Gist acknowledges the importance of protecting the privacy of all information provided by users of our web sites, customers, registrants and subscribers to our newsletters and magazines. Therefore, we have made this policy with a fundamental respect for our users’ right to privacy and to guide our relationships with our users. This privacy statement discloses the privacy practices for all products and services of Gist.gr.
Gist.gr collects information from our website users, subscribers and customers. In this section of our privacy policy, we define the type of information we collect and how we use it to provide better services to our website users and customers.
When registering, using our website or even signing up for certain selected services (such as free subscriptions), 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). We also may collect demographic information (such as job title and purchasing responsibilities, and company information). For internal purposes, we use this information to communicate with users and provide requested services, and, for our website visitors, to provide a more personalized experience on our sites. We use aggregate demographic information about our audience to improve our service, for marketing purposes and/or industry reporting purposes.
Many of our products and services are free to subscribers who meet certain demographic criteria. Subscribers will be notified by return email if their application has been successful or rejected. Independent auditors may need to certify the eligibility of those subscribers. In order to do that, we may collect unique Personal Identifier Questions (PIQs) (such as town of birth, mother’s maiden name, etc) that we disclose to the auditors strictly for industry reporting and audit verification purposes for industry reporting and audit verification purposes.
If users wish to subscribe to our e-mail newsletters, we ask for contact information (such as name, e-mail address and, occasionally, demographic information). We use this information in the same manner as we use contact information in the registration and ordering process described above. Recipients of our newsletters can unsubscribe using the instructions listed at the end of each e-mail newsletter they receive.
At some of our sites, we offer interactive and community features such as discussion boards. Note that all personal information sent or posted via such features becomes public information for which we are not responsible.
We have features where users can submit information to us (such as our online Subscription Services forms). Letters to the editor and similar submissions may be made public. Requests for service, support or information may be forwarded as needed to best respond to a specific request. We may retain e-mails and other information sent to us for our internal administrative purposes, and to help us to serve customers better.
In order to best serve our customers; we may send updates that contain important information about our site and services. For example, we send new members a welcoming message, and verify password and username for our password-protected areas. We may also communicate with a user to provide requested services and for account-related issues via e-mail, phone or regular mail. We offer our users the option to receive information about our company, related products, services and special deals. Users can choose not to receive these communications, as set forth in our Permission section below.
Our web sites have features that automatically collect information from users, to deliver content specific to users’ interests and to honor their preferences. This information assists us in creating sites that will serve the needs of our users.
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 site. If users reject the cookies, they may be limited in the use of some areas of our site. For example, the user may not be able to participate in competitions or votes that take place. Cookies also enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our site.
Some of our business affiliates use cookies on our sites 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. For our internal purposes, we gather date, time, browser type, navigation history and IP address of all visitors to our site. This information does not contain anything that can identify users personally. We use this information for our internal security audit log, trend analysis and system administration, and to gather broad demographic information about our user base for aggregate use. We may combine demographic information supplied by a subscriber at registration with site usage data to provide general profiles, in aggregate non-personally identifiable form, about our users and their preferences in the content of the site and advertising. We may share this composite information with our advertisers and business affiliates to help them better understand our services.
When we have co-branded, customized, private label, powered by or sponsored products and services, or when we join with other parties to provide specific services, we may share (provide and receive) personal information with them. Please note that we do not share credit card information with such third parties.
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. We give users the option of not having their name or contact information disclosed to third parties, as set forth in the Permission section.
Other than as set forth above, we do not share personally identifiable information with other companies, apart from those acting as our agents in providing our product(s)/service(s), and which agree to use it only for that purpose and to keep the information secure and confidential. Also, our parent, subsidiary and affiliate companies, entities into which our company may be merged, or entities to which any of our assets, products, sites or operations may be transferred, will be able to use personal information. We will also disclose information we maintain when required to do so by law, for example, in response to a court order or a subpoena or other legal obligation, in response to a law enforcement agency’s request, or in special cases when we have reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to or interference with (either intentionally or unintentionally) our rights or property. We may share aggregate information, which is not personally identifiable, with others. This information may include usage and demographic data, but it will not include personal information.
Our users are given the opportunity when they register to choose whether to receive information from our affiliates and us not directly related to the registered services. Users also have the opportunity to choose whether to have personal information shared with third parties for marketing purposes. Please note that we will endeavor to implement requests within a reasonable time, although for a time users may continue to receive mailings, etc., transmitted based on information released prior to the implementation of the request. Users will continue to receive information directly related to their registered services, so they are always are kept informed.
We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you.
We use reasonable precautions to protect our users’ personal information and to store it securely. Sensitive information that is transmitted to us online (such as credit card number, if so) is encrypted and is transmitted to us securely. In addition, access to all of our users’ information, not just the sensitive information mentioned above, is restricted. Only employees who need the information to perform a specific job (for example, a billing clerk or a customer service representative) are granted access to personally identifiable information. Finally, the servers on which we store personally identifiable information are kept in a secure environment.
Our website contains links to other sites. Gist.gr 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 web site to which we may link that may collect personally identifiable information.
If we change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on this page so our users are aware of what information we collect, how we use it and under which circumstances, if any, we disclose it. Users should check this policy frequently to keep abreast of any changes.
For questions about this privacy statement, the practices of this site or any dealings with Gist.gr, contact us at: legal@gist.gr