Privacy Policy

Last Updated: 30 Sep 25

Welcome! My name is Dirk Volcano, and I am committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how I collect, use, share, and protect your personal information when you visit my website, dirkvolcano.com (the “Site”).

This policy will inform you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.

1. Who I Am

Dirk Volcano (“I”, “me”, “my”) is the controller and responsible for your personal data collected through this Site.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact me using the details set out below. Contact Email: dirk@dirkvolcano.com.

2. The Data I Collect About You

I collect information in two ways: information you give me directly and information collected automatically.

A. Information You Provide Voluntarily:

• Contact & Identity Data: When you sign up for my mailing list or use my contact form, you may provide your first name, last name, and email address.

B. Information I Collect Automatically:

• Technical & Usage Data: As you browse my Site, I automatically collect technical data about your device and browsing actions. This is collected using cookies, pixels, and similar technologies. This includes:
  • Your Internet Protocol (IP) address.
  • General location (e.g., country or city).
  • Browser type and version.
  • Pages you visit on my Site and the time you spend on them.

3. How I Use Your Personal Data

I use your data for the following purposes:

• To Send You My Newsletter: If you subscribe, I will use your name and email address to send you updates, news about my books, and other marketing communications via MailerLite.
• To Improve My Website: I use Google Analytics and Google Search Console to understand how readers use my Site, which helps me improve its content and user experience.
• For Marketing and Advertising: I use tracking tags from Meta (Facebook/Instagram) and TikTok to measure the effectiveness of my advertising and to show you ads for my books that may be relevant to you on those platforms.
• To Manage My Reader Relationships: I use automation tools like Pabbly Connect and Google Sheets to help manage my contact list and website operations efficiently.
• To Respond to Inquiries: If you contact me through my contact form, I will use your information to respond to you.

4. Who I Share Your Data With

I do not sell your personal data. However, I share it with trusted third-party service providers who help me operate my website and business. These include:

• MailerLite: My email marketing platform, which manages my newsletter subscriber list.
• Google (Analytics, Search Console, Sheets): For website analytics and internal record-keeping.
• Meta (Facebook/Instagram) & TikTok: To manage and measure my advertising campaigns.
• Pabbly Connect: An automation tool that helps connect my website’s applications and transfer data between them.

These third parties are required to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law.

5. Media and Embedded Content

Media If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Embedded Content from Other Websites Pages on this Site may include embedded content (e.g., videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites (such as YouTube, Twitter, etc.) may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

6. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

My website uses cookies and similar tracking technologies (like pixels) to collect and use personal information about you, including for analytics and to serve interest-based advertising. For more information about the types of cookies I use and how you can control them, please see my Cookie Policy.

7. Your Data Protection Rights

Depending on your location, you have certain rights regarding your personal data. These may include:

• The right to access – You can ask for a copy of the personal data I hold about you.
• The right to rectification – You can ask me to correct any inaccurate or incomplete data.
• The right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”) – You can ask me to delete your personal data.
• The right to restrict processing – You can ask me to suspend the processing of your personal data.
• The right to data portability – You can ask for a copy of your data in a machine-readable format.
• The right to object to processing – You can object to me processing your data (for example, for marketing purposes).

To exercise any of these rights, please contact me at dirk@dirkvolcano.com

For Residents of the European Economic Area (EEA), UK, and Switzerland (under GDPR): You have the rights listed above and the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection authority.

For Residents of California (under CCPA/CPRA): You have the right to know what personal information is being collected about you, the right to delete your personal information, and the right to opt-out of the “sharing” of your personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. I do not “sell” your data in the traditional sense, but the use of advertising cookies may be considered “sharing” under the CPRA. You can manage your cookie preferences via my cookie consent banner.

8. Data Security and Retention

I have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorized way.

I will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes I collected it for.

9. Children’s Privacy

This website is not intended for children, and I do not knowingly collect data relating to children under the age of 13.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

I may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The “Last Updated” date at the top of this policy will indicate the latest revision.