As published February 20, 2025
WHO WE ARE
We are Kyiv Unedited, the home of The Kyiv Commix. Our website is: https://www.kyivunedited.com .We can be reached by email by filling out the Contact Form located in the Footer of the website.
Kyiv Unedited is owned and run by a number of associated individuals and, as of the date of the publication of this Privacy Policy, does not constitute any kind of business or organization. This Privacy Policy will be revised and updated accordingly should that status change.
Note: For purposes of this Privacy Policy, Kyiv Unedited has two types of users – those who can log into this WordPress website (registered users: Administrators, exclusively), and those who cannot (all other readers visiting the site).
Kyiv Unedited does not host Comments directly on its site.
Rather, interested readers should take advantage of the Contact Form provided in the Footer of this website to send us any number, and manner, of comments and messages they please, keeping them clean for civility’s sake, if they are able to do so.
Should Kyiv Unedited begin to receive comments, in numbers we feel would justify creating a “Readers’ Comments” category/page, or something of the sort, for the site, selected comments, both positive and negative, will be curated and edited for language and length (the maximum number of words to which we will limit each comment will fall in the range of 200-250 words; otherwise, any comment we receive must be a minimum of one-word-long to be considered), and posted to that page, together with author attribution, using the Name, whether real or imagined, a reader provides us in the Contact Form. Readers’ emails will not be published.
By sending us a Contact Form, a reader consents to our potential use of the information they include in the form for the above-stated purposes.
Readers who DO NOT CONSENT, and do not want their comments potentially published on a “Readers’ Comments” page on this website, should unambiguously and clearly state so at the very top or very bottom of their email comment or message.
ANALYTICS, STATISTICS, AND YOUR PERSONAL DATA
DreamHost
To host its website on the internet, Kyiv Unedited uses the web hosting company DreamHost.
DreamHost uses web analytics services to collect anonymous data, including site statistics (tracks the number of requests, traffic by domain and file, and requests by browser type and operating system), and engagement metrics (tracks user activity on a website, including clicks, views, and comments), with the goals, among closely related others, of understanding and improving the customer experience.
WordPress
Further, the Kyiv Unedited website has been built using the WordPress content management system.
By default, WordPress does not collect any personal data about visitors, nor does it share any personal data with anyone. Data is only collected by WordPress from a WordPress website’s registered users, which status is determined and inputted manually into the site’s control panel (dashboard) by its Administrator.
Burst Statistics
Further, with the goal of understanding reader engagement with the Kyiv Unedited website, Kyiv Unedited has installed the plugin Burst Statistics, a privacy-friendly statistics and analytics tool for WordPress. For this functionality, we collect anonymized data, which is stored locally, and without sharing it with other parties.
For more information, interested readers can read Burst Statistics’ Privacy Statement on the company’s website.
Burst Statistics Opt-Out
A website reader can opt out of Burst Statistics tracking by accessing the “Opt-out preferences” page on the Burst Statistics website, allowing them to manage their cookie settings and control what data is collected about their activity on the site using Burst Statistics.
Check out the Burst Statistics privacy policy for detailed information on how to submit an opt-out request, by visiting the Burst Statistics website.
Contact Form
Kyiv Unedited has provided a very basic Contact Form, located in the website’s Footer, by which readers can reach us by email to establish contact, or leave a comment or message.
To properly submit the Contact Form, an interested reader must fill in the required fields of Name and Email, which are the only data we would collect from your submission to us of the Form. For purposes of the Form, we suppose a reader could make up a “Name” to fill in this required field.
The Contact Form is courtesy of the free version of the WPForms plugin for WordPress and, as such, limits the data we can collect using the form to Name and Email, only.
Any further information or data that we might obtain from a reader, who sends us an email using the Form, would be information and data the reader volunteers to provide us in the body of their email message itself.
Our basic reason for making the Contact Form available to readers is because we are interested in learning what you have to say regarding The Kyiv Commix.
We would also use the information and data, taken altogether, that a reader provides us via the Contact Form, as the basis for a reply, if we believe one would be appropriate.
Readers who submit the website’s Contact Form to us thereby give us their consent to our collection and retention of all the information and data so sent by them.
Kyiv Unedited reserves the right to hold on to reader comments and messages sent via the Contact Form, including their connected Contact Form entry source data (Name, Email), indefinitely, due to their potential value to Kyiv Unedited, both for internal-use purposes, as that data is shared among the private individuals who own and run this website, as well as for possible public uses, as with marketing initiatives (regardless of non-business, or business, status).
In addition to holding on to these reader datasets for internal-use purposes between the Kyiv Unedited website’s private owners, depending on the nature or type of the data (comment, message, contact info, other), we will likely also be obliged to keep the data for administrative, legal, or security purposes (regardless of non-business, or business, status).
Otherwise, Kyiv Unedited will keep Contact Form entries for no longer than six months.
Analytics records will be kept for up to a year.
In connection with our present, private, non-business status, as of the publication of this Privacy Policy, Kyiv Unedited does not share its site data with any third-party providers, such as, but not limited to, partners, cloud-based services, payment processors, and third-party service providers.
MALWARE PROTECTION, DATA COLLECTION, AND PRIVACY CONCERNS
Wordfence
Kyiv Unedited also uses a plugin called Wordfence – a security plugin made to work with WordPress websites that protects websites from malware, brute force attacks, and DDoS. It includes a firewall, which uses rules to monitor network traffic and block unauthorized access; a malware scanner; and real-time monitoring, which tracks visits and hack attempts. Other features include IP blocking, which blocks attackers by IP address or IP range, and country blocking, which blocks access from specific countries.
The data that Wordfence primarily collects is related to website activity, including visitor IP addresses, user login attempts, file system changes, plugin modifications, theme updates, and details about potential malicious activity on a WordPress site, all to monitor for security threats and provide alerts to the site owner. This data is often stored in an “audit log” feature for further analysis.
Among the key data points collected by Wordfence, the most relevant for purposes of this Privacy Policy are:
- IP addresses: Used to detect suspicious login attempts and monitor traffic patterns.
- Website access logs: Information about website visitors like the time of access, pages visited, and referring websites.
- Scan results: Data gathered during security scans, including potential malware, vulnerabilities, and suspicious code.
WP Super Cache
Another plugin on Kyiv Unedited’s WordPress dashboard is WP Super Cache, which primarily collects and stores static HTML versions of a WordPress website’s pages, essentially creating cached copies of the site’s content that can be served quickly to users instead of processing dynamic PHP scripts every time a page is requested, thus improving website loading speed. WP Super Cache does not typically collect any personal user data like login details or sensitive information.
COOKIES
A reader visiting the Kyiv Unedited website is not met with any message regarding cookies.
WordPress: The WordPress content management system, upon which this website is built, installs cookies by default, which appertain to the site’s registered users (those who can log in), and not visiting readers.
Burst Statistics: Burst Statistics primarily uses cookies like “burst_uid” to track website visitors, but it also offers a “cookieless tracking” option which relies on browser fingerprinting to identify users without storing cookies on their devices. This method gathers information like browser type and operating system to create a unique identifier instead of a traditional cookie.
- Privacy focus:
Although cookies are used by default, Burst Statistics emphasizes privacy by anonymizing data and providing the option to use cookieless tracking if preferred.
- Cookieless tracking mechanism:
When using cookieless tracking, Burst Statistics relies on browser fingerprinting to identify visitors based on their device and browser characteristics.
Wordfence: Cookies primarily used (check user capabilities within the Wordfence firewall; alert Wordfence admins about logins from new devices; and track users permitted to bypass country blocking) are only set for users who can log into WordPress.
WP Super Cache: Primarily uses the standard default WordPress login and comment cookies to identify users and determine whether to serve a cached page.