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PRIVACY
POLICY – APPLIANCES ONLINE
Your
privacy on the Internet is of the utmost importance to us. At
Appliances Online, we want to make your experience online satisfying
and safe.
Because
we gather certain types of information about our users, we feel
you should fully understand our policy and the terms and conditions
surrounding the capture and use of that information. This privacy
statement discloses what information we gather and how we use
it.
Appliances
Online gathers two types of information about users:
Information
that users provide through optional, voluntary submissions. These
are voluntary submissions to receive our electronic newsletters
and from participation in polls and surveys:
Information Appliances Online gathers through aggregated tracking
information derived mainly by tallying page views throughout our
sites. This information allows us to better tailor our content
to readers' needs and to help our advertisers and sponsors better
understand the demographics of our audience. Under no circumstances
does Appliances Online divulge any information about an individual
user to a third party.
Appliances Online Gathers User Information In The Following Processes:
1.
Electronic newsletters policy (Dispatches)
We
will offer a free electronic newsletter to users. Appliances Online
gathers the email addresses of users who voluntarily subscribe.
Users may remove themselves from this mailing list by following
the "Manage Subscription" link provided in every newsletter
that points users to the subscription management page.
2.
"E-mail this to a friend" policy
Our
site users can choose to electronically forward a link, page,
or documents to someone else. The user must provide their email
address, as well as that of the recipient. This information is
used only in the case of transmission errors and, of course, to
let the recipient know who sent the email. The information is
not used for any other purpose.
3.
Surveys
Appliances
Online may occasionally conduct user surveys to better target
our content to our audience. We never share any of this information
about specific individuals with any third party.
Children
Consistent
with the Federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998
(COPPA), we will never knowingly request personally identifiable
information from anyone under the age of 13 without requesting
parental consent.
Usage
tracking
Appliances
Online tracks user traffic patterns throughout all of our sites.
However, we do not correlate this information with data about
individual users. Appliances Online does break down overall usage
statistics according to a user's domain name, browser type, and
MIME type by reading this information from the browser string
(information contained in every user's browser).
Appliances
Online sometimes tracks and catalogs the search terms that users
enter in our Search function, but this tracking is never associated
with individual users. We use tracking information to determine
which areas of our sites users like and don't like based on traffic
to those areas. We do not track what individual users read, but
rather how well each page performs overall. This helps us continue
to build a better service for you.
Cookies
We
may place a text file called a "cookie" in the browser
files of your computer. The cookie itself does not contain Personal
Information although it will enable us to relate your use of this
site to information that you have specifically and knowingly provided.
But the only personal information a cookie can contain is information
you supply yourself. A cookie can't read data off your hard disk
or read cookie files created by other sites. Appliances Online
uses cookies to track user traffic patterns (as described above).
You
can refuse cookies by turning them off in your browser. If you've
set your browser to warn you before accepting cookies, you will
receive the warning message with each cookie. You do not need
to have cookies turned on to use this site. However, you do need
cookies to participate actively in message boards, forums, polling
and surveys.
USE
OF INFORMATION
Appliances
Online uses any information voluntarily given by our users to
enhance their experience in our network of sites, whether to provide
interactive or personalised elements on the sites or to better
prepare future content based on the interests of our users.
As
stated above, we use information that users voluntarily provide
in order to send out electronic newsletters and to enable users
to participate in surveys. We send out newsletters to subscribers
on a regular schedule (monthly), and occasionally send out special
editions when we think subscribers might be particularly interested
in something we are doing. Appliances Online never shares newsletter
mailing lists with any third parties, including advertisers, sponsors
or partners.
When
we use tracking information to determine which areas of our sites
users like and don't like based on traffic to those areas. We
do not track what individual users read, but rather how well each
page performs overall. This helps us continue to build a better
service for you. We track search terms entered in Search function
as one of many measures of what interests our users. But we don't
track which terms a particular user enters.
Appliances
Online creates aggregate reports on user demographics and traffic
patterns for advertisers, sponsors and partners. This allows our
advertisers to advertise more effectively, and allows our users
to receive advertisements that are pertinent to their needs. Because
we don't track the usage patterns of individual users, an advertiser
or sponsor will never know that a specific user clicked their
ad. We will not disclose any information about any individual
user except to comply with applicable law or valid legal process
or to protect the personal safety of our users or the public.
SHARING
OF THE INFORMATION
Appliances
Online uses the above-described information to tailor our content
to suit your needs and help our advertisers better understand
our audience's demographics. We will not share information about
individual users with any third party, except to comply with applicable
law or valid legal process or to protect the personal safety of
our users or the public.
SECURITY
Appliances
Online operates secure data networks protected by industry standard
firewall and password protection systems. Our security and privacy
policies are periodically reviewed and enhanced as necessary and
only authorised individuals have access to the information provided
by our customers.
OPT-OUT
POLICY
We
give users options wherever necessary and practical. Such choices
include:
Opting
not to register to receive our electronic newsletters.
Opting not to participate in certain interactive areas, which
completely alleviates the need to gather any personally identifiable
information from our users
YOUR CONSENT
By
using this site, you consent to the collection and use of this
information by Appliances Online. If we decide to change our privacy
policy, we will post those changes on this page so that you are
always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and
under what circumstances we disclose it.
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