Privacy Policy

Last updated: November 18, 2019

The operator of this website, PCGuide.com (“PCGuide,” “we” or “us”) cares about your privacy and the security of your information. We want you to be familiar with how we collect, use and disclose information. This Privacy Policy describes our practices in connection with information that we collect through this website (the “Site”), social media pages (“Social Media Pages”), HTML-formatted email message that we send to you (“Emails”), our offline contacts and any other services that display this Privacy Policy (“Other Services”) (collectively referenced in this Privacy Policy as the “Services”).

MODIFICATION OF THESE TERMS

From time to time, we may change the Privacy Policy. When we do, the “Last Updated” line at the top of this page will be revised. You are responsible for regularly reviewing this Privacy Policy. Your continued use of the Site following the posting of changes to the Privacy Policy indicates your acceptance of those changes. Unless we provide you with specific notice, no changes to our Privacy Policy will apply retroactively.

PERSONAL INFORMATION THAT WE COLLECT

When you use our Services by, among other actions, creating an account, subscribing to our newsletter, browsing our Site or otherwise interacting with our Services, we gather personal information. This information is necessary for delivering you the Services or enhancing your customer experience.

Personal information is information that identifies you as an individual or relates to an identifiable individual. Several types of personal information can be are gathered when you interact with the Services. Examples of such personal information include your name, email address, demographic data (such as age, gender and zip code) and interests.

COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We and our service providers collect personal information in a variety of ways including when you:

  • Use the Services;
  • Create an account to have access to particular features or components of the Services;
  • Sign up to receive emails, newsletters or other communications;
  • Participate in surveys, contests, sweepstakes or other promotions offered via the Services;
  • Request customer service or other assistance;
  • Otherwise communicate with us via the Services; or
  • Take a survey offline or participate in an in-person reader interview.

If you disclose any personal information relating to other people to us or to our service providers in connection with the Services, you represent that you have the authority to do so and to permit us to use the information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We collect, use or otherwise process personal information as allowed under applicable law, including where based on one or more of the following:

  • The performance of the contract we have with you;
  • The legitimate interests of PCGuide, a third party or yourself. “Legitimate interest” is a technical term under the regulation. It means that there are good reasons for the processing of your personal information and measures are taken to minimize the impact on your privacy rights and interests. “Legitimate interest” also references our use of your data in ways you would reasonably expect and that have a minimal privacy impact. We have a legitimate interest in collecting and processing personal information, for example: (1) to ensure that our networks and information are secure, (2) to administer and generally conduct business within PCGuide, and (3) to prevent fraud;
  • The compliance of a legal obligation to which we are subject; or
  • The consent you provide to us at the point of collection of your personal information.

We use personal information to:

  • Provide you with content and services that you request or that we think is relevant to you;
  • Communicate with you about changes to our policies;
  • Send you newsletters and emails;
  • Provide you with advertising, including advertising based on your activity on our Services or activity on third-party sites and applications;
  • Administer contests, sweepstakes, promotions, and surveys;
  • Optimize or improve our products, services and operations;
  • Detect, investigate, and prevent activities that may violate our policies or be illegal;
  • Communicate with you about your account, respond to your inquiries and send you information about features and enhancements of the Services; and
  • Perform statistical, demographic, and marketing analyses of users of the Services.

We may aggregate and/or anonymize personal information so that it will no longer be considered personal information. We do so to generate other data for our use, which we may use and disclose for any purpose.

DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We will only disclose your personal information collected via the Services to other companies as described in this Privacy Policy.

We may disclose personal information collected from you to our parent companies, subsidiaries and affiliates.

We provide personal information collected from you to companies that provide support services to us or perform functions on our behalf, such as marketing, analytics, and providing customer service. These companies may need personal information in order to perform their functions.

We may provide personal information collected from you to companies that sponsor sweepstakes, contests and similar promotion on our Services. We will let you know at the point of collection of your personal information if we do.

We may disclose personal information collected from you if required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to (a) conform to applicable law or comply with legal process; (b) protect and defend the our rights or property, the Services or our users, and (c) act under emergency circumstances to protect the personal safety of any of our employees, agents or contractors, or those of any of our parent companies, affiliates or subsidiaries, any users of the Services or the public.

We will disclose or transfer personal information to a third party in the events of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets or stock (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings). Such third parties may include, for example, an acquiring entity and its advisors.

We may disclose personal information to third parties to help us determine how people use parts of the Services so we can improve our Services and develop new product offerings. We may provide personal information about how our users collectively use the Services in aggregated form to our service providers and other third parties.

By using the Services, you may elect to disclose personal information:

  • On comments sections, contact forms and other services to which you are able to post information and content (including, without limitation, our Social Media Pages).
  • Through your social sharing activity. When you connect your Services account with your social media account, you will share information with your friends associated with your social media account, with other users, and with your social media account provider. By doing so, you authorize us to facilitate this sharing of information, and you understand that the use of shared information will be governed by the social media provider’s privacy policy.

Please remember that any information you share in public areas, such as comment sections or forums, or that you otherwise post, display or disseminate in an area that is viewable by other users of the Services, becomes public. Please be careful about what you disclose and do not disclose any Personal Information that you expect to keep private.

OTHER INFORMATION

Other information is any information that does not specifically identify you and is collected through technology includes tracking information collected by us as well as third parties. Other information includes:

  • Information about your computer, mobile device, or other device that you use to access the Services such as your device type and brand, operating system, unique device identifiers, browser type, browser client ID, browser language, Internet Service Provider;
  • Usage information about your use of our Services, such as a reading history of the pages you view;
  • Additional “traffic data” such as time of access, visitor ID, traffic channel, traffic source, traffic medium, campaign name, date of access, software crash reports, session identification number, access times, and referring website addresses;
  • Search terms and search results;
  • Location data such as your IP address, geolocation information (longitude and latitude);
  • Demographic information and other information provided by you that does not reveal your specific identity; and
  • Other information that has been aggregated in a manner such that it no longer reveals your specific identity.

COLLECTION OF OTHER INFORMATION

We and our service providers may collect other information in a variety of ways, including:

Through your browser or device

Certain information is collected by most browsers or automatically through your device, such as your Media Access Control (MAC) address, computer type (Windows or Mac), screen resolution, operating system name and version, device manufacturer and model, language, Internet browser type and the name and version of the Services you are using. We use this information to ensure that the Services function properly.

Using cookies, pixel tags and other similar technologies:

Like many websites, our Services may use “cookies”, which are small text files that are stored on your computer or equipment when you visit certain online pages and that record your preferences and actions. We use cookies to track use of our Services. We may also use cookies to monitor traffic, improve the Services and make it easier and/or relevant for your use.

You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but, if you prefer, you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies. If you delete your cookies or if you set your web browser to decline cookies, some features of the Services may not work or may not work as designed. For more information on cookies and how to disable them, you can consult the information provided at www.allaboutcookies.org.

We use Google Analytics, which uses cookies and similar technologies to collect and analyze information about use of the Services and report on activities and trends.  This service may also collect information regarding the use of other websites, apps and online resources.  You can learn about Google’s practices by going to www.google.com/policies/privacy/‌partners/, and opt-out of them by downloading the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on, available at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Pixel tags (also known as web beacons and clear GIFs) are used to, among other things, track the actions of users of the Services (including email recipients), measure the success of our marketing campaigns, and compile statistics about usage of the Services and response rates.

We may also use web beacons. A web beacon (also known as an “action tag”, “tracer tag” or “single-pixel gif”) is an invisible graphic on a web page that is programmed to collect information about your use of a given website and deliver cookies.

To learn more, please check our Cookie Policy.

IP address:

As noted above, we collect and store your device’s source IP address. Your IP address is automatically assigned to your computer by your internet service provider. An IP address discloses the general location (i.e. city, state, country and continent) of your device at the time you access the Services. We may use your device’s IP address to:

  • Personalize offers and promotions for our Services and special events;
  • Personalize the advertising that you receive;
  • Optimize our products, services and operations;
  • Detect, investigate, and prevent activities that may violate our policies or be illegal
  • Identify the country where you are located so that we can assess our legal obligations; and
  • Perform statistical, demographic, and marketing analyses of users of the Site.

USES AND DISCLOSURES OF OTHER INFORMATION

We may use and disclose other information for any purpose, except where we are required to do otherwise under applicable law. In some instances, we may combine other information with personal information. If we do, we will treat the combined information as personal information as long as it is combined.

SENSITIVE INFORMATION

Unless we specifically request it (for example, in connection with a particular survey), we ask that you not send us, and you not disclose, any sensitive personal information (e.g., social security numbers, information related to racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religion or other beliefs, health, biometrics or genetic characteristics, criminal background or trade union membership) on or through the Services or otherwise to us. Any requested information that includes sensitive information about health, political opinions, ethnicity, race, religion, sex life or sexual orientation can be left unanswered.

INFORMATION SECURITY

We use reasonable efforts to safeguard personal information. However, no data storage system or transmission method can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, we cannot guarantee the security of any information (including personal information) that we obtain. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure, please immediately notify us in accordance with the “Contacting Us” section below.

OPT-OUT INSTRUCTIONS

If you do not want to receive promotional emails from us, you can opt out at any time by sending a request to privacy@pcguide.com

We will comply with your request(s) as soon as reasonably practicable. Please note that if you opt out of receiving marketing-related emails from us, we can still send you important administrative messages, from which you cannot opt out.

HOW YOU CAN ACCESS, CHANGE OR DELETE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

If you would like to request to review, correct, restrict or delete personal information that you have previously provided to us, object to the processing of personal information, or request to receive an electronic copy of your personal information for purposes of transmitting it to another company (to the extent this right to data portability is provided to you by applicable law), you may contact us at privacy@pcguide.com

In your request, please state what personal information you would like to have changed, whether you would like to have your personal information suppressed from our database or otherwise let us know what limitations you would like to put on our use of your Personal Information. For your protection, we may only implement requests with respect to the Personal Information associated with the particular email address that you use to send us your request, and we may need to verify your identity before implementing your request.

We will respond to your request consistent with applicable law.

Please note that we may need to retain certain information for recordkeeping purposes and/or to complete any transactions that you began prior to requesting a change or deletion (e.g., when you enter a promotion, you may not be able to change or delete the personal information provided until after the completion of such purchase or promotion).

If you are a resident of California, under 18 and a registered user of the Services, you may ask us to remove content or information that you have posted to the Services by contacting us at the information listed above.

Please note that your request does not ensure complete or comprehensive removal of the content or information, as, for example, some of your content may have been reposted by another user.

RETENTION PERIOD

We retain personal information for as long as needed or permitted in light of the purpose(s) for which it was obtained and consistent with applicable law.

The criteria used to determine our retention periods include:

  • The length of time we have an ongoing relationship with you and provide the Services to you (for example, for as long as you participate to a promotion with us or keep using the Services);
  • Whether there is a legal obligation to which we are subject (for example, certain laws require us to keep records of your transactions for a certain period of time before we can delete them); or
  • Whether retention is advisable in light of our legal position (such as in regard to applicable statutes of limitations, litigation or regulatory investigations).

THIRD PARTY ADVERTISING

We may work with third-party advertising companies that may utilize web beacons, cookies, pixel tags, or other similar technologies to better provide advertisements about goods and services that may be of interest to you when you access and use the Services and other websites or online services. These companies do not have access to your name, address, e-mail address, telephone number or other Personal Information from us. They may, however, anonymously track your internet usage across other websites in their networks beyond the Services. To learn more about the use of this information or to choose not to have this information used by our third-party advertising partners by opting out please visit the Network Advertising Initiative by clicking https://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp

THIRD PARTY SERVICES

This Privacy Policy does not address, and we are not responsible for, the privacy, information or other practices of any third parties, including any third party operating any website or service to which the Services link. The inclusion of a link on the Services does not imply endorsement of the linked site or service by us or by our affiliates.

In addition, we are not responsible for the information collection, use, disclosure or security policies or practices of other organizations, such as Disqus, Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Google, Microsoft, RIM or any other app developer, app provider, social media platform provider, operating system provider, wireless service provider or device manufacturer, including with respect to any personal information you disclose to other organizations through or in connection with our Social Media Pages.

Advertising

This Site is affiliated with CMI Marketing, Inc., d/b/a CafeMedia (“CafeMedia”) for the purposes of placing advertising on the Site, and CafeMedia will collect and use certain data for advertising purposes. To learn more about CafeMedia’s data usage, click here www.cafemedia.com/publisher-advertising-privacy-policy 

USE OF SERVICES BY CHILDREN

The Services is not directed to children and we do not knowingly collect or store any personal information from children except as permitted by applicable law.

If you are a resident of California, USA, under 18 years old and a registered user of the Services, please see above “How You Can Access, Change or Delete Your Personal Information.”

YOUR CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS

Under the California “Shine The Light” law, California residents may opt out of our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. As detailed above, you may choose to opt out of the sharing of your personal information with third parties for marketing purposes at any time by submitting a request in writing to Customer Care, P.O. Box 8041, Davenport, IA 52808-8041 or by emailing us at privacy@pcguide.com

INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS

PCGuide is headquartered in the United States. The information you provide to us or that we obtain as a result of your use of the Services is collected in your country and subsequently transferred to the United States or to another country where we have facilities or our affiliates operate or in which we engage service providers.

Some countries that are not located in the European Economic Area (EEA) are recognized by the European Commission as providing an adequate level of data protection according to EEA standards (the full list of these countries is available here). For transfers from the EEA to countries not considered adequate by the European Commission, we have put in place adequate measures, including by ensuring that the recipient is bound by EU Standard Contractual Clauses, to protect your personal data.  To obtain a copy of these measures click here.

In certain circumstances, courts, law enforcement agencies, regulatory agencies or security authorities in those other countries may be entitled to access your personal information.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR INDIVIDUALS IN THE EEA

If you are located in the EEA, you also may lodge a complaint with a data protection authority for your country or region or where an alleged infringement of applicable data protection law occurs. A list of data protection authorities is available at https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/article29/item-detail.cfm?item_id=612080.

Advertising

This Site is affiliated with CMI Marketing, Inc., d/b/a CafeMedia (“CafeMedia”) for the purposes of placing advertising on the Site, and CafeMedia will collect and use certain data for advertising purposes. To learn more about CafeMedia’s data usage, click here: www.cafemedia.com/publisher-advertising-privacy-policy

 

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