How does phpList collect data about me?
Updated May 24th 2018
phpList collects data about you:
- When you browse a forum that phpList hosts
- When you create and use an account on phplist.org or one of its subdomains (for example: mantis.phplist.org, or translate.phplist.org)
- When you post, send private messages, create or edit wiki pages, submit bugs or translations and otherwise participate or contribute to a service on phplist.org.
phpList collects data when you use these services, whether you access them using a web browser on your own computer, or use third party applications to access them on mobile devices.
We may also obtain and post testimonials or reviews for inclusion on our websites or elsewhere.
phpList does not buy or otherwise receive data about you from data brokers.
How is my data treated?
Reviews and contributions to any of our public communities are considered public and non-confidential by us and are not treated as proprietary information or personal information. Your posts may remain even after you suspend or cancel your account. To request removal of your personal information on our public forums or on the public portions of our websites, please use the contact details below. In some cases, we may not be able to remove your personal information, in which case we will let you know if we are unable to do so and why.
What data does phpList collect about me, and why?
phpList collects data about visits to its websites.
When you visit a phplist.org website, whether you have an account or not, the cookies, server logs, and other methods are used to collect data about what pages you visit and when. Cookies are small computer files, which may be downloaded to your computer’s hard drive when you visit a website. Further explanation of cookies, and how you can delete or control them, may be found at AboutCookies.org.
phpList uses data about how you use the website to:
- optimize the services, so that they’re quick and easy to use
- diagnose and debug technical errors
- defend the services from abuse and technical attacks
- compile statistics on the popularity of services and their content
- compile statistics on the kinds of software and computers visitors use
- Inform you about changes to the Privacy Policy or Terms & Conditions of phplist.org
phpList usually stores data about how you use the forum in identifiable form for just a few weeks. In special circumstances, like extended investigations about technical attacks, phpList may preserve log data longer, for analysis. phpList stores aggregate statistics about use of the services for as long as phpList hosts the forum, but those statistics don’t include data identifiable to you personally.
phpList collects account data.
Many features of phplist.org-hosted services require an account. Contributing forum questions and translation suggestions suggestions both require account registration, for example.
To sign up for such an account, the software phplist.org requires your name, a user name, a password, and an e-mail address.
phpList uses your account data to identify you as a user of its services, and to create pages specific to you, like your profile page. If the pages of the service are public, as most are, phpList publishes your account data. On access-restricted pages, phpList makes your account data available to everyone who can access those pages, for example: forum moderators, and translation project leaders.
phpList uses your e-mail address to:
- notify you about forum posts and activity
- notify you about changes to bugs which you have contributed to
- reset your password and help keep your account secure
- contact you in special circumstances related to your account
- contact you about legal requests, like DMCA takedown requests
You may provide additional data for your account, like a short biography, your location, or your birthday, on the profile settings pages for your service accounts. phpList makes some of that data available to others who can access the same services. You don’t have to provide this additional information, and you can erase it at any time.
phpList stores your account data as long as your account remains open.
phpList collects data about posts and other activity on the forum.
phpList collects the content of your contributions to our services, such as forum posts, bugs, and translations, plus data about bookmarks, likes, and links you follow in order to share that data with others, through the services. phpList publishes this activity in public.
phpList also collects data about private messages that you send through the forum. phpList makes private messages available to senders and their recipients, and also to forum administrators.
phpList stores your posts and other activity as long as your account remains open.
How can I make choices about data collection?
You can make choices about how data about is used on the settings pages for your accounts.
phpList does not respond to the Do Not Track HTTP header.
Where does phpList store data about me?
Services hosted on phplist.org store all data in phpList’s data center in the USA.
Does phpList comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation?
phpList respects privacy rights under Regulation (EU) 2016/679, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Information that GDPR requires phpList to give can be found throughout this privacy notice. So can information about specific rights, like access, rectification, erasure, data portability, and objection to automated decision-making.
Where can I access data about me?
You can see your account data at any time by visiting the pages of the accoutns you have registered on phplist.org. These account pages list your activity with links to your contributions.
Your account activity page on the forum also includes a link to download all of your activity in standard comma-separated values format.
How can I change or erase data about me?
You can change your account data at any time by visiting the profile settings pages for the services which you use and submitting changes to the data you previously supplied. Closing your account starts a process of erasing or anonymising phpList’s records of data you provided for your account. Forum administrators can also erase and anonymize accounts. To request erasure of your account on another phplist.org service, use the contact details provided below.
On the forum you are also able to edit, anonymise, and erase your posts. When you edit posts, phpList will keep all versions of your posts. Forum administrators can view old versions of posts, and optionally make them visible to other forum visitors.
Does phpList make automated decisions based on data about me?
phpList classifies some content as spam automatically.
phpList uses data about your contributions and other activity on phplist.org services to make automated decisions about whether your contributions are spam. When spam detection systems decide that a post is likely spam, the service refuses to accept the contribution.
If you think a contribution has been wrongly blocked or removed, contact an administrator of the service. They can override the decision that a contribution was spam. phpList uses data about posts and activity to set trust levels automatically.
The forum may use data about your posts and activity to award you badges and calculate a trust level for your account. Your trust level may affect how you can participate in the forum, such as whether you can upload images, as well as give you access to moderation and management powers in the forum. Your trust level therefore reflects forum administrators’ confidence in you, and their willingness to delegate community management functions, like moderation.
If you think your trust level has been set incorrectly, contact an administrator of your forum. They can manually adjust the trust level of your account.
Does phpList share data about me with others?
phpList shares account data with others as mentioned in the section about account data.
phpList shares data about your posts and other forum activity with others as mentioned in the section about account data.
phpList does not sell or give information about you to other companies or services. However, phpList does use services from other companies. The companies behind those services may collect data about you on their own, for their own purposes. Some of these services may be used to collect information about your online activities across different websites. All of these services are based in the United States.
| Service | Privacy Notice | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Akismet | https://automattic.com/privacy/ | reduces spam posts on some forums |
| Google Analytics | https://www.google.com/analytics/terms/ | Compiles visitor statistics the forum and phplist.org. You can opt out of Google Analytics using a browser extension. |
We may be required to disclose information to legal authorities if they so request it and when they have the proper authorisation, such as a search warrant or court order. It may also be seen by our auditors and professional advisors solely for their professional purposes.
Other individuals and companies may also reuse data about you that phpList publishes, such as your posts to public forums.
How can I contact phpList about privacy?
You can send questions and complaints to: 
phpList Ltd., Kneath Point, 8a Flitton Rd, Greenfield, Bedfordshire, MK45 5DJ, United Kingdom
For complaints under GDPR more generally, European Union users may lodge complaints with their local data protection supervisory authorities.
How can I find out about changes?
This version of phpList’s privacy questions and answers took effect on the date stated at the top of this page.
phpList will announce the next version at http://discuss.phplist.org/. phpList may change how it announces changes in future versions.
In the meantime, phpList may update its contact information without announcing a change. Please refer to https://phplist.org/privacy for the latest contact information at any time.