Privacy Policy

Last Updated 9/24/2025

bruceedwardlitton.com is a Squarespace website. The domain is owned by me, Bruce Litton. All of the content, with little exception, is my creation. All of it is copyright protected. The exception to my creation will be comments on blog posts and photos of me shot by others.

Be assured that I respect your privacy and your intelligence. By offering my writing and photography for the purpose of its being read and viewed, I have no intention of invading anyone’s privacy. I do no commerce on my website, nor do I allow any advertising, as my purpose is to give you the best experience of reading and viewing I can. This is not purely altruistic, as you give me the opportunity to write and shoot with a purpose, and my hope is that you’ll read my books, which in addition to the satisfaction I take in my words reaching you, will result in a little profit for me. The Privacy Policy you will read, below, is a matter not only of my respect for you, but an exercise in education. It is required by law, but I don’t resent the law; creating this policy proved to be interesting, and it helps makes the law visible as an antidote to abuses. The Privacy Policy will inform you of personal and anonymous information the website collects, uses, shares, and protects, how it does that, why I need it to perform its operations by use of that information, how long the information is retained. The Privacy Policy also informs you of your rights as a guest on my website.

I won’t bite. I promise.

Grounds for Processing Your Data

Personal and anonymous information used, collected, stored—and some of it shared by Squarespace, which I’ll explain—makes it possible for me to write, as I’ve already hinted at. That is the primary reason, the grounding if you will, for my ownership of this website, which is more fundamental than policy. So is your personal participation, which is more than information but involves it. All of this allows me to do photography, too, with better purpose than to file images away, and I thank you for that. As for the Privacy Policy, it’s in place to help make you comfortable and satisfy your curiosity to the best of my ability at explaining data. It’s required by law on the behalf of website visitors or users, so it’s about you and about my respecting your privacy, which I’m fully committed to.

Personal Data

If you comment on a blog post, you may leave your name, and possibly your email address and website URL. I will not, however, publish your email address or website URL. I will delete any links you leave for me, as I don’t want to involve myself in checking up on their legitimacy. Nor do I want to expose your personal information unnecessarily, as I know from experience that exposing an email address on the web leads to absurdity. But leaving your email address will allow you to be notified of my answer to your comment and anyone else’s, and Squarespace will store your email address on its servers. Squarespace will also collect your IP address, though I never see that address, because I have disabled the Activity Log that would make it visible. Your IP address is anonymized on Squarespace’s servers, unless legal requirements compel Squarespace otherwise (see below). You don’t have to leave an email address when you comment, and if you wish, you can publish your comment(s) anonymously, though I prefer that you leave your name, as that’s friendly. My website also has a Contact page. Squarespace collects email addresses and IP addresses from those who use this feature, and I will respond by use of your email address, though, immediately after using it, I will delete it from my email provider’s system.

Anonymous Data

Anonymous data is information the Squarespace servers automatically collect when you visit my website. Here is a link to Squarespace’s Privacy Policy. Much of the anonymous data is collected by cookies, small text files associated with website functionality. My cookie banner allows you to opt out of inessential cookies, and in any event, you can read the Cookie Policy below, which lists functionality in detail. Even when only essential cookies are in play, Squarespace’s information technology identifies your browser type and version, internet service provider and network, device and operating system, referring website, basic usage of my website and session management. The latter involves the Contact form, for example, as the user’s progress in filling out that form—a session—is tracked.

Digital fingerprinting occurs and is very specific. It identifies your device’s fonts and screen resolution. The practice generates unique device identifiers—a digital fingerprint or alphanumeric code distinguishing one device from another. Since digital fingerprinting does not depend on cookies—cookies are easily deleted or blocked—the practice can continue to track you across websites because it relies on the consistent attributes of your device and browser. Additionally, if you click the “like” button, Squarespace logs your IP address to prevent multiple “likes.” The memory of the action is stored in your local browser. That way, you’re tracked so you don’t “like” the same post more than once.

I have disabled the Squarespace Activity Log on my specific website platform, which reduces the amount of data I’m responsible for. The loss I take in analytics by doing that—the Activity Log collects details about each page view—is less important to me than being in compliance with the law and possibly offering you better assurance. For much the same reason, I don’t use Google Analytics. I had wanted to use GA to determine whether my long essays on the About and Books pages are getting much traffic and whether any of that traffic indicates the essays are being fully read, but the straw that broke the camel’s back is the issue of data masking. Since I can’t inject code on the Basic Squarespace plan, data masking is ruled out, a method that my research indicates would help with legal compliance. Using the Business plan instead is too much for my tastes. Even though it appears as if a thorough exhaustion of all the steps you can take to make GA use legally compliant will end in that result, it’s not worth it to me to get the more expensive plan so I can see visits to my essays. Besides, I’d at least try to use GA otherwise, too, and I don’t want to overthink my grasp of how many readers are reading what, rather than to spend my time writing. I limit the informing of my guesses about my website traffic to the native Squarespace Analytics, which the nonessential cookies support. Regarding the Activity Log I had mentioned, be informed that under the General Data Protection Regulations of the European Union, and possibly other legal systems, IP addresses are considered personal information. Again, I never see them, having disabled that Activity Log.

Nor does my site have any third party integrations, besides the maps feature I use for blogging, which is essentially a Google map. If you refuse cookies by use of my cookie banner, the nonessential cookies from Google will be blocked. Here is the Google Privacy Policy. My dependence on IP addresses may be less than those sites that do have other of such integrations, and yet, be assured Squarespace does collect your IP address, from which they can determine the general location of where it’s coming from, and in the case of mobile devices, specific location if you allow that. That kind of information is used for Geographic Analytics, global mapping of website use, as part of the native Squarespace Analytics that serve the website. Other information collected, when inessential cookies are accepted, includes timestamps, numbers of clicks, scrolling, browsing times, searches, internal linking, pages visited, entry and exit pages, load times, language preference, all of which is done by very specific cookie behaviors, that of code snippets, and log files. (I don’t do custom coding, in case “code snippets” made you think of that.) Log files are detailed records of every interaction between the server and site visitors, creating a history of site activity. I have no access to log files, and of course, nor does anyone employed by Squarespace, but specialized tools parse and analyze the data. That data includes IP addresses, browser types, internet service providers, date/time stamp, entry and exist pages, numbers of clicks. Visitor’s movements around the site are tracked.

Reasons for Data Collection

Why a Squarespace website collects data includes the obvious—the collecting of a visitor’s name and/or email address. In that case, it’s collected so you can comment or contact me. I don’t sell or share personal data. I don’t even advertise on my websites. That way visitors can enjoy a clean experience. (I also have a Google Blogger site under my own domain I treat the same way.) The essential anonymous information is collected so the website can function, although it goes a step further as Squarespace uses anonymous information in aggregate form. That means it’s lumped together and not personally identifying, although given the strictest consideration, some of it could potentially identify an individual if it were necessary to unravel a crime. (More on that later.) Such aggregate data is used by Squarespace to show trends about the use of its services in the interests of advertising and security. Squarespace also shares aggregate data with service providers that assist with customer support, advertising management, and data storage. Otherwise, since I don’t do commerce on my website, inessential anonymous information is used for the analytics I do. That’s in support of my limited understanding of the traffic coming to my site and blog posts, which will always be far from anything resembling a complete understanding. But it helps, and since I intend to get a book published soon, knowing something about my influence in the world will help convince a publisher I’m worth his time.

Data Retention

Much of the data designed to survive over specific lengths of time is cookies, and I’ll let you know how long each cookie lasts in the Cookie Policy. The general principle by which Squarespace complies with the law states that Squarespace, and website owners, should only retain personal data for as long as it’s necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected or to comply with the law. That’s why I delete your email address from my email provider’s system immediately after I answer your inquiry. The sooner it’s off my hands, the less I need to be responsible for it, but please, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Additionally, I will honor your request to have your data deleted, so long as you are specific about what that data is, you prove your identity, and unless I’m required by law to retain that data. Proving your identity will prevent any impersonation, fraud, compromise of another’s identity, or damage to my reputation. Squarespace may use Plaid for identity verification, which involves your uploading a photo ID and taking a selfie to compare with the ID. I would reach out for help from Squarespace so I’m sure your identity is legally verified. See “User Rights,” and “Law Enforcement,” below, for more details.

How Data is Stored and Managed

My website stores its data and has it managed by being hosted on Squarespace’s main servers, which utilize cloud based infrastructure. The content of my website, user data, and much of the panoply of related information I’ve already written about is on servers in Tier III data centers across the United States, designed for the high instance of reliability and security Squarespace has earned a good reputation for. Google Cloud Platform operated upon by BigQuery and Looker Studio amounts to state-of-the-art Squarespace data management and analysis, all at the controls of sophisticated dashboards allowing for insights into website performance and user activity. The servers have full redundancy, which means backup systems prevent data loss. All Squarespace plans, including my humble Basic Plan, offer unlimited storage, though I do not anticipate using much space! bruceedwardlitton.com aims primarily at quality instead of quantity.

Squarespace also uses Content Delivery Networks to serve images and any other static assets. The load time for visitors is improved that way. Known also as edge servers, CDN’s operate all over the globe. They deliver content from the edge server closest to you. A CDN minimizes the distance content has to travel, so it loads faster.

Contemplate the fact of storage as the foundation, on which data management incorporates security, compliance practices, user control, and analysis to make the best of that stored information. But furthermore, the concept of management’s entering into that of security is especially important, and we’ll have a look at that next.

Security

Squarespace secures websites and servers through encryption, application-level security, and the encompassing of monitoring and response protocols. Secure Socket Layer/Transport Layer Security encryption protects data in transit; Squarespace also protects against Distributed Denial of Service attacks against websites, and offers website administrators two-factor authentication and protects their sites with Web Application Firewalls. Application-level security itself is a complicated practice, which involves secure coding practice to prevent Structured Query Language injection, involves the encryptions I’ve discussed, and involves authentication mechanisms to prevent unlawful access to websites.

Security audits include penetration testing, which is an interesting ordeal. When performing penetration testing, Squarespace employs security professionals who simulate cyberattacks on the platform to identify potential weaknesses in their systems, infrastructure, and applications. Squarespace websites also receive regular software updates and security patches, running on the latest and secure versions.

Clickjack protection against User Interface or “clickjack” attacks involves the foiling of possible malicious actors who would overlay my site with an invisible layer—an iframe. Without the protection Squarespace provides against it, that layer could contain overlain buttons or links that when clicked on result in actions on the malicious site.

User Rights

Your rights as a visitor to my website ensure that the information you bring to it is not snatched away from your control. You have a right to access, which means you can request to see the personal data my website has collected about you, and I’ll respond, but if such is your concern, you must prove that who you say you are is who you are in fact, as I don’t want to give someone else’s data to a bad actor. (See “Data Retention,” above, for important details.) You would also need to tell me what data you’re concerned about, so I would know what I’m looking for and what to report to Squarespace.

You have the right to rectification or correction, which means you can have me fix inaccurate or incomplete data.

You have the right to have your personal data deleted.

You have the right to opt out of the sharing of your personal data or refuse to have it processed. (As I noted under “Reasons for Data Collection,” above, I don’t sell any data.)

You have the right to know about my data collection practice and those of Squarespace, which my privacy policy and that of Squarespace I’ve linked to informs you about.

You have the right to non-discrimination, which means no one will penalize you for exercising your rights.

You have the right to transparent disclosure about this website’s data processing practices, and I hope I am writing both clearly and informatively on that! If you have any questions, Contact me.

Children

I know it’s an awkward subject for young people who want to read, but there are laws to protect you—as if you don’t sense possible irony in that! I don’t knowingly target any age group, and if I will specifically write about seniors in some blog posts, since I’m one of them, I will do so in a way inviting to my younger friends, too. Nor do I knowingly receive data from anyone under the age of 18, and I ask anyone younger to please allow your parents to take control of that. I do understand. When I grew up, being teenaged was quite an independent endeavor. But please, involve your parents if you visit this website. It’s worth talking about between you.

External Links

I often link to other websites. You will also find links to some of my social media sites, although there are no integrations with those third party services. But when you access another site from a link I provide, I can only have assured you that when I put that link on my website, it was good one. I have no control over what may happen to another website, besides my checking from time to time on my links. Besides, other websites and social media process their data in ways that will differ from mine, and if they follow the law, they will have their own privacy policies for you to read.

International Data Transfer

Squarespace’s Tier III data centers are located in the United States, where the data is stored. Squarespace uses the European Commission Standard Contractual Clauses and the United Kingdom’s International Data Transfer Addendum to legally transfer personal data from the EU/UK to the U.S. These data protection clauses ensure that safeguards are exercised for international data transfers. In addition, Squarespace complies with EU-U.S., Swiss-U.S., and UK Extension to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Frameworks, which adhere to data protection requirements.

Law Enforcement

Data Squarespace collects and stores can be subjected to legal scrutiny. Copyright and intellectual property rights are a concern. I’ve heard of another user, for example, having copied an original website, infringing on intellectual property rights. Still others steal photographs protected by law. If my website were hijacked, malicious actors having gained control of it, then digital forensics experts in cooperation with law enforcement might access data on my site. Squarespace has a Law Enforcement Request Policy to ensure any data requests from law enforcement are valid and apply with legal process. Unless legally prohibited—in the event of need to maintain the confidentiality of a law enforcement investigation, for example—Squarespace will not disclose data to law enforcement without a subpoena, court order, or warrant.

Sensitive Data

Please don’t send me any sensitive data via public posting or the Contact form, such as social security number, health data, genetic data, ethnic origin, religious beliefs, or criminal history.

Cookie Policy

The Cookie Policy lists cookies my site uses, implies what information they gather, how they’re used, and how long they are retained.

The cookie banner gives you the option to opt out of nonessential cookies, also listed below. But if you choose to accept nonessential cookies, they won’t burden your browser or otherwise create undo luggage on your space requirements.

I credit Squarespace’s informative article, “The cookies Squarespace uses,” as my source for the details listed below.

Essential Cookies

_dd_cookie_test: This cookie tests if cookies are supported and expires instantly.

_dd_s: This one tracks browser errors and lasts four hours.

_dd_site_test: Also tests if cookies are supported and expires instantly.

_ssid: This one remembers devices for the purpose of anti-fraud and lasts four years.

Crumb: Prevents Cross Site Request Forgery, which is an attack that tricks a browser into taking unwanted action when logged in. Lasts a session.

siteUserCrumb: Also prevents CSRF. Lasts three years.

squarespace-likes: Records when a visitor “liked” a blog post. The storage is local and persistent.

ss_performancecookiesAllowed: Will remember if a visitor agreed to the placing of performance and analytics cookies on their browser. Lasts 30 days.

ss_marketingcookiesAllowed: Will remember if a visitor agreed to the placing of marketing cookies on their browser. Lasts 30 days.

Test: Will investigate if the browser supports cookies and will investigate. Lasts a session.

Inessential (Analytics and Performance) Cookies

ss_cid: This one identifies unique visitors and tracks a visitor’s sessions on a site. Lasts two years.

ss_cpvisit: Same as above. Also lasts two years.

ss_cvisit: Same as above. Thirty minutes.

ss_cvr: Same as above. Two years.

ss_cvt: Same as above. Thirty minutes.

In Summation

The main thing to keep in mind, I believe, is that when dealing with information technology, which we do when online, we deal with a product of the human mind. The attitude we take to it is up to each of us, individually, but I persuade the interest, respect, trust, and even awe that speaks to the goodness of information technology, rather than suspicion, distrust, resentment, fear, and withering contempt.

Terms and Conditions

All of the content on my website is copyright protected. All of it is my property, except for comments from readers and photos taken of me, though it is no one’s business to snatch those photos from the site, either, as the copyright protection favors whoever shot the photo. I do not always say who, and I don’t have to, as it’s understood between me and my friends that I will blog as I see fit.

You are perfectly free to enjoy the website while visiting and to quote written material within fair use limitations. I encourage you to share blog posts and pages by linking to them, and by linking to the whole website if you like, but snatching photos from it is not only discouraged but is illegal. I’ve confronted people for snatching photos from my previous website. It wasn’t difficult for me to find out who did. As far as linking goes, I’m forever grateful to those who have linked to that previous site Litton’s Fishing Lines, which remains online, and I will feel the same for those who link to this one.

I do my best to be accurate and true when writing, but inaccuracies or omissions are as inevitable as the fact that humans make mistakes. The writing and the photography is done to the best of my knowledge, and is presented “as is.” I offer no warranties that your reading of written material or viewing of photography would assure fitness for any purpose. By reading and viewing my material, you agree to these terms and conditions. As one would only expect.

Regarding conditions that would affect my website, generated by third party integrations, as I’ve already said, there are none on my website, besides that the map used to describe locations is powered by Google. I’m told Pinterest can drive extra website traffic and boost SEO, though my sense of the issue is that it’s mostly effective for businesses. I’ve decided against “Save” buttons. For my website, I feel they can only diminish the value.

That should hint at my website’s aesthetic. Conditions that go into forming it. Notice my search icon. A simple black wolf. (Inspired by Aristotle’s Lyceum.)