Last updated: October 7, 2026
Ben Goes Hiking is Benjamin Massey’s personal website at benmassey.ca, operated from British Columbia, Canada. This policy explains what information the site collects and why.
The short version: I do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. The site uses information to deliver pages, moderate comments, send email updates you request, prevent abuse, and understand which articles and promotions work. General traffic and promotional statistics are aggregate counts, not individual browsing histories. Subscription records, comments, and any enabled email-engagement records are separate and can identify a person.
Visits, Hosting, and Security
Although I operate the site from Canada, it is hosted on physical equipment in the United States. Information stored on the website’s servers is therefore stored outside Canada and may be subject to US law.
The web server and services that deliver and protect the site receive ordinary technical information, including your IP address, browser details, requested page and URL parameters, referring page when supplied, and request time. Server and security logs may retain this information for operation, troubleshooting, and abuse prevention. These logs are separate from the aggregate analytics described below.
The production site uses LiteSpeed and QUIC.cloud for caching, content delivery, and related protection or optimization. QUIC.cloud may process requests and temporarily store cached pages or optimized public assets. Its processing can include IP addresses and request URLs. The website host and these providers may process information outside Canada.
Website and Promotional Statistics
The site uses self-hosted Koko Analytics for statistics such as page views, popular articles, and referring websites. Koko’s statistics stay in the site’s WordPress installation rather than being sent to Google Analytics. In cookie-based mode, Koko uses a first-party cookie to help count returning visits and pages already viewed; the cookie expires within approximately 24 hours. Koko can also be configured for cookieless collection. Its counts are not a list of named readers.
The site’s own first-party promotional collector counts events such as an article becoming visible, a recognized arrival from a social promotion, and visits or article-card clicks on the Instagram index. Counters can be grouped by date, public article, promotional source, and message slot. They help me assess publication timing, promotional wording, and navigation.
This custom collector does not store visitor IP addresses, email addresses, account identifiers, full referrer URLs, browser fingerprints, or form contents in its statistics tables. It sets no analytics cookie or persistent visitor identifier and does not reconstruct an individual’s browsing history. General article and directory collection excludes logged-in visitors. The server still receives ordinary request information to process a collection request.
The custom collector honours recognized Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control signals. This does not mean those signals disable all server logs, cookies, email tracking, or external services. Statistics count events, not unique people or proven readers; repeat visits, bots, blocked requests, and email scanners can affect them.
Promotional Links and Cookies
Social posts and email links may contain campaign tags identifying an article, source, or promotional message. A social campaign tag identifies a promotion shared with multiple readers, not a particular reader. Some email links may separately identify a subscriber when email tracking is enabled.
When you arrive through a campaign-tagged link, the site may set a first-party cookie to remember which promotion brought you here and when. It stores the campaign tags and arrival time for approximately 30 days; a later tagged arrival can replace it. This cookie is separate from the cookie-free aggregate collector.
Email Subscriptions
If you subscribe, the Newsletter plugin stores your email address and subscription status, along with confirmation and unsubscribe information, relevant timestamps, and any optional details you submit. Subscription processing may also retain technical information such as the signup IP address or source to support consent records and prevent abuse.
The signup form asks for your agreement to receive site updates. A confirmation email verifies that the address belongs to someone who wants them. The subscription is for new posts on Ben Goes Hiking, not unrelated marketing. You can unsubscribe using the link in an email.
This site uses WP Mail SMTP, a WordPress plugin that connects the site’s email system to its configured mail delivery service. Email delivery passes your address and the message through that service and your own mail provider. Delivery systems may retain delivery, failure, or abuse-prevention records. WP Mail SMTP and the Newsletter plugin are distinct from the service that transports the email.
Newsletter campaigns can use tracking images and subscriber-specific links to record opens and clicks when tracking is enabled. Those records may be associated with your email address or subscriber record, unlike general website counters. The new-post automation defaults to engagement tracking being off; its configuration and older or manually prepared campaigns can have their own tracking setting. A campaign without tracking does not provide reliable open or click totals. When tracking is enabled, image blocking, mail privacy protections, and automated scanners can distort those measurements.
Unsubscribing stops future updates but may retain a suppression or consent record so you are not inadvertently resubscribed. You can also request deletion or correction of your subscription information.
Comments
If you leave a comment, WordPress stores the fields you submit, such as your name, email address, website, and comment, plus your IP address and browser user-agent string for moderation and spam prevention. Approved comments, display names, and submitted website links are public; your email address is not normally displayed.
The site uses Akismet to help detect spam. Comment content, submitted details, IP address, browser information, and other relevant request information may be sent to that service. An email-derived hash may be sent to Gravatar to display an associated profile picture.
Comments and their metadata may be retained indefinitely to preserve discussions and help recognize subsequent comments. If you ask the browser to remember your comment details, WordPress may set convenience cookies containing your name, email address, and website, commonly for one year.
Maps, Fonts, Images, and Embedded Content
The hiking tracks, dates, coordinates, and photographs published here describe my trips and the material I choose to publish. Viewing a hiking map does not itself request your device’s location or collect your own hiking track.
Interactive maps may request map tiles from external map providers. These requests reveal ordinary technical information such as your IP address, browser details, and the map tiles or areas requested. Attribution on each map identifies its sources.
The theme loads fonts from Google Fonts, which can receive ordinary technical information such as your IP address and browser details. Posts may also embed videos, images, or other content hosted elsewhere. Embedded content can behave as if you visited the other site, including that site’s cookies and tracking, especially when you are logged in there. Public social-sharing links lead to the relevant social platform; that platform’s own privacy policy then applies.
Social Promotion and Reports
The site uses Buffer to schedule social promotions. Buffer receives the copy, public images, links, destination-channel information, and scheduling details needed to publish them. The site retains job history and submission results and may retrieve available aggregate platform-performance statistics. Social networks handle activity on their own services under their own policies.
Restricted promotional reports combine aggregate website counts, campaign-level email statistics, promotional job history, and available provider observations. These reports exclude subscriber lists, email addresses, and individual recipient engagement histories. Access is restricted to authorized operators and tools using revocable, expiring credentials and source-IP restrictions.
I may use authorized analysis tools, including AI services, to interpret these aggregate reports. The reports do not include subscriber identities or individual engagement histories.
Other Cookies and Your Choices
WordPress uses cookies for login and administration, and Newsletter may use cookies or personalized links to recognize a subscriber or manage subscription actions. Those are separate from Koko’s analytics cookie, the campaign cookie, and optional comment-detail cookies described above.
You can inspect, block, or delete cookies through your browser. Blocking cookies or scripts may affect subscription actions, maps, and other interactive features. Browser privacy signals do not unsubscribe you from email or erase existing records. You can choose not to comment or subscribe and still read the site’s public articles.
Sharing, Storage, and Retention
Information is used for the purposes described here and may be processed by the host, content-delivery and security providers, mail delivery services, spam detection and profile-image services, map/font/embed providers, and Buffer where relevant to the particular function. Aggregate reports may also be processed by authorized analysis tools as described above. Installing a WordPress plugin does not necessarily disclose information to its developer.
Information may also be disclosed where legally required or permitted to protect the site from abuse. Providers may process information outside Canada, where different laws can apply.
There is no single deletion period covering every system. Subscription records are retained while needed to provide requested updates and manage consent or suppression. Comment records may remain indefinitely. Server logs, provider records, aggregate statistics, and promotional history have separate retention arrangements; aggregate counters are not currently subject to automatic purging by the custom collector. Backup copies may remain until their normal rotation.
Access to administrative records is restricted, and reasonable technical safeguards are used, but no website or transmission can be guaranteed completely secure.
Access, Correction, and Contact
For questions or to request access, correction, or deletion of personal information held by this site, contact me through the details on the site’s About page, or reply to a site-update email. I may need to verify that a request concerns your own information. Some records may need to be retained for security, consent, suppression, legal obligations, or legitimate recordkeeping; I will explain relevant limitations.
This policy may change as the site changes. The date above identifies the latest revision. If a change introduces a materially different use of personal information, I will provide appropriate notice and seek additional consent where required rather than treating a policy update alone as permission.
