Who we are

Last updated: – 17/10/2026

This website, leonardphillipson.au is operated by L. Phillipson. This policy explains how personal information is collected, used and handled when you visit the website or contact me.

Information collected

When you contact me, we collect the information you provide, such as your name, email address and message. We use this information to respond to your enquiry and manage correspondence relating to my writing.

You may use a pseudonym where practical. If you do not provide a working contact address, we may be unable to respond. Please avoid including sensitive personal information that is unnecessary for your enquiry.

Information Collected via Our Website

We collect information about your visit to our website to help improve your experience and ensure our site functions securely. This includes:

  • Server Logs: Our web servers automatically record your IP address, browser type, operating system, the pages you visit, and the date and time of your request. We use this information to maintain security and diagnose technical problems.
  • Cookies: We use cookies (small text files stored on your device) to remember your preferences, keep you logged in, and understand how you interact with our site.
  • Website analytics:Website analytics
  • I use Burst Statistics to understand how visitors find and use this website, including pages visited, referring websites and device types. These statistics help me improve the website and develop content that interests readers. The statistics are stored on the server hosting this website.
  • Burst uses a first-party cookie containing an anonymous identifier to recognise returning visitors. It is configured to honour browser “Do Not Track” requests. You can also manage or block cookies through your browser settings.

Your Controls and Choices

You have control over how your data is collected online:

  • Browser Settings: You can configure your browser to block or delete cookies at any time. However, disabling cookies may impact your ability to use certain features of our website.
  • Opt-Out Tools: You can opt out of targeted advertising or analytics tracking by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page or by using browser add-ons designed to block tracking scripts.

Reader updates

If you subscribe to reader updates, we will use your email address and any name you provide to send news about my books, writing and events. Sending an enquiry does not automatically subscribe you.

Marketing emails will identify me and provide an unsubscribe option. You can unsubscribe using that option or by contacting me. Requests will be actioned within five working days, without a fee.

We will never sell any information to third party organisations.

Service providers and disclosure

Personal information is handled through the services used to operate this website and manage correspondence.

We may also disclose information where required or authorised by law. I do not sell or rent personal information.

Overseas handling

We rely on various external service providers and digital platforms to maintain our website and business systems. Some of these providers operate globally or host data on infrastructure outside of Australia.

While we take steps to ensure your data is secure, we cannot reasonably specify every overseas jurisdiction where your personal information may be processed or stored. By providing your information to us or using our website, you acknowledge that your data may be transferred to overseas recipients who operate under different data protection frameworks.

Storage and security

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information against misuse, loss and unauthorised access or disclosure. Information is held in the website and communication systems described above, with access limited to those who need it for the stated purposes.

Information is retained only as long as needed for those purposes or applicable legal requirements, then securely deleted or de-identified where appropriate. A limited record of an unsubscribe request may be retained to prevent further marketing.

Access and correction

You can contact me to request access to personal information I hold about you or to ask for a correction. We may need to verify your identity before responding. If I cannot fulfil a request, I will explain why.

Privacy enquiries and complaints

Please send privacy enquiries or complaints to:

L Phillipson
Email: info@leonardphillipson.au

Describe your concern and how you would like it resolved. I will review it and aim to respond within 30 days, advising you if more time is needed.

If the matter remains unresolved, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at www.oaic.gov.au to ask whether it can assist. Its ability to investigate depends on whether the matter falls within its jurisdiction.

Other websites

Links to booksellers, social media and other external websites lead to services with their own privacy practices. Please review their policies before providing personal information.

Changes to this policy

This policy will be updated when information-handling practices change. The current version and its update date will appear on this page.

Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymised string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

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.

Cookies

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that 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 also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for 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 simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

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 in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other 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.

Who we share your data with

Who we share information with

We may share personal information with service providers where necessary to operate this website, manage newsletter subscriptions, deliver emails or respond to enquiries. These providers may include website hosting and email service providers. I do not sell personal information. Information may also be disclosed where required by law.

How long we retain your data

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. 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.

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 are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Where your data is sent

Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.