Website Visitors

Like most website operators, Churchlife! collects non-personally-identifying information of the sort that web browsers and servers typically make available, such as the browser type, language preference, referring site, and the date and time of each visitor request. Churchlife!’s purpose in collecting non-personally identifying information is to better understand how Churchlife!’s visitors use its website. From time to time, Churchlife! may release non-personally-identifying information in the aggregate, e.g., by publishing a report on trends in the usage of its website.

Churchlife! also collects potentially personally-identifying information like Internet Protocol (IP) addresses for logged in users and for users leaving comments on WordPress.com blogs. Churchlife! only discloses logged in user and commenter IP addresses under the same circumstances that it uses and discloses personally-identifying information as described below, except that blog commenter IP addresses are visible and disclosed to the administrators of the blog where the comment was left.

Gathering of Personally-Identifying Information

Certain visitors to Churchlife!’s websites choose to interact with Churchlife! in ways that require Churchlife! to gather personally-identifying information. The amount and type of information that Churchlife! gathers depends on the nature of the interaction. For example, we ask visitors who sign up for a blog at WordPress.com to provide a username and email address. Those who engage in transactions with Churchlife! – by purchasing access to the Akismet comment spam prevention service, for example – are asked to provide additional information, including as necessary the personal and financial information required to process those transactions. In each case, Churchlife! collects such information only insofar as is necessary or appropriate to fulfill the purpose of the visitor’s interaction with Churchlife!. Churchlife! does not disclose personally-identifying information other than as described below. And visitors can always refuse to supply personally-identifying information, with the caveat that it may prevent them from engaging in certain website-related activities.

Aggregated Statistics

Churchlife! may collect statistics about the behavior of visitors to its websites. For instance, Churchlife! may monitor the most popular blogs on the WordPress.com site or use spam screened by the Akismet service to help identify spam. Churchlife! may display this information publicly or provide it to others. However, Churchlife! does not disclose personally-identifying information other than as described below.

Protection of Certain Personally-Identifying Information

Churchlife! discloses potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information only to those of its employees, contractors and affiliated organizations that (i) need to know that information in order to process it on Churchlife!’s behalf or to provide services available at Churchlife!’s websites, and (ii) that have agreed not to disclose it to others. Some of those employees, contractors and affiliated organizations may be located outside of your home country; by using Churchlife!’s websites, you consent to the transfer of such information to them. Churchlife! will not rent or sell potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information to anyone. Other than to its employees, contractors and affiliated organizations, as described above, Churchlife! discloses potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information only in response to a subpoena, court order or other governmental request, or when Churchlife! believes in good faith that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect the property or rights of Churchlife!, third parties or the public at large. If you are a registered user of an Churchlife! website and have supplied your email address, Churchlife! may occasionally send you an email to tell you about new features, solicit your feedback, or just keep you up to date with what’s going on with Churchlife! and our products. We primarily use our various product blogs to communicate this type of information, so we expect to keep this type of email to a minimum. If you send us a request (for example via a support email or via one of our feedback mechanisms), we reserve the right to publish it in order to help us clarify or respond to your request or to help us support other users. Churchlife! takes all measures reasonably necessary to protect against the unauthorized access, use, alteration or destruction of potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information.

Cookies

A cookie is a string of information that a website stores on a visitor’s computer, and that the visitor’s browser provides to the website each time the visitor returns. Churchlife! uses cookies to help Churchlife! identify and track visitors, their usage of Churchlife! website, and their website access preferences. Churchlife! visitors who do not wish to have cookies placed on their computers should set their browsers to refuse cookies before using Churchlife!’s websites, with the drawback that certain features of Churchlife!’s websites may not function properly without the aid of cookies.