Privacy Issues

As of tomorrow, a new set of rules will come into effect in Europe under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This has been instituted to protect the privacy of individuals who provide personal data to online websites. Blogs are apparently one of those sites that are or may be affected. You can find out all manner of information about GDPR on various websites. Just do an Internet search for the subject.

This blogsite was designed using Blogger and is hosted by Google. They, of course, have their own privacy policy which can be read here. Google also sends out the emails, like this one, to people who have signed up to receive new post updates.  Some readers may have signed up through other services – netvibes, myYahoo or Atom. I am sure they also have their own privacy statements which you can, and probably should check out.

I have no idea who has signed up through email or any other distribution service to receive my latest posts. The only information I look at is how many people have visited the blogsite and in what numbers. I like to know how my posts are received.

I do not have nor do I intend to look for or use a list of people who subscribe to Discover Genealogy, that may contain any of their personal information, including email addresses.

I could probably change where my blogsite is hosted or use a different service to send out emails, to modify or change the information collection process, but that would cost money that I do not think is worth spending. If it came to that then I would just discontinue the blogsite.

I do not represent any commercial interests nor do I market products and services for others through my blog. You will note that I have made mention of my own, recently published book, but I do not consider that as the same thing as advertising for other people or companies.

If you wish to continue to receive emails of my latest posts then you need to nothing. Your name will stay on the distribution list just as you agreed to in the past. More importantly, for me, I will assume you have no problem with having provided your contact details in order to receive posts.

BUT, if you have any concerns about Internet privacy or worries about who has your email address or how it might be used (this is particularly addressed to those of you who live in Europe), then you should immediately unsubscribe from email updates to my blogsite. You can do so by clicking on the link at the bottom of this message.

You can always go directly to the blogsite later if you want to see new posts, without having them come to your email inbox. By the way, many websites collect cookies, in order for you to see content. You will have to decide whether to accept their requests. See more about them with respect to Google here.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all readers for signing up to read my comments. And especially those who have commented from time-to-time. I hope you continue to read and enjoy my posts in the future.

Wayne Shepheard