Information Collected

I only collect personal information required to be able to provide services to you, including to:

  • fulfill your order (including estimating taxes and shipping), settle disputes, provide customer support, or otherwise interact with you as needed;
  • keep track of cart contents and show you products you’ve recently viewed;
  • subscribe you to my newsletter and/or other similar communications after you have provided your affirmative consent (which can be revoked at any time);
  • manage akairondragon.ca in various ways, including to gain a better understanding of how you engage with my content, to ensure you have the correct access rights (where applicable), and to otherwise ensure no fraudulent activity is taking place;
  • comply with laws or court orders whether in connection with a legal claim or not, such as retaining information about customer purchases as required for tax purposes.

I collect most of your personal information directly from you (or your browser) via your voluntary use of this website and/or my online shops. I may also collect information about you from other persons or sources with your consent or as authorized by law.

Analytics

I use Google Analytics to help me understand how you engage with akairondragon.ca.

Depending on the activity you engage in on akairondragon.ca, the following information may be captured: your IP address, user agent, browser language, country code, screen resolution, operating system, internet service provider, email address, user role, user login, user display name, referring URL, search engine terms, the activity to be recorded, and the timestamp of the activity.

Recorded activities include login attempts/actions, comment/like/pingback submission, user management actions, post and page views, session length, page load times, resource loading duration, video plays, subscriptions, and outbound link clicks.

Comments and Reviews

To leave a comment on akairondragon.ca, you must provide a name and email address in addition to your message. You can also choose to provide your website URL.

To leave a review or testimonial in the shop(s), you must have an account for the applicable shop (books or yarn) and have previously purchased the item you are attempting to review.

akairondragon.ca uses the Akismet anti-spam service to filter out junk (spam) comments and reviews. Akismet uses your IP address, user agent, referrer, name, email address, website URL (if applicable), and message to check whether your comment or review is spam. The actual submitted data is stored in the akairondragon.ca database. Comments and reviews not flagged as spam are also emailed directly to me. The email I receive includes your IP address, name, email address, website (if applicable), the text of your comment/review, and the timestamp of your submission.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) is provided to the Gravatar service to determine if you are using it. If your comment is approved, your Gravatar profile picture (if you have one) is visible to the public on akairondragon.ca in the context of your comment or review.

All data associated with comments and reviews that are flagged as inappropriate/spam is discarded within 30 days or less. Approved comments and reviews are kept indefinitely unless the applicable post or product is removed at a later date. Information submitted in an approved comment or review is never used to market products or information to you, however, if I need to contact you directly to respond to your comment or review (where a public response on the post or product is inappropriate) I will use the email address you provided to do so.

When I share a direct link to an akairondragon.ca article via my social media accounts, you can choose to comment on the article via that social media service. Unless your comment is deemed to be inappropriate/spam, your comment via that service may be copied as a comment to the article on akairondragon.ca. The comment on akairondragon.ca will reflect the text of your comment and the display name in use on your social media account at the time your comment is made.

Contact Form

When you send a message using the Contact Me page, the contact form submission data (IP address, user agent, name, email address, and message) is submitted to the Akismet anti-spam service for the sole purpose of spam checking. The actual submission data is emailed directly to me. This email includes your IP address, timestamp, name, email address, and message. I will use the email address provided in your submission to respond directly to you. The correspondence and your contact information is retained by me only as long as I require it to resolve your inquiry, except to comply with laws or court orders whether in connection with a legal claim or not, such as retaining information about your purchases as required for tax purposes, or in an emergency that threatens life, health, or safety.

Cookies

If you leave a comment on akairondragon.ca, a cookie is generated which saves your name, email address, and website (if you provided one). This is for your convenience so you don’t have to retype your details when you leave another comment in the future. The cookie will last for one year.

If you have registered for an akairondragon.ca account and you log in, a temporary cookie is set 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, akairondragon.ca also sets 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 are actively subscribed to akairondragon.ca (see “Notifications” below), functionality cookies are set for a duration of 347 days to remember your blog and/or post subscription choices.

You can decline to accept cookies from akairondragon.ca by disabling cookies in your browser.

Newsletter

I use MailChimp as my newsletter marketing platform. If you subscribe to my newsletter, you acknowledge that the information you submitted when you subscribed will be transferred to the MailChimp database for processing.

Payments

I accept payments through PayPal and Stripe. When processing payments, some of your data will be passed to PayPal or Stripe (depending on the payment method you choose). This information may include your name, email address, billing and shipping address(es), phone number, unique payment identifier, and payment provider identifier in addition to the information required to process or support the payment, such as the currency and purchase total. PayPal and Stripe may also set cookies that assist in processing your payment.

Please see the PayPal and Stripe privacy policies for more details.

Purchases

When you purchase from me, I’ll ask you to provide information including your name, billing address, shipping address, email address, phone number, credit card/payment details, and optional account information like username and password. I use this information for various purposes, such as to:

  • send you information about your account and order;
  • respond to your requests, including refunds and complaints;
  • process payments and prevent fraud;
  • set up your account for the shop you are purchasing from;
  • comply with any legal obligations I have, such as calculating taxes;
  • improve shop offerings;
  • send you marketing messages, if you choose to receive them.

If you create a shop account, your name, address, email, and phone number will be stored in the applicable shop’s database and will be used to populate the checkout for future orders.

I generally store information about you for as long as I need the information for the purposes for which I collect and use it, until I am not legally required to continue to keep it. For example, I will store order information for seven years for tax and accounting purposes. This includes your name, email address, and billing and shipping addresses.

I will also store comments or reviews indefinitely, if you choose to leave them.

Security Logs

The IP address, user agent, referrer, user ID of logged in users, and username of login attempts are conditionally logged by a service provided by ithemes.com to check for malicious activity and to protect akairondragon.ca from specific kinds of attacks. Examples of conditions when logging occurs include login attempts, log out requests, requests for suspicious URLs, changes to site content, and password updates. This information is retained for 30 days.

akairondragon.ca is also part of a network of sites that protect against distributed brute force attacks. To enable this protection, the IP address of visitors attempting to log into the site is shared with a service provided by ithemes.com.

Team Member Access

Members of my team have access to the information you provide. For example, all site administrators can access:

  • order information like what was purchased, when it was purchased, and where it should be sent;
  • customer information like your name, email address, and billing and shipping information;
  • comments or reviews you have written, if you choose to leave any.

My site administrators have access to this information to help fulfill orders, process refunds, and otherwise support your use of akairondragon.ca.

User Registration

Some content on akairondragon.ca can only be accessed by registered users. To register, you must provide a valid email address. Your registration must be confirmed by clicking the link in the email you are sent. Thereafter, you may choose to provide more details about yourself (such as but not limited to your name, website URL, social media account links, mailing address, billing address (if different from the mailing address), payment methods, and a short bio) on your profile. The data you submit is stored in the applicable akairondragon.ca database. If you are using the Gravatar service, an anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) is provided to the Gravatar service to fetch your Gravatar profile picture (if you have one) for your user account.

Each time you log in, your IP address, login time, and number of logins is collected and stored in the applicable akairondragon.ca database for analytics and security reasons.

Abandoned user accounts (those with no login activity) are periodically removed from the applicable database. You can also choose to have your account deleted at any time by contacting me.

Embedded Content

Some articles on akairondragon.ca may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, widgets, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if you visited those other websites. Those other 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 those other websites. Please refer to those other websites for their privacy policies.

Consent

I ask for consent to collect, use, or disclose client personal information, except in specific circumstances where collection, use, or disclosure without consent is authorized or required by law. I may assume your consent in cases where you volunteer information for an obvious purpose.

I assume your consent to continue to use and, where applicable, disclose personal information that I have already collected, for the purpose for which the information was collected.

I ask for your express consent for some purposes and may not be able to provide certain services if you are unwilling to provide consent to the collection, use, or disclosure of certain personal information. Where express consent is needed, I will normally ask you to provide your consent in writing (for example, by checking the appropriate box on a submission form).

You may withdraw consent to the use and disclosure of your personal information at any time unless the personal information is necessary for me to fulfill my legal obligations. I will respect your decision, but I may not be able to provide you with certain products and services if I do not have the necessary personal information.

I may collect, use, or disclose your personal information without consent only as authorized by law. For example, I may not request consent when the collection, use, or disclosure is to comply with laws or court orders whether in connection with a legal claim or not, such as retaining information about your purchases as required for tax purposes, or in an emergency that threatens life, health, or safety.

Information Use and Disclosure

I use and disclose your personal information only for the purpose for which the information was collected, except as authorized by law. For example, I will use your contact information to inform you of the status of your order and thereafter correctly deliver it.

If I wish to use or disclose your personal information for any new business purpose, I will ask for your consent. I may not seek consent if the law allows this. For example, the law allows me to use your personal information without consent for the purpose of collecting a debt.

Akismet, Google Analytics, Gravatar, and iThemes receive and/or share your personal information as previously described above. Privacy policies for these third-party providers are available as follows:

Safeguarding Personal Information

I make every reasonable effort to ensure that your personal information is accurate and complete. I rely on you to notify me if there is a change to your personal information that may affect your relationship with akairondragon.ca. If you are aware of an error in my information about you, please let me know and I will correct it on request wherever possible if you are unable to correct it yourself.

I protect personal information in a manner appropriate for the sensitivity of the information. I make every reasonable effort to prevent any loss, misuse, disclosure, or modification of personal information, as well as any unauthorized access to personal information.

I use appropriate security measures when destroying personal information, including shredding paper records and permanently deleting electronic records. I retain personal information only as long as is reasonable to fulfill the purposes for which the information was collected or for legal or business purposes.

Your Right to Access Data

You have a right to access your personal information in a record that is in my custody or control, subject to some exceptions. For example, organizations are required under the Personal Information Protection Act to refuse to provide access to information that would reveal personal information about another individual.

If you have an account on akairondragon.ca or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data I hold about you, including any data you have provided to me. You must provide sufficient information in your request to allow me to identify the information you are seeking. You can also request that I correct, update, or erase any personal data I hold about you. This does not include any data I am obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

If I refuse a request in whole or in part, I will provide the reasons for the refusal. In some cases where exceptions to access apply, I may withhold that information and provide you with the remainder of the record.

I will respond to your request as soon as reasonably possible. I may charge a reasonable fee to provide information, but not to make a correction. I will advise you of any fees that may apply before beginning to process your request.

Transfer of Data Outside the EU

Your personal information is stored and processed in the applicable akairondragon.ca databases, which are hosted in the United States by a Privacy Shield certified third-party hosting service.

Questions and Complaints

If you have a question or concern about any collection, use, or disclosure of your personal information by me, Cheyenne Brammah, or about a request for access to your own personal information, or any other questions or concerns about your rights and privacy when using akairondragon.ca, please contact me.

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from me, you should contact the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta:

Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta
2460-801 6 Ave SW
Calgary AB T2P 3W2
Phone: (403) 297-2728
Toll Free: (888) 878-4044
Email: generalinfo@oipc.ab.ca
Website: www.oipc.ab.ca