Privacy Policy

Summary

If you only read the Emmet Labs website, no more information is collected than is typically captured in server logs by web sites in general. If you contribute to Emmet, you are publishing every word publicly. If you write something, assume that it will be retained forever. This includes articles, comments, photographs, and other media. Some limited exceptions are described below.

Publishing on Emmet

Simply visiting the Emmet web site does not expose your identity publicly. However, when you edit any page in the wiki, you are publishing a document. This is a public act, and your user name is identified publicly with that edit as its author.

Identifying an Author

When you publish an article or comment on Emmet, you will be identified by the user name you selected when you set up your account. That user name can be chosen to either reveal or conceal your personal identity.

Your IP address is stored on the Emmet servers and can be seen by Emmet Labs' server administrators. Your IP address and its association to your user name will not be released except in cases of abuse (see below).

Cookies

Emmet may set a temporary session cookie whenever you visit the site. It will be deleted when you close your browser session. More cookies may be set when you log in if you choose to take advantage of optional features such as 'remember me'.

Passwords

Many aspects of Emmet's community interactions depend on the reputation and respect that is built up through a history of valued contributions. User passwords are the only guarantee of the integrity of a user's edit history. All users are encouraged to select strong passwords and to never share them.

Web Server Log Data

Web server log data is examined by Emmet Labs' developers and managers in the course of business. IP addresses of users, derived either from those logs or from records in the database, may be used to correlate user names and network addresses when investigating abuse of Emmet, including the suspected use of malicious "sockpuppets" (duplicate accounts), vandalism, harassment of other users, or disruption of the service.

Personally identifiable data collected in the server logs, or through records in the database, may be released by the system administrators, in the following situations:

  1. In response to a valid subpoena or other compulsory request from law enforcement
  2. With permission of the affected user
  3. When necessary for investigation of abuse complaints
  4. Where the information pertains to page views generated by a spider or bot and its dissemination is necessary to illustrate or resolve technical issues
  5. Where the user has been vandalizing articles or persistently behaving in a disruptive way, data may be released to assist in the targeting of IP blocks, or to assist in the formulation of a complaint to relevant Internet Service Providers
  6. Where it is reasonably necessary to protect the rights, property or safety of Emmet Labs, its users or the public.

Sharing Information with Third Parties

Except where otherwise specified, all text added to Emmet is available for reuse under the terms of the GFDL.

Except Emmet Labs contracts with a third party who provides services to us and who needs to know private information to perform the service, Emmet Labs will not sell or share private information, such as email addresses, with third parties, unless you agree to release this information, or when it is required by law to release the information.

Information Security

We have appropriate security measures in place in our physical facilities to protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of information that we have collected from you at our site. Emmet Labs makes no guarantee against unauthorized access to any information you provide.

Deleting User Accounts

Because Emmet archives all contributions and identifies each contribution by user name, user accounts can not be removed once they have been created. However, you may always change your publicly visible user name. You may also have administrators deactivate your account but this does not delete the content you created or edited.

Deleting Content

Removing text from Emmet Labs does not permanently delete it. In normal articles, anyone can look at a previous version and see what was there. Information can be permanently removed from public visibility by site administrators, but there is no guarantee this will happen except in response to legal action. If an article is "deleted" by administrative action, site administrators can continue to see the content that has been removed.