Privacy Policy for Explorer News Network
Welcome to Explorer News Network. Your privacy is of the utmost importance to us, and this Privacy Policy is designed to inform you about how we collect, use, protect, and share your personal information. Our website address is https://explorernewsnetwork.com.
What Personal Data We Collect and Why
Comments
When you leave comments on our site, we collect the data shown in the comments form, your IP address, and browser user agent string to help with spam detection. An anonymized string (hash) created from your email address may be sent to the Gravatar service to verify if you’re using it. Following your comment’s approval, your profile picture becomes visible to the public in the context of your comment. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here.
Media
If you upload images to the website, please avoid including embedded location data (EXIF GPS). Visitors can download and extract any location data from images on the website.
Contact Forms
Cookies
If you leave a comment, you may opt to save your name, email, and website in cookies for convenience, so you do not have to fill in your details again for future comments. These cookies last one year. Site login and screen options cookies are set for functionality and last for two days to one year, depending on your choices. Editing or publishing an article sets a cookie to indicate the edited post ID, expiring after 1 day.
Embedded Content from Other Websites
Articles on this site may include embedded content from other websites, which behaves as if the visitor has visited the other website. These sites may collect data about you, use cookies, and monitor your interaction with embedded content, including tracking if you are logged in to their website.
Analytics
Who We Share Your Data With
At Explorer News Network, we use analytics tools to understand how our visitors engage with our website. This information is vital for us to improve your experience and tailor our content to better meet your needs. Here’s how we handle your data with respect to analytics:
- Google Analytics: We use Google Analytics to track website usage and user behavior. Google Analytics collects information such as how often users visit our website, what pages they visit when they do so, and what other websites they used prior to coming to ours. We use the information we get from Google Analytics only to improve our website and services. Google’s ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about your visits to this site is restricted by the Google Analytics Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy. We do not combine the information collected through the use of Google Analytics with personally identifiable information.
- Data Sharing with Third Parties: The data collected by Google Analytics is shared with Google and is used to improve Google’s products and services. We do not share your personal identification information (such as your name or email address) with Google Analytics. We may share aggregated, non-personally identifiable information with our partners – like publishers, advertisers, or connected sites. For instance, we may share information publicly to show trends about the general use of our services.
- Privacy Measures: To ensure your data’s privacy, we have implemented data anonymization and aggregation before sharing it with Google Analytics. This means that IP addresses are anonymized by masking a portion of the address, and any identifiable information is removed before analysis.
- Opting Out: If you wish to opt-out of Google Analytics tracking, you can install the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on, which prevents the Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js, analytics.js, and dc.js) from sharing information with Google Analytics about visit activity.
Your trust is important to us, and we are committed to ensuring the privacy and security of your data. We share your data with analytics partners solely for the purpose of improving our website and the content we deliver to you. No personal data that can directly identify you is shared without your consent.
Should you have any questions or concerns about our data sharing practices or wish to know more about your rights and how to exercise them, please contact us through our website’s contact form.
How Long We Retain Your Data
Comments and their metadata are retained indefinitely to recognize and approve follow-up comments automatically. For registered users, we store the personal information provided in their profile. Users can edit or delete their personal information at any time (username cannot be changed), and website administrators can also see and edit that information.
Your Rights Over Your Data
If you have an account or have left comments, you can request an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you, excluding data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
Where We Send Your Data
Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service. This process helps us maintain the integrity of discussions on our site and protect against spam or malicious activity. No personal data is shared with third parties unless necessary to comply with the law or to protect our rights.
Your Contact Information
We collect your contact information primarily to communicate with you about your interactions with our site, such as comments or inquiries. Your contact information may also be used for administrative purposes, such as notifying you of major updates or changes to our Privacy Policy. We commit to not selling, renting, or sharing your contact information with third parties for marketing purposes without your explicit consent.
Additional Information
How We Protect Your Data
We implement a variety of security measures to maintain the safety of your personal information when you enter, submit, or access your personal information. These measures include, but are not limited to, data encryption, secure socket layer (SSL) technology, and access control procedures. Despite these efforts, no security measures are completely impenetrable, and we cannot guarantee the absolute security of your data.
What Data Breach Procedures We Have in Place
In the unlikely event of a data breach, we have procedures in place to minimize the impact and protect our users. These include immediate identification and isolation of the breach, assessment of the affected data, notification to affected users and regulatory authorities (where applicable), and steps to prevent future occurrences. We are committed to transparency and will communicate clearly and promptly about what happened and what we are doing to resolve it.
What Third Parties We Receive Data From
We may receive data from third-party analytics providers, such as Google Analytics, to understand how our users interact with our site. This data helps us improve user experiences and tailor our content to our audience’s interests. We may also receive data from affiliate programs in which we participate, solely for the purpose of completing transactions and complying with our agreements.
What Automated Decision-Making and/or Profiling We Do with User Data
We do not use your data for any automated decision-making or profiling that would have a legal or similarly significant effect on you. Any processing of personal data for marketing purposes, content recommendations, or user experience optimization is conducted with your consent and based on your interactions with our site.
Industry Regulatory Disclosure Requirements
As a digital platform, we comply with all applicable laws and regulations regarding privacy and data protection in the jurisdictions we operate. This includes, but is not limited to, adhering to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for our users in the European Union.
This Privacy Policy reflects our commitment to the principles of clarity, transparency, and responsibility in the handling of your personal information. Should you have any questions or concerns about this policy or your personal data under our care, please contact us directly through our website’s contact form. Your privacy, trust, and satisfaction are paramount to us, and we are dedicated to upholding these values in all our operations.