Who we are
Our website address is: http://backpackingtheusa.com.
Comments
When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string, to only assist in spam detection, and hacker tracking.
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.
IP addresses identified as potential spam, violation of normal decency words-images-links, hacker attempts, etc. remain in our Black List for Blocking purposes.
Media
If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website. That is for your own safety.
Embedded information that is detected as violating any of our rules, please be aware those violations will lead to “Black Listing” and “Blocking” without notice or explanation.
Everything needs to be family friendly for any age level. We have zero tolerance for violations.
Cookies
If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.
If you have an account for member privileges, [this module is not currently active and differs from the email subscriber list you can opt into] and you log in to this site, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
When you log in [not currently active], we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.
Embedded content from other websites
Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
Embedded information that is detected as violating any of our rules, please be aware those violations will lead to “Black Listing” and “Blocking” without notice or explanation.
Who we share your information with
We currently have no active “Shopping Cart” module on this site. Nor any interaction, service, etc that requires payment of any kind.
If at any time you feel you are on this site and are being asked for things like your Credit Card information, etc…STOP!. We are not asking for that type of information. Do not provide this type of information thinking it is to our site. You most likely connected to a 3rd party site, and are being scammed or phished. Notify us immediately. You need to provide a copy of the address bar website/webpage/link address you are on, if this should ever occur.
We do not trade, sell, or otherwise give away, any personal information to other parties. Our voluntary email system, which you can elect to sign up for, records your email address among things like IP address as stated elsewhere on this page. All for security and legal purposes. Your name/user name is optional and can be fake. The “name” data you provide, is only used to address you by name [name you provide], when you receive and automated email or notification from our site. We never ask for, and we never collect, phone numbers, addresses, Credit Card info, etc.
At any time you feel you may be getting spammed through our site, please notify us immediately. We try to only send out notices once or twice a week at the very most. Anything above and beyond that might be suspect. Especially if is seems unrelated to our subjects.
How long we retain your data
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
For users that register on our website [Module is not currently active], we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
[We currently do not have this membership module activated].
We do have a voluntary email list sign up that you can opt into, or opt out of at any time. When you opt out, your record is removed by you in that process. You would have to initiate signing up as a new subscriber, once you opt out, should you wish to re-subscribe.
What rights you have over your data
You can request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
Where we send your data
Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service, or add on “plugin/app”.
Contact Us
See our Contact Us tab on the main menu for more info.