Privacy Questions and Answers

This notice describes how WoW Lazy Macros, or WLM for short, collects and uses data about you.

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What is WLM?

As a community, WLM hosts the forums using Discourse, an open source software for hosting Internet discussion forums for customers.

WLM sets only its own privacy practices, not the privacy practices of WLM customers or others.

How does WLM collect data about me?

WLM collects data about you:

  • when you browse a forum

  • when you create and use an account on the forum that WLM hosts

  • when you post, send private messages, and otherwise participate in a forum that WLM hosts

WLM collects data when you use the forums, whether you use the forums using a web browser on your own computer, or use WLM’s Discourse apps for mobile devices.

WLM does not buy or otherwise receive data about you from data brokers.

What data does WLM collect about me, and why?

WLM collects data about visits to forums.

When you visit WLM forums, whether you have an account or not, the forum uses cookies, server logs, and other methods to collect data about what pages you visit and when.

WLM uses data about how you use the website to:

  • optimize the forum, so that it’s quick and easy to use

  • diagnose and debug technical errors

  • defend the forum from abuse and technical attacks

  • compile statistics on forum and topic popularity

  • compile statistics on the kinds of software and computers visitors use

WLM usually stores data about how you use the forum in identifiable form for just a few weeks. In special circumstances, like extended investigations about technical attacks, WLM may preserve log data longer, for analysis. WLM stores aggregate statistics about use of the forum for as long as WLM hosts the forum, but those statistics don’t include data identifiable to you personally.

WLM collects account data.

Many features of forums that WLM use require a forum account. For example, WLM requires an account to post and reply to topics.

To sign up for a forum account, Discourse requires your name, a user name, and an e-mail address.

WLM uses your account data to identify you on the forum and to create pages specific to you, such as your profile page. If the forum is public, WLM publishes your account data according to the forum administrator’s configuration. If the forum is access-restricted, WLM makes your account data available to everyone who can access the forum, according to the forum administrator’s configuration.

WLM uses your e-mail address to:

  • notify you about posts and other activity on the forum

  • reset your password and help keep your account secure

  • contact you in special circumstances related to your account

  • contact you about legal requests, like DMCA takedown requests

You may provide additional data for your account, like a short biography, your location, or your birthday, on the profile settings page for your account. WLM makes that data available to others who can access the forum. You don’t have to provide this additional information, and you can erase it at any time.

WLM stores your account data as long as your account remains open.

WLM collects data about posts and other activity on the forum.

WLM collects the content of your posts, plus data about bookmarks, likes, and links you follow in order to share that data with others, through the forum. If the forum is public, WLM publishes your activity. If the forum is access-restricted, or access restrictions apply to the specific post, WLM makes your activity available only to users permitted to see it.

WLM also collects data about private messages that you send through the forum. WLM makes private messages available to senders and their recipients, and also to forum administrators.

WLM stores your posts and other activity as long as your account remains open.

WLM uses cookies.

HTTP cookies are small bits of data that websites, like Discourse forums, send to your computer when you visit. When you return to those websites, your computer sends the cookies on your computer back to the website.

Have a look at the privacy notice for your specific forum to find out which cookies that forum uses. By default, all Discourse forums use these cookies:

Name Essential Expires Purpose
email Yes Session remembers your e-mail as you create an account
destination_url Yes Session helps redirect you to your requested page after logging in
sso_destination_url Yes Session helps redirect you to your request page after single sign on
authentication_data Yes Next Page View temporarily stores user information during login flows
theme_key Yes Forever remembers your theme personalization if you don’t tick “Make this my default theme on all my devices”
cn Yes Next Page View temporarily stores notification read state
_bypass_cache Yes Session allows the server-side cache to be bypassed during login flows
_t Yes 1440 Hours remembers who you are when you log in
_forum_session Yes Session associates an ID, and other security-related information, with your browsing session
dosp Yes Next Page View enables client denial of service protection, a security protection
__profilin No Session used by software developers to bypass rack-mini-profiler

WLM forums uses Google Analytics, which uses cookies from Google. Refer to Google’s page on Google Analytics cookies for the latest details.

WLM forums may serve advertisements, such as with the ads plugin, may also set cookies used to track you and serve advertisements.

Your web browser can show you the cookies you have for any website and help you manage them.

How can I make choices about data collection?

You can make choices about how data about you is used on the settings page for your account. When a forum uses access restrictions that vary by category, you can choose who will see your post by choosing the appropriate category.

Most web browsers let you make choices about whether to accept cookies, for specific websites or more generally. aboutcookies.org has instructions for many different web browsers. youronlinechoices.eu and aboutads.info have more information specifically about cookies used for advertising.

WLM does not respond to the Do Not Track HTTP header.

Where does WLM store data about me?

WLM stores data in WLM’s data centers and Amazon Web Services S3 in the United States. WLM hosts store data in data centers in other jurisdictions, such as Canada and the European Union.

Does WLM comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation?

WLM respects privacy rights under Regulation (EU) 2016/679, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Information that GDPR requires WLM to give can be found throughout this privacy notice. So can information about specific rights, like access, rectification, erasure, data portability, and objection to automated decision-making.

What about Schrems II?

The July 16, 2020 ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union in case C-311/18, known as “Schrems II”, invalidated the US-EU Privacy Shield program as a legal basis for “exporting” personal data about EU residents outside the EU. The decision turned on concerns about United States national security and surveillance laws, such as section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, that might affect personal data of EU residents. Schrems II confirmed that standard contractual clauses could still be a legal basis for exporting data, but cast doubt on whether signing those clauses with companies subject to US law would provide enough practical protection to EU residents.

Currently:

  • WLM processes personal data on servers located outside the European Union.

  • WLM uses subprocessors with administrators and computers outside the European Union.

  • WLM has administrators in the United States, Australia, and other non-EU countries without EU adequacy decisions under GDPR. These people need access to forum personal data in order to keep forums running, address security concerns, respond to privacy-related requests from users, field technical support requests, and otherwise assist customers.

  • WLM no longer participates in Privacy Shield.

  • WLM’s standard data processing addendum continues to incorporate the standard contractual clauses. WLM is following news on the “new standard contractual clauses” published by the European Commission in draft form late in 2020.

  • WLM is very likely subject to section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in the United States.

  • WLM has never received any order or request for personal data under FISA 702 or any similar national security or surveillance law of any other country.

  • WLM has adopted a policy for how we will respond to those orders and requests, in case we ever receive one. WLM will suspend processing, notify any customer for forums we host for others, minimize disclosure, and resist disclosure of personal data, all as the law allows.

Does WLM comply with the California Consumer Privacy Regulation?

WLM respects the rights of California residents under the California Consumer Privacy Regulation. WLM does not sell your personal information within the meaning of that regulation. Other information that CCPA requires WLM to give can be found throughout this privacy notice. So can information about specific rights, like requesting disclosure about information WLM collects and requesting deletion of your data.

Where can I access data about me?

You can see your account data at any time by visiting your account page on the forum. Your account page also lists your posts and other activity on the forum.

Your account activity page also includes a link to download all of your activity in standard comma-separated values format.

How can I change or erase data about me?

You can change your account data at any time by visiting the profile settings page for your account. The settings for a particular forum may also allow you to close your account, on the settings page for your account. Closing your account starts a process of erasing or anonymizing WLM’s records of data you provided for your account. Forum administrators can also erase and anonymize accounts.

Depending on the settings for your particular forum, you may also be able to edit, anonymize, or erase your posts. When you edit posts, WLM will keep all versions of your posts. Forum administrators can view old versions of posts, and optionally make them visible to other forum visitors.

Does WLM make automated decisions based on data about me?

WLM classifies posts as spam automatically.

WLM uses data about your posts and other activity on many forums to make automated decisions about whether your posts to wowlazymacros.com are spam. When Akismet decides that a post is likely spam, the forum refuses to accept the post.

If you think a post has been wrongly blocked or removed, contact an administrator of the forums. They can override the decision that a post was spam.

WLM uses data about posts and activity to set trust levels automatically.

Depending on how administrators of your forum configure the forum, the forum may use data about your posts and activity to award you badges and calculate a trust level for your account. Your trust level may affect how you can participate in the forum, such as whether you can upload images, as well as give you access to moderation and management powers in the forum. Your trust level therefore reflects forum administrators’ confidence in you, and their willingness to delegate community management functions, like moderation.

If you think your trust level has been set incorrectly, contact an administrator of the forums. They can manually adjust the trust level of your account.

Does WLM share data about me with others?

WLM shares account data with others as mentioned in the section about account data.

WLM shares data about your posts and other forum activity with others as mentioned in the section about forum data.

WLM does not sell or give information about you to other companies or services.

Service Description
Akismet Reduces spam posts on forums
Google Analytics Compiles visitor statistics on the forums. You can opt out of Google Analytics using a browser extension.
Amazon Web Services Provides cloud servers and services, in service regions across the world, to host and back up forums, as well as a content delivery network of servers that host copies of content like images and website files, so that users around the world can download them quickly, from servers close to where they are…
Hurricane Electric Provides server colocation in the United States and Internet access.
Equinix Provides server colocation in the European Union.
OVH Groupe SAS Stores backups and hosting for the forums.
Cloudflare Provides a content delivery network of servers that host copies of content like images and website files, so that users around the world can download them quickly, from servers close to where they are.
Apple Push Notification Service Sends push notifications to users of the Discourse iOS app.
Google Cloud Messaging Sends push notifications to users of the Discourse Android app.

Other individuals and companies may also reuse data about you that WLM publishes, such as your posts to public forums.

How does WLM document compliance for forum hosting customers?

WLM provides a standard data processing addendum for European Union General Data Protection Regulation compliance on request. The addendum incorporates the non-EU/non-EEA processor standard contractual clauses of Commission Decision 2010/87/EU for any regulated transfers.

WLM also provides a standard addendum for compliance with the California Consumer Privacy Act on request.

Customers who need compliance terms for the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation
or California Consumer Privacy Act can download the forms above, fill in the [blanks], and e-mail to support@wowlazymacros.com for signature.

Please be sure to mention your company name and forum URL in your e-mail.

How can I contact WLM about privacy?

You can send questions and complaints to:

WoW Lazy Macros support@wowlazymacros.com

For complaints under GDPR, European Union users may lodge complaints with their local data protection supervisory authorities.

How can I find out about changes?

This version of WLM’s privacy questions and answers took effect October 26, 2022.

WLM will post the next version at https://wowlazymacros.com/privacy. WLM may change how it announces changes in future versions.

In the meantime, WLM may update its contact information without announcing a change. Please refer to https://wowlazymacros.com/privacy for the latest contact information at any time.