Privacy, Cookies & Other Nosy Shite

Right, let’s get this over with

ItsBigShit is an independent website. Like most websites, it collects a small amount of information while doing ordinary website things. Unlike some websites, we’d rather tell you about it in English than bury it beneath seventeen pages of corporate wallpaper.

This page explains what information may be collected, why it’s collected, and what happens to it.

Contacting us

If you use our contact form, you may give us your name, email address, subject and whatever magnificent rant, correction, question or surprisingly sensible thought you’ve typed into the message box.

We use that information to read your message and, where appropriate, reply to you. We don’t sell your contact details, rent them out, or flog them to some bloke with a spreadsheet.

Messages may be retained as ordinary correspondence where reasonably necessary, including for replying to you, keeping a record of a conversation, dealing with abuse or spam, or protecting the site.

Comments

If comments are enabled and you leave one, WordPress may collect the information entered into the comment form along with technical information such as your IP address and browser details. This can help with spam detection, moderation and keeping the comments from turning into an electronic skip fire.

Please remember that anything you deliberately post as a public comment may be visible to other visitors. Don’t put private information in a public comment unless you actually want it to be public.

Cookies — sadly not the chocolate sort

ItsBigShit may use cookies and similar technologies for things such as basic site operation, remembering preferences, security, measuring site use, embedded services and advertising.

Some cookies are set by the site itself. Others may be set by third-party services used or embedded on the site.

Analytics and site tools

We use website tools that can provide information about visits and how the site is being used. Depending on the tools operating at the time, this may include information such as pages visited, approximate location derived from an IP address, browser or device information, referral information and the time of a visit.

We use this sort of information to understand whether anybody is actually reading the bloody thing, spot technical problems, improve the site and detect suspicious or abusive traffic.

Advertising — because servers aren’t powered by optimism

ItsBigShit contains Google AdSense advertising technology. Google and its partners may use cookies or similar technologies in connection with advertising, including measuring advertising and, where permitted and appropriately consented to, personalising ads.

Advertising helps towards the cost of running the site. Its presence does not mean we personally endorse every advert that may appear. Frankly, we don’t have that much spare time.

Spotify, music and shameless self-promotion

Some pages contain Spotify players or links promoting music associated with ItsBigShit. Loading or interacting with embedded content can result in information being exchanged with Spotify under Spotify’s own privacy and cookie arrangements.

And yes, some of the music is ours. Eligible streams may earn us a few pennies. We thought we’d mention that rather than pretending it mysteriously appeared there.

Other embedded content

Articles may sometimes contain material from other websites, such as video, audio or other embedded content. Embedded content can behave much as it would if you visited the originating website directly.

Those services may collect data, use cookies or similar technologies, and record your interaction with their content according to their own policies.

We don’t sell your personal information

ItsBigShit does not operate a business selling visitor names, email addresses or contact-form messages.

Information may, however, be processed by services genuinely needed to operate the website, deliver email, prevent spam, provide embedded content, measure site use or serve advertising.

How long do we keep things?

We don’t deliberately keep personal information forever just because hard drives are large. Information is retained for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, for site security and administration, or where there is a legitimate reason or legal requirement to retain it.

Your information and your rights

Depending on the circumstances and the law that applies, you may have rights concerning personal information held about you, including asking what information is held, requesting correction of inaccurate information, or requesting deletion where applicable.

If you have a sensible privacy request, use the Contact page and tell us what you need. We may need enough information to establish that you’re actually the person concerned rather than Dave from down the pub trying his luck.

Security and spam

We use reasonable technical measures to keep the site running and reduce spam, abuse and unauthorised access. No website or internet transmission can promise absolute security, and anybody claiming otherwise has probably got something expensive to sell you.

Changes to this page

The site changes, services change and occasionally somebody invents another cookie. We may therefore update this privacy information from time to time. The version published here is the current version.

Questions?

If you’ve got a question about privacy or information you’ve sent us, use the Contact page. That’s what we built the bloody thing for.

Welcome to the internet. It’s still a bit of a mess.