Privacy Policy

TestZine --- Privacy Policy

Let me say this plainly. I do not spam. Period.

I do not sell, lend or release your subscription information to anyone for any reason.

Well, that may be just a bit overstated.

Physical torture would probably get your information from me. I'm not very good with pain. And federal court orders enforced by sunglass wearing men-in-black would probably get your information as well.

But short of a few extreme, bizarre exceptions like that, I do not release your subscription information to anyone for any reason.

My Privacy Policy: Practice Summary

Here is a summary list of my privacy practices for TestZine (and for every ezine I manage):

1. I do not sell, lend or release your subscription information to anyone for any reason.
    
2. I use "confirmed opt-in" ("double opt-in") for my list. Not only do you need to request to be on my list, you need to confirm your request.
    
3. Every issue of my ezine includes simple but complete unsubscribe instructions.
    
4. I provide alternative ways to contact me for subscription problems, including other email addresses, phone and fax.
    
5. I remove bouncing addresses from my list.
    
6. I only use the names on my list for the stated purpose: to receive my ezine.
    
7. I do not "acquire" names for my ezine list. That is, I don't purchase names from other people and just add them, nor do I rent names and solicit for subscriptions.
    
8. I'm very upfront about the frequency of mailings: it is irregular. The best way to see how irregular irregular is, is to look at the archives.
    
9. Subscribing to one ezine won't get you added to any other list I run.
    
10. I follow the Core Principles of Ezine Privacy from EzinePrivacy.org, never tracking things like when you open my email or whether you forwarded it a friend.
     
11. I do not spam. Ever. Period.

Information Collected for TestZine

When you join any of my email/ezine lists (e.g., Snippets and TestZine), I keep your email address (because it really wouldn't make much sense to have an email/ezine list if I didn't keep your email address).

And I keep information necessary to provide an audit trail in order to comply with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.

Here is a list of Subscription Information that I keep for all email/ezine lists I host on my site using my Gammadyne Mailer system:

Personal and Status Information

• Subscriber ID
  (your unique code assigned by the system)
• Subscriber Status
  (whether you are subscribed or not; when you unsubscribe I mark you as unsubscribed, but keep you in the system to show history)
• Subscriber Name
  (if you give me your name, I keep it; otherwise I have only your emil address)
• Email address
• Date/Time of the subscription request

Current Issue Information

• Sent status
  (whether the current issue has been sent yet)

Subscription Process Information

• Date/time of the original subscribe request
• Date/time of the last subscribe date/time
• Email address used for the subscription request
• IP Address used for the subscription request
• Whether the subscription came via web or email
• Date/time of the subscription confirmation
• Email Address used to confirm subscription
• IP Address used to confirm the subscription

Unsubscription Process Information

• Date/Time of an unsubscription request
• Email address specified for the unsubscription
• Whether the unsubscription came via web or email
• Date/Time of the unsubscription confirmation
• Email Address used to confirm unsubscription
• IP Address used to confirm the unsubscription
• Unsubscribe reason
  (e.g., by your request, because of bounces)

Pending Confirmation Information

• Number of Confirmation Reminders sent
• Date/Time of the Last Confirmation Reminder sent

Miscellaneous Information

• Date/Time of last action on the subscription
• Number of bounces detected
• Administrative notes

NB: I am able to keep this information because the Gammadyne Mailer lets me customize the database and program special functions.

EzinePrivacy.org

I follow the Core Principles of Ezine Privacy from EzinePrivacy.org. I defend the privacy of ezine subscribers and never track personal information, like when you open my ezine and whether you forwarded it to a friend.

The Long Version of My Privacy Policy

What you read above is the short version of my privacy policy.

I have a much longer, more legalistic version.

In fact, I have several of them:

General Privacy Page

The general privacy page provides an overview of all of my privacy policies. Although it is lengthy and thorough, I still think it is easy to read. You might even find a bit of humor if you look for it.

It also provides links to my specific privacy pages including:

• My CIPEA disclosure page
• My COPPA disclosure page
• My OECD disclosure page

OECD Privacy Statement

A long, long time ago, on 23.Sep.1980, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, (OECD), issued Guidelines on the Protection of Privacy and Transborder Flows of Personal Data.

(Did you notice that date? 1980!! Privacy issues are not new.)

Recently OECD created the OECD Privacy Statement Generator to help organizations create privacy statements to post on websites.

I have created an OECD Privacy Disclosure page (which I call OECD Privacy-D) to stipulate how this site complies with the seven privacy principles.

All of the disclosures on the OECD Privacy-D page are duplicates of disclosures on my privacy page, but they have been "organized" according to the structure of the OECD Privacy Principles. This page also provides background and impact information regarding the OECD Privacy Guidelines links to other resources for the OECD Privacy Guidelines.

CIPEA Tone

On Wednesday, 26.Jul.2000, Senators Spence Abraham, John McCain and John Kerry introduced the Consumer Internet Privacy Enhancement Act (CIPEA). This proposed legislation never made it into the law. But I used the law as a model to construct a privacy statement which would comply. I did it as an exercise in learning more about privacy principles.

I have created a CIPEA privacy disclosure page (which I call CIPEA Tone) to clarify the the notices proposed by CIPEA (Consumer Internet Privacy Enhancement Act). All of the disclosures on the CIPEA Tone page are duplicates of disclosures on my privacy page, but they have been "organized" according to the structure of CIPEA. This page also provides background and impact information regarding CIPEA and links to other articles and resources for CIPEA.

COPPA Cabana

I have created a COPPA Privacy Disclosure page (which I call COPPA Cabana) to provide the notices required by COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) related to information practices of this site regarding personal information and privacy of children. This page also provides background and impact information regarding COPPA and links to other articles and resources for COPPA.

More Pages About TestZine

All About TestZine, My Ezine: This page tells about my test ezine which I created to let me test my ezine processing system.
NB: This ezine is fully functional, but there isn't really a newsletter. TestZine lets me test my system. It also lets the curious subscribe, unsubscribe and get a sample issue without really really signing up for anything.  ««»»

Subscribe to TestZine: Like it says, go here to subscribe.
NB: This subscription is fully functional, but there isn't really a newsletter. TestZine lets me test my system. It also lets the curious subscribe, unsubscribe and get a sample issue without really signing up for anything. ««»»

Unsubscribe from TestZine: I'd hate to lose you, but if you need to unsubscribe, this page will take care of that.
NB: This is where you go to unsubscribe. Of course, there isn't really a newsletter. TestZine lets me test my system. It also lets the curious subscribe, unsubscribe and get a sample issue without really signing up for anything.  ««»»

Previous Issues of TestZine: This page links to the archive of TestZine issues.
NB: This newsletter is just for testing. There isn't really a newsletter. TestZine lets me test my system. It also lets the curious subscribe, unsubscribe and get a sample issue without really signing up for anything.  ««»»

History of Changes to TestZine: Describes the history of TestZine, with emphasis on the technical changes I've made since starting it, including moving to Gammadyne, adding double-opt-in and complying with CAN-SPAM.
NB: This subscription is fully functional, but there isn't really a newsletter. TestZine lets me test my system. It also lets the curious subscribe, unsubscribe and get a sample issue without really signing up for anything. ««»»

Other Ezines I Offer

All About Snippets, My Free Ezine: This page tells about my free ezine (newsletter), where it came from, how to subscribe . . . the whole banana. ««»»

All About HEFS Bulletin, My Ezine: I have set up the HEFS Bulletin to provide future notices of changes to the Huggins' Email Form Script. If you would like to receive notices of future changes in the script and documentation, please sign up for this ezine. This ezine will be used only to provide information on this script.  ««»»

List Management Information

Best Practices of Email, Ezine and List Management: The organization known as MAPS (Mail Abuse Prevention System) once published a list it called "Basic Mailing List Management Principles for Preventing Abuse". I used this list as the starting point to create my own "Best Practices" which I follow in managing my lists. ««»»

List Email Headers: An explanation of the RFC standard headers which should be used on emails for lists and ezines. Also identifies the supplementary user-defined fields I use on my ezines, as well as RFC standard email addresses ezine publishers should implement. ««»»

Gammadyne Mailer: I use the Gammadyne Mailer for all my ezines. This page provides more information about that use, including summary information about the data I keep, the functions I've custom programmed and how to access my TestZine if you want to try it out.  ««»»

CAN-SPAM Is Stupid: A personal rant about the U. S. federal law known as known as CAN-SPAM. While it is supposedly designed to help eliminate email spam, I think the law is stupid. The article also provides links to CAN-SPAM resources. ««»»

I Use Gammadyne Mailer

I began using the Gammadyne Mailer in late 2002. It is possible to use it very simply, almost out of the box. But it also features a very complete internal programming language to let you do just about anything you want. And, it keeps all the information on my PC in an Access database, where I know the information is secure and under my control.

It is screaming software. I strongly recommend Gammadyne Mailer.

PS: You can test drive my implementation of the Gammadyne Mailer just to see how it works. I created a TestZine to let me test my programming. You can test it too. Subscribe and receive a "sample issue". You can even try out some of the tests I perform, like subscribing twice in a row, or subscribing when I'm already subscribed or unsubscribing when I'm not subscribed, just to see how it handles these "special conditions". Just go to my TestZine page.

Disclosure: I participate in the Gammadyne affiliate program. Click here to link without crediting my referral account.

	Click here for this site's COPPA Child Privacy Notice.

COPPA Cabana
Children's Online Privacy Protection Act Information Practices

COPPA (the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) requires that websites post "prominent links" to a notice of how they collect, use, and/or disclose "personal information" from children.

In order to subscribe to any of my ezines and mailing lists (e.g., Snippets) you must give me your email address (duh!). COPPA considers this "personal information". So, I am posting this notice on this page to comply with that law.

Rather than attempt to obtain parental permission and maintain the wazillions of records required by COPPA, I just don't collect personal data from anyone under 13. If I somehow discover that someone under 13 has subscribed, I unsubscribe that person.

	Click for my COPPA Child Privacy Notice.

For more information on COPPA and this site's COPPA Child Privacy Notice, click here or on the "Kidz Privacy" graphic above or on the "COPPA Child Privacy" button on the right.

Last updated:
09:05, Sun, 08.Oct.2006