Privacy Policy

Who We Are

Our website address is: https://germaninsights.com.

What Personal Data We Collect and Why

Information We Collect

We collect information about visitors who comment on Sites that use our Akismet Anti-spam service. The information we collect depends on how the User sets up Akismet for the Site, but typically includes the commenter’s IP address, user agent, referrer, and Site URL (along with other information directly provided by the commenter such as their name, username, email address, and the comment itself).

We collect two types of information:

  1. Personal Information: This includes your name, email address, IP address, and comment profile picture (if uploaded).
  2. Automatically Collected Information: This includes your IP address, browser type, operating system, pages visited, and other usage details, collected through cookies and other tracking technologies.

Use of Information

We use your information for:

  • Providing and improving the website.
  • Displaying personalized ads through Google AdSense.
  • Complying with legal and regulatory requirements.

Disclosure of Information

We will not share your personal information with third parties without your consent, except:

  • To Google AdSense for ad personalization.
  • To comply with legal requirements.
  • To protect our rights, property, or safety.

Comments

When visitors leave comments, we collect:

  • Data shown in the comments form
  • Visitor’s IP address
  • Browser user agent string for spam detection

An anonymized string (hash) from your email may be sent to Gravatar to check usage. After comment approval, your profile picture is publicly visible. Gravatar’s privacy policy: https://automattic.com/privacy/.

Media

Avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS). Visitors can download and extract location data from images.

Cookies

If you:

  • Leave a comment: Opt-in to save name/email/website in cookies (1 year)
  • Visit login page: Temporary cookie checks browser acceptance (expires when browser closes)
  • Log in: Cookies save login info (2 days) and screen options (1 year). “Remember Me” lasts 2 weeks.
  • Edit/publish articles: Additional cookie saves post ID (expires after 1 day)

Google AdSense

We use Google AdSense to display ads. Google AdSense uses cookies to collect information about your interests and deliver personalized ads. You can learn more about Google’s privacy practices at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en-US and opt out of personalized ads at https://adssettings.google.com/.

Embedded Content

Embedded content (videos, images, articles) behaves as if visiting the source website, which may:

  • Collect data
  • Use cookies
  • Embed third-party tracking
  • Monitor interactions (if logged into that site)

Caching

This site utilizes caching in order to facilitate a faster response time and better user experience. Caching potentially stores a duplicate copy of every web page that is on display on this site. All cache files are temporary, and are never accessed by any third party, except as necessary to obtain technical support from the cache plugin vendor. Cache files expire on a schedule set by the site administrator, but may easily be purged by the admin before their natural expiration, if necessary. We may use QUIC.cloud services to process & cache your data temporarily.Please see https://quic.cloud/privacy-policy/ for more details.

We use LiteSpeed Cache for faster performance. This:

  • Stores temporary cache files
  • May use QUIC.cloud services (Privacy Policy)

Who We Share Data With

  • Password reset emails include IP address
  • Comments checked via Akismet spam detection service (collects IP, user agent, referrer, site URL)
  • Caching data processed through QUIC.cloud

Data Retention

  • Comments and metadata: Retained indefinitely
  • User profiles: Stored while accounts remain active (users can edit/delete at any time)

Your Rights

You can request:

  • Export of personal data we hold
  • Erasure of personal data (excludes data we must retain legally)

Data Transfers

Visitor data may be processed via:

  • Akismet (Automattic Inc.) – EU-US Privacy Shield certified
  • QUIC.cloud – Compliant with EU data protection standards

Data Security

We take reasonable security measures to protect your personal information. However, no website or internet transmission is completely secure.

Children’s Privacy

Our website is not for children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

Contact Information

For privacy concerns: info@germaninsights.com

Additional Information

Data Protection

We use:

  • SSL encryption
  • Regular security updates
  • Limited data access to authorized personnel

Data Breach Procedures

We will:

  • Notify affected users within 72 hours
  • Cooperate with authorities
  • Implement corrective measures immediately

Third-Party Data

We do not currently receive data about users from third parties.

Automated Decisions

We do not use automated decision-making or profiling with user data.

Updates

We may update this policy – changes will be posted here with revised effective dates.

Note: This policy should be customized with your legal counsel to ensure compliance with all applicable laws.