Privacy Policy and Terms of Use

This Privacy Policy is last modified November 8, 2018.

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This Privacy Policy outlines the type of personal information that is received, collected and used by The Wimpy Vegetarian. If you are a resident of the European Union, please note that as we are located in the United States, your information is processed outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”). Regardless of where your personal information is located, the measures we use to protect your personal information are stated below.

Security

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorized access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.Your privacy is of the utmost importance and we are guided by the below fundamental principles.

Fundamental Principles 

• We are considerate of the personal information we ask you to provide and the information we collect.
• Your personal information is stored for only as long as we have reason to keep it.
• We aim for full transparency on how your information is gathered and used.
• We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally identifiable information.
• Our website is 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 regularly scan for malware and have an SSL certificate (https).

The Wimpy Vegetarian may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are satisfied with any changes. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact Susan Pridmore at susan@thewimpyvegetarian.com. 

Who We Are

The Wimpy Vegetarian is a for-profit food and cooking-related website located in the United States and operated by Susan Pridmore.

Our physical address is:

What We Collect

Voluntary User-Provided Information

• BY SUBSCRIBING:  We collect information from you when you subscribe to receive post updates.  The only required information you will be asked to enter is your e-mail address. There are additional optional questions of whether you are a vegetarian, vegan, or just want to add more vegetarian meals to your weekly menu plan, and your preferred email format.  This information is stored in our e-mail manager, MailChimp, where it is password protected and only accessible by us.  You may unsubscribe or update your e-mail preferences at any time.
• BY COMMENTING:  We collect information when you leave a comment on a post.  Your information is stored in our password-protected WordPress database.
  • You will be asked for your name, e-mail address and website (if any) when leaving a comment.  Your e-mail address is not published nor can it be viewed publicly.
  • Your IP address and browser user agent string are recorded and stored in our password-protected database.  This aids in SPAM detection.  An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service if you are using it.  The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here:  Gravatar Privacy Policy.  If you use the Gravatar service, upon approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
  • We use Anti-Spam, an automated WordPress plugin to scan comments for SPAM.
  • If you leave a comment, the comment is viewable and its metadata are retained indefinitely.
  • If you correspond with us by e-mail, we may retain the content of your e-mail message, your e-mail address and our response.
• OTHER: From time to time, we may post customer surveys and/or offers, which may ask you to submit information relevant to the offer. All information will be handled according to the above mentioned privacy standards.

Information Collected Through Cookies and Other Technology

• A COOKIE is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyze web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.
• GOOGLE ANALYTICS: The Wimpy Vegetarian does not use cookies to monitor or track your behavior while using this website. We rely on Google Analytics, which treats all users anonymously. Google Analytics uses traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyze data about web page traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes and then the data is removed from the system. For more information about how Google handles the data and how you may opt out, see How Google Uses Information From Sites or Apps That Use Our Service.
• COMMENTS: If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to save 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.
• ADVERTISING: Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.) from advertising service vendors, such as Gourmet Ads on this site. These vendors may use cookies, web beacons, or similar technologies to serve you advertisements tailored to interests you have shown by browsing on this and other sites you have visited, to determine whether you have seen a particular advertisement before and to avoid sending you duplicate advertisements. In doing so, these vendors may collect non-personal data such as your browser type, your operating system, Web pages visited, time of visits, content viewed, ads viewed, and other clickstream data. The use of cookies, web beacons, or similar technologies by these advertising service vendors is subject to their own privacy policies, not ours, and Service Provider disclaims all liability in connection therewith.
• OPT IN/OUT: You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website. You may also opt out of ads on The Wimpy Vegetarian by visiting the Gourmet Ads website.

Log File Information

Log file information is automatically reported by your browser each time you access a web page.  The information inside the log files includes internet protocol (IP) addresses, type of browser, Internet Service Provider (ISP), date/time stamp, referring/exit pages, and the number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the site, track user’s movement around the site and gather demographic information.  IP addresses and other such information are not linked to any information that is personally identifiable.

Social Media Platforms

The Wimpy Vegetarian is integrated with the following third-party social media networks where we may receive information about you if you “like,” follow or comment:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Pinterest
• Bloglovin
• Google Plus
• Instagram
• Linked In
• StumbleUpon

If you interact with us through a social media platform, you may be granting us on-going access to certain information.  If you do not want a social media platform to collect or share information about you, please refer to the privacy policy and settings of the applicable social media property before using such features on our website.

What We Do With Information We Gather

We use the personal information you submit or that we collect to operate, maintain and provide you with our subscription features and commenting functionality.We further request this information to understand your needs, provide you with a better service, and in particular to customize this website according to your interests.

How Your Information Is Potentially Shared

• We will not rent or sell your personal information to others.  Ever.
• Any personal information you voluntarily disclose when commenting on a post becomes available to the public.
• Except as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy, we will not disclose your personal information to any third party unless required to do so by law or subpoena.
• ADVERTISING:
  • TARGETING AND USE OF THIRD-PARTY ADVERTISING COMPANIES:  We use Gourmet Ads, a third-party advertising network to serve ads when you visit our website.  These ad networks may use aggregated information about your visit such as pages you have visited, links you followed and other websites you’ve visited in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you.  You can review Gourmet Ad’s Privacy Policy HERE, which includes information on their advertising partners.
  • AMAZON ASSOCIATE DISCLOSURE:  The owner of this website, Susan Pridmore, is a participant in the Amazon Services, LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking The Wimpy Vegetarian to Amazon properties.  All affiliate links will be clearly disclosed.  Clicking on and purchasing a product from one of these links does not result in any additional cost to you.  You may review Amazon’s privacy policy HERE.
  • SPONSORED CONTENT TRACKING PIXELS:  The Wimpy Vegetarian may engage in sponsored campaigns with various influencer networks, brands, and agencies.  All sponsored content is duly disclosed in accordance with the FTC’s requirements.  From time to time, these sponsored campaigns utilize tracking pixels (aka web beacons), which may contain cookies to collect data regarding usage and audience.  This information is collected by the sponsoring company to track the results of the campaign.  No personally identifiable information collected by these pixels is used in conjunction with these tracking pixels.

Your Rights and Choices About Your Personal Information

YOU MAY AT ANY TIME:

• Decline to submit personal information and use our website anonymously.
• Update or correct your email preferences at any time.  You may also e-mail susan@thewimpyvegetarian.com to have this done.  Your request will be handled promptly.
• Unsubscribe from emails at any time.  To unsubscribe, click the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of the email newsletter.
• Block cookies.  Certain browsers may be configured to notify you when you receive cookies or allow you to restrict or disable certain cookies.  If you choose to disable cookies, however, that could affect certain features that use cookies to enhance their functionality.
• Opt out of internet-based advertising.  For more information about third-party ad networks and services that use these technologies, you can visit www.aboutads.infoand click here to opt out or to learn more about your options.  You also may visit the NAI’s site for additional options on how to opt out of interest-based advertising.

EEA Residents

If you are located in the EEA, or if otherwise required by applicable law, you have these additional rights and choices in relation to your personal information:

• Inspection and Access:  You can request from us a summary and a copy of any personal information we hold about you.
• Correction/Addition/Removal:  If you believe your information is inaccurate or incomplete, you are entitled to request us to correct, amend or delete it.
• Portability:  You may request that we send you any personal information that you have provided to us or ask that we send this information to a third party.
• Objection:  You may object to us using your personal information where we use it based on our legitimate interests to do so.
• Restriction:  You may request that we restrict the processing of your information where you believe it is inaccurate, our processing is unlawful, you believe we no longer need the information or if you have objected to our use of it.
• Automated Decision Making:  Where we undertake automated decision making (including profiling) which significantly affects you, you are entitled to object to such decision-making.
• Lodge a Complaint:  You always have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant supervisory authority for data protection in your jurisdiction.

California Residents

Subject to certain limits, under California law, California residents may ask us to provide them with a list of the categories of personal information that we have disclosed to third parties for those third parties’ direct marketing purposes during the preceding calendar year, as well as the identity of those third parties. California residents may contact us as specified in the “Contact Us” section below to make a request for this information.  See more at http://consumercal.org/california-online-privacy-protection-act-caloppa/#sthash.0FdRbT51.dpuf

Children’s Privacy

Protecting the privacy of young children is especially important.  For that reason, we do not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from anyone under the age of 13.  If you are under 13, please do not send any information about yourself to us, including your name, address, telephone number, or email address.  No one under age 13 is allowed to provide any information on this website. In the event that we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under age 13 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information as quickly as possible.  If you believe that we might have any information from or about a child under 13, please contact us at susan@thewimpyvegetarian.com.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

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