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Here’s the Deal…
Personal privacy is a very important issue for me. I am particularly concerned about the invasions of our privacy and censorship by the government in collusion with Big Tech companies like Google and Meta.
To protect users’ privacy, website owners use Privacy Policy pages to explain privacy rights and how the site might use your data. Typically, these are written by lawyers in language ensuring that nobody can understand it.
I want to make sure you understand this stuff, though, so on this page are my explanations, to the best of my own understanding, written in plain English.
Simply stated, this website’s use of cookies is necessary for me to be able to deliver to you this website and the empowering knowledge contained within it. By using this website, you are agreeing to my Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. If you do not agree, do not use this website.
You can view the Terms of Use here:
https://www.jeremyrhammond.com/about/terms-of-use/
If you do not like how I use cookies or otherwise collects user data, you are of course free not to visit my site. You can always clear your browser’s cookies, which is good to do from time to time anyhow. (I’ll explain how to do this below in case you don’t already know.)
What a “Cookie” Is
Hopefully, everyone using the internet here in the 21st century knows that when you visit a website, it may store something called a “cookie” in your browser.
I don’t know why it’s called that, but a cookie is just a file containing a character string that serves as an identifier, which is sent by a web server to a web browser. The browser stores the identifier and sends it back to the server each time a visitor requests to load a webpage from the server.
Cookies are categorized as either “persistent” or “session”. A persistent cookie, as the name implies, will be stored by the browser and remain valid until a set expiration date. A session cookie will expire when the web browser is closed.
Cookies do not typically contain any personally identifying information. However, if personal information about a user is stored by a website on its server, it may be linked to cookie identifiers. As an example, a street address might be linked to an IP address.
How to Manage Your Browser’s Cookies
I’ll provide the steps to clear your cookies in Brave, my own preferred web browser, but other browsers will be similar.
In Brave, as of the effective date of this Privacy Policy, click the three-lined “hamburger” icon in the upper right to open the menu and click the option to “Delete browsing data” (or click Ctrl + Shift + Del on your keyboard).
Alternatively, in the menu, click “Settings”, select “Privacy and Security”, and then select “Clear browsing data”. You can select to delete your browsing history, cookies, and/or cached images and files.
Browsing history is a nice feature. I use it frequently. Sometimes, I want to quickly find a website I had recently visited but closed, and an easy way to do it is to consult my browser history. I clear this once in a while both to declutter and to protect my privacy in case of a security breach. To avoid my search history being stored by Google, and to get uncensored search results, I typically use Brave search engine. (I used to use DuckDuckGo until, during the COVID-19 lockdown madness, it started joining in the censorship of “misinformation”, the usual euphemism for truths that government and mainstream media do not want us to know about).
Image and file caching is also useful. It helps to load frequently visited websites faster. Those seconds add up over time to represent lost productivity, and who likes waiting for a webpage to load? Sometimes, though, the cache might be outdated, so that a webpage does not load properly. To fix that common problem, you can clear your image and file cache. Clearing this cache occasionally is also a good habit to get into.
In addition to deleting cookies and other data, you can typically control whether or not to allow cookies in your browser settings. To learn more about your web browser’s privacy functions, view the privacy settings or visit the browser website’s help center or knowledgebase. Just keep in mind that if you block cookies, it may have a negative impact on your user experience, including prohibiting certain beneficial features of a website from being available to you. Also, if you delete cookies, you will have to log back into any sites you were persistently logged into.
How Cookies Can Be Used by Websites
Although there is potential for abuse by malevolent actors who don’t respect privacy rights, cookies are also useful and sometimes necessary for websites to deliver to us the things that we want from them. Here are a few examples of how cookies can be used beneficially:
- Authentication: Cookies can be used to identify you helpfully when you visit a website, such as enabling you the option of viewing webpages that are accessible only to logged-in users without having to reenter your login credentials every visit. After you clear your cookies, you will have to log in again to any websites where you have an account.
- Status: Cookies can also help websites determine whether you are logged in.
- Personalization: Cookies can be used to store information about your individual preferences and otherwise to personalize the website experience for you.
- Security: Cookies can be used as an element of security measures, including to protect user accounts, such as by preventing fraudulent use of login credentials. As an example, a server might block anyone trying to log in from a foreign IP address from gaining access to an account.
- Advertising: We have all seen those ads that “follow” you around the internet. You visit some brand’s website, and then after navigating to some other website that displays advertisements, you see an ad from the brand you had visited earlier. This is called “remarketing” and is achieved with cookies. While sometimes viewed as creepy, this can be beneficial to the user. The reason this method is used is because it works. People might appreciate the reminder to purchase a product that would help them be more productive, for example. And would you rather be bombarded with irrelevant ads or see offers for products or services that might actually be useful to you?
- Analysis: Cookies are a critical tool for website owners to be able to analyze visitor traffic, which is in turn critical for being able to better meet visitor demand for information, goods, or services.
As you can see, cookies are not inherently a bad thing. They are a useful tool that can benefit us in numerous ways. My website uses cookies in ways that help me to deliver the information, goods, or services that my website visitors demand of me.
How My Website Uses Cookies and User Data
A typical Privacy Policy page will explain in legalese how the website uses cookies in a very generic way, which is because they are generic. They are written up by lawyers considering typical use cases, and so, depending on the purposes and aims of the websites, the language across websites is substantively the same. Because they are generic, they typically aren’t all that useful for understanding exactly how a website is using cookies and user data.
I can do better than that by just telling you specifically how my website does so.
Website Analytics
To be able to better deliver to my readers the type of information they are looking for, I need to be able to analyze traffic to my website. For example, if I know which types of articles receive higher numbers of visitors, I can shift the focus of my work toward delivering more of that type of information to my readers.
Third-party analytics tools like Google Analytics require website owners to place a code snippet in webpages and use cookies to track data about how visitors are using a website, such as the following:
- How many users visited a website within a specified time frame
- The proportion of first-time visitors compared to returning visitors
- The number of users who are accessing a site from a given country or city
- Where visitors are coming from, e.g., from clicking links in email newsletters, from social media, other websites, internet search engine results, paid advertisements, or direct access.
- Which pages of a site receive the highest amounts of traffic.
- The proportion of website traffic that comes from either desktop, tablet, or mobile devices.
- The proportion of traffic associated with use of a given browser, such as Safari, Chrome, Firefox, or Edge.
While the data collected does not include personally identifiable information about website visitors, it still raises privacy concerns since it involves a third party like Google collecting data including visitor IP addresses.
I used to use Google Analytics but stopped doing so in November 2025, which I switched to using a self-hosted WordPress plugin called Independent Analytics. Since it’s self-hosted, it doesn’t require cookies to provide the usage insights I need, and this obviates the concern about a third party collecting and using visitor data.
To repeat: I use a self-hosted analytics tool that does not use cookies and does not involve the collection of visitor data by any third parties.
Email Delivery
One of the benefits I provide to people who visit my website is the option to subscribe to my email newsletters. Using one of the opt-in forms on my site, users may exchange their name and email address with me to obtain access to the empowering knowledge I deliver in my newsletters.
Popular email service providers (ESPs) include MailChimp and Active Campaign, both of which I have used in the past to deliver newsletters. Third-party providers may provided advanced insights about how contacts are using a website, which requires a tracking code and use of cookies.
I no longer use a third-party ESP. Now, I use a self-hosted WordPress plugin called FluentCRM, which is an email management and customer relations management (CRM) system that integrates with the Amazon Simple Email Service (SES) to enable me to send mass emails to my subscribed contacts list.
Amazon SES functions solely as an email delivery service, not as an email marketing tool (ESP), so it does not involve placing a tracking code or use of cookies on my site. This service processes recipient email addresses and message content solely for the purpose of transmitting my communications and does not retain or use this information for any other purpose.
Since FluentCRM is a self-hosted email service, there is no third-party ESP tracking code or cookie usage on my site.
I only send my email newsletters to email address that have been specifically opted-in to receive them. I do not import email addresses otherwise obtained into my system. I do not share or sell the personal information I obtain from subscribers to any third parties. I use this information strictly to provide the service being demanded, i.e., to deliver my newsletters to subscribers.
Users can easily unsubscribe from my newsletters with a single click of an “unsubscribe” link contained in the footer of each of my newsletter emails.
I can also associate the subscriber profile with other information provided to me by users. For example, if a subscriber buys one of my books from my site’s shop using their subscription email, my system can sync information about the transaction with their subscriber profile. This enables me to do things like making a book offer only to subscribers who haven’t already purchased the book from me.
The links that I place in my email newsletters may be tracking links enabling me to acquire data on subscriber engagement, such as estimated proportions of subscribers who open a newsletter email or who click on a link in the email. This is important for me to know what types of information my subscribers are most interested in.
Additionally, my site’s software may automatically send transactional emails, such as order confirmation, payment receipts, digital content delivery, or membership account information. A customer does not need to be subscribed to my newsletters to receive such necessary transactional emails.
WordPress
My website runs on self-hosted WordPress, which is a very popular open-source content management system (CMS). WordPress enables me to enable visitors the option of creating a user account. User accounts can be assigned various privileges and access, such as the default levels of Subscriber, Author, Editor, or Administrator. I may collect certain personal information from users who create an account on my website. At a minimum, this would include the user’s email address. A username is also required but does not necessarily have to be the same as the user’s real name. The name and email associated with an account can be changed, but the username cannot. Logged-in users can manage their own passwords, which I am not able to view, along with any other personal information that might be used for the purposes of the account. If a password is forgotten, there is an option on the login page to send a password reset email.
WooCommerce, MemberPress, BuddyBoss, and GiveWP
I sell items like my books directly to readers through a shop on my website that is powered by WooCommerce, which is a popular ecommerce plugin for WordPress. WooCommerce utilizes the WordPress user account functionality to enable users to create a site account so customers can log in to do thongs like view order history, access download links for digital products, or manage billing and shipping addresses.
I also have a membership program, for which I use the WordPress plugin MemberPress, which similarly utilizes and expands upon the WordPress account functionality. Members can log in to their account to view members-only content, manage their membership, and do other membership-related activities.
Associated with my membership program is also a plugin and WordPress theme package called BuddyBoss, which integrates with MemberPress and enables me to host a private membership community with the familiar functionality of social media sites like Facebook.
Additionally, I accept donations, and to do that I use the WordPress plugin GiveWP, which has highly advanced functionality compared to most other options, which makes things easier for me and saves me a lot of time. Donors are provided an account to be able to access a dashboard where they can do things like view donation history, download receipts, and manage automatically recurring payments.
I have built this site to make all account functionality conveniently accessible via a single user login, as opposed to users needing one account for the shop, another for the membership to access content, another for access to the private community, and another for accessing the donor dashboard.
The checkout processes for my shop, membership program, and donation form require a payment method to be selected, which may include credit card, PayPal, Zelle, or check options. Customer data I may have access from completing checkout includes name, email, phone number, billing address, and shipping address. I do not have access to credit card numbers, and no credit card data is stored on my site’s server. This data instead passes securely to the payment gateway(s) connected to my site’s software, such as Stripe or PayPal. During checkout, an option may be offered to store payment method information for future use, which, again, is data not stored by my site but a convenience service offered by the payment gateway provider.
To learn more about Stripe’s privacy policy, click here:
To learn more about PayPal’s privacy policy, click here:
https://www.paypal.com/myaccount/privacy/privacyhub
Many of my readers are, like me, concerned about Facebook’s censorship of truthful information and the risk the site poses to their privacy. I have often seen people express a concern that Facebook is tracking them across the internet. What this concern relates to is what is known as the Facebook “pixel” that website owners can install on their sites to enable them to track and analyze website traffic from Facebook.
The pixel is just a code snippet that enables Facebook to plant a cookie in the browser of the website’s visitors. The pixel is primarily used for being able to track the performance of Facebook ads. For example, it enables the advertiser to set a page view of an order confirmation page as the “conversion” outcome, so that if a Facebook user sees the ad, clicks to view the offer, and places an order, in the Facebook ad reports area, the advertiser can see the conversion rate metric, along with other metrics like ad impressions and the click-through rate. To learn more about Facebook’s privacy policy, click here:
https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update
I have in the past experimented with using Facebook ads and so have had the Facebook pixel installed on my website. At the time of this privacy policy update, it has been a long time since I had the pixel installed on my site. I may at some point utilize Facebook ads in a way that requires me to install the pixel on my site, such as to ensure that my money is being well spent getting my offer in front of the right audience and effectively communicating the message of how my offer can help them.
To repeat: as of the date of this policy update, there is no Facebook pixel (tracking code) on my site.
This site may use the Facebook API for purposes such as enabling users to log in with their Facebook account to post comments on articles or to submit a reader testimonial including their Facebook profile image.
Affiliates
One of the ways I am able to maintain my independence as a journalist is by earning revenue as an affiliate partner with other providers of informational content, goods, or services. To learn more, click here:
https://www.jeremyrhammond.com/about/affiliate-promotions/
My affiliate links may be included in my email newsletters or at various locations on my website. In addition to products I sell directly to my website users, like my books, products in my web shop may include affiliate links to other websites. Among these may be Amazon.com, the terms of whose affiliate program require me to place this notice here on my Privacy Policy page:
JeremyRHammond.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Your purchases through the site’s affiliate links will help support my mission at no extra cost to you.
Comments
Visitors to my website can leave comments on articles. To leave a comment requires some form of registration or account login. At a minimum, users are required to provide a name, which is displayed publicly but does not have to one’s real name, and a valid email address, which is not displayed publicly but is viewable by me or anyone else to whom I might appoint the role of website administrator or comments moderator. Commenters may also, at their option, display their own website’s URL.
When registering to leave a comment, there may be a checkbox option to save the login details for next time, which makes commenting more convenient by not having to enter that information again. This functionality requires a cookie to be placed in the user’s browser.
A user may comment as a guest as described above. Alternatively, if a user has an account with my website, they may log into that account on my site for the purpose of leaving a comment. The commenting system I am currently using, Thrive Comments, also optionally enables users to sign in using their Facebook or Google account, which is another convenience that makes registration quick and easy for users who are already logged into their Facebook or Google account. To learn more about Facebook’s and Google’s privacy policy, respectively, click here:
https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update
https://policies.google.com/privacy
Use of the comments section of my website provides me with the registered user’s email address and IP address, which is required for the purpose of comment moderation. (For example, I can ban a spammer or abuser using either the email address or IP address.)
Users wishing to leave a comment on my website, like any visitors to my website, are required to abide by my website’s Terms of Use, including the specific terms provided for participating in the comments section. To view my Terms of Use, click here:
https://www.jeremyrhammond.com/about/terms-of-use/
My rules are intended to maintain an environment conducive to respectful and fruitful discussion. Violations of my terms may result in users having their comments deleted and their commenting privileges revoked, which is achieved within comments system by including the IP address or email address of the user in a list of banned users.
Data Deletion
If you have any personal data stored on this website’s server as described above, such as name, email, or mailing address associated with your user or a customer account, you may contact me to request deletion of the data. Account deletion is irreversible and may negatively impact your user experience. For contact information, see the “Contact Me” section below.
Changes to My Privacy Policy
I may change this privacy policy from time to time. The effective date is posted at the bottom of the policy.
Contact Me
If you have any questions about this privacy policy or the practices of my website or wish to request data deletion, you can contact me here:
https://www.jeremyrhammond.com/contact/
My business mailing address is:
Worldview Media, LLC
P.O. Box 125
Alanson, MI 49706
Updated/Effective Date
November 9, 2025