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Who We Are

Our website address is: https://academyofspirit.com. This website is operated by the company of the same name.

What Personal Data We Collect and Why We Collect It

We collect personal data from our users for specific purposes and based on lawful grounds as outlined under GDPR.

Comments

  • Data Collected: When visitors leave comments on the site, we collect the data shown in the comments form (name, email address, website – if provided), the visitor’s IP address, and browser user agent string.
  • Purpose: This information is collected to help detect and prevent spam comments.
  • Legal Basis for Processing: Our legal basis for processing this data is our legitimate interest in protecting our website from spam and maintaining a safe environment for our users.
  • Gravatar: 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/.  
  • Visibility: After approval of your comment, your profile picture from Gravatar (if used) is visible to the public alongside your comment.

Media

  • Recommendation: If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included.
  • Risk: Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website if it is included.
  • Our Processing: We do not actively process or store location data from images uploaded by users unless it is necessary for the specific functionality provided on the website (e.g., a map feature, which would require separate consent and notice).

Cookies

  • What are Cookies?: Cookies are small text files stored on your device by your web browser. They are used to remember your preferences, login details, or track your Browse activity.  
  • How We Use Cookies:
    • Comments: If you leave a comment on our site, you may opt-in to saving your name, email address, and website in cookies. This is for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies are based on your consent (opt-in) and will last for one year.
    • Login: 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. This is necessary for the login functionality.  
    • Login Information & Display Choices: When you log in, we also set up 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.  
    • Logging Out: If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
    • Article Editing: If you edit or publish an article (for registered users with publishing rights), 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. This is necessary for the website’s functionality for content creators.  
  • Managing Cookies: You can control and manage cookies in your browser settings. Please note that disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of the website.  

Embedded Content from Other Websites

  • What is Embedded Content?: Articles or content on this site may include embedded content from other websites (e.g., videos from YouTube, images from Instagram, articles from other news sites).
  • How it Behaves: Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website directly.
  • Third-Party Data Collection: These external websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content. This includes tracking your interaction if you have an account and are logged in to that external website.  
  • Our Responsibility: We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these external websites. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party sites you visit via embedded content.  

Who We Share Your Data With

We only share your personal data when necessary for specific purposes and with trusted third parties.

  • Password Resets: If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email sent by the website system. This is a necessary security measure.
  • Spam Detection: Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service (see Comments section above).

We do not sell or rent your personal data to third parties for their marketing purposes.

How Long We Retain Your Data

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.  

  • Comments: 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. This is based on our legitimate interest in maintaining comment threads and continuity.  
  • Registered Users: For users that register on our website (if any), we store the personal information they provide in their user profile for as long as they maintain their account.
  • Other Data: The retention period for other personal data is determined based on the purpose for which it was collected and applicable legal obligations.

What Rights You Have Over Your Data

Under GDPR, you have significant rights regarding your personal data:

  • Right to Access: You have the right to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
  • Right to Rectification: You have the right to request that we correct any information you believe is inaccurate or incomplete.  
  • Right to Erasure (Right to Be Forgotten): You have the right to request that we erase your personal data under certain conditions.
  • Right to Restrict Processing: You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data under certain conditions.  
  • Right to Object to Processing: You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data under certain conditions (e.g., for direct marketing).  
  • Right to Data Portability: You have the right to request that we transfer the data that we have collected to another organisation, or directly to you, under certain conditions.  
  • Right to Withdraw Consent: Where we have processed your data based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time.  

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.  

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details provided below.

Where Your Data is Sent

  • Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service. This service may be located outside of the European Union.
  • If your data is transferred outside of the European Economic Area (EEA), we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your data, in accordance with GDPR requirements. This may include using Standard Contractual Clauses or relying on the recipient country’s adequacy status as determined by the European Commission.  

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our data processing practices, or if you wish to exercise your data rights, please contact us at:

[Your Contact Email Address] [Your Physical Address – Optional but recommended for legal policies] [Your Phone Number – Optional]

Right to Lodge a Complaint

If you are unsatisfied with our response to your data rights request or believe that our processing of your personal data infringes GDPR, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Commission in Ireland (as the relevant supervisory authority) or the data protection authority in your Member State of residence.

Data Protection Commission contact details can be found on their website: https://www.dataprotection.ie/