Privacy Policy for Owl Griffin

Effective Date: October 26, 2023

This Privacy Policy describes how Owl Griffin (https://owlgriffin.com/) collects, uses, and discloses your personal information when you visit or use our website. We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your data transparently and in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

By using Owl Griffin, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy.

1. Information We Collect & Legal Bases

We collect different types of information for various purposes to provide and improve our service to you.

1.1 Information You Voluntarily Provide

When you interact with Owl Griffin, you may provide us with personal information directly.

Comments: If you leave comments on our blog posts, we 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: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
Contact Forms: If you use our contact form, we collect your name, email address, and the content of your message.

Legal Basis: We process this data based on your consent (when you submit a comment or contact form) and our legitimate interest in responding to your inquiries and moderating website content.

1.2 Information Collected Automatically

When you visit Owl Griffin, certain information is automatically collected by us or our service providers.

Usage Data: This includes information such as your computer’s Internet Protocol address (e.g., IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of our website that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers, and other diagnostic data.
Device Data: Information about the device you use to access our website, such as device type, operating system, and mobile network information.

Legal Basis: We process this data based on our legitimate interest in understanding how our website is used, improving its functionality, and ensuring its security.

2. Cookies and Similar Technologies

Owl Griffin uses "Cookies" and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on our website and hold certain information. Cookies are files with a small amount of data that are sent to your browser from a website and stored on your device. Other tracking technologies also used are beacons, tags, and scripts to collect and track information and to improve and analyze our service.

We use cookies for various purposes:

Necessary Cookies: Essential for the website to function correctly (e.g., remembering your comment details for your next visit if you opt-in).
Analytics Cookies: To collect information about how visitors use our website, which pages they visit most often, and if they get error messages from web pages. This helps us improve how the website works. We typically use Google Analytics for this purpose.
Functionality Cookies: To remember choices you make (such as your username, language, or the region you are in) and provide enhanced, more personal features.

You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our website.

3. Use of Data & Third-Party Sharing

Owl Griffin uses the collected data for various purposes:

To provide and maintain our website.
To improve, personalize, and expand our website.
To understand and analyze how you use our website.
To respond to your comments, questions, and inquiries.
To detect, prevent, and address technical issues and ensure the security of our website.
To monitor the usage of our website for analytical purposes.

3.1 Third-Party Sharing

We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer your personally identifiable information to outside parties without your consent, except as described below:

Service Providers: We may employ third-party companies and individuals to facilitate our website ("Service Providers"), to provide the website on our behalf, to perform website-related services, or to assist us in analyzing how our website is used. These third parties have access to your Personal Data only to perform these tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose. Examples include web hosting services and analytics providers (e.g., Google Analytics).
Legal Requirements: We may disclose your Personal Data in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to:
- Comply with a legal obligation.
- Protect and defend the rights or property of Owl Griffin.
- Prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the website.
- Protect the personal safety of users of the website or the public.
- Protect against legal liability.

4. Data Retention & Security

4.1 Data Retention

We will retain your Personal Data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy.

Comments: Comments and their metadata are retained indefinitely so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
Contact Form Submissions: Information submitted via contact forms is retained for a reasonable period to address your inquiry and for our records.
Analytics Data: Data collected via analytics tools (like Google Analytics) is retained according to the respective service provider’s policies, typically for a period of up to 26 months.

We will also retain and use your Personal Data to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your data to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes, and enforce our legal agreements and policies.

4.2 Data Security

The security of your data is important to us. 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 using SSL/HTTPS for secure data transmission and limiting access to personal data to authorized personnel. However, no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your Personal Data, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

5. Your Privacy Rights

Depending on your location, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:

Right to Access: The right to request copies of your personal data.
Right to Rectification: The right to request that we correct any information you believe is inaccurate or complete information you believe is incomplete.
Right to Erasure ("Right to be Forgotten"): The right to request that we erase your personal data, under certain conditions.
Right to Restrict Processing: The right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
Right to Object to Processing: The right to object to our processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
Right to Data Portability: The right to request that we transfer the data that we have collected to another organization, or directly to you, under certain conditions.
Right to Withdraw Consent: If our processing of your personal data is based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at the email address provided below. We will respond to your request within a reasonable timeframe.

6. Children’s Privacy

Owl Griffin does not knowingly collect any personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has provided us with Personal Data, please contact us. If we become aware that we have collected Personal Data from children without verification of parental consent, we take steps to remove that information from our servers.

7. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Effective Date" at the top of this Privacy Policy. You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.