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stuart
24-04-2004, 08:45 PM
PRIVACY POLICY

This web site ("Web Site") is owned by VWAudi Forum ("VWAudi Forum" or "VWAF" "we" or "us"). VWAudi Forum respects the privacy of its users, and this Privacy Policy explains what information we collect on our Web Site and how we use such information. Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. In addition, please review our Terms of Use, which governs your use of this Web Site. Your use of our Web Site indicates to us that you have read and accept our privacy practices, as outlined in this Privacy Policy.

Please read in conjunction with our GDPR statement found in this BLOG POST (http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/entry.php/293-GDPR-Regulations-and-details-held-and-used-by-the-website)

This Privacy Policy Only Applies to This Web Site

Please note that this Privacy Policy only applies to this Web Site. While on our Web Site, you may encounter links to other web sites or online material. If you "click" on a link to such a third party, the "click" takes you off our Web Site and to a third party’s web site, which is beyond VWAudi Forum’s control. These other web sites may set their own cookies, collect data, and/or have their own privacy policies. This Privacy Policy only covers information collected at this Web Site, and does not cover any information collected by any other Web Site or offline by VWAudi Forum (unless specifically stated), its affiliates or any other site, and we encourage you to review the privacy policy of any other web site you visit.

In addition, please note that this Privacy Policy does not apply to any information you may disclose publicly in any chat rooms, message boards, or similar web pages. You should keep in mind that whenever you publicly disclose information about yourself online – for example, via message boards or chat rooms – that information could be collected and used by people that you do not know. In addition, certain message boards and similar user forums may display IP addresses along with the message poster’s name and message. VWAudi Forum bears no responsibility for any action or policies of any third parties who collect any information users may disclose on the message boards, chat areas or other user forums, if any, on this Web Site.

Information VWAudi Forum Collects

Personally Identifiable Information: Generally, you may browse our Web Site without providing us with personally identifiable information about yourself, which is information that could reasonably be used to identify you personally (such as your name, address, birth date or e-mail address), which we refer to as "Details." However, there may be times when we ask you to provide us with certain Detail, such as when you choose to register with our Web Site and/or for newsletters. We may also ask you to provide us with demographic information or information regarding your interests, hobbies or similar information. VWAudi Forum reserves the right, at any time, to add features to our Web Site that require you to register or otherwise provide Detail, or to require registration to access our Web Site. You can choose not to provide certain information, but then you may not be able to take advantage of or participate in many of the Web Site’s features. We may combine the information we collect with information available from other sources, including information received from promotional partners or other third parties.

We may provide you the opportunity to e-mail a friend an article, electronic greeting card or other special feature from our Web Site. The e-mail addresses you supply us for those activities will be used to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send you or your friend any other e-mail communications.

This Web Site does not knowingly collect Details from children under thirteen (13) years of age: This is not a web site directed to children under the age of 13, and VWAudi Forum does not knowingly collect any information from children under 13 years of age at this Web Site. If you are under 13 years of age, do not send any information about yourself to VWAudi Forum. If VWAudi Forum discovers that a child under the age of 13 has provided this Web Site with Details, VWAudi Forum will delete that child’s Details from its system.

Anonymous Information: When you visit this Web Site, our web servers automatically collect web site usage information. Web site usage information is anonymous information that describes how our visitors use and navigate our Web Site, and it includes the number and frequency of visitors to each web page and the length of their stays. We collect the anonymous information automatically sent to us by your web browser, such as browser type, referrer data that identifies the web page visited prior and subsequent to visiting our Web Site, and IP address. We also may determine what technology is available through your browser in order to serve you the most appropriate version of a web page. For example, we may determine that you have installed a version of Flash, and we will then send you the appropriate Flash version of the web page rather than an HTML page.

IP Addresses: An IP address is a number that is assigned to your computer or network when you are on the Internet. When visitors request pages from our Web Site, our servers log the visitor’s IP address. We may collect IP addresses for a variety of internal purposes, such as system administration, to report aggregate information to our site partners or to audit the number of visits to different pages on our Web Site. Please note that some services within our Web Site, such as certain message boards, may display IP addresses along with the message poster’s name and message.

Cookie Policy: Cookies are information files that our Web Site may place on your computer to provide extended functionality and to personalize your experience at our Web Site. We may use cookies for a number of purposes. For example, we may use cookies to track usage patterns on the Web Site and we may use cookies when we conduct polls and sweepstakes to limit multiple responses and registrations. Or, we may use cookies to record registration and personalization information, enabling you to save your user name and password. We do not store any PII in cookies, but we may link the cookie to any information we collect. You can, of course, disable cookies on your computer by indicating this in the preferences or options menus in your browser, please see you browser HELP section for details how to do this, or you should consult with your browser’s provider/manufacturer if you have any questions regarding disabling cookies. However, it is possible that some parts of the Web Site will not operate correctly if you disable cookies..

In addition to the cookies left by the site shown above, the site makes use of Google Analytics to help track traffic and usage information about the site. Details collected include, location (Country/Town), pages visited, length of time on site, browser or device used, search words used etc. For more details of Google Analytics please visit http://www.google.com/analytics/ (http://www.google.com/analytics/)

The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google's behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above.

Other products used on the site which may leave cookies are, Facebook, Skimlinks & Google adverts, which are both services which provide revenue to the site when a member clicks on an advert under the title of "Google Adverts" or on any highlighted words in posts. These are provided by outside companies not connected with VW Audi Forum. For there privacy policy see Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/), Skimlinks (http://skimlinks.com/privacy-policy) and Google (http://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/)

No personal identifiable information will be used or knowingly collected by the site.

If you have any questions regarding the sites use of cookies, please email stuart@vwaudiforum.co.uk (stuart@vwaudiforum.co.uk)

Please visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/ to assist in opting out of Google products.

If you view your browser "cookie information" you should see the following cookies left my the site. Should you wish to block one or all of these please see your browser help file. If you do choose to block these your usage of the site will be effected. These relate to: -

1. Google Adverts & Analytics
2. Your Forum/Website login detail
3. Facebook integration used by the site

If you have your browser set to "delete cookies when exiting" all these will be removed from your computer

http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/images/misc/cookies.jpg

How do I change my cookie settings:

Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.aboutcookies.org (https://www.briskoda.net/forums/cookies/www.aboutcookies.org) or www.allaboutcookies.org. (https://www.briskoda.net/forums/cookies/www.allaboutcookies.org)

To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout (https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout).

VWAudi Forums Use and Disclosure of Collected Information

VWAudi Forum: VWAudi Forum may use your Details to provide the information or content you have requested, to contact you about, features or services, or for other purposes disclosed at the time of collection. We may also use your Details to contact you regarding your use of our Web Site or changes to our Privacy Policy, Terms of Use or other policy or terms that affect you and your use of our Web Site. If you e-mail someone else an article, electronic greeting card or other special feature from our Web Site, we will use the information you provide about someone else to send that person the requested e-mail. VWAudi Forum may use information collected about our users to improve the content and navigation of our Web Site, or for other internal purposes.

VWAudi Forum does not rent, sell or otherwise disclose your Details to third parties unless disclosed to you at the time such information is collected or unless you otherwise give consent, other than in the following limited circumstances:

Legal action. VWAudi Forum may disclose information about its users, including Details, when legally required to do so, at the request of governmental authorities conducting an investigation, to verify or enforce compliance with the policies governing our Web Site and applicable laws, or to protect against misuse or unauthorized use of our Web Site. VWAudi Forum may also disclose user information whenever we believe disclosure is necessary to limit our legal liability, to protect or defend our rights or property or protect the safety, rights or property of our users.

Security

VWAudi Forum takes steps to secure the data you submit to us, including limiting the number of people who have physical access to our user data. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Therefore, VWAudi Forum cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to VWAudi Forum and you do so at your own risk.

Genuine Email or Spam?

VW Audi Forum and it's Administration will make every effort to stamp out any form of spam emails sent via the site by members, companies and/or via "Spoof" emails. "Spoof" emails are sent by a third party who has cloned or "spoofed" a VW Audi Forum email address which unfortunatly the site has no real control over.

Should you receive any email from a "@vwaudiforum.co.uk" email address that looks to containg spam, please report and forward the email IN FULL to abuse@vwaudiforum.co.uk so the issue can be investigated and rectifed as soon as possible.

The ONLY emails you will receive from the site are:-

1. Regular newsletters sent from the site Administration (Providing you have this feature set in the "USERCP" of the site). Full "Unsubscribe" details are shown in all genuine emails sent by the site.
2. Notifications of new replied to posts you have made, emails from other members, and notificatons of "Private messages" (Providing you have this feature set in the "USERCP" of the site)

Please be assured we do not tolerate any form of spam, we will act when notified.

Hotmail Account Users Only:

VW Audi Forum is now a Hotmail Junk Email Reporting Partner. MSN/Hotmail will block any IP address that is used to send emails to Hotmail email account users if it is reported enough as "junk mail" by the email account holder... This will effect any email or notification sent by the site, as well as stopping members activating new accounts.

As a member of this service, VW Audi Forum receives a message every time an email is marked as Spam/Junk by a Hotmail account holder. This allows us to see if it is genuine abuse, or just a member that reports us as a spammer so no longer want emails from the site. If it is the latter the account will be deleted from VW Audi forum without warning or contact as full instructions are provided in all emails to unsubscribe, so there is no need to report the site.

IF you are a Hotmail account holder, wish to remain a valid member of the site, and receive emails from the site, please DO NOT report the email as junk unless you want your account deleted.. This will apply to ALL MEMBERS regardless of how long they have been a member, how many posts they have or when they last visited the site.

This applies to any Hotmail, Live, MSN, Outlook email address provided by Microsoft/MSN

Acceptance

By using this Web Site, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy. VWAudi Forum reserves the right to modify, alter or otherwise update this Privacy Policy at any time. We will post any changes here, so be sure to check back from time to time. However, we will only use the Details you provide to this Web Site in a manner consistent with this Privacy Policy, unless you give us your consent.

Contact Us

If you have any questions, comments or concerns about our Privacy Policy, please contact us at stuart@vwaudiforum.co.uk (stuart@vwaudiforum.co.uk)

This Privacy Policy was last updated on April 21st 2016 © 2004 - 2016 VWAudi Forum. All rights reserved.

stuart
23-10-2006, 08:22 PM
Additional Feature

As of 23rd October 2007, the Website and Forum Administrator (Stuart) has the ability to log into any members account with OR without the members permission.

This is to enable the forum administrator to take control of your account to diagnose any problems members may have with there account without you having to email your password.

This does not invade your privacy, or enable me to post on your behalf using your name.

stuart
31-08-2015, 11:59 AM
These new adverts will appear above the current top sponsor banners and only display if/when a post/comment you make warrants the advert to appear.

Below you will see the additional privacy policy regarding these adverts and information collected to allow the system to work.

If you have any questions please email stuart@vwaudiforum.co.uk


Data Protection Notice

Research Project „Tailored Advertising“

Within the research project „Tailored Advertising“, Symanto Research Verwaltungs- GmbH & Co. KG (hereinafter referred to as „Symanto“) operates an ad serving- and targeting system for a direct customer.

This prototype system shall contribute to improving the site experience of users on the respective forums by avoiding the presentation of inappropriate contents, but displaying targeted and tailored advertising media.

- Cookies -

Symanto uses “cookies” to display advertising media according to the user‘s interest.

Cookies are small pieces of data that are stored on the user’s computer and make it possible to recognise the user when reconnecting to the server. Cookies are stored in the form of letters and numbers that do not contain any personal data.

- Content Analysis -

Symanto can carry out analysis on clearly visible contents provided by the user (such as text or assignment to forums and sub forums).

User names will be analysed only in hashed IDs which cannot be reassigned to the user name.