Privacy Policy for edwardkoo.com
Effective Date: 01/09/2025
1. Introduction
This Privacy Policy explains how edwardkoo.com (the “Blog”, “I”, “my”, or “me”) collects, uses, and protects your personal information when you visit and interact with my WordPress blog. I am committed to protecting your privacy and handling your data in an open and transparent manner.
By using the Blog, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy.
2. Information I Collect
Information You Provide Voluntarily:
- Comments: When you leave a comment on a blog post, WordPress collects the data shown in the comments form (name, email address, website URL if provided), your IP address, and browser user agent string to help with spam detection.
- Contact Forms: If you contact me through a contact form, you provide your name, email address, and any message content you choose to include.
- Account Registration: If the Blog allows user registration, your username, email address, and profile information may be stored.
Information Collected Automatically:
- Log Data: WordPress automatically records your IP address, browser type, referring/exit pages, and timestamps when you visit the Blog.
- Cookies: WordPress uses cookies to enhance user experience. When you leave a comment, you may opt-in to saving your name, email, and website in cookies for convenience (these last for one year). If you have an account and log in, WordPress sets temporary and persistent cookies for login and screen preferences.
- Analytics & Advertising: Through plugins and services like Google Analytics and Google AdSense, information about your visit and browsing behavior is collected for statistical analysis and to serve personalized advertisements.
3. How I Use Your Information
Your information is used for the following purposes:
- To operate and maintain the Blog.
- To display comments and respond to your inquiries.
- To analyze visitor traffic and improve content (e.g., via Google Analytics).
- To serve relevant advertisements through Google AdSense or other ad networks.
- To prevent spam, fraud, and abuse (using WordPress’s built-in anti-spam features or plugins like Akismet).
- To personalize your experience (e.g., remembering your login or comment details).
4. WordPress-Specific Cookies
WordPress sets several cookies to improve functionality:
| Cookie Name | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|
comment_author_{hash} | Remembers commenter’s name | 1 year |
comment_author_email_{hash} | Remembers commenter’s email | 1 year |
comment_author_url_{hash} | Remembers commenter’s website URL | 1 year |
wordpress_logged_in_{hash} | Keeps you logged in | Session or 2 weeks |
wp-settings-{user_id} | Stores user interface preferences | 1 year |
wp-settings-time-{user_id} | Tracks time of preference update | 1 year |
You can manage or disable cookies through your browser settings. However, disabling cookies may affect some features of the Blog.
5. Embedded Content from Other Websites
WordPress posts may include embedded content (e.g., videos, images, articles, etc.) from other websites. Embedded content behaves exactly as if you visited the other website, and those 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 if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
6. Third-Party Services
The Blog uses the following third-party services, each with their own privacy policies:
- Google AdSense: Serves personalized advertisements. Google uses cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this and other websites. You can opt out of personalized advertising at Google Ads Settings.
- Google Analytics: Tracks visitor behavior and traffic patterns. IP addresses are anonymized before reporting.
- Akismet (Anti-Spam): Comments are checked through the Akismet anti-spam service. Akismet collects commenter IP address, user agent, referrer, and site URL to determine if the comment is spam.
- Jetpack / WordPress.com Stats: May collect visitor data for analytics if the Jetpack plugin is used.
- Web Hosting Provider: Your web host (e.g., Bluehost, SiteGround, etc.) may collect server logs for security and maintenance purposes.
I do not sell or share your personal data with third parties for their own marketing purposes, except as described in this policy or where required by law.
7. Data Retention
- Comments: If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so I can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
- Registered Users: For users that register on the Blog (if applicable), I 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.
- Analytics Data: Retained according to Google Analytics’ data retention policies.
8. Your Rights Over Your Data
If you have an account on the Blog or have left comments, you can request:
- An exported file of the personal data I hold about you, including any data you have provided.
- The erasure of any personal data I hold about you.
- To correct or update any inaccurate information.
This does not include any data I am obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes. To exercise these rights, please contact me using the details in Section 10.
9. Data Security
I take reasonable measures to protect your personal information. WordPress core and plugins are kept updated, and security best practices (such as strong passwords, SSL encryption, and firewalls) are implemented. However, no method of transmission over the Internet is 100% secure, and I cannot guarantee absolute security.
10. Contact Information
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, requests regarding your data, or concerns about this Blog, please contact me.
11. Changes to This Privacy Policy
I may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated “Last Updated” date. I encourage you to review this page periodically for the latest information on my privacy practices.
Last Updated: 10/08/2026
