Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy Last Updated: February 1, 2025

1. Who We Are

The Maryland Law Blog, authored by M. Preston Lane Jr., is an online publication that provides in-depth legal analysis and commentary on various Maryland legal topics.

Email Preston Lane at Preston.Lane@MarylandLawBlog.com

The author is a seasoned legal researcher with a background in analyzing Maryland appellate court decisions. While operating anonymously for privacy reasons, the commitment to accurate, well-researched, and insightful legal content remains paramount.

The primary focus of Maryland Law Blog is to provide readers with accurate, timely, and relevant Maryland legal information.

2. What Personal Data We Collect and Why We Collect It

  • We are committed to protecting your privacy and transparency in our data practices.
  • We collect the following categories of personal data from and about users of our website for the specific purposes outlined below:

Categories of Personal Data Collected:

2.1) Identifiers:

Identifiers include your name, email address, IP address, and other online identifiers.

  • How We Collect Your Data: You provide this data directly when you leave comments, fill out contact forms, or sign up for our newsletter. We also collect your IP address automatically when you visit our website.
  • Why We Collect It: We collect this data to respond to your inquiries, allow you to participate in interactive features of our website (like commenting), improve our website’s functionality, and detect and prevent spam and other security threats.

2.2) Internet or Other Electronic Network Activity Information:

This includes details about your visits to our website, such as your browser type, operating system, referring/exit pages, date/time stamps, and information collected through cookies and other tracking technologies.

  • How We Collect It: This data is collected automatically through cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technologies as you navigate our website.
  • Why We Collect It: We collect this data to understand how users interact with our website, improve its performance and content, personalize your experience, and analyze trends.

2.3) Audio, Electronic, Visual, or Similar Information:

If you use a Gravatar profile picture with your comments, we may receive an image associated with your email address. This is considered visual information.

  • How We Collect It: If you have opted to use the Gravatar service, we collect this information through it.
  • Why We Collect It: To display your chosen profile picture alongside your comments.

2.4) Data We Do NOT Collect:

  • Sensitive Data: We do not collect any sensitive data as defined under the Maryland Online Data Privacy Act, such as data revealing racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, mental or physical health status or diagnosis, sex life or sexual orientation, status as transgender or non-binary, national origin, citizenship or immigration status, genetic or biometric data, personal data collected from a known child, or precise geolocation data. 
  • Geolocation Data: We do not collect your precise geolocation data.
  • Inferences: We do not create inferences to make a profile reflecting a consumer’s preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, and aptitudes.   

2.5) Specific Data Collection Activities:

Comments:

  • When visitors leave comments on the site, we collect the data shown in the comments form (name, email, website—if provided) and the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help detect spam.
  • The Gravatar service may receive an anonymized string created from your email address (a hash) to determine whether you are using it.
  • The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After your comment is approved, your profile picture (if you use Gravatar) is visible to the public in the context of your comment. We retain comments and their associated metadata indefinitely unless a user requests deletion.

Media:

  • If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors can download and extract any location data from images on the website.
  • We do NOT use this data.

Contact Forms:

  • If you use our contact form, we collect your name, email address, and any message you include. We retain contact form entries for six (6) months for customer service purposes.
  • Still, we do not use the information submitted through our contact forms for marketing purposes unless explicitly stated at the time of submission and with your express opt-in consent.  

Cookies:

  • We use cookies to enhance your experience on our website.
  • Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer’s hard drive through your web browser (if you allow it). These files enable the site or service provider’s systems to recognize your browser and capture and remember certain information.
  • If you leave a comment on our site, you may opt-in to save your name, email address, and website in cookies. These are for your convenience, so you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.
  • If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
  • When you log in, we will set up several cookies to save your login information and screen display choices.
  • Login cookies last two days, and screen options cookies last a year. If you select “Remember Me,” your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
  • If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and indicates the post ID of the article you edited. It expires after one (1) day. 

Please see our comprehensive Cookie Policy for more detailed information about our cookies, including their specific purposes, duration, and how to manage or disable them.

Embedded Content from Other Websites:

  • Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g., videos, images, articles, etc.).
  • Embedded content from other websites behaves like the visitor has visited another website.
  • These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
  • These websites, not this one, are governed by their privacy policies. We encourage you to review their privacy policies. 

Analytics:

  • Maryland Law Blog uses Clicky Analytics to monitor and improve the performance of this site.
  • Clicky collects anonymized data about site usage, such as pages viewed, time spent on pages, browser type, operating system, and general geographical location.
  • Clicky’s privacy policy can be viewed at https://clicky.com/terms.
  • Users may opt out of Clicky tracking by adjusting their browser privacy settings, using specific opt-out tools provided by Clicky, or installing browser extensions.
  • We use this data to analyze trends, administer the site, track users’ movements around the site, and gather demographic information about our user base.   

Data Retention:

  • Comments: Indefinitely, unless deletion is requested.
  • Contact Form Entries: Six (6) months.
  • User Account Information (if applicable): For as long as the account is active.
  • Analytics Data: We retain anonymized analytics data under Clicky’s data retention policy.

3. Who We Share Your Data With

We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your Personally Identifiable Information unless we provide users with advance notice, except as described below:  

  • Password Resets: If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.
  • Spam Detection: An automated spam detection service may check visitors’ comments.
  • Legal Requirements: We may disclose your information if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to (a) comply with a legal obligation, (b) protect and defend the rights or property of Maryland Law Blog, (c) act in urgent circumstances to protect the personal safety of users of the website or the public, or (d) protect against legal liability.
  • Service Providers: We may employ third-party companies and individuals to facilitate our website (“Service Providers”), provide the website on our behalf, perform website-related services, or assist us in analyzing how our website is used. These third parties have access to your Personal Data only to perform these tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose.  

4. How Long We Retain Your Data

  • Comments: If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can automatically recognize and approve any follow-up comments instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
  • User Accounts: We store the personal information provided by users who register on our website (if any) in their user profiles. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
  • Contact Forms: Contact form submissions are retained for six (6) months.

5. What Rights You Have Over Your Data

  • If you have an account on this site or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us.
  • You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we must keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

To exercise these rights, please contact us at privacy@marylandlawblog.com.

6. Where Your Data Is Sent

  • Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.
  • Some third-party services we use, such as Clicky Analytics, may process data in other locations. We ensure that all data transfers comply with applicable data protection laws, including using Standard Contractual Clauses or other legally approved mechanisms for data transfers outside the European Economic Area (EEA).

7. How We Protect Your Data

Maryland Law Blog has implemented measures to secure your personal information from accidental loss and unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure.

These measures include:  

  • Encryption: We use encryption to protect data transmitted to and from our site.
  • Secure Server Environments: Our website is hosted in a secure server environment that uses firewalls and other advanced technology to prevent interference or access from outside intruders. 
  • Two-Factor Authentication: Where applicable, we employ two-factor authentication to add an extra layer of security to user accounts.
  • Regular Security Audits: We conduct regular security audits to identify and address potential vulnerabilities.

The safety and security of your information also depend on you.

Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of our website, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential.

We ask you not to share your password with anyone.  

8. What Data Breach Procedures We Have in Place

In the event of a data breach, we have implemented the following procedures:

  • Breach Containment and Recovery: We will take immediate steps to contain the breach, prevent further unauthorized access, and recover any compromised data.
  • Risk Assessment: We will assess the risks associated with the breach, including the type of data involved, its sensitivity, and its potential impact on affected individuals.
  • Notification: Where feasible, we will notify affected users of the breach within seventy-two (72) hours of becoming aware, as applicable law requires. The notification will include information about the nature of the breach, the types of data involved, and the steps individuals can take to protect themselves. We will also notify any required supervisory authorities.
  • Internal Reporting: We have internal reporting systems to ensure all potential breaches are reported to Maryland Law Blog for investigation and response.
  • Incident Response Team: We have a dedicated incident response professional trained to handle data breaches and other security incidents.

For privacy-related inquiries, please email us at Privacy@MarylandLawBlog.com.

9. Third-Party Data 

As mentioned above, we do not actively receive user data from third parties except as part of analytics services (e.g., Clicky Analytics) or embedded services (e.g., videos, social media sharing buttons).

10. What Automated Decision-Making and/or Profiling We Do with User Data?

We do not use automated decision-making or profiling with user data.

11. Children’s Privacy

Our website is not intended for children under the age of 13.

  • Maryland Law Blog does not knowingly collect personal information from children under thirteen (13).
  • If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us immediately at privacy@marylandlawblog.com.
  • If we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under 13 without parental consent, Maryland Law Blog will immediately remove that information from our servers.   

12. California Privacy Rights

As a California resident, you have certain rights regarding your personal information under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA). 

  • Right to Know: You have the right to request that we disclose to you the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you, the categories of sources from which the personal information is collected, the business or commercial purpose for collecting, selling, or sharing personal information, and the categories of third parties to whom we disclose personal information.
  • Right to Delete: You have the right to request that we delete any of your personal information that we collected from you and retained, subject to certain exceptions.  
  • Right to Correct: You have the right to request that we correct inaccurate personal information that we maintain about you.
  • Right to Opt-Out of Sale/Sharing: You have the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information. We do not sell personal information. We may share your personal information in a way that could be considered a “sale” or “sharing” under the CCPA/CPRA for cross-context behavioral advertising purposes. However, we do not engage in such activity.
  • Right to Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising your CCPA/CPRA rights.

To exercise your California privacy rights, please submit a verifiable consumer request by emailing us at privacy@marylandlawblog.com.

Please Note:

  • We must verify your identity before processing your request.
  • We may need to request additional information from you to confirm your identity or to locate your personal information.
  • We are not obligated to provide or delete de-identified or aggregated information in response to a consumer request.

13. Maryland Law Compliance

As a blog focused on Maryland legal topics, we are committed to complying with relevant Maryland laws, including the Maryland Personal Information Protection Act (MPIPA).

  • The MPIPA requires businesses to implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use, modification, or disclosure.
  • It also requires businesses to take specific steps when disposing of customer records containing personal information and to notify Maryland residents of a security breach involving their personal information.
  • We strive to adhere to the requirements of the MPIPA through the security measures and data breach procedures described in this Privacy Policy.

14. Changes to This Privacy Policy

  • We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time.
  • We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page. We may also notify you via email or a prominent notice on our website.
  • You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when posted on this page  

15. Governing Law

  • This Privacy Policy and any disputes arising out of or related to it or the use of this website shall be governed by the laws of the State of Maryland, without regard to its conflict of laws principles.
  • The federal laws of the United States shall also apply as applicable.

16. Contact Maryland Law Blog 

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at privacy@marylandlawblog.com.

17. Legal Disclaimer

The information provided on this blog is for informational purposes only and should NOT be construed as legal advice.

Please click the link to read Maryland Law Blog’s legal disclaimer. 

You should consult a qualified attorney for legal advice tailored to your situation.

Use of this website does not create an attorney-client relationship between you and Maryland Law Blog or any other contributor to this blog.