§ 48 - About Your Privacy
§ 48.1 - How I Handle Application Usage Data
I consider your privacy your privacy. In that regard, I don't collect any personally identifiable information. But I collect some anonymous information. This requires striking a strict balance between data collection and individual privacy. I have endeavored to do that very carefully, with your privacy given, by far, the most importance.
The following discussion is a complete and detailed disclosure of what iToolBox will do:
If it can obtain an Internet connection, iToolBox will contact fyngyrz.com and, on first contact, request a serial number. Subsequently, each time iToolBox starts, it reports in the following information, which I collect in a database and associate with the serial number that was issued on first contact:
- The version of iToolBox that is running (see the About dialog)
- The version of OS X (MacOS) or Windows 10 that iToolBox is running on
- The serial number, once it has been given to the installation (see the About dialog)
So the first time contact is made, fyngyrz.com responds with a serial number that uniquely identifies the installation until/unless the application preferences are deleted. That's the serial number that is sent back by iToolBox in all future contacts.
From then on, each time you start iToolBox with an Internet connection available, when it lets fyngyrz.com know what serial number it is, what version it is and what version of OS X (MacOS) it is running on, I update a database which I can query, which in turn gives me some more-or-less reliable statistics about how often, and in how many installations, iToolBox is in use.
When iToolBox reports in, one data item that is available to me simply because it has made contact over the Internet is the IP of the data connection. I use this IP to look up the nation (country) that the report comes in from, and I store that country in the database as well. This information allows me to count how many copies are running the USA, in the UK, and so on.(f/n #1) I just like to know.
I can manually add a name to the database associated with a serial number, and with their explicit permission, I have done so for my personal friends and a couple of my beta testers. I will not add your name unless you specifically tell me to do so. There's no way I can do this anyway unless you actually tell me what your name is and your iToolBox serial number as well, but even if you do, I won't add your name to the database unless you explicitly give me permission to.
During this data exchange, fyngyrz.com returns the most recent version available to iToolBox, which in turn shows it in the About dialog so you have a way to know when there is an upgrade to the version you are using.
Finally, inasmuch as iToolBox attempts to make contact each time it starts up, I count the startups-per-serial-number. That gives me an approximate sense of how much iToolBox is actually being used. From this information I conclude (hopefully reasonably) that one start is someone who simply took a look, many starts is someone who is actually using it to edit images, etc.
§ 48.2 - Clearing Edited Filenames
As you work, the submenu under File/Load Recent Files ▶ will fill up with up to the 16 most recent images you have edited. You can clear this submenu, removing all directly visible record (but see the warning below) of what files you have been working with, by selecting the File/Load Recent Files/Clear Recent Files submenu item.
There may be, deep in your computer's deleted disk sectors destined for eventual reuse, the recent files edited information from the File/Load Recent Files ▶ submenu in the form of an older, now deleted, copy of the iToolBox preferences file. Deep forsenic analysis of your computer's filesystem(s) may reveal this information to determined investigators.
Along these lines, earlier versions of edited images, even after eventual secure deletion, may persist in your filesystem in the form of earlier versions in nominally reusable storage sectors; these too may be retrieved by similar forsenic techniques.
Conduct yourself accordingly if you are working with images that a repressive government would use as legal leverage against you.
§ 48.3 - Contacting Me About Privacy Issues
If you have any questions or concerns about these issues, please do not hesitate to contact me at fyngyrz@gmail.com and present them to me: I will answer you in as forthright and complete a manner as I am able. Likewise, if the documentation needs clarification on the matter you're concerned with, I will see to that as well.
| Footnote 1 - How many Countries? |
| iToolBox is being used in 26 countries as of April 20th, 2024. |
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