WHERE MINDS CONVERGE

aecKnowledge Privacy Policy (effective as of January 1, 2013)

We recognize that your privacy is very important and take it seriously. This Privacy Policy describes aecKnowledge's policies and procedures on the collection, use and disclosure of your information when you use the aecKnowledge Site. We will not use or share your information with anyone except as described in this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy does not apply to information we collect by other means (including offline) or from other sources. Capitalized terms that are not defined in this Privacy Policy have the meaning given them in our Terms of Service.

Information Collection and Use

aecKnowledge uses information we collect to analyze how the Site is used, diagnose service or technical problems, maintain security, personalize content, remember information to help you efficiently access your account, monitor aggregate metrics such as total number of visitors, traffic, and demographic patterns, and track User Generated Content and users as necessary to comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and other applicable laws.

User-Provided Information

You provide us information about yourself, such as your name and e-mail address, if you register for a member account with the Site. Your name and other information you choose to add to your profile will be available for public viewing on the Site. We may use your email address to send you Site-related notices (including any notices required by law, in lieu of communication by postal mail). You can control receipt of certain Site-related messages on your Settings page. We may also use your contact information to send you marketing messages. If you do not want to receive such messages, you may opt out by following the instructions in the message. If you correspond with us by email, we may retain the content of your email messages, your email address and our responses.

You also provide us information in User Generated Content you post to the Site. Your questions, answers, and discussions about or contributions to kTalks, Requests for Knowledge, Continuing Education courses, kResources and other contributions to the Site, and metadata about them (such as when you posted them), are publicly viewable on the Site, along with your name (unless the Site permits you to post anonymously). This information may be searched by search engines and be republished elsewhere on the Web in accordance with our Terms of Service.

If you choose to use our invitation service to invite a friend or colleague to the Site, we will ask you for that person's email address and automatically send an email invitation. aecKnowledge stores this information to send this email, to register your friend if your invitation is accepted, and to track the success of our invitation service.

Cookies

When you visit the Site, we may send one or more "cookies" -- small data files - to your computer to uniquely identify your browser and let aecKnowledge help you log in faster and enhance your navigation through the site. A cookie may convey anonymous information about how you browse the Site to us, but does not collect personal information about you. A persistent cookie remains on your computer after you close your browser so that it can be used by your browser on subsequent visits to the Site. Persistent cookies can be removed by following your web browser's directions. A session cookie is temporary and disappears after you close your browser. You can reset your web browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, some features of the Site may not function properly if the ability to accept cookies is disabled.>

Log Files

Log file information is automatically reported by your browser each time you access a web page. When you use the Site, our servers automatically record certain information that your web browser sends whenever you visit any website. These server logs may include information such as your web request, Internet Protocol ("IP") address, browser type, referring / exit pages and URLs, number of clicks, domain names, landing pages, pages viewed, and other such information.

Clear GIFs Information

When you use the Site, we may employ clear GIFs (also known as web beacons) which are used to track the online usage patterns of our users anonymously. No personally identifiable information from your aecKnowledge account is collected using these clear GIFs. In addition, we may also use clear GIFs in HTML-based emails sent to our users to track which emails are opened by recipients. The information is used to enable more accurate reporting and make aecKnowledge better for our users.

Third Party Services

aecKnowledge may use Google Analytics, Mixpanel or other services to help understand use of the Site. Those services collect the information sent by your browser as part of a web page request, including cookies and your IP address, also receive this information and their use of it is governed by their privacy policies.

How We Share Your Information

  • Personally Identifiable Information
    aecKnowledge may share your personally identifiable information with third parties for the purpose of providing the Site to you. If we do this, such third parties' use of your information will be bound by this Privacy Policy. We may store personal information in locations outside the direct control of aecKnowledge (for instance, on servers or databases co-located with hosting providers).
    As we develop our business, we may buy or sell assets or business offerings. Customer, email, and visitor information is generally one of the transferred business assets in these types of transactions. We may also transfer or assign such information in the course of corporate divestitures, mergers, or dissolution. You are given the ability to "opt-out" of third party information sharing. Unless you "opt-out", we may share your personally identifiable information to third parties who provide products and services and that either serve as knowledge sponsors to content provided on the Site or that we believe users would be interested in purchasing or receiving more information about.
    We may share or disclose your information, such as if you choose to sign on to the Site through a third-party service. We cannot control third parties' use of your information.
    aecKnowledge may disclose your personal information if required to do so by law or subpoena or if we believe that it is reasonably necessary to comply with a law, regulation or legal request; to protect the safety of any person; to address fraud, security or technical issues; or to protect aecKnowledge's rights or property.
  • Non-Personally Identifiable Information
    We may share non-personally identifiable information (such as anonymous usage data, referring/exit pages and URLs, platform types, number of clicks, etc.) with interested third parties to help them understand the usage patterns for certain aecKnowledge services.
    aecKnowledge may allow third-party ad servers or ad networks to serve advertisements on the Site. These third-party ad servers or ad networks use technology to send, directly to your browser, the advertisements and links that appear on aecKnowledge. They automatically receive your IP address when this happens. They may also use other technologies (such as cookies, JavaScript, or web beacons) to measure the effectiveness of their advertisements and to personalize the advertising content. aecKnowledge does not provide any personally identifiable information to these third-party ad servers or ad networks without your consent. However, please note that if an advertiser asks aecKnowledge to show an advertisement to a certain audience and you respond to that advertisement, the advertiser or ad server may conclude that you fit the description of the audience they are trying to reach. The aecKnowledge Privacy Policy does not apply to, and we cannot control the activities of, third-party advertisers. Please consult the respective privacy policies of such advertisers for more information.

How We Protect Your Information

aecKnowledge uses commercially reasonable physical, managerial, and technical safeguards to preserve the integrity and security of your personal information. We cannot, however, ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to aecKnowledge or guarantee that your information on the Site may not be accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed by breach of any of our physical, technical, or managerial safeguards.

In the event that aecKnowledge becomes aware that personal information is compromised as a result of a breach of security, aecKnowledge will promptly notify those persons whose personal information has been compromised, in accordance with the notification procedures set forth in this Privacy Policy, or as otherwise required by applicable law.

Your Choices About Your Information

You may, of course, decline to submit personally identifiable information through the Site, in which case aecKnowledge may not be able to provide certain services to you. You may update or correct your account information and email preferences at any time, including your "opt-out" preferences, by logging in to your account.

Children's Privacy

Protecting the privacy of young children is especially important. aecKnowledge does not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from anyone under the age of 13 or knowingly allow such persons to register with the Site. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under age 13 without verification of parental consent, we take steps to remove that information.

Links to Other Web Sites

We are not responsible for the practices employed by websites linked to or from the Site, nor the information or content contained therein. Please remember that when you use a link to go from the Site to another website, our Privacy Policy is no longer in effect. Your browsing and interaction on any other website, including those that have a link on our website, is subject to that website's own rules and policies.

Changes to Our Privacy Policy

If we change our privacy policies and procedures, we will post those changes on this page to keep you aware of what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances we may disclose it. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.

If you have any questions about our practices or this privacy policy, please contact us at privacy@aecKnowledge.com, or send mail to: aecKnowledge Inc., 142 Almonte Boulevard, Mill Valley, CA 94941.