Privacy - E-ChannelNews.com

TechnoPlanet Privacy Policy

As new compliance regulations like GDPR take effect, there is a global shift towards better and more transparent protection of all personal data. Something that is long overdue! Protecting your privacy has always been very important to us and we have been doing that right from day one.

Basically you should always know how your data is being collected and used. You must always have full transparency and control over how we use and protect your data. If you are not satisfied for any reason whatsoever, you may unsubscribe and we will permanently delete all of your information from our system including our Backup. The actual complete flushing of your data from our Backup system may take up to 6 months as we overwrite all of our staggered archive data over time. In the rare case, if we do have to restore data as part of a disaster recovery process, it is possible that your information may be restored onto our live systems. Since our policy is to simply delete your information within 24 hours of your request (most times it is done in real time) we do not keep any record of your information. As such, if we have to restore from our Backup data, it is possible that your information will be restored. We are currently developing a process whereby we can identify your request and run an update to remove again from our Backup restored data. If we do have to restore our data for any reason, we will notify all subscribers immediately with the first communication. In the worst-case scenario, another unsubscribe may be required. This have never happened before in our history, but since the possibility is there, we are making this disclosure.

In general, most of our web sites are strictly for informational purposes only and do not require any information from you to view. We only request to enter your information when contacting us through the contact form, which is then deleted from the web server once the communications are completed.

Typically we reply to your inquiry directly via e-mail or by phone and therefore no further information is ever retained on the web server. On some of our web sites you can set up an account and have login access to manage your subscription (which is always SSL secure to encrypt your data). If you ever have to submit payment information to attend an event or subscription, it will be through a well-known secured payment transactional third-party provider like PayPal. If you have to register to attend an event, it done by organizations like Cvent that also follows strict compliance regulations. If you have to register to webinars, it is down through organizations like Go To Meeting that follows strict compliance regulations. All of our websites are hosted by tier-1 data centres that monitors and logs all activities 24/7 as well as protect from security breaches. All organizations that we choose to use for these activities comply with all legal regulations on a global level and we encourage you to review their privacy policies. It is the main reason why we use their services. These organizations’ policies prevent them from using your information without our permission or your permission and since we never ever grant any such permission, they are not allowed to use your information.

With more governmental compliance regulations, the penalties are now much more severe if organizations disobey these regulations. We welcome this! Rest assured that we are always monitoring for security breaches and our news media division will always call this out. We strive to keep your personal information confidential at all times. We never share your data with anyone unless it is for an event that you have subscribed to a specific vendor.

This document outlines exactly how we handle your personal information.

Are we GDPR compliant?

We have always been compliant to a high level of protection, privacy and use of all data that we collect from our users. GDPR is yet another regulation that makes it more clear as to how every organization can use and manage all customer data. We also have similar regulations when it comes to using data in Canada. We welcome all such regulations, as we firmly believe that protecting the privacy, use and security of everyone who is part of our community is an absolute right of the user. We are constantly dissecting compliance issues like the GDPR guidelines and since we are in the technology industry, we are well connected to many leading GDPR compliant experts.

There are many more aspects to the latest GDRP regulations but here are some of the fundamentals as it pertains to our business in the technology industry:

The collection of all personal data must be authorized by the user and documentation of such must be kept as proof of consent. For TechnoPlanet, the user would have to register to one or more of our services including subscription to our newsletters, events and/or surveys. If information is gathered through a phone call, the date, time and notes recorded from the user will act as proof of consent. We do reach out the potential prospects through their web sites, contact forms and other contact information including e-mail addresses that they have published on their public website. We have been in compliance to a similar CASL law in Canada since July 1, 2014.
The use of all such personal data must be clear and transparent to the user. We outline our use of such data in this privacy policy and if any different, we always include information on the actual registration page where the user will be subscribing and submitting to the specific service.
The personal data and its access must be safe guarded from security breaches. Websites must be protected from potential intrusions and data must be secured through encryption-type functionality. Protection must be applied to all points where user data lives or moves. These systems must be monitored and documented and improved to the latest standards.
Personal data cannot be shared for any purpose that is not specifically outlined in the privacy policy without the consent of the user and that consent must be documented and proof provided on demand.
Notify user of any security breach to their data within 72 hours of incident.
Have an assigned data protection officer or service provider who is adequately qualified to maintain a proper level of security to the systems and to ensure that all employees are aware of their obligations under the law to comply with the privacy and data protection regulations. On-going security assessments are to be performed and adjustments made to maintain and update the latest protection of the data.
Respond promptly to the users with regards to their inquiries about their personal data.
Prevent data from being transferred to any third-party for any other intended propose. We have never done this and will never do this. When user subscribes to our service for a specific reason, their data is use solely for that purpose. For example to attend a specific event or a webinar. When we do events on behalf of any company, it is clearly stated and understood that the company will be receiving the user registration information and that will be governed by that company’s privacy policy.
Users can withdraw their consent at anytime by simply unsubscribing to our services. Upon this notification, their data will be immediately and permanently deleted from our system.

Why we collect information

TechnoPlanet collects and uses your personal information to give you the most personalized and convenient access to our information delivery services. In specific, we use your personal information to keep you up to date on the latest IT news, vendor information, product announcements, and other information we think you’d like to hear about—all related to the computer industry targeting the channel. From time to time, we may also use your personal information to contact you to participate in a market research survey, so that we can gauge customer satisfaction and develop better services. We have never sold any data to any third party organization and we never will.

How we collect information

We ask you for your contact information and interests when you subscribe to publications of TechnoPlanet or when you correspond with us, register to attend a webinar or event, or participate in an online survey. Typically your personal information will only include your name and e-mail address and/or additional contact information that you may prefer us to use to connect with you.

When we disclose information

We never disclose your information to any third-party company whatsoever. Your information is always directed only to the specific purpose to which you subscribe such as a webinar or event or specific inquiry. At times we may be required by law or legal process to disclose your personal information. We may also disclose information about you if we believe that disclosure is necessary for public security.

How we protect your information

TechnoPlanet safeguards the security of the data you send us with physical, electronic, and managerial procedures. For security purposes, we do not disclose this process in greater detail, but we are firm believers that data should not be accessible through the web on a permanent basis. As such, we push and store data to secure off-line servers with restricted and monitored access by our internal employees. This is not new. This is how we have always managed data.

We urge you to take every precaution to protect your personal data when you are on the Internet. Change your passwords often, use a combination of letters, numbers and symbols, and make sure you use a secure browser and have adequate security protection applications activated and kept up to date. A multi-layered approach to security protection is best and we have a lot of information about security related issues that you may review on our news media portal www.e-channelnews.com.

Unsubscribing to TechnoPlanet lists

If you have unsubscribed to any TechnoPlanet list, your information will permanently deleted from that list in our system and you will never be contacted in the future (usually we will send you one final e-mail stating that your record has been deleted from our system to show you that we have fulfilled your unsubscribe instructions). The only way to continue to receive information form TechnoPlanet is to re-subscribe. With our without any privacy laws, it simply make no sense to send anyone any information if that person is not interested.

Collecting other personal information (Use of “COOKIES”)

When you browse a TechnoPlanet website, you are able to do so anonymously. Like many websites, the TechnoPlanet websites use “cookie” technology. When you first connect to our site, the cookie identifies your browser with a unique, random number. The cookies we use do not reveal any personal information about you. Cookies help us understand which parts of our websites are the most popular, where our visitors are going, and how long they spend there. We use cookies to study traffic patterns on our site so we can make the site better.

In some of our email to you, we use a “click-through URL.” When you click one of these URLs, you pass through our web server before arriving at the website that is your destination. We track the click-through to help us determine your interest in particular topics and measure the effectiveness of our customer communications. Remember you can and should always clear your browser history and cache to stop all tracking technologies by any organization. TechnoPlanet does not track which sites you visit before, during or after visiting any TechnoPlanet website and we never will.

Our commitment to privacy

To make sure your personal information remains confidential, we communicate these privacy guidelines to every TechnoPlanet employee. TechnoPlanet’s website may contain links to other third party sites. TechnoPlanet does not share your personal information with those websites and is not responsible for their privacy practices. We encourage you to learn about the privacy policies of those companies before you continue browsing their websites.

It is a rare occasion, but we may modify our privacy policy from time to time so please review before browsing for any changes.

Last updated May 1, 2018.