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The fine print.

The legal stuff matters. Here you will find my Privacy Policy, Terms and Conditions of Use, Various Disclosures, Notices, and other Legal Information.

Privacy Notice
Terms and Conditions of Use
Disclosure Policy & Ethics Statement
Accessibility
Cookie Policy
Attributions

Privacy Policy

Your privacy is extremely important to me. This Privacy Policy explains how I collect, use, communicate, and protect your personal information.

I am committed to handling your data responsibly and in line with these core principles:

Minimal Data Collection – I only request personal information when it is genuinely necessary. I have no interest in collecting unnecessary details, such as your gender or income level, without a clear purpose.
No Unnecessary Sharing – I do not share your personal information with anyone, except when required by law, to improve my services, or to protect my legal rights.
Limited Data Storage – I only store personal information when it is essential for the continued operation of my services.

Navigating This Privacy Policy

To make it easier for you to understand how your data is handled, this Privacy Policy is organized into clear sections, allowing you to quickly find the information that matters most.

Who Am I

My website address is: https://www.mauricephillips.me. This site is owned and operated by Maurice Phillips, a resident of New York state. You can reach me by email me at [email protected].

How long we retain your data

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

Where your data is sent

This site uses the Akismet anti-spam service. Akismet collects information about visitors who comment on this site. This 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).

We may use Akismet services to process & cache your data temporarily. Please see https://automattic.com/privacy/ for more details.

Comments

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.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

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 tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Who we share your data with

If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.

Website Visitors

Like most website operators, Maurice Phillips 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. Maurice Phillips’s purpose in collecting non-personally identifying information is to better understand how Maurice Phillips’s visitors use its website. From time to time, Maurice Phillips may release non-personally-identifying information in the aggregate, e.g., by publishing a report on trends in the usage of its website. Maurice Phillips also collects potentially personally-identifying information like Internet Protocol (IP) addresses for logged in users and for users leaving comments. Maurice Phillips 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.

Gathering of Personally-Identifying Information

Certain visitors to Maurice Phillips’s websites choose to interact with Maurice Phillips in ways that require Maurice Phillips to gather personally-identifying information. The amount and type of information that Maurice Phillips gathers depends on the nature of the interaction. In each case, Maurice Phillips collects such information only insofar as is necessary or appropriate to fulfill the purpose of the visitor’s interaction with Maurice Phillips. Maurice Phillips 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.

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Caching of Data

This site utilizes caching in order to facilitate a faster response time and better user experience. Caching potentially stores a duplicate copy of every web page that is on display on this site. All cache files are temporary, and are never accessed by any third party, except as necessary to obtain technical support from the cache plugin vendor. Cache files expire on a schedule set by the site administrator, but may easily be purged by the admin before their natural expiration, if necessary.

We may use QUIC.cloud services to process & cache your data temporarily. Please see https://quic.cloud/privacy-policy/ for more details.

We may use Cloudflare services to process & cache your data temporarily. Please see https://www.cloudflare.com/privacypolicy/ for more details.

Aggregated Statistics

Maurice Phillips may collect statistics about the behavior of visitors to its websites. For instance, Maurice Phillips may monitor the most popular posts or use spam screened by the Akismet service to help identify spam. Maurice Phillips may display this information publicly or provide it to others. However, Maurice Phillips does not disclose personally-identifying information other than as described below.

Google Analytics & Goolge AdWords Remarketing

Google Analytics is a web analysis service provided by Google. Google utilizes the data collected to track and examine the use of www.mauricephillips.me, to prepare reports on its activities and share them with other Google services. Google may use the data collected to contextualize and personalize the ads of its own advertising network. AdWords Remarketing is a Remarketing and Behavioral Targeting service provided by Google. It connects the activity of www.mauricephillips.me with the Adwords advertising network and the Doubleclick Cookie.

Place of processing: USA. – Find the Privacy Policy

Protection of Certain Personally-Identifying Information

Maurice Phillips discloses potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information only to those of its employees, contractors and affiliated organizations that (i) need to know that information in order to process it on Maurice Phillips’s behalf or to provide services available at Maurice Phillips’s websites, and (ii) that have agreed not to disclose it to others. Some of those employees, contractors and affiliated organizations may be located outside of your home country; by using Maurice Phillips’s websites, you consent to the transfer of such information to them. Maurice Phillips will not rent or sell potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information to anyone. Other than to its employees, contractors and affiliated organizations, as described above, Maurice Phillips discloses potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information only in response to a subpoena, court order or other governmental request, or when Maurice Phillips believes in good faith that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect the property or rights of Maurice Phillips, third parties or the public at large. If you are a registered user of a Maurice Phillips website and have supplied your email address, Maurice Phillips may occasionally send you an email to tell you about new features, solicit your feedback, or just keep you up to date with what’s going on with Maurice Phillips and my products. I primarily use my various product blogs to communicate this type of information, so I expect to keep this type of email to a minimum. If you send me a request (for example via a support email or via one of my feedback mechanisms), I reserve the right to publish it in order to help me clarify or respond to your request or to help me support other users. Maurice Phillips takes all measures reasonably necessary to protect against the unauthorized access, use, alteration or destruction of potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information.

Understanding how and why I use cookies

I use cookies to give you the best possible experience on my website. Cookies allow you to do many things such as log on, have us ‘remember’ your log-in preferences.

When you visit this site, I ask for your consent to use cookies. However, this Cookie Policy allows you to amend your preference for tailored content cookies.

To find out more about how I use cookies and what benefits they bring, please take a few moments to read this Cookie Policy.

Frequently asked questions

Can cookies pass on my personal information to others?
I never use the data gathered through cookies to contact you via post, email or phone. I may use cookies to show you subtly tailored content on my website or other websites of things I think you might be interested in.

Do cookies compromise my security?
The cookies I use are completely safe. In fact, many of them are used purely to provide important security features such as protecting your data.

What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are sent to and stored on your computer, smartphone or other device for accessing the internet, whenever you visit a website. Cookies are useful because they allow a website to recognize a user’s device.

I use cookies for a variety of reasons, such as to determine preferences, let users navigate between pages efficiently, verify the user and carry out other essential security checks. Some of the functions that cookies perform can also be achieved using similar technologies. This policy refers to ‘cookies’ throughout, however it also covers these alternate mechanisms.

More information about cookies can be found on allaboutcookies.org.

How cookies make my website safer and easier to use

I use cookies to safeguard your privacy when you’re browsing my website.

Cookies can also allow us to tailor the content of my website to suit your interests. For example, instead of displaying promotional messages about products you already have, they let us show you other services you may be interested in.

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

Finally, i use ‘analytics’ cookies to help us make my website better for those who visit it regularly. They help us work out what users like and don’t like and how I can improve things for you.

When I include links to other websites, please bear in mind they will have their own privacy and cookie policies that will govern the use of any information you submit. I recommend you read their policies as I am not responsible or liable for their privacy practices.

How I work with trusted third parties

Third parties are trusted suppliers to me. They include partners who provide important functionality to my website, such as my live chat service, and partners who help us improve my website, such as Google Analytics and Adobe, who provide statistics about which pages are visited most frequently.

The only time cookies would enable us to share personal information such as your name, address, telephone or email is when you have given us express consent to pass it on to a trusted third party.

We may show advertisements for 3rd party companies. Some of these will be general campaign-related adverts but others will be tailored to your likely interests based upon previous web browsing activity – these can be easily identified as they feature a small blue AdChoices icon in the corner of the advert. If you want to opt-out of receiving targeted adverts from me, too bad.

How I improve my email

I use email analytics and reporting tools to see how many of my emails are opened and which links receive the most clicks. Knowing which articles and topics my customers like and which they don’t like helps us improve my content and make my emails more relevant.

I maintain strict security standards and procedures to prevent unauthorized access to information about you. I will never contact you by email or otherwise to ask you to validate personal information such as your user ID, password, or account numbers.

If you wish to unsubscribe from marketing emails, please click on the link located in the footer of any marketing email you’ve received from me.

Cookie Audit

Below is a table of cookies used on my site, in line with the guidance given by the ICO.

[cookie_audit]

Business Transfers

If Maurice Phillips, or substantially all of its assets, were acquired, or in the unlikely event that Maurice Phillips goes out of business or enters bankruptcy, user information would be one of the assets that is transferred or acquired by a third party. You acknowledge that such transfers may occur, and that any acquirer of Maurice Phillips may continue to use your personal information as set forth in this policy.

Ads

Ads appearing on any of my websites may be delivered to users by advertising partners, who may set cookies. These cookies allow the ad server to recognize your computer each time they send you an online advertisement to compile information about you or others who use your computer. This information allows ad networks to, among other things, deliver targeted advertisements that they believe will be of most interest to you. This Privacy Policy covers the use of cookies by Maurice Phillips and does not cover the use of cookies by any advertisers.

Your California Privacy Rights

In addition, if you are a California resident, you may have the right, consistent with this Privacy Policy and applicable laws to request:

certain information about our collection, use, sale, or disclosure of your personal information
deletion of your personal information collected or maintained by us
to opt-out of the sale of your personal information

You also have the right to not receive discriminatory treatment for exercising these rights.

If you choose to exercise these rights, we ask you to provide sufficient information, including the products and services you have used in the past, your state and country of residence, and contact information, in order for us to verify your identity and process your request. Depending on the types of requests, additional information may be requested.

You may use an authorized agent to submit a request on your behalf related to your personal information. If you choose to use an authorized agent, you should supply your agent with written permission to act on your behalf in relation to your request, and your agent must provide us with proof of such authorization before we process your request.

To exercise a right related to your personal information, please contact us by emailing [email protected]. If you are a California resident, Maurice Phillips may share personal information related to tailored advertising, including online identifier, Internet Protocol address, and Internet or other electronic network activity information, with third parties in ways that may constitute a “sale” under the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, as amended, for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. You may adjust your preferences related to tailored advertising by marking the checkbox below or by emailing [email protected] with “Do Not Sell My Personal Information” in the subject-line.

By selecting this checkbox, scripts on this site that collect personal information that may be sold is disabled.

[wt_cli_ccpa_optout]

If you are a California resident, California Civil Code Section 1798.83 permits you to request information regarding the disclosure of your personal information by Maurice Phillips to his afﬁliates and/or third parties for their direct marketing purposes.

To make such a request, please send an email with your ﬁrst name, last name, mailing address, email address and telephone number to [email protected]. Please include “California Privacy Rights” in the Subject line of your email.

You may also make such a request by writing to me at:

MauricePhillips.me
RE: California Privacy Rights
95 Wall Street
New York, NY 10005

What rights you have over your data

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Contact Information

Questions or comments regarding this Statement should be submitted to [email protected].

Although most changes are likely to be minor, Maurice Phillips may change its Privacy Policy from time to time, and in Maurice Phillips’ sole discretion. Maurice Phillips encourages visitors to frequently check this page for any changes to its Privacy Policy. Your continued use of this site after any change in this Privacy Policy will constitute your acceptance of such change.

Change log:

9 August 2016: Policy posted.
25 June 2020: Updated Formatting.
20 November 2020: Updated broken links & Information pertaining to opting out of cookies.
12 March 2025: Updated Introduction.

Terms and Conditions of Use

Welcome to www.MauricePhillips.me. This is a personal website where I share my thoughts, experiences, and resources. By accessing or using this site, you agree to the following terms. If you do not agree with any part of these terms, please refrain from using the site.

1. Acceptance of Terms
By using this website, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions. I may update these terms from time to time, and continued use of the site constitutes acceptance of any modifications.

2. Use of Content

The content on this site, including text, images, and any downloadable materials, is for personal, non-commercial use only.
You may not modify, copy, distribute, or commercially exploit any content without prior written permission.
Any unauthorized use may result in legal consequences.

3. No Guarantees or Warranties
This website is provided “as is” without warranties of any kind, express or implied. While I do my best to ensure accuracy, I cannot guarantee that all content is error-free, up-to-date, or suitable for your specific needs.

I am not responsible for any loss, damage, or issues that may arise from using the site, including but not limited to:

Errors or omissions in the content
Temporary or permanent unavailability of the site
Any reliance on information found here

4. External Links
This website may contain links to third-party websites for convenience. I do not endorse, control, or take responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any linked sites. Clicking on external links is at your own risk.

5. Privacy
Your privacy is important. While I do not collect unnecessary personal information, certain data may be gathered for site analytics or functionality. Please refer to my Privacy Policy for more details on how your information is handled.

6. Intellectual Property
All original content on this site belongs to me unless stated otherwise.
If you believe any material on this site infringes upon your copyright, please contact me, and I will address the issue promptly.

7. Limitation of Liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, I shall not be held liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages resulting from:

The use or inability to use this site
Errors, interruptions, or security breaches
Your reliance on any content or links found here

8. Governing Law
These terms shall be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the State of New York (or your applicable jurisdiction, if different). Any legal disputes must be resolved in the appropriate courts of this jurisdiction.

9. Contact Information
If you have any questions, concerns, or copyright inquiries, please reach out:

Email: [email protected]

10. If You Do Not Agree IF THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE IN FULL, YOU MUST IMMEDIATELY TERMINATE YOUR USE OF THIS SITE.

Legal Disclaimer
This site is for informational and personal use only. Nothing here should be considered legal, financial, medical, or professional advice. If you need professional guidance, consult a qualified expert.

Disclosure Policy & Ethics Statement

This personal blog reflects my thoughts, experiences, and recommendations. While not primarily financially driven, I aim for transparency. According to the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) updated Endorsement Guides as of June 2023, I want to clarify potential connections that might influence your perception of my content:

Product Reviews: If I discuss a product, I might have received it for free or at a discount.
Affiliate Links: Some links may be affiliate links, meaning I could earn a small commission if you make a purchase through them, at no extra cost to you.
Personal Connections: I might have a personal or business relationship with companies or products mentioned.

However, you can trust that:

Honest Opinions: I won’t endorse products I don’t believe in, regardless of any potential benefit to me.
Genuine Experiences: I only share my real experiences with products or services I’ve personally used.

Your trust is essential, and I appreciate your support. If you have questions about these disclosures, feel free to reach out.

Ethics Statement

I’m just a regular person sharing my thoughts, and I try to do that honestly and responsibly. Here’s what I stick to:

Honesty – I’ll always give my real opinion, whether it’s good or bad.
Independence – No company or payment decides what I say.
Accountability – I take full responsibility for the content I publish and strive to provide accurate and unbiased information.
Respect – I aim to be fair and considerate in my writing.
No Misleading Claims – If I talk about something, it’s because I’ve actually used it.

This blog is just a space for me to share what I find interesting or useful, and I appreciate anyone who takes the time to read it.

Change log:

9 August 2016: Policy posted.
25 June 2020: Updated formatting.
12 Mar 2025: New policy posted.

Accessibility

I am committed to making my website accessible to everyone, including individuals with disabilities. A well-designed and thoughtfully coded website ensures that all users, regardless of ability, can access and navigate its content effectively.

I strive to follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) developed by the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). These guidelines serve as internationally recognized standards for web accessibility, including WCAG 2.0, which is also an ISO standard (ISO/IEC 40500).

While I make every effort to ensure my website meets these standards, accessibility is an ongoing process. If you encounter any barriers while using this site, I encourage you to reach out to me at [email protected] so that I can address the issue.

I believe that accessibility is a shared responsibility, and I am committed to doing my part to make the web a more inclusive place for everyone.

Cookie Policy

Understanding how and why I use cookies

I use cookies to give you the best possible experience on my website. Cookies allow you to do many things such as log on, have us ‘remember’ your log-in preferences.

When you visit this site, I ask for your consent to use cookies. However, this Cookie Policy allows you to amend your preference for tailored content cookies.

To find out more about how I use cookies and what benefits they bring, please take a few moments to read this Cookie Policy.

Frequently asked questions

Do cookies compromise my security?
The cookies I use are completely safe. In fact, many of them are used purely to provide important security features such as protecting your data.

What are cookies?

More information about cookies can be found on allaboutcookies.org.

How cookies make my website safer and easier to use

I use cookies to safeguard your privacy when you’re browsing my website.

If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

Finally, i use ‘analytics’ cookies to help us make my website better for those who visit it regularly. They help us work out what users like and don’t like and how I can improve things for you.

How I work with trusted third parties

The only time cookies would enable us to share personal information such as your name, address, telephone or email is when you have given us express consent to pass it on to a trusted third party.

How I improve my email

If you wish to unsubscribe from marketing emails, please click on the link located in the footer of any marketing email you’ve received from me.

Cookie Audit

Below is a table of cookies used on my site, in line with the guidance given by the ICO.

[cookie_audit]

Thank You!

A heartfelt thank you to the talented photographers, graphic designers, and artists who contribute to making the internet a more beautiful place. Creativity deserves recognition, and I strongly believe in giving credit where it’s due.

Attribution is the practice of acknowledging the original creators of a work, and I am committed to maintaining transparency in how visual and creative assets are used on this site. To uphold this principle, I keep a detailed record of all works featured here, including their respective licenses.

Below, you will find a list of all credited works used on this website, along with their licensing information. If you have any concerns or believe an attribution is missing or incorrect, please feel free to reach out.

Ident-Nr.CopyrightLicenseAuthorPublisher

Bird’s Eye View of Amritsar Airport taken from an aircraft taking off.jpgBy Kaler Harraj [Creative Commons], via Wikimedia CommonsCC BY-SA 4.0Kaler HarrajWikimedia Commons

64px-Co2_carbon_dioxide_iconBy Tommaso.sansone91 [Creative Commons], via Wikimedia CommonsCC0Tommaso.sansone91Wikimedia Commons

982088-800w©

Dennis Stenild – Photographer

Unlicensed

Dennis Stenild – Photographer

Eurowoman.dk

4840533906By Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0 [Creative Commons], via Wikimedia CommonsGage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsGage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0 Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

C. J. Wilson on June 26, 2012.jpgBy Keith Allison on Flickr (Original version) UCinternational (Crop), CC BY-SA 2.0, [Creative Commons], via Wikimedia CommonsKeith Allison on Flickr (Original version) UCinternational (Crop), CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsKeith Allison on Flickr (Original version) UCinternational (Crop), CC BY-SA 2.0,Keith Allison on Flickr (Original version) UCinternational (Crop), CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Indiana Historical Society

Other Assets:

MauricePhillips.me makes use of the FontAwesome icon font in either font or SVG formats. Use of this icon font falls under the Creative Commons Attribution 4 International license. No changes have been made other than to presentation colors.

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