So, it’s all about privacy. I love my privacy. I find the “big brother” aspect of the internet very intrusive and disturbing. And now, it seems I am required to post a privacy policy here at shirleytwofeathers.com. So. Basically, my policy is… I love my own privacy, and I am not the least bit interested in invading yours.

Is any of your information collected here on this site? Well, inevitably, some of it is. Sigh… But it’s not much, and it’s only for a few simple reasons.

• Spam comments.

I have a plug in that effectively limits spam comments here on the site. If I didn’t have that little plug in, I’d be dealing with upwards of 1000’s of daily comments about viagra and cialis and god only knows what else. My plug in tracks ip addresses, and other small internet thingy’s (I’m not technically advanced at all), and blocks spammers. The current program is doing a great job, and I’m glad that it has collected those tiny tidbits of information, which is all done automatically.

• Share This.

If I want people to share what I post, it really helps to have a “share this” option. This is a third party plug in, and I’m reasonably sure that they collect and track information like… I don’t know what… but the plug in is a freebee, so I’m sure they make their money some how. If you don’t want them to know anything at all about you, I’d suggest you share your favorite posts by copying and pasting the actual url or link to the post.

• Visitor Stats.

So, I like to know what posts are getting the most views. It’s a nice ego boost, and knowing what my visitors are interested in helps me to decide what to research and post about. Also, it’s really nice to watch that visitor count go up every day. Gives me a reason to put in all the long hours that I put in here on the site, slaving away at my computer until late into the night. 🙂 I’m sure that the stat counter is some kind of data miner, how could it not be? But it’s pretty benign, I think, and you’d be hard pressed to find a website that doesn’t have one installed somewhere.

• About Cookies

I don’t really know much about cookies, I have no clue as to how they are actually installed on a site, or how to get them, or anything about them. I do know that cookies allow my web browser to fill in my name and address on some forms, and I do know that google uses cookies like crazy! So, at first I assumed that my site probably did have cookies… but when I checked for cookies at the cookie checker, I came up with ZERO! So, if you don’t believe me, try it for yourself. And if it says I have cookies… Jeez! I am so sorry…would you like some milk to go with them? LOL… but seriously… you can disable cookies somewhere in your web browser settings.

• But Wait There’s More

I didn’t know just how important it was to be super specific, technical, and detailed a privacy policy needed to be, so I found an example of a pretty good one, and posted it in all it’s glory here: Privacy Policy. I do hope to get a link to the new privacy policy page on each of the mini sites… but there are so many of them, that it will take me a while to get that done.

Net neutrality is a very important issue that we don’t hear much about… but there’s going to be a vote that could change everything you will be able to do online. If you value your freedom to surf and explore, and if you are tired of what is already a constant and persistent stream of propoganda, you might want to do something to preserve a free internet.

Not convinced? Watch this!

So, if you want to do something about it, here’s a link to a page to check out: Join the Battle for Net Neutrality