bythom.com and its related sites collect information about you, but generally only via partner services. All of the partners and their services have published privacy policies. Your continued use of the bythom.com and its related sites indicates that you are aware of these policies and accept them.
Summary:
- Google Analytics and Google fonts are used on this site; they use cookies and collect usage data
- PayPal is used on this site when you order byThom Press books; they use cookies and collect usage data
- E-Junkie is used by this site when you purchase byThom Press books; they collect information about you when you do
- B&H advertising appears on this site; they use tracking IDs
- bythom.com, dslrbodies.com, sansmirror.com, filmbodies.com do not add additional cookies or tracking information, though if you purchase a product via PayPal from the sites bythom will collect information about your order. Also, if you send emails, that information is collected, as well.
Details:
This site has used the Google Analytics external tracking mechanism to better understand whether you're a new or repeat visitor to this site, and which articles you're reading. Thus, even if you restrict yourself to just visiting pages on this site, you may leave information behind that could be used to track you, though this is minimal. I personally don’t look at or use that information on an individual basis, only as aggregate data.
If you purchase an eBook or other item directly from this or the bythom-related sites, the payment processor that is used is PayPal, regardless of whether you have a PayPal account or not (i.e., PayPal is my merchant credit card processor). PayPal has its own privacy policies. None of your credit card or account information is ever seen by the bythom sites or passed through them, let alone retained. Indeed, that's one of the reasons why I use PayPal, as I don't want to have your information sitting around anywhere on my site, even temporarily. All I receive is an email notification when an order has been completed and the payment processed correctly and completely, and that notification includes what you purchased, how much you paid, what your address and email are, and perhaps a note if you added one. I also get a Transaction ID# (though it is different from the transaction ID you get) so that I can look up the transaction in PayPal's database, if necessary. At no time do I or my site have any access to your private information during this transaction (you'll note that you're taken to a secure PayPal site during checkout). I realize that my choice of PayPal as my payment processor is problematic for some, especially for some foreign visitors, as the foreign servers for PayPal do sometimes differ in what information they request and how they handle a transaction. The primary reason I originally selected PayPal had to do with privacy, though. Most other merchant processing services require my site to at least temporarily acquire and handle, and in some cases, temporarily store, sensitive credit card information. I prefer not to create yet another vulnerability point for private data access, especially since this site is hosted on a shared server.
To deliver any book you purchase, this site uses E-Junkie. This automated service will send you emails to deliver your purchase and any subsequent updates for your purchase, and it retains information about you in their database so as to continue to serve you (and me, if I need to resend your order).
I maintain a database of all book orders made from the bythom.com site. That database contains name, address, email address, item ordered, date sent, tracking number (when used), any note that you added to your order, the PayPal transaction ID, and any notes I add to the database about subsequent correspondence about that order. This database is kept and backed up outside the site server. I have not released any information nor do I have any current intention to release information from this database to other parties. I may choose to use your email address in the future to do marketing of new products to previous byThom customers, but if I do this, I will include an Opt Out option on those emails that you can use to remove yourself from future mailings.
B&H is this site's exclusive advertiser. Any B&H link on this site will have tracking information associated with it so that B&H understands where the referral came from. You may see B&H "recommendations" pop up as you browse, and those would be based upon that tracking information.
Some of you send me direct email and comments on articles. I archive only some of such email received (my email provider archives it more permanently). Thus, I may maintain a record of something you've sent me. Again, however, it is not my practice to do anything with such information other than act on it and store it. I don't currently build email address lists and sell them to others (and if I ever do build such lists, I would likely do a courtesy opt-out mailing first). If a response is warranted, I respond to your email and possibly archive your original query. If you've submitted a comment on an article, I may edit it and place it on the site if I think it adds useful information or commentary, and I may archive your original submission (usually I'll respond directly if the comment contained a question). I do not, however, currently identify the originator of such information posted on my sites by anything other than initials. You won’t see your name pop up in a Google search because of something you wrote to me (you can explicitly tell me to do otherwise and I may comply). In short, I'll respond when you ask for response, and I may archive what you've sent me so that my records regarding this site are complete.
I suppose to be complete I should say that this site’s privacy policies are subject to change, as are those of the third-party services it uses. If and when I make intentional changes they would be published here for you to see (this page is date stamped at the bottom with last modification date). All I can say is that I'm an Internet user just like you are, and I prefer sites that have policies that impact privacy concerns as little as possible, and I've tried to model my own behavior accordingly. But business practices and needs, and legal regulations do change from time to time, and I may need to change my policies accordingly. I've always tried to conduct this business as an "open dialog" between myself and my customers, so if you have any concerns or criticisms, please feel free to address them to me so that I can consider them.
More information about:
- How Google treats personal information: Google privacy policy.
- How PayPal treats personal information: PayPal privacy policy.
- How E-Junkie treats personal information: E-Junkie privacy policy.
- How B&H treats personal information: B&H privacy policy.
