Privacy

Rock 'n Soul Alley collects no information about visitors except what we need to manage your experience on this site. If you register with us -- by providing your name and email address, which we verify -- we give you Cat status, with access to commenting and list making tools and your own Profile and unique internal ID number, to maintain your identity on the site as you participate in conversations and list making. Your name and email address remain private unless you choose to make them public.

We use cookies for only two purposes. First, as explained above, to keep track of each Cat's unique identity. Second, to store the last page you visited on this site when you do something which temporarily takes you to a different page (for example, to confirm submission of a comment), so we can return you to where you belong. We do not provide automatic login; of course, your browser can remember login details for you.

However, that's not the whole privacy story. You will also encounter links on our site to and from other, recognizable "third-party" websites, including Amazon.com, Google.com, and AddThis.com. These links invite you to shop elsewhere for services or products, or to share material from Rock 'n Soul Alley through the internet with your friends and colleagues. You probably know that each third-party website has its own "terms of service" and privacy policies. In particular, I want to be sure you understand the privacy implications of clicking on AddThis buttons.

AddThis Buttons

At the bottom of authored articles and lists, Cats and other visitors to Rock 'n Soul Alley will notice AddThis buttons, which you've undoubtedly seen on many other websites as well. AddThis buttons include icons representing email, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and a plus sign indicating more options. These enable you to spread the word about the Alley and help us build our community of rock and soul music lovers. But AddThis also does something else you should know about.

AddThis describes it as follows: "When an End User [that's you] downloads a page that contains an AddThis Button, we may deploy a cookie on our own behalf or on behalf of one of our data partners, to record information about how an End User uses the web, such as the web search that landed the End User on a particular page or categories of the End User's interests. We may use the Data to target advertising toward the End User or authorize others to do the same."

This data gathering helps Rock 'n Soul Alley because it provides me with "analytics" -- NON-PERSONALLY identifying information that helps me understand who is visiting the site and therefore how to build it further and improve it. Truth is, there's no good way to build a website audience without some picture of the audience! But that doesn't mean that YOU have to play ball. If you want to use AddThis buttons but also to opt out of the data gathering, just follow this link: opt out.