What information do we collect?
How do we use it?
This privacy policy describes the information we collect about you and how we use and share this information. We and our affiliates and subsidiaries may share this information, including any personally identifiable information that you provide, for the purposes described in “How does the Signal Awards use the information it collects?” This privacy policy also describes the choices available to you regarding the use of your personal information, and the steps you can take to access this information and to request that we correct or delete it.
The following information about you is collected for several different services and website functions as outlined below:
CALL FOR ENTRIES
When you submit an entry(ies), we need to know your name, email address, phone number, mailing address, URL, company, title, client (if applicable) and credit card information (if applicable). This allows us to process and fulfill your order and notify you if you are honored for an award.
Signal Newsletter
When you sign up for the Signal Newsletter, we collect only an email address to deliver the requested information.
CONTESTS AND PROMOTIONAL FEATURES
When you enter a contest or other promotional feature, we may ask for your name, address, and email address so we can administer the contest and notify winners. In some cases, we offer you the opportunity to receive information about new services, special offers and other news that you might find valuable. To receive such notifications, you must opt-in to be added to the distribution list by consenting to the terms of our privacy policy and the use of your information as set forth in the privacy policy. If at any time you choose to opt-out of receiving such notifications, you may do so by unsubscribing from the link at the bottom of a notification or by sending your request to: kari@signalaward.com.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
We also collect the following technical information about you when you visit our website: modem speed, login id, password, the prior website you visited, the following website you visit, the time you spend browsing the site, the number of banner advertisements you click, keyword searches you conduct, your IP (Internet Protocol) address, your browser type, your operating system, your computer type, your Internet service provider and time stamps.
We may use this personal information to improve our services to you and to customize your browsing experience. Because www.signalaward.com merely links to—and does not publish—content supplied by third parties or generally available on the Internet, www.signalaward.com is not responsible for information collected by these third parties, or for any information gathered by third-party advertising companies through the use of banner ads. We recommend that you read the privacy policy of other sites you may link to from our site.
How can you edit your personal information?
You may change your personal information at any time by emailing Kari Gillenwater at kari@signalaward.com and describing the changes you would like to make.
How does Signal Awards protect and store customer information?
When you place an order or access your account information, we provide a secure server with secure server software (SSL) that encrypts all information you input before it is sent to us. All of the customer data we collect is protected against unauthorized access using industry-standard methods to secure our electronic databases.
Our servers and offices are located in the United States and Europe, so your information may be transferred to, stored, or processed in the United States and Europe. While the data protection, privacy, and other laws of the United States might not be as comprehensive as those in your country, we take many steps to protect your privacy. By using our website, you understand and consent to the collection, storage, processing, and transfer of your information to our facilities in the United States by the entities described in this privacy policy, including Recognition Media, LLC as data controller. We may share some or all of your information with our current or future “affiliates” (which means a parent company, any subsidiaries, joint ventures, or other companies under common control), in which case we will require our affiliates to honor this privacy policy. We will take reasonable steps to ensure that such information is treated lawfully.
A cookie—a small text file placed on a user’s hard drive—is generated by a software application on a site’s server. We use temporary session cookies to assign to you and store a SessionID on all secure pages, including in the voting system for The People’s Voice Awards to enable you to vote during multiple sessions. These cookies allow you to move uninterrupted between areas of our secure site. This SessionID is not personally identifiable to you and this type of cookie does not leave any retrievable information on your hard drive. We also use a third party service provider to collect non-personally identifiable IP addresses and entry-point and search form information to monitor the number of visitors to the site and the usage of our site. This is done through the use of both permanent and session cookies.
We use a session cookie on our site to determine whether or not you are accepting cookies. Most Web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can change your browser to prevent that. Even without a cookie, you can still use most of the features on our site.
HOW DOES SIGNAL AWARDS USE THE INFORMATION IT COLLECTS?
When you sign up for and use the services, you consent to your information being collected, used, disclosed, transferred and stored by us and our service partners as described in this privacy policy. Additionally, when you opt-in to receive emails from us, you acknowledge having read and having consented to the terms and conditions of our privacy policy. We may use, disclose and share your information, including your personally identifiable information, with our subsidiaries and affiliates worldwide, only for the following purposes:
- To promote use of our services to you and others. For example, if we collect your information when you visit our website and do not sign up for any of the services, we may send you an email inviting you to sign up. If you use any of our services and we think you might benefit from using another service we offer, we may send you an email about that. In addition, we may use the information we collect in order to advertise our services to you or suggest additional features of our services that you might consider using. In addition, we may use your information to advertise our services to potential or other users like you. You can stop receiving our promotional emails by following the unsubscribe instructions included in every email we send.
- To provide the services we offer. We use third parties (including contractors and service providers) to provide targeted mailing and advertising services. We may share your information with such third parties solely for the purposes of obtaining services from such third parties. When we share your information with these third parties, we take steps to protect your information by requiring these third parties to enter into a contract with us that requires them to use the information we transfer to them in a manner that is consistent with this policy.
- To send you informational and promotional content in accordance with your marketing preferences from Signal Awards and partners. You can stop receiving our promotional emails by following the unsubscribe instructions included in every email.
- To send you alert messages. For example, we may inform you of temporary or permanent changes to our services, such as new contests or events, abuse warnings, and changes to our privacy policy.
- To respond to your comments and questions, to communicate with you about your account, and to provide customer support.
- To enforce compliance with our terms and conditions or protect our business, partners or customers. This may include developing tools and algorithms that help us prevent violations.
- To meet legal requirements, including complying with court orders, valid discovery requests, valid subpoenas, and other appropriate legal mechanisms.
- To provide information to representatives and advisors, including attorneys and accountants, to help us comply with legal, accounting, or security requirements.
Data retention and erasure
Information we collect may be retained for as long as needed to fulfill legitimate business purposes, or for a period of time specifically required or allowed by applicable regulation or laws. If you no longer want us to use your information to provide services to you, you can withdraw your consent or request that we erase your information by contacting kari@signalaward.com. Please note that if you request erasure of your information, we may retain some of your information as necessary for our legitimate business interests, such as fraud detection and prevention, and to comply with our legal obligations. We will respond to your request to exercise these rights within a reasonable time (and in all cases within 30 days of receiving a request).
We do not store your credit/debit card information on our servers and only use such information to complete your transactions on the website. All credit/debit card transactions are processed by our third party payment processor, Authorize.net
Safety of Minors
Our services are not intended for and may not be used by minors. “Minors” are individuals under the age of 13 (or under a higher age if permitted by the laws of their residence). We do not knowingly collect personal data from Minors or allow them to register. If it comes to our attention that we have collected personal information from a Minor, we may delete this information without notice. If you have reason to believe that this has occurred, please contact kari@signalaward.com.
Notice of Breach of Security
If a security breach causes an unauthorized intrusion into our system that materially affects your information, then we will notify you as soon as possible and later report the action we took in response.
Do-Not-Track Procedures
Note that any Do-Not-Track instructions from your browser or similar mechanism will not affect our collection of the data that you voluntarily provide to us through such means as browsing our website, signing up for any of the services, or entering personal information on our website.
Privacy Shield
We store European customer information on our servers located in the United States. We comply with the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework and the Swiss-US Privacy Shield Framework as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information transferred from the European Union and Switzerland to the United States, respectively. We have certified to the Department of Commerce that we adhere to the Privacy Shield Principles. If there is any conflict between the terms in our privacy policy and the Privacy Shield Principles, the Privacy Shield Principles shall govern. To learn more about the Privacy Shield program, and to view our certification, please visit https://www.privacyshield.gov/.
Under the Privacy Shield Framework, we are subject to the authority of the Federal Trade Commission. If you have any questions or concerns relating to our Privacy Shield certification, contact us via email at kari@signalaward.com. If we are not able to resolve your concern, you may also contact your European Data Protection Authority or Commission or seek assistance from our designated Privacy Shield independent recourse mechanism, JAMS, at https://www.jamsadr.com/eu-us-privacy-shield. In certain circumstances, you may also have the right to pursue binding arbitration through the Privacy Shield Framework, as described in Annex I to the Privacy Shield Principles.
(1) If we have received your personal information under the Privacy Shield and subsequently transfer it to a third party service provider for processing as described in this privacy policy, we will remain responsible if these providers process your personal information in a manner inconsistent with the Privacy Shield Principles, except where we can establish that we were not responsible for the violation.To prosecute and defend a court, arbitration, or similar legal proceeding.
(2) To respond to lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements.
(3) To transfer your information in connection with a sale, merger, consolidation, liquidation, reorganization, acquisition, or related negotiation. If we decide to sell, buy, merge or otherwise reorganize our business, this may involve us disclosing your information to prospective or actual purchasers and their advisers. If such transactions are consummated, they may include, but not be limited to, the sale or transfer of all or substantially all of our assets, including, but not limited to, our email distribution list and your personally identifiable information.
Finally, we may provide aggregate statistics about our customers, sales, traffic patterns, and related site information to reputable third-party service providers. These statistics will not include any personally identifiable information.
Your Consent
We encourage you to review our privacy policy often to stay informed of changes that may affect you, as your continued use of our website and/or receipt of notifications after opting-in signifies your consent to be bound by this privacy policy. 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.
Your thoughts?
Signal Awards welcomes your questions and comments about privacy. You may contact us at: kari@signalaward.com