Privacy Policy

ADVENTURES OF MEL (“Website”) is governed by the following Privacy Policy. See also our Disclosure Policy and Disclaimer.

We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it. The purpose of this Privacy Policy is to inform you what personally identifiable information we may collect and how it may be used. This Privacy Policy applies to this Website. 

Who We Are

Adventures of Mel is a website and family-owned small business owned by Mel Lockcuff and her husband Dan Lockcuff, not a big corporate company that’s looking to collect your data and use it for who knows what. We enjoy sharing recipes, cooking tips, outdoor adventures, and family travel experiences with you, our readers. That’s why this website exists. I run ads because it is a business, and ads help to both pay expenses and provide for my family.

Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using this website, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement.

Adventures of Mel has the discretion to update this privacy policy at any time. When we do, we will revise the updated date at the bottom of this privacy policy. We encourage users to frequently check this page for any changes to stay informed about how we are helping to protect the personal information we collect. You acknowledge and agree that it is your responsibility to review this privacy policy periodically and become aware of modifications.

Your Acceptance of These Terms

By using this Site, you signify your acceptance of this policy and terms of service. If you do not agree to this policy, please do not use our site. Your continued use of the site following the posting of changes to this policy will be deemed your acceptance of those changes.

Information We Collect

The Website collects information that identifies, relates to, describes, references, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household or device (“Personal Information”). The Website has collected (or not collected, if indicated below) the following categories of Personal Information from you: 

Identifiers

This category includes your: real name, alias, postal address, unique personal identifier, online identifier, Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, email address, account name, social security number, driver’s license number, passport number, or other similar identifiers. 

  1. The Website DOES collect information in this category.
  2. The Website collects the following information in this category for the following reasons: email marketing and product sales.

Personal Information as Described in California Customer Records Statute (CA Code 1798.80): 

This includes your: name, signature, social security number, passport number, driver’s license or state identification card number, insurance policy number, education, employment, employment history, bank account number, credit card number, debit card number, or any other financial information, medical information, or health insurance information. 

  1. The Website DOES collect information in this category.
  2. The Website collects the following information in this category for the following reasons: email marketing and product sales.

Protected Classification Characteristics (under California or federal law): 

This includes: Age (over age 40), race, color, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, religion or creed, marital status, medical condition, physical or mental health disability, sex (including gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy or childbirth and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, veteran or military status, or genetic information.

  1. The Website DOES NOT collect information in this category.

Commercial Information: 

This includes records of personal property, products, or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies. 

  1. The Website DOES NOT collect information in this category.

Biometric Information: 

This includes: an individual’s physiological, biological or behavioral characteristics, including an individual’s DNA, that can be used, singly or in combination with each other or with other identifying data, to establish individual identity. 

  1. The Website DOES NOT collect information in this category.

Internet or Other Electronic Network Activity Information

This includes, but is not limited to, browsing history, search history, and information regarding a consumer’s interaction with the Website, application, or advertisement. 

  1. The Website DOES collect information in this category.
  2. The Website collects the following information in this category for the following reasons: site analytics and statistics, advertising.

Geolocation Data: 

This includes your physical location or movements. 

  1. The Website DOES collect information in this category.
  2. The Website collects the following information in this category for the following reasons: site analytics and statistics, advertising, email marketing.

Audio, Electronic, Visual, Thermal, Olfactory, or Other Similar Information: 

  1. The Website DOES NOT collect information in this category.

Professional or Employment-related information: 

This may include your current or past employment history or other information related thereto.

  1. The Website DOES NOT collect information in this category.

Education Information: 

This is defined as information that is not publicly available personally identifiable information as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which includes: records directly related to a student maintained by an educational institution or party acting on its behalf, such as grades, transcripts, class lists, schedule, student identification codes, student financial information, or student disciplinary records. 

  1. The Website DOES NOT collect information in this category.

Inferences Drawn from Personal Information: 

This includes inferences drawn from the Personal Information collected by the Website to create a profile about a consumer reflecting the consumer’s preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, and aptitudes. 

  1. The Website DOES collect information in this category.
  2. The Website collects the following information in this category for the following reasons: site analytics and statistics, advertising.

How We Collect Information About You

  • Information You Voluntarily Submit to the Website: We may collect personal information from you such as your name or email address, as described above. This information is all voluntarily submitted by you at the time the information is collected. For example, you may voluntarily submit information to the Website by leaving a comment, subscribing to a newsletter, submitting a contact form, completing a survey, purchasing a product, or providing information by email or social media.
  • Information We Collect from Others: We may receive information about you from other sources. For example, if you use a third-party software through the site, they may transfer information to us for fulfillment. 
  • Automatically-Collected Information: We automatically collect certain information about you and the device with which you access the Website. For example, when you use the Website, we will log your IP address, operating system type, browser type, referring website, pages you viewed, and the dates/times when you accessed the Website. We may also collect information about actions you take when using the Website, such as links clicked. 
  • Cookies: We may log information using cookies, which are small data files stored on your browser by the Website. We may use both session cookies, which expire when you close your browser, and persistent cookies, which stay on your browser until deleted, to provide you with a more personalized experience on the Website.

How Your Information May Be Used

  • To operate and maintain the website.
  • To personalize user experience.
  • To understand how our Users as a group use the services and resources provided on our site.
  • To improve our site.
  • We may use feedback you provide to improve our products and services.
  • To run a giveaway, survey, or other site feature.
  • To send users information they agreed to receive about topics we think will be of interest to them.
  • To send periodic emails and promotional information, such as newsletters. Each email promotion will provide information on how to opt-out of future mailings. If User decides to opt-in to our mailing list, they will receive emails that may include company news, updates, related product or service information, etc. If at any time the User would like to unsubscribe from receiving future emails, we include detailed unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of each email, or User may contact us via email.
  • To send you administrative communications, such as administrative emails, confirmation emails, technical notices, updates on policies, or security alerts. 
  • To respond to your comments, inquiries, questions, and/or other requests.
  • To market products through display or affiliate advertisements. 
  • To market to you on third-party platforms, such as Facebook. 
  • To provide you with user support. 
  • To track and measure advertising on the Website. 
  • To process payment for purchases you make through the Website.
  • To protect, investigate, and deter against unauthorized or illegal activity.

Third-Party Use of Personal Information

We may share your information with third parties when you explicitly authorize us to share your information. We do not sell, trade, or lease Users' personal identification information to others, unless we have your permission or are required by law to do so.

The companies listed below are “Service Providers,” which are defined as “a sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company, corporation, association, or other legal entity that is organized or operated for the profit or financial benefit of its shareholders or other owners, that process information on behalf of a business and to which the business discloses a consumer’s personal information for a business purpose pursuant to a written contract, provided that the contract prohibits the entity receiving the information from retaining, using or disclosing the personal information for any purposes other than for the specific purpose of performing the services specified in the contract for the business” or “retaining, using, or disclosing the personal information for a commercial purpose other than providing the services specified in the contract with the business.” 

The Website may use third-party service providers to service various aspects of the Website. Each third-party service provider’s use of your personal information is dictated by their respective privacy policies. The Website currently uses the following third-party service providers: 

MAILERLITE – this service is used for delivery of email updates and newsletters. We store your name and email address for purposes of delivering such communications. MAILERLITE will also track information regarding your interaction with our emails, such as whether they have been opened or you have clicked on a particular link, the IP address where you open it. Please refer to Mailerlite's privacy policy for more information.

GOOGLE CALENDAR – this service is used to schedule appointments and may collect your contact information. We will store your contact information. If you elect for the scheduling software to place an appointment on your calendar, it may access that software; however, the scheduling software does not pass back any information to us about your calendar.

GOOGLE ANALYTICS – this service is used to track statistics regarding our audience and website traffic. No personally identifiable information is transferred from the website to Google Analytics. For more information on Google’s Analytics privacy policies, please visit this site.

Mediavine Programmatic Advertising (Ver 1.1)

The Website works with Mediavine to manage third-party interest-based advertising appearing on the Website. Mediavine serves content and advertisements when you visit the Website, which may use first and third-party cookies. A cookie is a small text file which is sent to your computer or mobile device (referred to in this policy as a “device”) by the web server so that a website can remember some information about your browsing activity on the Website.

First party cookies are created by the website that you are visiting. A third-party cookie is frequently used in behavioral advertising and analytics and is created by a domain other than the website you are visiting. Third-party cookies, tags, pixels, beacons and other similar technologies (collectively, “Tags”) may be placed on the Website to monitor interaction with advertising content and to target and optimize advertising. Each internet browser has functionality so that you can block both first and third-party cookies and clear your browser’s cache. The “help” feature of the menu bar on most browsers will tell you how to stop accepting new cookies, how to receive notification of new cookies, how to disable existing cookies and how to clear your browser’s cache. For more information about cookies and how to disable them, you can consult the information at All About Cookies.

Without cookies you may not be able to take full advantage of the Website content and features. Please note that rejecting cookies does not mean that you will no longer see ads when you visit our Site. In the event you opt-out, you will still see non-personalized advertisements on the Website.

The Website collects the following data using a cookie when serving personalized ads:

  • IP Address
  • Operating System type
  • Operating System version
  • Device Type
  • Language of the website
  • Web browser type
  • Email (in hashed form)

Mediavine Partners (companies listed below with whom Mediavine shares data) may also use this data to link to other end user information the partner has independently collected to deliver targeted advertisements. Mediavine Partners may also separately collect data about end users from other sources, such as advertising IDs or pixels, and link that data to data collected from Mediavine publishers in order to provide interest-based advertising across your online experience, including devices, browsers and apps. This data includes usage data, cookie information, device information, information about interactions between users and advertisements and websites, geolocation data, traffic data, and information about a visitor’s referral source to a particular website. Mediavine Partners may also create unique IDs to create audience segments, which are used to provide targeted advertising.

If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices to opt-in or opt-out of this data collection, please visit National Advertising Initiative opt out page. You may also visit Digital Advertising Alliance website and Network Advertising Initiative website to learn more information about interest-based advertising. You may download the AppChoices app at Digital Advertising Alliance’s AppChoices app to opt out in connection with mobile apps, or use the platform controls on your mobile device to opt out.

For specific information about Mediavine Partners, the data each collects and their data collection and privacy policies, please visit Mediavine Partners.

GOOGLE ADSENSE – Some of the ads may be served by Google. Google's use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to Users based on their visit to our Site and other sites on the Internet. DART uses “non personally identifiable information” and does NOT track personal information about you, such as your name, email address, physical address, etc. You may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy.

STRATABYTE – StrataByte hosts this website. To create a visible site, they must run cookies, but they do not collect any personally identifiable information. StrataByte also runs a backup of this site to ensure it remains available if technical issues arise. Please refer to StrataByte's privacy policy for more information.

AKISMET – We collect information about visitors who comment on sites that use our Akismet anti-spam service. The information we collect depends on how the User sets up Akismet for the site, but typically includes the commenter's IP address, user agent, referrer, and site URL (along with other information directly provided by the commenter such as their name, username, email address, and the comment itself). Please refer to their privacy policy for more information.

WP Recipe Maker – This is our recipe card plugin. When you use comment ratings, the rating you've given to a recipe is stored, along with the personal data WordPress core stores. A cookie that contains the rating is stored; this cookie is used as (one of the) measures to prevent rating spam. The IP address is also stored upon voting; this is used as (one of the) measures to prevent rating spam. Cookies are stored for 30 days. User submitted data is stored indefinitely in the local database.

EMBEDDED CONTENT FROM OTHER WEBSITES – Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website. These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

At this time, your personal information is not shared with any other third-party applications. This list may be amended from time to time in the Website’s sole discretion. 

Except when required by law, we will not sell, distribute, or reveal your email addresses or other personal information without your consent; however, we may disclose or transfer personal information collected through the Website to third parties who acquire all or a portion of our business, which may be the result of a merger, consolidation, or purchase of all or a portion of our assets, or in connection with any bankruptcy or reorganization proceeding brought by or against us.

Website Analytics

This Website uses Google Analytics to analyze traffic to the Website. In order to track usage, Google Analytics places a cookie with a randomly generated Client ID on your browser. Google does use your personal information such as your IP address in order to capture reporting for the Website regarding usage. You may opt-out of Google Analytics through a Browser Add-on, which is available here

Anonymous Data

From time to time, we may use anonymous data, which does not identify you alone, or when combined with data from other parties. This type of anonymous data may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses. Examples of this anonymous data may include analytics or information collected from cookies.

Publicly Visible Information

If you leave a comment, certain information may be publicly visible. When visitors leave comments on the site, we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

Cookies

The Website uses cookies to store visitors’ preferences, record user-specific information on what pages users access or visit, ensure that visitors are not repeatedly sent the same banner ads, customize Website content based on visitors’ browser type or other information that the visitor sends. Cookies may also be used by third-party services, such as Google Analytics, as described herein. 

Users may, at any time, prevent the setting of cookies, by the Website, by using a corresponding setting of your internet browser and may thus permanently deny the setting of cookies. Furthermore, already set cookies may be deleted at any time via an Internet browser or other software programs. This is possible in all popular Internet browsers. However, if users deactivate the setting of cookies in your Internet browser, not all functions of our Website may be entirely usable.

Advertising

Display Ads
We may use third-party advertising companies to serve content and advertisements when you visit the Website, which may use cookies or provide other personal information. 

To opt out of display advertising, visit http://optout.networkadvertising.org/

Retargeting Ads
From time to time, the Website may engage in remarketing efforts with third-party companies, such as Google, Pinterest, Facebook, or Instagram, in order to market the Website. These companies use cookies to serve ads based on someone's past visits to the Website. This means, after visiting the Website, you may see an ad for our services. However, your personally identifiable information is not used by any remarketing service other than to present you offers from the Website. We use the following third-party service providers for remarketing: 

Facebook: Opt-out of Facebook remarketing here
Google: Opt-out of Google remarketing here
Pinterest: Opt-out of Pinterest remarketing here

Sponsored Content Tracking Pixels
This Website may engage in sponsored campaigns with various influencer networks, brands, and agencies. All sponsored content is duly disclosed in accordance with the FTC's requirements. From time to time, these sponsored campaigns utilize tracking pixels (aka web beacons), which may contain cookies to collect data regarding usage and audience. This information is collected by the sponsoring company to track the results of the campaign. No personally identifiable information collected by the Website is used in conjunction with these tracking pixels.

Affiliate Program Participation
The Website may engage in affiliate marketing, which is done by embedding tracking links into the Website. If you click on a link for an affiliate partnership, a cookie will be placed on your browser to track any sales for purposes of commissions.

ADVENTURES OF MEL is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and links to Amazon.com.  As part of this Amazon Associates program, the Website will post customized links, provided by Amazon, to track the referrals to their website. This program utilizes cookies to track visits for the purposes of assigning commission on these sales.

All posts that contain affiliate links disclose this at the top of each post.

Newsletters
On the Website, you may subscribe to our newsletter, which may be used for advertising purposes. All newsletters sent may contain tracking pixels. The pixel is embedded in emails and allows an analysis of the success of online marketing campaigns. Because of these tracking pixels, we may see if and when you open an email and which links within the email you click. Also, this allows the Website to adapt the content of future newsletters to the interests of the user. This behavior will not be passed on to third parties.

Third Party Websites
Users may find advertising or other content on our site that link to the sites and services of our partners, suppliers, advertisers, sponsors, affiliates, licensors and other third parties. We do not control the content or links that appear on these sites and are not responsible for the practices employed by websites linked to or from our site. In addition, these sites or services, including their content and links, may be constantly changing. These sites and services may have their own privacy policies and customer service policies. Browsing and interaction on any other website, including websites which have a link to our site, is subject to that website's own terms and policies.

Sensitive Personal Information

At no time should you submit sensitive personal information to the Website. This includes your social security number, information regarding race or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, health information, criminal background, or trade union memberships. If you elect to submit such information to us, it will be subject to this Privacy Policy. 

Children's Information

The Website does not knowingly collect any personally identifiable information from children under the age of 16. If a parent or guardian believes that the Website has personally identifiable information of a child under the age of 16 in its database, please contact us immediately at me*@ad*************.com, and we will use our best efforts to promptly remove such information from our records.

If you are within the European Union, you are entitled to certain information and have certain rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). Throughout this policy, we have disclosed what information we collect and how it is used. Under GDPR, you also have the following rights: 

Right to Opt-out – You may opt-out of future email communications by following the unsubscribe links in our emails. You may also contact us at the email below to be removed from our mailing list. 

Right to Access – You may access the personal information we have about you by submitting a request.

Right to Amend – You may contact us to amend or update your personal information. 

Right to Be Forgotten – In certain situations, you may request that we erase or forget your personal data. 

You may exercise any of these rights by emailing me*@ad*************.com.

Please note that we may need to retain certain information for record-keeping purposes or to complete transactions, or when required by law. Unless you exercise such rights, we reserve the right to retain your data indefinitely.

If you are a resident of California, you are entitled to certain information and have certain rights under the California Consumer Protection Act (“CCPA”). Throughout this policy, we have disclosed what information we collect, how it is used, and the types of third parties that may receive your information. Under CCPA, you also have the following rights: 

Right to Access – You have the right to request that we disclose certain information to you about the personal information we collect and how it has been used over the past 12 months. After we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, we will disclose the following: 

  • The categories of your personal information we collected; 
  • The categories of your personal information we sold; 
  • The categories of any third parties to whom we have sold your personal information; 
  • A list of which categories of your personal information we sold to each party; and, 
  • The categories of your personal information we disclose for business purposes. 

Right to Deletion – You have the right to request that we delete your personal information. 

Please note that this right does not apply when we need to retain your personal information in order to do the following: 

  • Provide goods or services to you; 
  • Detect or resolve security or functionality-related issues; 
  • Comply with the law; 
  • Conduct research in the public interest; 
  • Safeguard the right to free speech; or,
  • Carry out any actions for internal purposes that you might reasonably expect.

Right to Non-Discrimination – You have the right not to be discriminated against for exercising your rights under CCPA. In particular, we may not: 

  • Deny you goods or services; 
  • Charge you different prices for goods or services, whether through denying benefits or imposing penalties; 
  • Provide you with a different level or quality of goods or services; or, 
  • Threaten you with any of the above. 

Opt-Out of Sale of Personal Information

If you would like to opt-out of the sale of your personal information, email me*@ad*************.com.

How to Submit a Verifiable Consumer Request

To exercise these rights, you must submit a verifiable consumer request to us by: 

Please note that only you, or a person registered with the California Secretary of State that you authorize to act on your behalf, may make a verifiable consumer request related to your personal information. You may also make a request on behalf of a minor child. 

You may only make a request under these rights twice in a twelve-month period. Your verifiable consumer request must: 

  • Provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify you are the person about whom we collected personal information (or that it is an authorized representative acting on your behalf); 
  • Describe your request with sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand and respond to it. 

Nevada Privacy of Information Collected on the Internet from Consumers Act

Pursuant to the Nevada Privacy of Information Collected on the Internet from Consumers Act (“NPICICA”), Nevada residents may opt out of the sale of any personal information. As described above, your personal information may be shared with third-party service providers/operators in order to fulfill purchased products or to communicate with you. We do not sell (which is defined in the NPICICA as “the exchange of covered information for monetary consideration by the operator to a person for the person to license or sell the covered information to additional persons”) your covered information, which includes: 

  • Your first and last name; 
  • Your address; 
  • Your email address; 
  • Your phone number; 
  • Your social security number; 
  • Any identifier that would allow you to be contacted either physically or online; or, 
  • Any other information concerning you, collected from you by the Website and maintained by us, in combination with an identifier in a form that makes the information personally identifiable. 

If you have any questions regarding our usage of your personal information, please email me*@ad*************.com.

What Data Breach Procedures We Have in Place

We adopt appropriate data collection, storage and processing practices, and security measures to protect against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction of your personal information, transaction information, and data stored on our site.

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorized access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

We use safe protocols for communication and transferring data (such as HTTPS). We use anonymising and pseudonymising where suitable. We monitor our systems for possible vulnerabilities and attacks on an ongoing basis.

We do not create accounts for our users, which minimizes any data we collect or store.

Even though we try our best, we can not guarantee the security of information. However, we promise to notify suitable authorities of data breaches. We will also notify you if there is a threat to your rights or interests. We will do everything we reasonably can to prevent security breaches and to assist authorities should any breaches occur.

Contact Information

At any time, please contact us at me*@ad*************.com for questions related to this Privacy Policy. 

Last updated: 05/11/2022

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