Privacy Policy

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This Privacy Policy describes how Green in Real Life uses and protects any information that you share with us. It also provides additional information on third party relationships and tools. This supplements our Terms of Use and should be reviewed in conjunction with accepting those Terms

Who We Are

Green in Real Life is a New Zealand based personal blog, focused on gardening and every day greener living.  Our website address is https://www.greeninreallife.com. You can read more on our About page.

Governance

Green in Real Life is New Zealand based and operates under New Zealand regulations and requirements. As per our Terms of Use, all activities on this blog are governed and construed in accordance with the laws of New Zealand, without giving effect to any principles of conflicts of law.

Under New Zealand law, the collection and disclosure of personal data is governed by The Privacy Act. You can read more about The Privacy Act via the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. Consumer has also created an easy to understand overview of New Zealand Privacy Law. 

Website Visitor Data

Websites and other online tools collect and use a variety of information about their visitors. Cookies (and similar) are small pieces of data sent from sites you visit to your browser (if permitted). Most sites have some form of cookie activity happening in the background. They are commonly used to help users navigate efficiently (e.g. saved settings, browser format, language preferences) and/or to provide site owners with information (e.g. traffic analytics for improvement).  

Importantly for our readers, cookies and other data tools are an integral part of how we keep this blog operating, maintain free reader access, and improve both our content and construct over time.  

When you visit Green in Real Life, there are a number of ways in which cookies may be applied and/or data may be used. These may include:

  • System operating tools
  • Website traffic analytics
  • Advertising and affiliate programs
  • Social media plugins or widgets
  • User submitted information in comment forms or widgets (or via email)

Unlike many websites, Green in Real Life is completely free access. No login or membership is required. Unless you choose to interact with us in a more personal way, such as sending an email, the data you share here is collected via third-party tools and applications that are being used to create, deliver, support, and improve our website. See below for details on third-party data.

Benefits for Our Website and Our Readers

Data makes the site more user-friendly. Data (including cookies) helps with navigation, sharing, and other use of our blog. It also supports simple functions such as stopping our privacy/consent notification from plaguing your visits after you’ve already clicked to dismiss. Yay for cookies!

Data helps us understand our audience and improve the blog. A key part of our data use is helping to understand our traffic. Analytics (website statistics) allow us to review aggregated information, such as page/post view numbers, referring sources, and a basic breakdown of page views by country. We use these analytics to help understand things like popular topics or incoming links (search terms, inbound links from other public sites, etc.) so that we can improve the content that we share with you. They also help identify issues with the delivery of our site to help improve the construct of our blog.

Data helps us to keep the blog open access and completely free! Advertising and affiliate programs are what helps us offset the cost of running a free access website. Advertising and affiliate programs use data in the form of unique referrer codes and cookie/tag tracking to credit the referring sites.  See below for additional information. We also have a detailed Disclosure Policy.

Opting Out of Cookies (and More)

Cookies support many important functions here on the blog, including the advertising relationships that are keeping this blog (and others) sharing for free, but if you’re hardcore anti-cookie, there are a number of options available. These include customisation with individual third-parties, adjusting settings or cleansing the cookies in your browser, using private/incognito browsing, or using an opt-out or blocker service. Readers who do not wish to have cookies set should activate these settings prior to visiting our website. Be advised that opting out may affect your user experience on our website as some functions may not work correctly and/or appearance may be adversely affected.

Cinnamon sprinkled latte with a ginger slice heart

Personal Data - Direct

We do not directly collect or store personal data. 

Readers are welcome to visit our site anonymously. No log-in, subscription, or other personal access control is applied to our blog. It is openly and freely shared. We do not sell any products or services. 

We do not use email newsletters, direct marketing, or other forms of email promotion. If you are using a service or application to subscribe to feed updates from here (and/or other favourite websites), these are independent of the source websites and you should review your chosen provider’s privacy policies for their details.

Although we don’t directly collect data, there may be interactions through which you provide data, such as blog comments, email, or social media.

  • If you comment on our blog (comments are currently disabled), voluntary provision and/or third-party data may apply. Comments may also be checked through an automated third-party spam detection service. If you would like to delete a comment that you have made and are unable to do so yourself, please contact us for assistance.
  • If you contact us via email, any personal and/or contact information provided will be kept private. You will not be added to a mailing list (we don’t use one) and we will not directly disclose your information to other parties, with the exception of the unlikely event that provision to a lawful authority is necessary. If you would like your email(s) deleted from our system, please contact us.
  • If you engage with us on social media, there may be information publicly available (e.g. your user profile) or gathered by the social media application. Refer to the individual social media platforms that you use for additional information about their privacy policies. See more below.

Personal Data - Third Party

We use third party systems and services which may collect data and/or set cookies when you browse the blog and/or use data collected elsewhere to customise advertisements served to you.

Some elements of this website that require data to function correctly. Data (including cookies) helps with site function, provides information for continuous improvement, and enables the advertising and affiliate relationships that help support free visitor access.

Website Platforms, Tools, and Services

Third party services and external associates operate under different individual privacy policies. We do our best to ensure that we use reputable service providers and supporting services. If you have a concern about one of the service providers or affiliate programs, please get in touch. Here are our key services, programs, tools, and associations, along with their individual privacy links: 

We also use social media. Some media we use directly, posting, sharing, and commenting under the Green in Real Life profile. We also offering readers buttons on the blog for social sharing (as noted above) with which they can easily share content. Sharing is a user initiated interaction with the social media, email, or messaging platform of their personal choice. Corresponding privacy policies are available within each individual social media site/app.  

Aggregated Statistics

Within the various dashboards of our hosting service, webmaster tools, and other website analytics, we see aggregated statistical data about our visitors and website traffic. These include non-personally identifying information such as visitor numbers, page or post views, incoming search terms, and referring external public links. This information helps us understand our traffic patterns and reader preferences to continuously improve our website and content for our readers.

Embedded Content

Posts may include embedded content (e.g. social media, videos, images, etc.). Embedded content from other websites may behave in the exact same way as if the viewer visited the other website (see external links below). 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.

External Links

This blog includes a variety of different links (internal and external), including references, resources, special interest links, comment links, social media links, affiliate links, and advertising banners. Once you leave our blog by clicking through on a link, the site you enter will have its own privacy policy (and in some cases, notifications and/or opt-ins). We are not responsible for these policies or practices; however, if you are ever directed to a site of concern please let us know. Thanks!

Advertising and affiliate programs offset the cost of running this as a free access website, and they require data to function correctly. Most programs use unique referrer codes and cookie/tag tracking to credit the referring source. These are applied and controlled by the receiving site. Advertisers may also use their own data to customise the advertising content that is served in designated positions on our site. See our detailed Disclosure Policy for more information on these programs and how they work. 

Updates and Feedback

This page was last updated on 23 May 2021
Questions, requests, or other feedback? Contact us via email.

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