This Privacy Policy describes how The Skill Sphere (“we,” “us,” or “our”) collects, uses, and shares information about you when you visit our website at https://theskillsphere.com, interact with our content, or engage with our advertising campaigns, including those served through LinkedIn Ads. By using our website, you agree to the practices described in this policy.
- Who We Are
Our website address is: https://theskillsphere.com. We are the data controller responsible for your personal information collected through this website and our advertising activities. - Information We Collect
2.1 Information You Provide Directly
We may collect personal information you voluntarily provide, including:
• Name and email address (e.g., when leaving a comment or registering an account)
• Website URL (if provided in a comment form)
• Profile picture (via Gravatar, if applicable)
• Any other information you include in comments or registration forms
2.2 Information Collected Automatically
When you visit our website, we automatically collect certain information, including:
• IP address and browser user agent string
• Pages visited, time spent on pages, and referring URLs
• Device type, operating system, and browser type
• Cookie data and similar tracking technologies (see Section 4 below)
2.3 Information from LinkedIn Ads
We use LinkedIn Ads to promote our services. When you interact with our LinkedIn advertising campaigns and visit our website, LinkedIn may share certain information with us, subject to your LinkedIn privacy settings and applicable law. This may include:
• Demographic data (e.g., job title, industry, seniority)
• Interaction data with our ads (e.g., clicks, impressions)
• Conversion events (e.g., form completions, page visits after ad click)
LinkedIn’s data collection and use is governed by the
LinkedIn’s data collection and use is governed by the LinkedIn Privacy Policy. We recommend reviewing it to understand how LinkedIn handles your data.
2.4 Media Uploads
If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS). Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images published on the website. - How We Use Your Information
We use the information we collect for the following purposes:
• To operate and maintain our website
• To detect and prevent spam and fraudulent activity
• To respond to your comments and inquiries
• To manage user accounts and login sessions
• To serve and measure the effectiveness of our LinkedIn advertising campaigns
• To retarget website visitors through LinkedIn Ads (using the LinkedIn Insight Tag)
• To analyze website traffic and user behavior to improve our content and services
• To comply with legal obligations - Cookies and Tracking Technologies
4.1 Our Cookies
We use cookies to enhance your experience on our website. Specifically:
• Comment cookies: If you leave a comment and opt in, we store your name, email address, and website URL in cookies for one year for your convenience.
• Session cookies: When you visit our login page, a temporary cookie is set to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and expires when you close your browser.
• Login cookies: Upon logging in, we set cookies to save your login information and screen display preferences. Login cookies last two days; screen options cookies last one year. If you select “Remember Me,” your login persists for two weeks. Logging out removes login cookies.
• Editor cookies: If you edit or publish an article, a cookie storing the post ID is saved for one day. This cookie contains no personal data.
4.2 LinkedIn Insight Tag
We use the LinkedIn Insight Tag on our website. This is a JavaScript code that enables LinkedIn to collect data about visitors to our website for ad targeting, retargeting, and analytics purposes. The Insight Tag may collect data including:
• URL, referrer URL, and IP address
• Device and browser attributes
• Timestamp of visit
LinkedIn members can opt out of the Insight Tag at:
LinkedIn members can opt out of the Insight Tag at: https://www.linkedin.com/psettings/guest-controls/retargeting-opt-out. Non-members can opt out via: https://optout.networkadvertising.org/
4.3 Managing Cookies
You can control cookies through your browser settings. Note that disabling certain cookies may affect website functionality. Most browsers allow you to refuse cookies, delete existing cookies, and set cookie preferences. - Embedded Content from Other Websites
Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g., videos, images, articles). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the same way as if you visited those websites directly. These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including if you have an account and are logged into that website. - How We Share Your Information
We do not sell your personal information. We may share your information in the following circumstances:
• LinkedIn Ads: We share data with LinkedIn (via the Insight Tag and LinkedIn Ads platform) for advertising and analytics purposes, subject to LinkedIn’s privacy policy.
• Spam Detection: Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.
• Gravatar: An anonymized hash of your email address may be sent to Gravatar to check if you use the service. See the Gravatar privacy policy at https://automattic.com/privacy/.
• Password Resets: If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.
• Legal Requirements: We may disclose your information if required by law or in response to valid legal requests. - Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)
If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA) or United Kingdom, we process your personal data on the following legal bases:
• Consent: Where you have given us clear consent (e.g., opting into comment cookies, accepting our cookie policy).
• Legitimate Interests: For website security, spam detection, analytics, and advertising effectiveness measurement, where these interests are not overridden by your rights.
• Legal Obligation: Where processing is required to comply with applicable law.
For LinkedIn Ads-related processing, LinkedIn acts as an independent data controller for data collected through the LinkedIn platform. We act as a data controller for data shared with us by LinkedIn pursuant to our advertising arrangement. - Data Retention
We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this policy:
• Comments and associated metadata are retained indefinitely to enable automatic approval of follow-up comments.
• User account information is retained as long as your account is active or as needed to provide services.
• All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except usernames cannot be changed). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
• LinkedIn Ads data is retained in accordance with LinkedIn’s data retention policies. - Your Privacy Rights
Depending on your location, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:
• Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Correction: Request that we correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Erasure: Request that we delete your personal data (subject to legal obligations).
• Portability: Request an export of your personal data in a machine-readable format.
• Objection: Object to processing based on legitimate interests, including for direct marketing.
• Restriction: Request that we restrict processing of your data in certain circumstances.
• Withdraw Consent: Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.
If you have an account on this site or have left comments, you can request an exported file of the personal data we hold about you. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include data we are obliged to retain for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details in Section 12. - California Privacy Rights (CCPA/CPRA)
If you are a California resident, you have the right to know what personal information we collect, disclose, or sell; the right to delete your personal information; the right to opt out of the sale of personal information (we do not sell personal information); and the right to non-discrimination for exercising your privacy rights. To submit a request, please contact us using the details in Section 12. - International Data Transfers
Your information may be transferred to and processed in countries other than your own, including the United States, where data protection laws may differ. When we transfer data internationally, we implement appropriate safeguards in accordance with applicable law, including standard contractual clauses where required. - Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, wish to exercise your data rights, or have concerns about how we handle your personal information, please contact us at:
The Skill Sphere
admin@theskillsphere.com - Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or other factors. When we make changes, we will update the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your information.
This Privacy Policy is compliant with GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, and LinkedIn Advertising requirements.