Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) provides you with details of how we collect and process your personal data through your use of this website, dkwall.com, and related services.

It is my policy to respect your privacy regarding any information I may collect from you or which you may provide to me, in the circumstances set out below. Accordingly, I have developed this privacy policy in order for you to understand how I collect, use, communicate, disclose, safeguard and otherwise make use of your personally identifiable information.

The best way to maintain your own privacy is to review the privacy settings of your chosen browser and to minimize the personal data you volunteer.

Who am I?

I am D. K. Wall, an author, photographer, and creator. I created the website dkwall.com in 2013 to showcase my work.

All of my creative efforts, including this website, operate under the legal umbrella of Conjuring Reality Media, a North Carolina (USA) business. The use of "I," Me," "My," "We," "Us," or "Our" all refer to Conjuring Reality Media. For the purposes of the EU General Data Protection Regulation ((EU) 2016/679) (“GDPR”), Conjuring Reality Media is the “data controller”.

Any questions regarding this policy should be directed to:

Conjuring Reality Media

65 Merrimon Avenue #1053

Asheville NC 28801-2322

Or click to email

Data Collected When You Visit The Website

This website is hosted on a Virtual Private Server physically located inside the United States and operated by DigitalOcean. Per their privacy statement, "DigitalOcean adheres to the highest standards when it comes to privacy and data security. Our services comply with stringent EU privacy directives, and we regularly conduct security audits and assessments meeting those requirements." Additional information can be found at https://www.digitalocean.com/legal/privacy-policy/.

The website will automatically track certain information about your visit:

  • IP Addresses: When you visit the website (or, frankly, any website), the server has to know your IP address in order to send the information to you. That IP address can reveal certain information about you such as your internet service provider and location. If you concerned about revealing your IP address, you can use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) service that will allow you to mask your originating IP because it will communicate a different IP address to website hosts. Note, however, that the use of a VPN may affect the use of certain location dependent services such as currency displays or country-specific third party stores for purchase of my creations.
  • Server Log Files: As a part of the operation of the website, my server tracks basic information about visitors, including, but not limited to, IP addresses, browser details, timestamps and pages visited. The information is tracked for routine administration, maintenance and security purposes. I access the logs only for the purposes of troubleshooting technical issues, not for visitor identification issues, and routinely delete the log files. No permanent record of user usage is maintained.

In addition, certain cookies may track details about your visit. Cookies refer to a broad spectrum of technologies used to collect information about your visit to the website. Some are standard website design tools that directly enhance your user experience by remembering your previous interactions with a website (e.g., turning links a different color to reflect that you have already clicked that link). Others are more complex tools that provide marketing information (e.g., Google, Facebook, and email subscriber tracking). Because of the complexity and sensitivity of this topic, I have created a separate Cookie Policyto clearly explain their use.

Subdomains

I utilize various subdomains to provide certain services. Those subdomains are hosed on third parties who specialize in those services. Note that they operate those websites and I have no control over them, though I have chosen them as trustworthy partners.

  • shop.dkwall.com: My direct store selling novels and short stories is hosted by Lemon Squeezy. They handle the entirety of the sales transaction, including all credit card and banking information. They report to me basic information about the transaction: name, email address, purchased item, purchased amount, and copies of communications with the customer. Their privacy policy can be found at https://www.lemonsqueezy.com/privacy.
  • books.dkwall.com: The downloading of ebooks and installing them on an e-reader is a technically complex task made easy thanks to BookFunnel. If you purchase an ebook through my store, receive an ebook for subscribing to my newsletter, or are gifted an ebook for any other reason, you will download it from Bookfunnel. Their privacy policy can be found at https://bookfunnel.com/privacy/.
  • photos.dkwall.com: I sell my photography through Fine Art America. They handle the entirety of the sales transaction, including all credit card and banking information. They report to me basic information about the transaction: name, email address, purchased item, purchased amount. Their privacy policy can be found at https://fineartamerica.com/termsofuse.html?document=privacypolicy.

Personal Data You Volunteer

Through three optional features on my website, you may volunteer additional personal data:

  • Email Newsletter: I offer a newsletter service to offer a better customer service experience for those website visitors who desire it. The newsletter is strictly optional and you can utilize all parts of the website without it. The newsletter services are managed by a third party company, ActiveCampaign, and they store information about newsletter subscribers on their servers. That information includes the email address, name (optional—if a subscriber provides it), emails sent, the interaction with those emails. and the interaction with my website. Subscribers may—and do—receive different communications based on their history of interaction. As noted in the Cookie Policy, ActiveCampaign deploys a tracker on my website to monitor those transactions. The ActiveCampaign privacy policy can be found at https://www.activecampaign.com/legal/privacy-policy.
  • Comments: If you leave a comment on one of my posts, I collect your name, email address, and your website (optional) as well as the comment itself. Your name and a link to your website (if applicable) as well as your comment are posted for other visitors to read. Your email address is stored on my server but is not publicly visible. I utilize two external services in processing comments: Gravatar (produces the images that some people have visible beside their comment) and Akismet (spam filter to prevent inappropriate comments). Both are operated by Automattic whose privacy policy can be found at https://automattic.com/privacy/. Comments remain permanently in the system (unless you request them to be deleted).
  • Contact Form: If you contact me via my contact page, I collect your name, email address and comment. This information is stored on my servers and emailed directly to me. After I read (and respond as appropriate), the email is deleted. Periodically, I delete all the history of contact form submissions from the server.

How I Use The Data

I will only use your Personal Data where the law allows. Most commonly, I use your Personal Data to:

  • process and manage your use of my website;
  • respond to your questions, comments and requests;
  • where you have opted-in to receive marketing from me, deliver communications that are relevant to your preferences / may be of interest to you;
  • develop targeting criteria and custom audience generation, primarily working with third parties such as Facebook and Google;
  • improve my services and Website through analysis of information.

I have implemented security policies and technical measures to safeguard the Personal Data I collect. I maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards that comply with applicable law, including the GDPR, to safeguard Personal Data from accidental loss, destruction or damage and unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

I will use and store your Personal Data only for as long as necessary, bearing in mind the uses of your Personal Data as described in this privacy policy and otherwise as communicated to you. I review the Personal Data I hold at regular intervals and delete permanently or anonymize any Personal Data which is no longer necessary.

Other Disclosure of Information

Outside of the above, your personal information will not be disclosed to any other party except in the circumstances detailed below:

  • In the event that I sell any or all of my business to the buyer
  • Where I am legally required by law to disclose your personal information
  • To help with fraud protection and reduce the risk of fraud

Special Note For Children

This Website and my services are aimed at adults. I do not knowingly market to nor collect any Personal Data relating to children aged under 18 years old. If you are under the age of 18, please do not provide me with any of your Personal Data, including your email address.

Access to and control over your Personal Data

You have legal rights under applicable law in relation to your Personal Data. You can ask the following questions, or take the following actions, at any time by contacting us:

  • see what Personal Data we hold about you (if any), including why we are holding it and who it could be disclosed to;
  • ask us to change/correct your Personal Data;
  • ask us to delete your Personal Data;
  • object to the processing of your Personal Data;
  • ask us to restrict the processing of your Personal Data;
  • withdraw any consents you have given us to the processing of your Personal Data; and
  • express any concerns you have about third parties’ use of your Personal Data.

Third Party Data Collection

I utilize a handful of third-parties that collect data. I have no access to that raw data and any requests for information need to be directed to them.

I can not see individuals, but receive aggregated information about what articles are visited, where the visitors come from, and demographic information. This information is helpful for me in both developing new material for the website and in attracting new visitors.

More details are provided in the Cookie Policy.

Affiliate Links

I participate in several affiliate programs. They pay me a percentage of the sale, though that payment has no impact on your price. I only link to affiliates for products and services that are directly related to my business and I consider to be trustworthy.

Non-Affiliate Links

This website contains clearly identified links to other websites. Note that I am not responsible for the content or privacy practices of those sites.

Consent

Your use of this site, in any and all forms, constitutes an acceptance of this Privacy Policy.

Changes To The Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy is reviewed and revised from time to time. It was last updated March 6 2024.