Preamble
My privacy matters to me, and yours matters to me even more. In setting up this site, I have striven to collect as little personal data as possible, but some data is crucial for running my website. In the following I shall go into this.
Who I am
I am Edward Schofield and I run this web-site, railguideeurope.com. You can contact me by email under edward@railguideeurope.com, by Telegram under t.me/capotreno or by post at:
Edward Schofield
P.O. Box 1124
56118 Bad Ems
Germany
What personal data I collect and why I collect it
You can use this site without providing any name or email address whatsoever.
If you want to receive my newsletter with updates about my blog, and if you want to gain access to my free resource library, you can give me your email address.
I use your email address to send you the password to my free resource library as well as my regular newsletter. I will never sell your email address or pass it on to anyone else. It is safe with me.
Comments
If you leave comments on the site I collect the data shown in the comments form, and also your IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.
An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: automattic.com/privacy. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
Cookies
My website uses cookies so that it is easier for you to use. Cookies are small text files that help a website know if you are a first-time or a returning visitor and remember your preferences.
To protect your privacy, any personally identifiable information they collect is encrypted or eliminated. No tracking information can be attributed to a specific user.
If you leave a comment on my site you may opt-in to saving 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. These cookies will last for one year.
By adjusting your browser settings, you can stop any cookies from being used on your computer.
Embedded Content from other Websites
Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
Matomo Analytics
About Matomo: Like almost every website, railguideeurope.com uses analytics software. Matomo is a privacy-minded open source web analytics platform. Like Google Analytics, except your data remains on my server and is controlled by me. From a privacy perspective, it is much better for you that I am using Matomo. You are most welcome.
Web analytics platforms are used to measure, collect, analyse and report visitors’ data for purposes of understanding and optimizing a website. If you would like to see what Matomo looks like, you can access a demo version at: https://demo.matomo.org.
Matomo is used to analyse the behaviour of website visitors to identify potential pitfalls; not found pages, search engine indexing issues, which contents are the most appreciated… Once the data is processed (number of visitors reaching a not found page, viewing only one page…), Matomo generates reports for website owners to take action, for example changing the layout of the pages, publishing some fresh content… etc.
Matomo processes the following personal data:
- Cookies
- IP address
- User ID
- Custom Dimensions
- Custom Variables
- Order ID
- Location of the user
And also:
- Date and time
- Title of the page being viewed
- URL of the page being viewed
- URL of the page that was viewed prior to the current page
- Screen resolution
- Time in local timezone
- Files that were clicked and downloaded
- Link clicks to an outside domain
- Pages generation time
- Country, region, city
- Main Language of the browser
- User Agent of the browser
Processing your personal data helps me identify what is working and what is not on my website.
Without the data, I cannot provide you the service I am currently offering to you. Your data will be used only to improve the user experience on my website and help you find the information you are looking for.
Personal data received through Matomo goes to:
- Me
- My hosting provider: SiteGround Spain S.L., C/ Serrano 1, 5º, 28001 Madrid, Spain
Matomo data is hosted in the Netherlands and retained for 180 days.
If you wish me to not process any personal data with Matomo, you can opt-out from it at any time. There will be no consequences at all regarding the use of my website.
Who I share your data with
To collect your email address I use the email service BirdSend, which is based in Indonesia.
My server is with SiteGround and situated in the Netherlands.
Otherwise I do not share your data with anyone.
How long I retain your data
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so I can recognise and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
If you sign up for my newsletter with your email address, I retain this indefinitely, unless you unsubscribe, in which case I delete it.
What rights you have over your data
If you have subscribed to my newsletter, 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. You can also request that I erase any personal data I hold about you. This does not include data I am obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
Where I send your data
If you subscribe to my blog, your email address and your name (if you entered that as well) go to my email service provider, BirdSend, who are based in Indonesia. My analytics software is self-hosted, so that information stays on my website. My website is hosted in the Netherlands.
How I protect your data
I use the https:// protocol, which means that any data you provide is encrypted. My hosting and my email service provider are GDPR-compliant and they have their own safeguards.
What data breach procedures I have in place
All data I possess and control is protected by strong passwords which I change on a regular basis. I do not have them saved anywhere except in my head.
Should any breach occur, I shall let you know immediately, at the latest within 72 hours.
Change management
This Privacy Policy is subject to change. If you are subscribed to my newsletter, I shall inform you of any changes I make. This privacy policy was last updated on 22nd July 2020.
Thank you for reading.