# Privacy Policy Thanks for entrusting me (Benjamin Soyka) with your privacy and personal information. Holding on to your information is a serious responsiblity, and this document defines how I will take care of it. ## Scope of This Privacy Policy This privacy policy describes the processing of personal information provided or collected on my sites, whether on my digital properties or through other third-party platforms. I follow this privacy policy in accordance with applicable law in the places where I operate. Please keep in mind that when you provide information to me on a third-party platform, the information you provide may be separately collected by the third-party platform. The information I collect is covered by this privacy policy, and the information the third-party platform collects is subject to the third-party platform’s privacy practices. Privacy choices you have made on the third-party platform will not apply to my use of the information I have collected. Please keep in mind that my sites may contain links to other sites not owned or controlled by me and I am not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites. I encourage you to be aware when you leave my sites and to read the privacy policies of other sites that may collect your personal information. ## Information I Collect The personal information I collect can be divided into two categories: information you provide to me and information I automatically collect from you. ### Information you provide directly to me I collect the following personal information directly from you or from a [third-party service provider](#list-of-service-providers): - Information sent to any of my email addresses as listed on my sites, which may include any information not listed here as provided to me - Your full name and email address - Your usernames on third-party platforms - Comments or other user-generated content on my sites - Basic details about your payment information if you make payments to me (I cannot access full payment details such as credit card numbers, which remain securely stored with a service provider.) ### Information I automatically collect from you The following personal information is automatically collected from you when you use my sites or open emails I send to you: - Location information as associated with your IP address - Activity and demographic information about your use of my sites, such as the content you view, how often you use my services, how you access my services, and your preferences - Usage, viewing, technical, and device data when you visit my sites or open emails I send, including your browser or device type, unique device identifier, and IP address ## Information I Do Not Collect I do not intentionally collect any sensitive personal information such as personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, genetic or biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person, data concerning health, or data concerning a natural person's sex life or sexual orientation. I do not knowingly collect any information from children under the minimum age limit, which is the age of 13 or the legal minimum age for providing consent for data collection in your country, whichever is stricter. If I learn or have reason to suspect that you are under the age of 13, I will permanently remove your information from my systems. ## How I Use Your Information I may use your personal information for the following purposes: - I use your full name, email address, and applicable usernames on third-party platforms to identify you. - I use your email address to communicate with you, if you've given me permission to do so. - I use your comments on my sites to learn how I can improve my content and services. - I use your full name, email address, and information you send to me via email to respond to requests for support or other questions. - I use your usage data to identify how my sites are being used and to improve them. - I may use your personal information if it is necessary for security purposes, such as investigating fraud and protecting my own or others' rights and property. - I may use your User Personal Information to comply with my legal obligations, protect my intellectual property, and enforce my other applicable policies. Your personal information will only be processed in the United States. I will utilize reasonable security measures to protect your personal information. I limit my use of your personal information to the purposes described above. If I need to use your personal information for other purposes, I will only do so if I have a good faith belief that doing so is reasonably necessary to achieve those purposes. I will not use your personal information for any other purpose without your consent. You can learn what information I have about you, how I'm using it, and what permissions you have given me by contacting me using the contact information provided in the [Contacting Me](#contacting-me) section. ### My legal bases for processing information To the extent that my processing of your personal information is subject to certain international laws (including, but not limited to, the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation), I am required to notify you about the legal basis on which I process personal information. I process personal information on the following legal bases: consent and legitimate interest. ### Consent I rely on your consent to use your personal information under the following circumstances: when you decide to participate in a research project, beta program, or survey; and for marketing purposes, where applicable. All of this personal information is entirely optional, and you have the ability to access, modify, and delete it at any time by [contacting me](#contacting-me). You may withdraw your consent at any time. ### Legitimate interest Generally, the remainder of the processing of personal information I perform is necessary for the purposes of my legitimate interest, for example, for legal compliance purposes, security purposes, or to maintain ongoing confidentiality, integrity, availability, and resilience of my sites and services. ### Requesting deletion If you would like to request deletion of data I process on the basis of consent or if you object to my processing of personal information, please use the contact information provided in the [Contacting Me](#contacting-me) section. ## How I Share Information I Collect I may share your personal information with third parties under one of the following circumstances: ### Consent I share your personal information, if you consent, after letting you know what information will be shared, with whom, and why. You may direct me through your actions on my sites to share your personal information. ### Service providers I share personal information with a limited number of service providers who process it on my behalf to provide or improve my services, and who have agreed to privacy restrictions similar to the ones in this privacy policy by making similar commitments. My service providers perform customer support ticketing, marketing, security, and other similar services. While I process all personal information in the United States, my service providers may process data outside of the United States or the European Union. #### List of service providers The following is a list of service providers that process personal information on my behalf as descibed above. All of these service providers are located in the United States. | Service provider | Description of processing | | ------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | | Amazon Web Services | Used to archive photography projects | | Cloudflare | Used to protect, analyze, and improve my sites and services | | Medium | Used to share my articles and other content | | Pixieset | Used to record photography-related business records | | PostHog | Used to analyze and improve my sites and services | | Stripe | Used to process digital payments | ### Security purposes I may use your personal information for security purposes, such as to protect my sites and services from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, or modification. ### Legal disclosure I strive for transparency in complying with legal process and legal obligations. Unless prevented from doing so by law or court order, or in rare, exigent circumstances, I will make a reasonable effort to notify you of any legally compelled or required disclosure of your information. I may disclose personal information or other information I collect about you to law enforcement if required in response to a valid subpoena, court order, search warrant, a similar government order, or when I believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to comply with my legal obligations, to protect our property or rights, or those of third parties or the public at large. ### Aggregate, non-personal information I share certain aggregated, non-personally identifying information with others about how my users, collectively, use my sites. This information is used to understand how my sites and services are being used and to improve them. ### Sale of your personal information I **do not** and **will never** sell your personal information for monetary or other consideration. ## Use of Cookies Cookies are small text files that websites often store on computer hard drives or mobile devices of visitors. I do not directly use cookies for analytics or other tracking, but [third-party service providers](#list-of-service-providers) may use cookies to collect information about you when you visit my sites or open emails I send to you. ### Do Not Track "Do Not Track" (DNT) is a privacy preference you can set in your browser if you do not want online services to collect and share certain kinds of information about your online activity from third party tracking services. Since I do not directly use cookies on my sites, I do not respond to DNT requests. I cannot guarantee whether my third-party service providers will respond to DNT requests when you use my sites or open emails I send to you. ## Changes to this Privacy Policy Although I am committed to maintaining this privacy policy, I may need to update it from time to time. The most recent version of this privacy policy will always be available at the following URL: https://bsoyka.me/privacy You can track changes to this privacy policy at the following URL: https://github.com/bsoyka/policy/commits/main/privacy-policy.md You can also subscribe to changes to my policy documents, including this privacy policy, by "watching" this GitHub repository: https://gh.bsoyka.me/policy ## Contacting Me Questions regarding this privacy policy, my information practices, or my sites should be directed by email to hello@bsoyka.me.