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With the advent of the EU’s (rather complicated) GDPR policy started in May of 2018, this post explains some of the ways that our plugins support, or may be used to support, the GDPR requirements. Note that none of this is legal advice; it is meant to provide information for you to make decisions regarding the proper implementation of GDPR compliance for your own site(s). It is your responsibility to ensure that your site is prepared for the changes required by GDPR. So with that in mind, let’s get into it.

Plugin Support

On this page, we list each of our Pro plugins, including privacy information and which features (if any) may be useful in implementing GDPR compliance for your site. To view GDPR information for any of our free plugins, check out the plugin’s readme.txt file and/or visit the plugin’s homepage at WordPress.org.

Note that all of our Pro plugins require an outgoing/external HTTP request to activate and deactivate the plugin license. This happens on the plugin settings ▸ License screen. Whenever you click to activate or deactivate the license key, a request is made back to the home site, plugin-planet.com. Each of these activation/deactivation requests includes very basic information used to identify the plugin and user (e.g., customer name, license number, and plugin name). Except where noted, no other outgoing requests are made by any of our pro plugins.

Disclaimer: I have done my best to provide accurate information about my plugins, but I’m not a lawyer so really can’t guarantee anything. To ensure that your site is compliant with GDPR, please consult an attorney or qualified professional, and also check with Google and/or configure your Google account settings and/or tracking code as required by GDPR. Always best to be informed and play it safe.
Quick-jump menu:

Banhammer Pro

Banhammer Pro is based on collecting user details like IP address, user agent, referrer, and so forth. Without the ability to properly track visitors, the plugin would not be useful. Perhaps at some point in the future, depending on demand, we will implement a way to disable collecting of IP addresses, however currently that is not an included feature of the plugin.

Note that Banhammer makes outgoing HTTP requests to 3rd-party services to get information about visitors (e.g., Whois, GeoIP, host name). This happens only when you (the site administrator) is viewing the Banhammer settings pages, so as to minimize the number of outgoing requests and maximize plugin performance.

User Data: Banhammer collects user data to “do its thing”. The collected data is temporary and automatically deleted every day, or at whatever time interval is specified in the plugin settings. The only time that any data is “remembered” is when you ban something. For each person/thing that you ban, the plugin stores a minimal amount of data that can be deleted at any time. At any time, all saved data may be deleted permanently via the plugin settings and Armory Tools.

Services: Banhammer makes outgoing HTTP requests to 3rd-party services to get information about visitors (e.g., Whois, GeoIP, host name). This happens only when you (the site administrator) is viewing the Banhammer settings pages, so as to minimize the number of outgoing requests and maximize plugin performance. Banhammer also connects to the home site, Plugin-Planet.com, in order to activate and/or deactivate the plugin license. No other third-party services are used by this plugin.

Cookies: Banhammer does not set any cookies for regular visitors, but does set a few simple cookies for admin-level users. These simple cookies enable dope effects and interactivity in the Armory and Tower UI. But no cookies are set or used for any other visitor/user or purpose.

Blackhole Pro

Blackhole Pro is based on collecting user details like IP address, user agent, referrer, and so forth. Without the ability to properly track visitors, the plugin would not be useful. Perhaps at some point in the future, depending on demand, we will implement a way to disable collecting of IP addresses, however currently that is not an included feature of the plugin.

Note that Blackhole makes outgoing HTTP requests to 3rd-party services to get information about visitors (e.g., Whois, GeoIP, host name). This happens only when you (the site administrator) is viewing the Blackhole settings pages, so as to minimize the number of outgoing requests and maximize plugin performance.

User Data: Blackhole Pro automatically blocks bad bots. When bad bots fall into the trap, their IP address, user agent, and other request data are stored in the WP database. No other user data is collected by this plugin. At any time, the administrator may delete all saved data via the plugin settings.

Services: Blackhole Pro makes outgoing HTTP requests to 3rd-party services to get information about visitors (e.g., Whois, GeoIP, host name). Blackhole Pro also connects to the home site, Plugin-Planet.com, in order to activate and/or deactivate the plugin license. No other third-party services are used by this plugin.

Cookies: This plugin does not set any cookies.

BBQ Pro

BBQ Pro is fully compliant with GDPR because it does not collect any user data whatsoever. It’s a firewall that blocks bad requests, so no need to collect any user data. It does not set any cookies, and it does not connect to any third-party locations (except the home site, Plugin-Planet.com, in order to activate and/or deactivate the plugin license). Thus, BBQ Pro does not affect user privacy in any way.

The only exception is when email alerts are enabled. In which case, the email alerts include various request data, including the IP address. Check out this post for details.

GA Google Analytics Pro

GA Pro does not collect any user data. Even so, the tracking code added by this plugin is used by Google to collect all sorts of user data. So this plugin does not do anything to make your site less compliant with GDPR. It simply adds the necessary tracking code to your web pages, so Google software can do its thing. Also note that GA Pro provides an optional “opt-in”/”opt-out” box for visitors. Check out this post for more information.

User Data: GA Pro does not collect any user data. Even so, the tracking code added by this plugin is used by Google to collect all sorts of user data. You can learn more about Google Privacy here.

Services: GA Pro does not connect to any third-party locations or services, but it does enable Google to collect all sorts of data. It also connects to the home site, Plugin-Planet.com, in order to activate and/or deactivate the plugin license. No other third-party services are used by this plugin.

Cookies: When the Opt-Out Box is enabled, GA Pro sets a few small/simple cookies in the visitor’s web browser. This enables the Opt-Out Box to work its magic.

Head Meta Pro

Head Meta Pro does not collect or store any user data. It does not set any cookies, and it does not connect to any third-party locations (except the home site, Plugin-Planet.com, in order to activate and deactivate the license). Thus, this plugin does not affect user privacy in any way.

REST Pro Tools

REST Pro Tools does not collect or store any user data. It does not set any cookies, and it does not connect to any third-party locations (except the home site, Plugin-Planet.com, in order to activate and deactivate the license). Thus, this plugin does not affect user privacy in any way.

Simple Ajax Chat Pro

SAC Pro collects voluntary user chat data (i.e., Name, Chat Message, and optional URL). It also gives the administrator the option to collect (or not collect) sensitive user data like IP address, host name, and so forth. When data collection is disabled, the only user data stored by this plugin are the voluntary chat data (Name, Message, URL). Learn how to disable data collection in SAC Pro.

As for cookies, SAC Pro uses a few simple cookies for remembering chat names and URLs. It does not connect to any third-party locations (except the home site, Plugin-Planet.com, in order to activate and/or deactivate the license). So very minimal impact on privacy.

SES Pro

SES Pro does not collect any IP data, however it is an email-signup plugin that collects user names and email addresses.

USP Pro

USP Pro enables you to build forms that are completely customizable. So you can integrate any specific fields and information that may be required in order to support policies like GDPR. For example, USP Pro makes it easy to add an Agree to Terms checkbox that must be checked before the user can submit the form.

USP Pro also makes it possible to collect user data, such as IP address, user agent, URI request, and referrer. As explained in the linked article, USP Pro may be configured for any of the following:

  • Enable complete collection of user data (i.e., IP address, user agent, URI request, and referrer data)
  • Enable partial collection of user data (i.e., excludes IP address, collects only user agent, URI request, and referrer data)
  • Completely disable all collection of user data (i.e., IP address, user agent, URI request, and referrer infos)

USP Pro is very flexible in terms of controlling which data is collected. If you need to remove any user-submitted content, WordPress makes it possible. For example:

  • To delete a user, visit the Users screen
  • To delete a post, visit the Posts screen
  • To delete any IP/Referrer data added via USP, visit the Edit Post screen

Also, USP Pro provides options to disable collection of IP address info: visit USP General tab and disable “Enable Basic Statistics” option. See this tutorial for more information.

Note that USP Pro may use cookies, depending on how each form is configured, any related JavaScript, plugin settings, and so forth. The best way to be certain of which cookies are set for your particular form, is to install a free “cookie inspector” extension for your browser. Then you can determine cookie infos for the following states:

  • Before the form is submitted
  • After the form is submitted
  • If there is any error when the form is submitted

Also, USP Pro may use cookies to help with form remembering and user login infos. If you would like to notify your users about cookies, you can install a plugin such as this (lots of other cookie plugins available as well).

User Data: USP Pro enables users to submit post content. It collects data only from users who voluntarily submit content via the USP form. The only involuntary data that is collected is the IP address of the person submitting the form. The plugin provides an option to disable IP collection completely.

Cookies: USP Pro uses simple cookies to enable dynamic form functionality. No cookies are used for any other purpose.

Services: USP Pro provides an option to enable Google reCaptcha, which is provided by Google as a third-party service. For details on privacy and more, please refer to official documentation for Google reCaptcha. No other outside services or locations are accessed/used by this plugin (except the home site, Plugin-Planet.com, in order to activate and/or deactivate the license).

FAQs

Looking for more information about any of our Pro plugins? Check out Frequently Asked Questions.

Got a question?

Got a question about our plugins? Contact us anytime, we’ll be glad to respond asap :)