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MUNICHfound.com

Privacy Concerns

Terms & Conditions & MUNICHfound Privacy Policy

Last Updated on May 10, 2011

This Privacy Policy discloses the privacy practices for MUNICHfound Online (referred as MFonline)

In this Privacy Policy, you will find answers to the following questions:

Please note, our Web sites may contain links to other Web sites for your convenience and information. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of those sites. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of any company before submitting your personal information.


IS THERE AN EXCHANGE OF DATA WITH GOOGLE AND FACEBOOK?


Google Analytics, Google AdSense, Facebook "Like"-button

MUNICHfound.com has integrated the services of third-party suppliers, such as Google Analytics, Google AdSense or the Facebook "Like"-button into its Web site. To that end Google Inc., for example, applies DoubleClick DART-Cookies and may be using information concerning your visit to this or other Web sites in order to activate advertisements for products and services that may be of your interest. The information about your journey on the Web site generated through Cookies, including your IP-address, will be transferred to a Google server in the USA and saved there. If necessary, Google may also transfer the collected data to third parties, if required by law or if third parties process the data on order of Google. Google Inc. declares, that on no account you IP-address will be brought together or combined with other Google data. Google Inc. participates in the Safe Harbor program of the European Union and the United States of America. Information transferred within the framework of these services do not include your name, your address, your email-address or your telephone number.

If you do not wish the application of DoubleClick DART-Cookie, please click here (http://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/answer.py?answer=54048) and deactivate it with the assistance of Opt-Out Cookie of DoubleClick.

We point out that use of the "Like"-button of Facebook on MFonline allows data exchange between MUNICHfound.com and the Facebook profile of a visitor—if such a profile is existent.



WHAT INFORMATION DO WE GATHER ABOUT YOU?


The information we gather falls into two categories: 1) personal information you voluntarily supply when you subscribe, order, complete a survey, register for an online discussion, enter a contest or provide your e-mail address and 2) tracking information collected as you navigate through our sites.

Personally Identifiable Information

Registration for our Web sites

Anyone can view our sites, but a free registration process is required to access the full range of information and services offered across our different sites.

MFonline requires that you supply a unique e-mail address and demographic information (zip code/PLZ, age, sex,  to register. By using MFonline, you are agreeing to these  terms. Reading certain articles may requre your user ID and password.

Booking classifieds or ads with MFonline requires that you supply your full name, address,  e-mail address, credit card number or other billing information to process the  request.

Contests, Sweepstakes and Special Offers:
On occasion, MFonline collects personal information from readers in connection with optional sweepstakes, contests or special offers. If this information is to be shared with a third party other than MFonline we will notify you at the time of collection. If you do not want any personal information shared, you may always decline to participate in the sweepstakes, contest or special offer.

Reader Surveys, Reader Panels and Market Research
MFonline may collect personal information from readers in connection with voluntary surveys. Data may be collected on our Web sites or by e-mail.The information you provide in answer to optional survey questions may be shared, but only in the aggregate, with advertisers and partners unless we notify you otherwise at the time of collection.

Special Events and Promotions
We often receive information regarding readers who may attend Times Talks, Arts & Leisure Weekend and other MFonlineSpecial Events and Promotions. Such information will be used as indicated at the time of collection.

Cookies and Other Technologies
As is standard practice on many Web sites, MFonline uses “cookies” and other technologies to recognize you and provide personalization, as well as to help us understand which parts of our Web sites are the most popular, where our visitors are going and how much time they spend there. Users who do not accept cookies from the domain "www.munichfound.com“ cannot access most areas of our sites.
We reserve the right to place a MFonline cookie on your computer with a unique anonymous number to ensure that your browser does not see the same ad over and over again, to sequence ads in a series and to measure the number of unique visitors that have viewed a particular ad or visited a particular Web page.

The MFonline site also transmits Web site usage information about visitors to the servers of a reputable third party for the purpose of targeting our Internet banner advertisements on other sites. To do this, we use Web Beacons and cookies provided by our third-party ad server on this site. The information collected and logged on our behalf through this technology is not personally identifiable. For more information about our third-party ad server, or to learn your choices about not having this non-personal information used to target ads to you, please click here.

MFonline logs IP (Internet Protocol) addresses, or the location of your computer on the Internet, for systems administration and troubleshooting purposes. We use the IP address log in an aggregate fashion to track access to our site.
Log data is only used in aggregate to analyze usage of our Web.


WHAT DO WE DO WITH THE INFORMATION WE GATHER ABOUT YOU?


Statistical Analysis
MFonline may perform statistical, demographic and marketing analyses of  registered users   for product development purposes and to generally inform advertisers about the nature of our subscriber base. We also use such information to allow advertising to be targeted, in aggregate, to the users for whom such advertising is most pertinent. MFonline may share personal information with MunichFound Verlag e.K. for analysis purposes, including analysis to improve customer relationships.

Products and Services from  MFonline
From time to time, we may provide subscribers with information and offers about other products and services offered by MunichFound Verlag, including subscriptions and other premium products and services. This information will only be shared internally. If you do not wish to receive such information and offers, you may opt-out.

Banner Advertising
We may use demographic and preference information to allow advertising on our Web sites to be targeted, in aggregate, to the users for whom they are most pertinent. This means users see advertising that is most likely to interest them, and advertisers send their messages to people who are most likely to be receptive, improving both the viewer's experience and the effectiveness of the ads. We will disclose information to third parties only in aggregate form.

User Generated Content (Comments, Forums and Reader Reviews)
We offer Forums (message boards) as well as the option to provide comments (on blogs & articles) and post reader reviews in a number of areas throughout MFonline. Any information you disclose when posting a message in these areas, along with your screen name or ID, becomes public and may be used by MFonline for online and offline promotional or commercial uses in any and all media. If you chose to post comments on this Web site, you should be aware that any personally identifiable information you submit there can be read, collected, or used by other users of these areas, and could be used to send you unsolicited messages. We are not responsible for the personally identifiable information you choose to submit in these forums.

E-Mail Newsletters
If you choose to receive them, MFonline will periodically send you e-mail newsletters or promotional e-mail about services offered by MFonline and its advertisers. For details about MFonline e-mail, please see the next section, “What Is Our E-mail Policy?”.


WHAT IS OUR E-MAIL POLICY?


MFonline complies fully with the federal CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 and the German  Datenschutzgesetz. We will not share, sell, rent, swap or authorize any third party to use your e-mail address without your permission. If you feel you have received an e-mail from us in error, please contact customerservice@munichfound.com

Account and Service-Related E-mail:
MFonline reserves the right to send you e-mail relating to your account status. This includes order confirmations, renewal/expiration notices, notices of credit-card problems, other transactional e-mails and notifications about major changes to our Web sites and/or to our Privacy Policy. If you have registered for online discussions or other services, you may receive e-mail specific to your participation in those activities.

E-mail Newsletters: MFonline offers an e-mail newsletter. If you no longer wish to receive it,  follow the "unsubscribe" instructions located near the bottom of each newsletter.

Promotional E-mail:
If you choose to receive them, MFonline may periodically e-mail you messages about products and services that we think may be of interest to you. You can choose not to receive messages in the future by either (1) following the "unsubscribe" instructions located near the bottom of each e-mail, or (2) you can opt-out.

From time to time, MFonline may obtain e-mail addresses from third party sources to be used for promotional e-mails. You can choose not to receive messages in the future by either (1) following the "unsubscribe" instructions located near the bottom of each e-mail, or (2) you can opt-out.

Survey E-mail: We may send you an e-mail inviting you to participate in user surveys, asking for feedback on MFonline  and existing or prospective products and services, as well as information to better understand our users. User surveys greatly help us to improve our Web site, and any information we obtain in such surveys will not be shared with third parties
HTML E-mail: When you sign up to receive e-mail from us, you can select either plain text or HTML (with images) format. If you select the HTML format, we may place a one-pixel gif to determine whether or not readers viewed the e-mail. This process does not leave any information on your computer, nor does it collect information from your computer.

E-mails From You: If you send us e-mails, you should be aware that information disclosed in e-mails may not be secure or encrypted and thus may be available to others. We suggest that you exercise caution when deciding to disclose any personal or confidential information in e-mails. We will use your e-mail address to respond directly to your questions or comments.

E-mail "Tell a Friend" Feature: MFonline readers may use this feature to send links to articles to others through e-mail. The e-mail address(es) that you supply to this service will only be used to send the requested article.


WITH WHOM DO WE SHARE THE INFORMATION THAT WE GATHER?


MunichFound Verlag e.K.
If you have registered with MF online, we  will not sell, rent, swap or authorize any third party to use your e-mail address or any information that personally identifies you without your permission. We do, however, share information about our audience in aggregate form.

Service Providers
We contract with other companies to provide services on our behalf, including credit-card and billing processing, e-mail distribution, list processing and analytics or promotions management. We provide these companies only with the information they need to perform their services. These service providers are restricted from using this data in any way other than to provide services for MFonline, and they may not share or resell this data.
We reserve the right to disclose your opt-out information to third parties so they can suppress your name from future solicitations, in accordance with applicable laws. We may occasionally release personal information as required by law, for example, to comply with a court order or subpoena.


HOW DO I CHANGE OR UPDATE MY PERSONAL ACCOUNT?


If you should  require assistance, please mail to customerservice@munichfound.com.
Manage your MFonline account at our Member Center: You may review and update your MFonline membership or account information.


IS MY INFORMATION PROTECTED?


Data Security: To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy and ensure the appropriate use of information, we have put in place physical, electronic and managerial procedures to protect the information we collect online. When you enter sensitive information (such as a credit card number) on our order forms, we encrypt that information using secure socket layer technology (SSL).



OTHER INFORMATION: Compliance with Legal Process


We may disclose personal information if we are required to do so by law or we in good faith believe that such action is necessary to (1) comply with the law or with legal process; (2) protect and defend our rights and property; (3) protect against misuse or unauthorized use of our Web sites; or (4) protect the personal safety or property of our users or the public (among other things, this means that if you provide false information or attempt to pose as someone else, information about you may be disclosed as part of any investigation into your actions).


OTHER INFORMATION: Children's Guidelines


COPPA Compliance:  MFonline does not knowingly collect or store any personal information, even in aggregate, about children under the age of 13.


OTHER INFORMATION: Changes to This Policy


This Privacy Policy may be amended from time to time. Any such changes will be posted on this page. If we make a significant or material change in the way we use your personal information, the change will be posted on this page thirty (30) days prior to taking effect and registered users will be notified via e-mail.
Go to The MFonline Terms & Conditions & Privacy Policy link, placed under the bottom navigation on  our website.


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