Personal Data
We collect information that you choose to provide us or that you choose to include in your profile or account, and that personally identifies you, such as your name, address, zip code, telephone number, e-mail address, and other personally identifiable information (“Personal Data”). You may be asked to provide us with Personal Data when you register with the Site and at other times to enable us to provide the Site and Services to you, to ensure the security and operation of the Site and to manage our relationship with you. As authorized by you (opt-in consent) or permitted by law, we, our affiliates, and third-party processors authorized by us, may process this Personal Data (i) to directly market products and services that may be of interest to you, (ii) to perform any contract with you or for taking steps at your request with a view to entering into a contract with you, (iii) to comply with legal obligations (e.g., to inform you of changes to the Site, our Terms of Use and/or this Privacy Policy), and (iv) in connection with our legitimate interests for running and growing our business, including, without limitation, providing and administering IT services and network security, preventing fraud, and in the context of a business reorganization or group restructuring. Your decision to provide this information is optional. However, if you choose not to provide the requested information, you may not be able to use some or all of the features of the Site or Services.
Usage Data and Site Activity
We, directly and through third-parties, automatically collect information in connection with the actions you take on the Site and in connection with using the Services through the use of cookies, server logs, and other technologies (“Usage Data”) to improve the Site, Services and user experience, to build an understanding of the functionality, services and products of interest to you, to share with third party analytics providers, advertising networks and search information providers, and to administer and protect our business and the Site including troubleshooting, data analytics, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data. For example, each time you use the Site we automatically collect the type of web browser you use, your operating system, your Internet Service Provider, your IP address, the pages you view, and the time and duration of your visits to the Site. This anonymous usage information may be associated with your username and profile, but we do not disclose the associated information to third parties. Our processing of Usage Data is necessary: (i) to perform any contract with you, (ii) for our legitimate interests of running and growing our business, including, without limitation, providing and administering of IT services and network security, preventing fraud, and in the context of a business reorganization or group restructuring, (iii) for our legitimate interest of ensuring registered users are informed of the functionality, advertising, products and services relevant to them, which in turn improves our Service, and (iv) to comply with any legal obligations. Your Personal Data and Usage Data may be used for profiling purposes, the consequence of which is that you may be placed in a group based on some or all of your Personal Data and/or Usage Data for the purposes of direct marketing and/or our development and implementation of advertising strategies.
Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies
We may use cookies (a small file placed on your computer or device to identify your computer and browser). We also may use web beacons (an electronic file placed on a website that monitors usage) and locally-stored objects (locally-stored data such as HTML5 web storage that are used similar to cookies). We use cookies and web beacons to improve the experience of the Site and Services, such as pre-populating your username for easier login. We do not use cookies or web beacons to collect, disclose or transmit Personal Data. Most web browsers are initially set up to accept cookies. You can reset your web browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, certain features of the Site or Services may not work if you delete or disable cookies. Some of our Third-Party Providers and Advertisers (as such terms are defined below), may use their own cookies and web beacons in connection with the services they perform on our behalf.
DO NOT TRACK SIGNALS
Some web browsers incorporate a “Do Not Track” feature that signals to websites that your visit that you do not want to have your online activity tracked. We do not respond to web browser “Do Not Track” signals at this time.
Google Analytics Advertising Features
We have implemented certain Google Analytics Advertising Features, including Google Analytics Demographics and Interest Reporting, and Remarketing with Google Analytics. We use first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookie), along with other first-party identifiers, third-party cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) and other third-party identifiers, not only to improve the Site experience for our users, but also to aggregate the characteristics and browsing habits of our users, on an anonymous basis, to provide products and services that are more tailored to our users. We also use these types of cookies and identifiers to improve and target our marketing and remarketing efforts and serve ads based on our users’ prior visits to our Site, also on an anonymous basis. There are a number of ways you can opt out of the Google Analytics Advertiser Features we use, including via changing your Ads Settings on Google or changing the ads settings on the web browser you are using. You can also use the opt-out tool provided by the Network Advertising Initiative, here. Google provides a free browser add-on, called the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, which provides website users the ability to prevent their data from being used by Google Analytics. The browser add-on may be downloaded here.
Advertising
We may work with third-party advertisers, search providers and ad networks (“Advertisers”). Advertisers may collect and use information about your use of the Site or Services as well as other websites and services to provide advertisements about goods and services that may be of interest to you. These companies may place or recognize a unique cookie on your computer or use other technologies such as web beacons to collect such information. Our Privacy Policy does not cover any use of information that an ad network may collect from you. Advertisements may be shown via the Site, the Services, or on third-party websites. You can visit the Network Advertising Initiative website at www.networkadvertising.org which offers information about Internet advertising companies and how to opt out of their information collection.
HOW WE SHARE INFORMATION
Generally
We will not disclose your Personal Data to third parties, including for their direct marketing purposes, without your consent, except as explained in this Privacy Policy or permitted by law. We may disclose to third parties certain Usage Data regarding the Site and Services. However, in such cases, your Usage Data is aggregated with the Usage Data of others and does not identify you individually.
Profile Information You Make Available to Others
By using the Site or the Services you may make certain types of your Personal Data available to others. For example, if your user name contains your real name, and you post a comment in a public area of the Site, other users may see your name and other information from your public profile that you choose to make available to others, such as your home town. The information you choose to make publicly available may be accessed by users who use the Site or Services and may be accessed by commercial search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and Bing to the extent that such engines are permitted to access the Site.
Third-Party Providers
From time to time, we may establish a business relationship with other businesses whom we believe trustworthy and who we believe have privacy practices that are consistent with ours (“Third-Party Providers”). For example, we may contract with Third-Party Providers to provide certain services, such as hosting and maintenance, data storage and management, payment processing, and marketing and promotions. We only provide our Third-Party Providers with the information necessary for them to perform these services on our behalf. Each Third-Party Provider is expected to use reasonable security procedures and practices appropriate to the nature of the information involved in order to protect your Personal Data from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. Third-Party Providers are prohibited from using Personal Data other than as specified by us.
As an example of services being provided by Third-Party Providers, we have contracted with Bluehost, LLC to provide hosting services which allow you to access and view our content. Similarly, payment processing services for goods and/or services purchased on the Site may be provided by Stripe, Inc. or PayPal, Inc., depending on the payment processor you select to use for the purchase of the goods and/or services.
Joint Services
We may provide services jointly with other companies. In some cases, to facilitate such services, it may be necessary to share your Personal Data with such other companies. Before we do so, we will identify the partner, present the joint service provider’s privacy policy to you before you use that service, and obtain your permission to share your Personal Data.
Third-Party Services and Applications
Through the Site and the Services, you may have the ability to elect to access third-party services and applications, such as Facebook and other social networks, through a link or social media widget such as the Facebook “like” button. When you do so, you may be able to import information from those other services and applications and share content with those services. Some of those third-party services may also provide us with information from your accounts which may enable us to enhance and personalize your use of the Site and Services (e.g., so that you can follow your Facebook friends’ activity on the Site or Services). If you elect to use such third-party services or applications through the Site or Services, the information you share with such third-party services and applications will be subject to their privacy policies and your privacy settings for such services. You also may be able to control or block such sharing by changing your privacy settings in such services or applications. Please review the privacy policies for such services before engaging with them.
Other Transfers
We may share Personal Data and Usage Data with businesses controlling, controlled by, or under common control with the us. If we are merged, acquired or sold, or in the event of a transfer of some or all of our assets, we may disclose or transfer Personal Data and Usage Data in connection with such transaction, including to third parties evaluating or facilitating such transaction (e.g., attorneys, accountants, business analysts). You will have the opportunity to opt out of any such transfer if, in our reasonable judgment, the new entity plans to handle your information in a way that differs materially from this Privacy Policy.
Compliance with Laws and Law Enforcement
We cooperate with government and law enforcement officials and private parties to enforce and comply with applicable law. We may disclose Personal Data, Usage Data and any other information about you to government or law enforcement officials or private parties if, in our discretion, we believe it is necessary or appropriate in order to respond to legal requests (including court orders and subpoenas), to protect the safety, property or rights of us or of any third party, to prevent or stop any illegal, unethical, or legally actionable activity, or to comply with applicable law.
Sharing Information with Others
Please be aware that whenever you share information on public forums on the Site, that information may be accessed by others. In addition, please remember that when you share information in any other communications with third parties, that information may be passed along or made public by others. This means that anyone with access to such information can potentially use it for any purpose, including sending unsolicited communications.
HOW LONG WE RETAIN YOUR DATA
SECURITY
We recognize the importance of safeguarding the confidentiality of your Personal Data. Accordingly, we employ reasonable physical, electronic, and administrative measures designed to protect your information from unauthorized access, disclosure and use. However, no data transmission over the Internet or other network can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect information transmitted on or through the Site or Services, we cannot and do not guarantee the security of any information you transmit on or through the Site or Services, and you do so at your own risk. We also require third parties with whom we share your Personal Data to take reasonable efforts to protect your Personal Data, however, we do not guarantee the security of Personal Data shared with third parties.
CHILDREN’S PRIVACY
We do not knowingly collect Personal Data from children under the age of 18. If we become aware that we have inadvertently received Personal Data from a child under the age of 18, we will delete such information from our records.
PROCESSING IN THE UNITED STATES
Please be aware that your Personal Data and communications may be transferred to and maintained on servers or databases located outside your state, province, or country. If you are located outside of the United States, please be advised that we process and store information in the United States. By providing Personal Data, you confirm your consent to having such Personal Data being hosted and accessed in the United States.