COLE Publishing, Inc. & COLE, Inc. (“COLE”) Internet Privacy Policy
It is COLE policy to comply with all applicable privacy and data protection laws. This commitment reflects the value we place on earning and keeping the trust of our employees, customers, business partners and others who share their personal information with us.
This Global Internet Privacy Policy (this “Policy”) describes how COLE protects your privacy when we collect personal information on COLE Internet sites. As used in this Policy, the term “personal information” means information that identifies you personally, lone or in combination with other information available to us. This Policy applies, in general, to all Internet sites operated by or on behalf of COLE.
Your Consent
By using a COLE Internet Site or providing personal information to us, you are consenting to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information as described in this Policy and any applicable Country or Web Site Privacy Statements. If you do not consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information as described in this Policy (and any applicable Country or Web Site Privacy Statements), do not use COLE Internet Sites.
Limitations on the Collection, Use and Disclosure of Personal Information
To the extent required by applicable law, whenever COLE collects personal information on an Internet Site, COLE will:
• collect, use, disclose and transfer your personal information only with your consent, which may be express or implied, depending on the sensitivity of the personal information, legal requirements, and other factors
• collect your personal information only for specific, limited purposes. The information we collect will be relevant, adequate and not excessive for the purposes for which it is collected
• process your personal information in a manner consistent with the purposes for which it was originally collected or to which you have subsequently consented
• take commercially reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is reliable for its intended use, accurate, complete, and, where necessary, kept up-to-date and not use your personal information for direct marketing purposes without giving you an opportunity to “opt-out”
Information Collected on COLE Internet Sites and How It May Be Used
When you access and use a COLE Internet Site, there are three ways we may collect information about you:
1. Information Sent to Us by Your Web Browser
COLE collects information that is sent to us automatically by your web browser. This information typically includes the IP address of your Internet service provider, the name of your operating system (such as Macintosh® or Windows®) and the name and version of your browser (such as Internet Explorer or Safari). The information we receive depends on the settings on your web browser. Please check your browser if you want to learn what information your browser sends or how to change your settings. The information provided by your browser does not identify you personally. We use this information to create statistics that help us improve our sites and make them more compatible with the technology used by our Internet visitors.
2. Information Collected By Placing a “Cookie” On Your Computer
COLE may obtain information about you by installing a “tag” on your computer’s hard drive. This tag is known as a “cookie.” If you do not wish to receive cookies, you may set your browser to reject cookies or to alert you when a cookie is placed on your computer. Although you are not required to accept cookies when you visit a COLE Internet Site, you may be unable to use all of the functionality of the site if your browser rejects our cookies.
3. Information You Knowingly and Voluntarily Provide
COLE collects the information you knowingly and voluntarily provide when you use a COLE Internet Site, for example, the information you provide when you sign up to receive email alerts, when you complete a subscription or classified ad form, or when you ask us a question or email us with feedback. In many cases this information will be personal information. COLE uses this information for the purposes for which you provide it. For example, if you provide your e-mail address when you sign up to receive e-mail alerts, we use your e-mail address to deliver the e-mail alerts you request.
We may also use the information we collect on COLE Internet Sites for various business purposes such as customer service, fraud prevention, market research, improving our products and services, and providing you and your company with information and offers we believe may be of interest to you. We may also remove all the personally identifiable information and use the rest for historical, statistical or scientific purposes.
Many of the COLE Internet Sites permit you to make choices about the use of your personal information. In most cases, we ask you to indicate your choices at the time and on the page where you provide your personal information.
When opting into a COLE newsletter or voluntarily providing your contact information through this site or other means, you are acknowledging that COLE may send you additional correspondence on behalf of third parties. In this case, your private information is not shared or disseminated, but is sent by COLE on behalf of the the third party.
4. Other Ways Your Information May be Shared
COLE offers vendors/advertisers the opportunity to post sponsored content. In certain and rare situations when you take an action toward choosing to view that content, such as clicking on a web link identified as sponsored, or clicking through a sponsored e-newsletter advertisement or post, your information may be shared with the sponsoring vendor as a person who has interest in that type of product or service.
Sharing Personal Information
COLE will not sell personal information collected from its Internet sites to mailing list brokers.