PRIVACY POLICY

Istvan Merza (“I”, “me”) is the sole owner and operator of https://www.merza.is (“website”, “site”, “service”). I take your privacy very seriously and try my best at protecting the information you provide by using this site.

WHAT DATA IS COLLECTED

I only have access to the info you voluntarily provide by using this site. I will not sell or rent or lease your data to anyone with or without your permission to do it. The site collects the following info:

• Your IP address is logged and stored for security purposes. The logs are are automatically and regulary deleted.
• Your social network username and profile when you sign in to comment. The account and comments are stored on my server until you request deletion.
• If you post then your comment will be displayed publicly. I may get notified when you post and review your comment. I may delete any or all of your comments at my discretion for any or no reason.
  • EFF REMINDER: This intake form is for unprivileged communications, and should not be used to discuss activities that may be unlawful in your location.
  • GDPR Reminder: Please do not post any sensitive data publicly!

WHY I COLLECT YOUR DATA

• I collect IP addresses for security reasons
• I collect comments in order to get feedback from you and enable collaboration with other users of the site

HOW LONG YOUR DATA IS KEPT (DATA RETENTION)

• My server stores your IP address for 7 days in the access log after your visit. If you don’t want to share your IP address, please use a VPN or use Tor to hide your IP address.
• My server stores your social login username, profile picture and comments as long as you have an account on my site. You can request your data removal from your account after sign in.

HOW DO I PROTECT YOUR DATA

I have followed EFF’s Actionable Recommendations For Respecting Digital User Privacy tips to make sure I have setup my site in a way that respects your privacy.

ADVERTISING

• I don’t do any advertising. I do not collect any information that can be used for targeted advertising. I do not collect any information on your activities or your devices or pets.
  • I checked the website using EFF’s Privacy Badger tool and The Markup’s Blacklight tool to ensure there are zero trackers on it
  • I do not have any Meta/Facebook tracking pixels
  • I do not have any Google tracking code (Google AdSense, Google Analytics)

WEBSITE

• I checked and I am not aware of any dark patterns on the site, please contact me if you find anything questionable!
• I do not plan to set up a Tor Onion mirror currently (site available on clearnet only)
• I don’t use any captchas to differentiate between humans and robots

COOKIES

• The site functions with all cookies blocked.
• When you sign in the comment system gives you a “strictly necessary” cookie for your convenience (keeps you signed across pages you visit). The cookie is valid for one hour.
• I don’t use any browser fingerprinting techniques (no tracking at all)

EMAIL

• I don’t have an email list. I don’t ask for your email address.
• I will not send you any emails from this site (subscription, newsletter etc.).
• I will reply to the emails you send me directly. Please encrypt emails you send me using my PGP public key.

SERVERS

• The Site is only available over HTTPS. Automatic SSL certificates are provided by Let’s Encrypt. I have taken every measure to redirect unencrypted HTTP traffic to HTTPS.
• Content on this site (except comments) are hosted by GitLab Pages (main repo) and GitHub Pages (mirror)
  • GitHub logs and stores your IP address for security purposes. I don’t have access to their data.
  • I could not find information on related to GitLab Pages IP logging practices, so I assume they collect IP addresses for security purposes as well
• Comments are stored on my Server hosted by 1984 in Iceland
  • The comment data is not encrypted. Please do not post any content which you don’t want to display publicly.
  • I have taken reasonable measures to protect this server from attacks (best practice updates, monitoring, logging) in order to keep to keep the information secure and available

CHANGES

• If there are significant changes to my privacy policy I will highlight them on this page.
• If I become aware of a security issue (data breach) I will put prominent notice about it on the front page.

CONTACT

• If you have questions about this policy or you have suggestions on how to improve it please write an email to istvan at merza.is

PRIVACY TIPS FOR VISITORS

There are steps you can take to protect your online privacy directly. I include some advice from EFF about what you can do:

• Install third-party tracker blockers like Privacy Badger, or Google’s own “Analytics Opt-out” extension.
• Turn off Ad IDs on phones and tablets. EFF has you covered here.
• There are many more surveillance self-defense tips available at EFF Surveillance Self-Defense site.
• REMINDER: Do not incriminate yourself on comment forms or other communications via the site (or email).
• Please learn about the rights you have over your personal data under the GDPR, how to exercise these rights, and more. Information for individuals - European Commission