Privacy Policy – MacGenealogy.org

Update: May 2018

Who We Are
This website is Mac Genealogy, and can be found at: http://www.macgenealogy.org. You can learn more about who we are and what the purpose of this site is at our “About” page. This website and the server it is hosted on resides in the United States, as do the content contributors.

Note: We do NOT directly sell or host any software products on this website.

What personal data do we collect and why we collect it?
We do not collect personal data about our visitors by default. As mentioned on our contact page, if you desire to contact us, you can use the contact form, however you must voluntarily submit your email address, and you must click on the acceptance box. That information (and your IP address) will be automatically scanned for spam. This website/server does not store any messages or email address submitted through that form. If you do not desire a personal response, that information is not retained beyond 72 hours.

Who we share your data with
We do not share your personal contact information with any third parties. We display affiliate advertising links to various third parties. It is up to you to decide whether to follow those links.

Cookies and Analytics
Like the majority of websites you encounter, we do use cookies to assist with the administration of this website. We do not retain that data beyond 72 hours. We do use Google Analytics to analyze website traffic in the course of normal day-to-day operations and to analyze/anticipate our future needs. Google does serve cookies as a result of that, and you can view Google’s policies at this address: https://policies.google.com/technologies/cookies?hl=en

How long we retain your data
As mentioned, we do not retain IP addresses and any information you send through the contact form for more than 72 hours.

Our contact information
Should you wish to contact us, please see our contact page.

Previous Privacy Policies:

Information We Collect & Third Parties
First, we do not sell or disseminate any of your information to third parties. We collect some data (IP, email) of those who spam the comments/forums in order to block them from spamming in the future. There is also some data collected as far as statistics (number of visitors, countries we are viewed in, etc.), but it is anonymous and is not tied to any personally identifying information.

Registration, Contacting Us, Mailing Lists
There is a registration feature on this site, for commenting, forums, and other interactive features. You are not bound to use any personally identifying information during the course of registration, and in fact do not need to register to leave comments – we can accept anonymous comments. Minimal information is required should you contact us, namely an email address that we can use to respond to you, should it be required (you can use anonymous information for the other details).

We will not send unsolicited email to you. Should we offer a mailing list, we will also require you to opt-in for such a mailing list. It is not something that will happen accidentally.

If you wish to delete your account after you have created it, we’d be more than happy to assist you. Other users cannot see your email address, but we understand when people want to remove accounts/email addresses.

Advertisers
We do have advertisers that use banner ads on this site, but we do not share any personal information with them – if you are concerned, then please don’t click on any of the advertising banners. Some advertisers may use “cookies” in order to generate relevant advertising, however those can be blocked through your web browser settings.

Other Websites
Due to the nature of this site and the large genealogy community, we have many links to other websites. We cannot be responsible for the content or privacy practices of those web sites – we try to link to relevant sites only. If you find a link/website that has a problem, please contact us.