1. IDG Connect ONLINE PRIVACY POLICY
The IDG Connect website and associated sites are maintained by:
IDG Communications, Inc.
5 Speen St.
Framingham, MA 01701
U.S.A.
Information collected by IDG Connect
IDG Connect collects personally identifying information and data about individuals, their company, and their company’s demographics (“personal information”) including (i) when you provide information to IDG Connect, such as when you register or sign up for any of our products such as publications, subscriptions, e-mails, contests, newsletters, memberships, RSS Feeds, content delivery via sms text or other technologies, webcasts, White Papers, online seminars, conferences and other communications with IDG Connect, (ii) when you register or sign up on the IDG Connect website or when you register for any other IDG Publishing Network products individually or through “auto register”, your personal information will be known to IDG Connect and (iii) from time to time we may add other information that we collect from third party sources to enhance and/or update the information that you provided to IDG Connect.
The ways IDG Connect may use and/or share certain personal information is described below (“Use of Information by IDG Connect”).
Scope of Policy and Storage of Information
Below is the current policy regarding the usage of personal information collected by IDG Connect. By registering, you agree that except as otherwise described in this policy, your personal information will be maintained and managed in the United States and that it may be shared with third parties in accordance with this policy. It may also be processed by our vendors, who may be located in the United States or outside of the United States, and who may perform services for us, including fulfillment of your order, and payment processing. By submitting your personal information, you agree to this transfer, storing or processing. We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this privacy policy.
Policy Changes
We reevaluate this policy on an ongoing basis based on feedback from readers. IDG Connect reserves the right to change its privacy policy. However, if there are any changes to the use of personal information that is different from that stated at the time of collection, we will notify you by posting a notice on our website.
Cookies
IDG Connect or one of our IDG affiliated companies, or third party partners may place online tracking technology such as a “cookie” in the browser files of a user’s computer. A cookie is a small piece of information sent by a web server to a web browser, which enables the server to collect information from the browser.
We use cookies to identify you when you visit our website and to keep track of your browsing patterns and build up a demographic profile.
Our use of cookies also allows registered users to be presented with a personalized version of the site, carry out transactions and have access to information about their account.
The cookie itself does not contain any person information, except when such information has been supplied by a subscriber or registered user. In addition, cookies may be placed in the browser files of a user’s computer by a third party advertiser, and may be used by the advertiser to collect web viewing data to serve further online interest-based advertising, also known as online behavioral advertising.
If you have registered with IDG Connect, the information in your “cookie” may be used to provide a more personalized experience on our website.
If you haven’t registered with our website, we may place a cookie on your system to help provide a more personalized experience on our website. This cookie identifies you as a unique user by means of a tracking ID. However, if you have not registered on our website, we cannot link that user ID with person information about you such as your name or e-mail address.
Other cookies without person information may be used to enable IDG Connect to manage the banner advertisements that may be presented or personalized information to the user. For example, pixel tags may be provided by our ad-serving company to help manage online advertising. These clear GIFS let our ad-serving company recognize a browser’s cookie when a user visits our website.
The aggregated information we collect is used for a number of purposes including the following:
- to improve the content and design of the IDG Connect website
- to enable our audit bureau to verify our claims of traffic to the website
- to help advertisers, potential advertisers or marketers assess the suitability of the site for their ad campaigns
- to understand more about the interests of our customers and to offer goods and services we believe may be of interest to our customers, on behalf of IDG Connect, its sister IDG companies, or select organizations.
Browsers or third-party software can allow you to block the use of cookies while you surf our site. If you want to know how to do this, please look at the menu on your browser, or visit www.allaboutcookies.com for more information about cookies and how you can turn them off. Or, you can use third-party “anonymizer” services to mask information in your cookies, or even general data such as your IP address. In such cases you would not be able to take advantage of most of the personalization services offered by IDGConnect.com.
Use of Information by IDG Connect
Postal Addresses. Postal addresses, and other person information and data will be used to promote IDG Connect and other IDG companies ‘ products and services, and may be rented and/or licensed to selected outside firms for promotional purposes. Offers for which the personal information and data are rented and/or licensed for use and the users are required to target their offers carefully.
Telephone Numbers. Telephone numbers of IDG Connect subscribers are used by IDG Connect to collect re-qualification data and may be used by IDG Connect, IDG and other IDG companies, affiliates and its advertisers for promotional purposes. IDG Connect may rent and/or license for use phone numbers to select outside firms for promotional purposes. Offers for which the numbers are rented and/or licensed for use are required to target their offers carefully.
Mobile Numbers. Mobile telephone numbers that are provided to IDG Connect, will be used to provide the products and services you’ve specifically requested, such as, but not limited to content delivery via sms text or other technologies, and for customer service related to the products and services you’ve requested. With your express consent, your mobile telephone number may be used to promote other products and services of IDG Connect, as well as the products and services of other IDG companies. Further, your mobile phone number may, with your express consent, be used to promote the products and services of carefully chosen third parties. Because many phone companies recycle phone numbers, it is possible for users who purchase a new phone to receive messages that the previous owner had subscribed to or otherwise consented to receive.
Fax Numbers. Fax numbers of IDG Connect subscribers may be collected by IDG Connect and used to collect re-qualification data, and may be used for surveys for IDG Connect and third parties. Except as set forth in this policy no fax numbers are rented and/or licensed to outside firms.
Email Addresses. Email addresses of IDG Connect subscribers are used for re-qualification purposes. These email addresses may also be used to collect feedback by members of our editorial or research team, to promote IDG Connect and IDG products and services, and they may be rented to other firms and/or licensed for promotional purposes. When you provide your email address to us, you agree to receive email from IDG Connect and its sister IDG companies, and the IDG Network. We allow users to “opt-out” of receiving e-mail from outside firms, however, when e-mail information is collected and with each e-mail use of the user’s address you can individually “opt-out” of receiving further e-mail from outside firms, IDG Connect, its sister IDG companies and the IDG Network. If a user does not choose to “opt-out” at the time the e-mail address is collected, or does not respond to the questions concerning how we may use their email address, the address may be rented and/or licensed for use to outside firms. Offers for which the e-mail address is rented and/or licensed for use require the users to target their offers carefully. For more information about how to change your preferences, please see “Changing Your Preferences” below.
Third Party Content
IDG Connect makes available a large library of content provided to us by third parties. In return for access to this content, we may ask that you provide us with personal information. Once you have submitted your information, you will have access to the full library of third party content and will not be asked to provide that information again (unless you disable or otherwise modify your cookies). When accessing content contributed by a third party, your person information may be shared with those third parties, and the information will be governed by those parties’ privacy policies as well as ours. IDG Connect, nor its parent company, nor any of its subsidiaries or affiliates, does not bear any responsibility for any actions or policies of such third parties. If you do not wish to have your information shared with a third party, please do not access third party content on our website.
IDG Connect users should be aware that when they disclose personal identifying information in discussion forums, chat rooms or other areas that are publicly accessible by others, that information can be collected and used by others and may result in unsolicited messages from other posters or parties. IDG Connect nor its parent company or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates are not responsible for any information that you provide in the above areas.
Changing Your Preferences.
Users who later decide they want to opt-out of receiving communications from IDG Connect via one or all of the methods described above (see: Use of Information by IDG Connect), or otherwise change their preferences may do so by contacting customerservice@idgconnect.com. In addition, at any time you may “opt-out” of receiving communications via your mobile phone or email by clicking the unsubscribe link of any individual message you may receive.
If you request that we terminate your registration and/or cancel your account, IDG Connect will delete your personal data that we have in our records.
Transfer of Information by IDG Connect
In the event that part or all of the ownership of IDG Connect or any of its products are sold or transferred, all lists and data which contains person information including for example user name, address, company name, telephone number, demographic information, buying information, other data and e-mail address, will be transferred to the new owner.
2. IDG PUBLISHING NETWORK ONLINE REGISTRATION PRIVACY POLICY
Below is the current policy regarding the usage of personally identifying information and data collected by the IDG Publishing Network. We reevaluate this policy on an ongoing basis based on feedback from readers. The IDG Publishing Network reserves the right to change its privacy policy. However, if there are any changes to the use of personal information that is different from that stated at the time of collection, we will notify you by posting a notice on our website.
About the IDG Publishing Network
The International Data Group, Inc. (IDG) family of on-line and print publications consists of hundreds of award-winning titles including Computerworld, CIO, CSO, IDG Connect, Infoworld, Network World, Macworld and PC World. The IDG Publishing Network is a growing collection of IDG web sites that presently includes computerworld.com, cio.com, csoonline.com, IDGConnect.com, infoworld.com, networkworld.com, macworld.com and pcworld.com. A complete listing is available at www.idg.com. To access restricted content on any IDG Publishing Network web site you must be a member of the IDG Publishing Network. To become a member of the IDG Publishing Network, you need to provide certain information about yourself. Any of the IDG Publishing Network sites may use this personal information for internal analytical and business development purposes and, to send you email. However, other forms of communication, including postal mail, may be directed to you pursuant to the site’s specific privacy policy, as may be updated from time to time.
You can “opt-out” of receiving further email by clicking the appropriate links that appear at the bottom of any email you receive. If you do not want to receive other types of communication, including as applicable, postal mail, from the editor and publisher of the site, please refer to the site’s privacy policy for the procedure to follow.
The IDG Publishing Network is intended for individuals over the age of 13 years old. Personal information may not be provided by anyone under 13 years of age. Further, no one under 13 years old may participate in the forums or chat rooms or any other areas where public discussions may take place. In addition no one under the age of 18 may conduct any transactions for the purposes or purchasing or selling any items. Parents should be sure that their children are not conducting any of the above activities on the IDG Publishing Network.
If you have any questions or comments regarding the IDG Publishing Network or its use of information please send email to postmasterhelp@idgcommunications.com, or write to us at IDG Publishing Network, C/O Customer Service, TSG, IDG Communications, Inc., 5 Speen St., Framingham, MA 01701 U.S.A.
LAST UPDATED: July 11, 2012