Last updated: October 27, 2026.
This policy explains what personal information this website collects, how it is used, and what rights you have. It is written in plain language and describes what the site actually does today. It will be updated before any new data collection is introduced.
1. Who is responsible
Elsewhere, Mostly (elsewheremostly.com) is a personal blog operated by an individual resident in Quebec, Canada. It earns a small income from affiliate links and may in future show display advertising. For the purposes of privacy law, the operator is the person responsible for the protection of personal information and the data controller. Contact for all privacy matters: elsewheremostly@gmail.com.
2. What is collected, and why
Server logs
The hosting provider (Namecheap, Inc., servers located in the United States) automatically records technical data when you visit: IP address, browser and device type, pages requested, referring page, and time of access. This is standard for any website and is used only for security, abuse prevention and troubleshooting. Legal basis (where one is required): legitimate interest in running a secure website. Retention: logs are kept by the host for a limited period in line with its own policy and are not consulted unless a problem occurs.
If you email me, I receive your address and whatever you write. I use it only to reply and to follow up on your message. I do not add you to any list or share your address. Legal basis: your request (contract/legitimate interest). Retention: correspondence is kept for up to two years, then deleted, unless you ask for earlier deletion.
Visitor statistics
To see how many people read which posts, the site uses Koko Analytics, a privacy-friendly statistics plugin that runs on this site’s own server. It works without cookies: it counts page views and referring sites, and recognizes a returning visitor only through a short-lived, anonymized signature that is not stored. No data is sent to third parties, and no personal profile is built. Legal basis (where one is required): legitimate interest in understanding which content is useful. Statistics are kept in aggregated form only.
Google Analytics (only with your consent)
If you accept statistics cookies in the consent banner, the site also loads Google Analytics 4, provided by Google LLC (for visitors in the EU/EEA, Google Ireland Limited). It sets cookies to measure how the site is used: pages viewed, time spent, the referring site, device and browser type, and an approximate location derived from your IP address. Google Analytics 4 does not log or store IP addresses. Until you accept, Google Analytics is not loaded at all. Legal basis: your consent (GDPR Art. 6(1)(a)), which you can withdraw at any time from the banner. The data is kept for no longer than 14 months.
Jetpack Stats (only with your consent)
With the same statistics consent, the site also uses Jetpack Stats from Automattic, Inc. (the company behind WordPress.com). It receives the page viewed, the referring page, your IP address and browser details, and may set a cookie, to produce visitor statistics for this site. Until you accept, it is not loaded. Legal basis: your consent.
Email subscriptions
At the end of posts you can choose to receive new posts by email. The sign-up form is provided by Jetpack, and your email address is stored by WordPress.com (Automattic). It is used only to send you new posts, and every email includes an unsubscribe link. Legal basis: your consent, given when you sign up. If you unsubscribe or ask me, your address is removed.
Comments
If you leave a comment, the name, email address and comment you enter are stored, together with your IP address, browser user agent string and the time of the comment. Your email address is never published; your name and comment are shown publicly once the comment is approved. A first comment is held for moderation before it appears. Spam is checked on this server by the Antispam Bee plugin, and no comment data is sent to an outside spam service. No profile pictures (Gravatar) are loaded.
If you tick the boxes under the form, Jetpack (WordPress.com, Automattic) emails you new comments on that post or new posts, and every email includes an unsubscribe link. If you tick the box to save your details, your name and email address are stored in cookies on your device for one year so you don’t have to type them again.
Legal basis: your consent when you post a comment, and my legitimate interest in keeping the site free of spam. Comments and their data are kept until the comment is deleted; spam is deleted. Email me if you want a comment changed or removed.
Cookies
This site sets the strictly necessary cookies WordPress needs to function (for example, to remember a logged-in administrator) and a cookie that remembers your consent choices. If you accept statistics cookies, Google Analytics and Jetpack Stats may also set cookies (see above). No advertising or profiling cookies are used.
A consent banner (Complianz) asks for your choice before any non-essential cookies or third-party content are loaded. Embedded maps from Google Maps stay blocked until you accept them. You can change or withdraw your consent at any time from the banner or the cookie policy.
Advertising. This site does not show display advertising at present. If it does in future (for example Google AdSense), third-party vendors, including Google, will use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this and other websites. Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads based on your visits. You will be able to opt out of personalized advertising at Google Ads Settings or www.aboutads.info. Visitors in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland will be asked for consent through a Google-certified consent tool before any advertising cookies are set, and this section will be updated when advertising is switched on.
3. What is not collected
There is no user registration and no contact form on this site, and no advertising is shown at present. Apart from the statistics tools described above, which run only with your consent, no other third-party analytics tools are used. I do not sell, rent or trade personal information, and I have not done so in the past twelve months.
4. Affiliate links and third-party sites
Some links lead to booking or shopping sites through affiliate programs (see the affiliate disclosure). When you click such a link, the destination site and the affiliate network (for example Amazon, Expedia, Stay22 with GetYourGuide and Booking.com, MyRealTrip, KKday or Coupang) may set their own cookies to attribute a purchase. This happens on their domains, under their privacy policies, after you leave this site. I receive only aggregated reports (clicks, sales, commission) and no personal details about you.
5. Embedded content
Posts may embed content from other services, such as a Google Map or a video. Embedded content behaves as if you had visited that service directly and may collect data according to that service’s policy. Such content is blocked until you consent to it through the cookie banner.
6. Where your data is stored and international transfers
The website is hosted in the United States. Email is handled by Google (Gmail). Google Analytics (only with your consent) is provided by Google, and Jetpack Stats and email subscriptions by Automattic (WordPress.com); their servers may be located outside your country, including in the United States. If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, Switzerland or Quebec, this means your data may be transferred outside your jurisdiction. Such transfers rely on standard contractual clauses or other safeguards offered by these providers. Given the limited data involved, the privacy impact of these transfers is assessed as low.
7. Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have some or all of the following rights, and I honor them for everyone regardless of location:
- Access — ask what personal information I hold about you.
- Correction — ask me to fix inaccurate information.
- Deletion — ask me to delete your email correspondence.
- Portability — receive a copy of information you provided, in a usable format.
- Objection / withdrawal — object to processing based on legitimate interest, or withdraw consent where consent was the basis.
- Complaint — lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority: in Quebec, the Commission d’accès à l’information; elsewhere in Canada, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner; in the EU/EEA, your national data protection authority; in the UK, the ICO.
To exercise any of these, email the address in section 1. I will respond within 30 days. There is no charge.
8. Children
This site is not directed at children under 13 (or the applicable age in your jurisdiction) and does not knowingly collect information from them. If you believe a child has sent me personal information, contact me and I will delete it.
9. Security
The site is served over HTTPS. Administrative access is protected by a unique strong password, and the site is backed up regularly. No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure, but the data involved is limited to what is described above.
10. Changes to this policy
When this policy changes, the date at the top is updated and, for significant changes (such as adding analytics), a note is added to the top of the page for at least 30 days.
11. Jurisdiction-specific notes
- Quebec (Law 25) and Canada (PIPEDA): the operator is the designated person responsible for the protection of personal information; contact details are in section 1. No personal information is used for automated decision-making or profiling.
- EU/EEA, UK and Switzerland (GDPR / UK GDPR / FADP): the legal bases for processing are set out in section 2; your rights are in section 7. No representative has been appointed, as processing is occasional and low-risk.
- California (CCPA/CPRA): this site does not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined, and does not use sensitive personal information.
- Korea (PIPA): this site does not collect resident registration numbers or other unique identifiers, and personal information is not provided to third parties.