Konnech® collects information from our website users, subscribers and other customers. In this section of our Privacy Statement, we describe the type of information we collect and how we use it to provide better services to our customers.
Registration and Ordering
Some Services may be subject to additional posted rules, policies and terms. When you use those Services, you and KONNECH® shall be subject to those additional conditions, which are incorporated by reference into these TOS (and, consequently, form part of your agreement with us). Other Services may be governed by different usage terms (for example, different usage terms apply to users of our Konnech.com Internet site). In the event of an inconsistency between these TOS and any additional posted conditions or separate usage terms, the provisions of the additional conditions and/or separate usage terms shall control.
For our services that require payment (such as certain events, products and services), we also collect credit card information (such as account name, number and expiration date), which is used for our or our agent's billing purposes only, and is not otherwise shared.
E-mail Newsletters
If users wish to subscribe to our e-mail newsletters, we ask for contact information (such as name, e-mail address and, occasionally, demographic information). We use this information in the same manner as we use contact information in the registration and ordering process described above. Recipients of our newsletters can unsubscribe using the instructions listed at the end of the e-mail newsletter.
Surveys and Contests
From time to time we invite web site users and other customers to provide information via surveys or contests. Participation in these surveys or contests is completely voluntary and the website user or other customer therefore has a choice whether to disclose requested contact information (such as name and mailing address) and demographic information (such as zip code or job title). In addition to the other uses set forth in this policy, contact information collected in connection with surveys and contests is used to notify the winners and award prizes and to monitor or improve the use of, and satisfaction with the website or other Konnech® product or service. Subject to the given customer's preferences (as described in the "Permission" section below), such information also may be shared with third party sponsors of such surveys or contests.
Interactive Features
At some of our sites, we offer interactive and community features such as discussion boards, webcasts and user profiles. Note that all personal information sent or posted via such features becomes public information for which we are not responsible.
Tell-A-Friend
If customers elect to use our referral service for informing a friend about our sites and services, we may ask them for the friend's name, job title and e-mail address. Konnech will store and use this information to send the friend an invitation. This information may also be used to provide information about our company and related products and services. The friend may contact us as specified in the tell-a-friend message to request that no further communications be sent.
Communications with Us
We have features where our customers can submit information to us (such as our feedback forms). Where such submissions include requests for service, support or information, we may forward them to our agents, as needed, to best respond to the specific request. In addition, we may retain e-mails and other information sent to us for our internal administrative purposes, and to help us to serve customers better. Please note that letters to the editor and similar submissions may be made public.
Communications from Us: Service Updates, Special Offers
In order to best serve our customers, we may send updates that contain important information about our products and services. For example, we send new members a welcoming message, and verify password and username for our password-protected web sites. We may also communicate with a customer to provide requested services and for account-related issues via e-mail, phone or regular mail. In addition to such service and product-essential messages, we offer our customers the option to receive information about our company, related products, services and special deals. Users, however, can choose not to receive these communications from us, as set forth in the "Permission" section below.
Automatic Data Collection
Our web sites, newsletters and, from time to time, certain other products and services have features that automatically collect information from customers, to deliver content specific to customers' interests and to honor their preferences. This information assists us in creating products and services that will serve the needs of our customers.
Now we do not use "cookies? a piece of data stored on the user's hard drive containing information about the user. However, we will use cookies since they benefit the user by requiring login only once, thereby saving time while on our web site. If users reject the cookies, they may be limited in the use of some areas of our web site. For example, the user may not be able to participate in sweepstakes, contests or drawings. Additionally, we may note some of the pages the user visits on our web sites and via our email newsletters through the use of pixel tags (also called clear gifs) and web beacons. The use of cookies, pixels and web beacons enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our sites and via our email newsletters.
We also use an email delivery and marketing company to send emails (including newsletters) for which you have registered (or otherwise agreed to receive). Web beacons and cookies may be used in such email messages to help us measure the effectiveness of our advertising and how customers use our web sites and other products and services.
For our internal purposes, we gather date, time, browser type, navigation history and IP address of all visitors to our web sites. This information does not contain anything that can identify users personally. We use this information for our internal security audit log, trend analysis and system administration, and to gather broad demographic information about our user base for aggregate use.
We may combine demographic information supplied by a customer at registration with web site usage data to provide general profiles, in aggregate non-personally identifiable form, about our customers and their preferences in the content of the site and advertising. We may share this composite information with our advertisers and business affiliates to help them better understand our services.