Vector1 Media recognizes the importance of protecting the privacy of all information provided by users of our website and recipients of our e-mail newsletter. This policy has been created with a fundamental respect for our subscriber’s right to privacy and to guide our relationships with our customers.
COLLECTED INFORMATION
Vector1 Media collects information from our website users.
REGISTRATION
When signing up for a free subscription, users must first register. During registration, users are required to give their contact information (such as name, e-mail address, mailing address and phone number). For internal purposes, we use this information to communicate with users, provide requested services, and to provide a personalized experience. We also may collect information about a user’s professional responsibilities (such as job title and purchasing responsibilities, company information and professional certification). We use this information to improve our service, for marketing purposes and/or for industry reporting purposes.
Many of our products and services are free to subscribers who meet certain demographic criteria. Independent auditors may need to certify the eligibility of these subscribers. In order to do that, we may collect unique identifiers (such as mother’s maiden name) that we disclose to the auditors strictly for industry reporting and audit verification purposes.
Some services may require payment (such as certain events and products). For these, we collect credit card information (such as account name, number and expiration date), which is used for our or our agent’s billing purposes only, and is not otherwise shared.
E-MAIL NEWSLETTERS
If users wish to subscribe to our e-mail newsletters, we ask for contact information (such as name, e-mail address, phone number) and information about the subscriber’s professional interests and responsibilities. We use this information in the same manner as we use contact information in the registration process described above. Recipients of our newsletters can unsubscribe using the instructions listed at the end of the e-mail newsletter.
SURVEYS AND CONTESTS
From time to time we invite website users to provide information via surveys or contests. Participation in these surveys or contests is completely voluntary and the website user therefore has a choice whether to disclose requested contact information (such as name and mailing address) and demographic information (such as zip code or job title). In addition to the other uses set forth in this policy, contact information collected in connection with surveys and contests is used to notify the winners and award prizes and to monitor or improve the use of, and satisfaction with the website or other Vector1 Media product or service. Subject to the given customer’s preferences (as described in the “Permission” section below), such information also may be shared with third party sponsors of such surveys or contests.
INTERACTIVE FEATURES
At some of our sites, we offer interactive and community features such as discussion boards, webcasts and user profiles. Note that all personal information sent or posted via such features becomes public information for which we are not responsible.
TELL-A-FRIEND
If customers elect to use our referral service for informing a friend about our sites and services, we may ask them for the friend’s name, job title and e-mail address. Vector1 Media will store and use this information to send the friend an invitation. This information may also be used to provide information about our company and related products and services.
COMMUNICATE WITH US
We have features where our customers can submit information to us (such as our feedback forms). Where such submissions include requests for service, support or information, we may forward them to our agents, as needed, to best respond to the specific request. In addition, we may retain e-mails and other information sent to us for our internal administrative purposes, and to help us to serve customers better. Please note that letters to the editor and similar submissions may be made public.
COMMUNICATION FROM US. SERVICE UPDATES; SPECIAL OFFERS
In order to best serve our customers, we may send updates that contain important information about our products and services. For example, we send new members a welcoming message, and verify password and username for our password-protected website. We may also communicate with a customer to provide requested services and for account-related issues via e-mail, phone or regular mail. In addition to such service and product-essential messages, we offer our customers the option to receive information about our company, related products, services and special deals. Users, however, can choose not to receive these communications from us, as set forth in the “Permission” section below.
AUTOMATIC DATA COLLECTION
Our websites, newsletters and, from time to time, certain other products and services have features that automatically collect information from customers, to deliver content specific to customers’ interests and to honor their preferences. This information assists us in creating products and services that will serve the needs of our customers.
For example, we use “cookies,” a piece of data stored on the user’s hard drive containing information about the user. Cookies benefit the user by requiring login only once, thereby saving time while on our website. If users reject the cookies, they may be limited in the use of some areas of our website. For example, the user may not be able to participate in drawings. Additionally, we may note some of the pages the user visits on our websites and via our email newsletters through the use of pixel tags (also called clear gifs) and web beacons. The use of cookies, pixels and web beacons enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our sites and via our e-mail newsletters.
In addition, some of our business affiliates use cookies on our websites and in our email newsletters, in ads or promotions. However, we have no access to or control over these business affiliates’ cookies; we urge users to read their privacy policies for information
We also use an e-mail delivery and marketing company to send e-mails (including newsletters) for which you have registered (or otherwise agreed to receive). Web beacons and cookies may be used in such e-mail messages to help us measure the effectiveness of our advertising and how customers use our websites and other products and services.
For our internal purposes, we gather date, time, browser type, navigation history and IP address of all visitors to our website. We use this information for our internal security audit log, trend analysis and system administration, and to gather broad information about our user base.
We may combine information supplied by a customer at registration with website usage data to learn more about users and their preferences in the content of the site. We may use this information to tailor services to your interests or to contact you about offers from our business associates that may be of interest to you. We do not disclose this information to third parties.
SHARING YOUR INFORMATION
Please note that information collected in connection with online webcasts, will be shared with the sponsor of the particular webcast(s)/seminar(s), subject to the given customer’s preferences (as described in the “Permission” section below).
These sponsors will use the information according to their own privacy policies, and we urge participants to read those policies and be aware of their privacy practices before registering.
If you register and access white papers and directory resources or register for events hosted by sponsors, your data will be shared.
On occasion, we may provide targeted lists of names and offline and online contact information for marketing purposes to third parties, subject to our Permission policies, as described below. We give customers the option of not having their name or contact information disclosed to third parties.
We often share aggregate information, which is not personally identifiable, with others.
PERMISSION
Our customers are given the opportunity to choose whether to receive information from our affiliates and us not directly related to the product or service for which they registered (or which they otherwise agreed to receive). Customers also have the opportunity to choose whether to have personal information shared with third parties for marketing purposes.
SECURITY
We use reasonable precautions to protect information about our customers while it is stored on our servers or in transit to our vendors processing on our behalf. Sensitive information that is transmitted to us online (such as credit card number) is encrypted and is transmitted to us securely. In addition, access to all of our customers’ information, not just the sensitive information mentioned above, is restricted. Finally, the servers on which we store personally identifiable information are kept in a secure environment.
LINKS
Our websites contain links to other sites. Vector1 Media is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each website to which we may link that may collect personally identifiable information.
