Privacy Policy

ARCHIVED 2014-11-01, DATE APPROXIMATE · VERSION 20141101_rev01 · COMPARED WITH 20141001_rev01

Full text changes — 20141001_rev01 to 20141101_rev01

COLOUR MARKS THE SEVERITY OF A FLAGGED CLAUSE · + AND − MARK ADDED AND REMOVED

66- In our blogging products, we aim to make it as simple as possible for you to control what's visible to the public, seen by search engines, kept private, and permanently deleted.
77
88Below is our privacy policy which incorporates these goals: (Note, we've decided to make this privacy policy available under a [Creative Commons Sharealike](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/) license, which means you're more than welcome to steal it and repurpose it for your own use, just make sure to replace references to us with ones to you, and if you want we'd appreciate a link to Automattic.com somewhere on your site. We spent a lot of money and time on the below, and other people shouldn't need to do the same.)
99
1010If you have questions about deleting or correcting your personal data please contact our [support team](http://en.support.wordpress.com/).
1111
12Automattic Inc. ("**Automattic**") operates several websites including [automattic.com](http://www.automattic.com/), [wordpress.com](http://www.wordpress.com/), [gravatar.com](http://www.gravatar.com/), [intensedebate.com](http://www.intensedebate.com/), and [akismet.com](http://www.akismet.com/). It is Automattic's policy to respect your privacy regarding any information we may collect while operating our websites.
12Automattic Inc. ("**Automattic**") operates several websites including [automattic.com](http://automattic.com/), [wordpress.com](http://wordpress.com/), [gravatar.com](http://gravatar.com/), [intensedebate.com](http://intensedebate.com/), and [akismet.com](http://akismet.com/). It is Automattic's policy to respect your privacy regarding any information we may collect while operating our websites.
1313
1414### Website Visitors
1515
1616Like most website operators, Automattic 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. Automattic's purpose in collecting non-personally identifying information is to better understand how Automattic's visitors use its website. From time to time, Automattic may release non-personally-identifying information in the aggregate, e.g., by publishing a report on trends in the usage of its website.
1717
1818Automattic also collects potentially personally-identifying information like Internet Protocol (IP) addresses for logged in users and for users leaving comments on WordPress.com blogs. Automattic 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 and email addresses are visible and disclosed to the administrators of the blog where the comment was left.
1919
2020### Gathering of Personally-Identifying Information
2121
22Certain visitors to Automattic's websites choose to interact with Automattic in ways that require Automattic to gather personally-identifying information. The amount and type of information that Automattic gathers depends on the nature of the interaction. For example, we ask visitors who sign up for a blog at [WordPress.com](http://www.wordpress.com/) to provide a username and email address. Those who engage in transactions with Automattic - 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, Automattic collects such information only insofar as is necessary or appropriate to fulfill the purpose of the visitor's interaction with Automattic. Automattic 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.
22Certain visitors to Automattic's websites choose to interact with Automattic in ways that require Automattic to gather personally-identifying information. The amount and type of information that Automattic gathers depends on the nature of the interaction. For example, we ask visitors who sign up for a blog at [WordPress.com](http://wordpress.com/) to provide a username and email address. Those who engage in transactions with Automattic - 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, Automattic collects such information only insofar as is necessary or appropriate to fulfill the purpose of the visitor's interaction with Automattic. Automattic 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.
2323
2424### Aggregated Statistics
2525
2626Automattic may collect statistics about the behavior of visitors to its websites. For instance, Automattic may monitor the most popular blogs on the WordPress.com site or use spam screened by the Akismet service to help identify spam. Automattic may display this information publicly or provide it to others. However, Automattic does not disclose personally-identifying information other than as described below.
2727
2828### Protection of Certain Personally-Identifying Information