Privacy Policy – CogitActive

CogitActive has developed this Privacy Policy to inform you as to why and how we may collect and process your Personal Data (as defined by the General Data Protection Regulation; see below) when you visit the “CogitActive Sites” (see Who we are) or use any services, features and/or content provided by the CogitActive Sites (together with the CogitActive Sites, the “Services”). Remember that your use of the Services is at all times subject to our Terms of Use, which incorporates this Privacy Policy.

Personal Data: Any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person that is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to make sure it is current and accurate. Any change will become effective immediately upon publishing the revised version. Please, check this page occasionally to ensure you keep track of any updates; your further use of the Services will be subject to the updated policy. You acknowledge and agree that it is your responsibility to review this policy periodically and become aware of modifications. The latest revision of this Privacy Policy was published on May 25, 2020.

If you have questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, please, contact us using the details set in the Contact information section.

Who we are

CogitActive is a web-based information resource for Neuroscience and beyond. Cogitactive.com, together with all other subdomains thereof (collectively, the “CogitActive Sites”) are owned and operated by Alexandre Seillier (hereinafter: “Alexandre Seillier”, “CogitActive”, “we”, “our”, or “us”).

We are committed to safeguarding the privacy of our users. Accordingly, our privacy practices are in line with the principles relating to processing of personal data as defined in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation.

This Privacy Policy applies to all visitors of the CogitActive Sites or users of the Services.

What Personal Data we collect and why we collect it

We may collect your Personal Data when you visit the CogitActive Sites or use our Services. As further explained below, we process your data only if we have a reason to do so (e.g. to provide, protect, and improve our Services). Generally, you control the amount and type of information that you provide to us – the notable exception being Usage Data.

The legal basis for processing your data depends on the Personal Data we collect and the specific context in which we collect it. Typically, we may process your data because you have given us permission to do so (i.e. explicit consent) OR to provide, protect, and improve the Services (i.e. legitimate interests) OR to comply with the law (i.e. legal obligations).

Usage Data

When you visit a website, a web server log is automatically created with information about the request (e.g. web page), including client Internet Protocol (IP) address, request date/time, page requested, HTTP code, bytes served, user agent (i.e. browser type and version, operating system), and referrer (i.e. previously visited page). Although most of these data are non-personally-identifying information, the IP address is considered as Personal Data.

We use these data for operating the CogitActive Sites, providing the Services, and ensuring security. Apart from these proper administration purposes, we may also process this information for monitoring the CogitActive Sites and improving our Services.

Comments

When visitors leave comments, we collect the data shown in the comments form (i.e. Name and Email), and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

While an authentic, verified email address is required for commenting, it will not be published; we publish only your name along with your comment. However, an anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) will be provided to the Gravatar service (see below) to see if you are using it. After approval of your comment (see Comment Policy), your profile picture (Gravatar) is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

You acknowledge that the information you submit for publication (i.e. within the text of your comment) may be available, via the Internet, around the world. We cannot prevent the use (or misuse) of such data by other. Therefore, to protect your privacy, we advise you never to share private or other sensitive information within the text of your comment.

Forms

When you submit a form, we capture the IP Address for spam protection. We also capture the Email address and any data provided in the Form fields (that you choose to share with us). The information that we collect will depend on the context of your interaction with us; still, we collect only the necessary information to fulfill the purpose of this interaction, which may include communicating back with you.

Please, do not provide any highly sensitive Personal Data when interacting with us. Likewise, if you upload images, 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.

Polls

When you submit your vote on a poll, we capture the IP Address to prevent multiple votes by one visitor.

Reaction buttons

When you use the reaction buttons, we will send a cookie to prevent you to vote twice. A cookie is a string of information (i.e. a small text file) that is saved locally in the cache of your browser.

Donations

If you choose to make a donation, PayPal (see below) will provide us with certain information about you, including your Name, Email and Address (i.e. shipping information).

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on the CogitActive Sites may include embedded content (e.g. videos, posts, 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.

Referral link

We DO NOT participate in SiteGround (generous) affiliate program; yet, we use a referral link they provide us in order to win free hosting. Their special tracking system will detect and automatically award [our] account with up to 3 months free hosting for every authentic referee who has signed up through [our] referral link. As indicated, this involves a tracking system.

Analytics

We visualize aggregate statistics about visitors to the CogitActive Sites with AWStats, a free (GNU General Public License) tool that generate statistics graphically (by analyzing web server logs). Unlike other statistical programs, AWstats does not transmit any data to an external server.

We collect your information only for internal use and we do not share any Personal Data with anyone, apart from the third parties listed below who help us operate the CogitActive Sites and/or provide the Services, but who may make no use of any such information other than to assist us in providing the Services.

We use Gravatar (by Automattic Inc.) to display your custom image next to your comment. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/

We use the Wordfence plugin (by Defiant, Inc.) to keep the CogitActive Sites safe. You can find their Data Processing Agreement here: https://www.wordfence.com/gdpr/dpa.pdf

We host the CogitActive Sites with SiteGround (SiteGround Spain S.L.). You can find their Data Processing Agreement here: https://www.siteground.com/term/301.htm

We host our podcasts with Libsyn (Webmayhem Inc. d/b/a Liberated Syndication). You can find their Data Privacy Transparency Statement here: https://libsyn.com/tos-policies/gdpr/

We use PayPal (Holdings, Inc.) to accept donations. If you choose to support us, you will be directed to PayPal’s secured form. Any information you submit is provided directly to PayPal and is subject to their Privacy Policy that you can find here: https://www.paypal.com/va/webapps/mpp/ua/privacy-full

These services may use cookies and collect personally-identifying information (e.g. your IP address) in addition to non-personally-identifying information (e.g. referrer). We do not control the use of these technologies.

How long we retain your data

We generally keep your information for as long as we need it for the purpose for which we collect and use it. That being said, it is not possible for us to specify in advance the periods for which we will keep your information. For instance, we may maintain some data for longer period in order to comply with our legal obligations. Keep in mind also that comments (and their metadata), as well as testimonials, are retained indefinitely – unless deletion is requested by the original author.

You can ask us to delete your Personal Data at any time by submitting a request using the details set in the Contact information section. This does not include any data we are obligated to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

What rights you have over your data

When it comes to your Personal Data, you have certain rights according to the applicable data protection law. In particular, under the General Data Protection Regulation, you have the following data protection rights:

Right to access
Right to rectification
Right to erasure
Right to restriction of processing
Right to data portability
Right to object
Right to withdraw consent

Accordingly, you can request to receive an exported file of the Personal Data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any Personal Data we hold about you. Again, this does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

To exercise your rights or if you otherwise have any questions regarding our processing of your personal data, we encourage you to contact us.

Where we send your data

Our Services are supported by servers and third-party service providers (see Who we share your data with) that may be established in jurisdictions other than your own. Accordingly, we, or our services providers, may process your Personal Data outside of your country. For instance, we host the CogitActive Sites in servers (SiteGround) situated in Iowa, USA. Your Gravatar will be loaded from the servers of Automattic, an American global distributed company. Similarly, we host our podcast with Libsyn – another American global company with servers around the world. As for Wordfence, they host their services with Amazon’s AWS, of which the data centers location is available at: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/global-infrastructure/

Importantly, we will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy. In keeping with this idea, rest assured that these companies comply with regulations across the globe concerning the collection, use and retention of personal information.

How we protect your data

We take great care to ensure the safety and security of your Personal Data. In particular, we have built the CogitActive Sites using industry-standard security measures. We use SiteGround – a hosting provider with security-first mindset – to host them. We keep our software up to date automatically to benefit from the latest safest versions. We have Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates to encrypt (and thus protect during the transmission) the information you send us. Last, but not least, we use the security plugin Wordfence – the most comprehensive security option available – which includes an endpoint firewall and malware scanner, among other security features. Keep in mind, however, that no mechanism can guarantee 100% security.

Contact information

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, or if you would like to exercise your rights, please contact us using this dedicated privacy contact form: