Silica.news - Privacy Policy

Effective Date: 5/25/18

This Privacy Policy statement is made by Silica.news ("Silica.news", "we", "us" or "our") and is effective as of 25th May 2018. Here at Silica.news, we are committed to you and to protecting your privacy rights. We are committed to fulfilling our responsibilities under the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR") in relation to the collection, retention, use, and other processing of personal data that is obtained when EU data subjects visit and interact with the Site. We may use it to periodically inform you about changes on our Web Site and new products and services. We do not sell, trade or rent your personal information to any person or entity not authorized by or associated with us.

Silica.news' Privacy Commitment

Silica.news asks for only the least amount of information necessary, gathering only what we believe is essential for doing business, or for the specific transaction at hand. We let customers know the information we have on them and allow them to opt out of specific engagements.

The goal of this policy is to make explicit the information we gather on our customers and users, how we will use it, and how we will not. This policy is unfortunately longer than we would like, but we must unambiguously address all the relevant cases. We will try and keep the language simple and direct as much as possible.

Scope of this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to the products and services provided by Silica.news through these websites, our mobile applications, and applications posted by Silica.news on Silica.news' websites. This Privacy Policy does not apply to any of our websites, products or services that have a separate privacy policy.

This Privacy Policy is divided into two parts:

Part I – Information Silica.news collects and controls

This part deals with how Silica.news collects and uses information about website visitors, potential customers, users of Silica.news products and services, and others who contact Silica.news through forms or email addresses published on or linked to our websites.

Part II – General

This part deals with topics that are relevant to other general topics such as Silica.news security commitments and how we will inform you when we change this Privacy Policy.

Part I – Information Silica.news collects and controls

What information Silica.news collects

We collect information about you only if we need the information for some legitimate purpose. Silica.news will have information about you only if (a) you have provided the information yourself or (b) Silica.news has automatically collected the information. Below we describe the various scenarios that fall under each of those three categories and the information collected in each one.

Information that you provide us

1. Account signup: When you sign up for an account to access one or more of our services, we ask for information such as your name and email address to complete the account signup process. You may also be required to choose a unique username and a password for accessing the created account.
2. Summit registrations and other form submissions: We record information that you submit when you (i) register for any event such as webinars or seminars, (ii) subscribe to our newsletter or any other mailing list, (iii) submit a form in order to download ebooks, whitepaper, or other materials, (iv) participate in contests or respond to surveys, or (v) submit a form to request customer support or to contact Silica.news for any other purpose.
3. Payment processing: When you buy something from us, we ask you to provide your name, contact information, and credit card information or other payment account information. When you submit your card information, we store the name and address of the cardholder, the expiry date and the last four digits of the credit card number. We do not store the actual credit card number. For quick processing of future payments, if you have given us your approval, we may store your credit card information or other payment information in an encrypted format in the secured servers of our Payment Gateway Service Providers.
4. Testimonials: When you authorize us to post testimonials about our products and services on websites, we may include your name and other personal information in the testimonial. You will be given an opportunity to review and approve the testimonial before we post it. If you wish to update or delete your testimonial, you can contact us.
5. Interactions with Silica.news: We may record, analyze and use your interactions with us, including email, telephone, and chat conversations with our sales and customer support professionals, for improving our interactions with you and other customers.

Information that we collect automatically

1. Log files: Like most standard website servers, we use log files. This includes internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the site, track user's movement in the aggregate, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. IP addresses, etc. are not linked to other personally identifiable information.
2. Cookies and Other Similar Technologies: Technologies such as cookies or similar technologies are used by Silica.news. These technologies are used in analyzing trends, administering the site, and to gather demographic information about our user base as a whole.

How We Use Cookies and Other Similar Technologies

To improve the user experience of our Site, Silica.news may use the following "cookies".

Provider	Purpose
Disqus	To enable comment and discussion features on our website.
Vimeo	To enable functionality with video features.
Facebook Connect	To enable functionality with social media features.
Pinterest	To enable functionality with social media features.
Twitter Button	To enable functionality with social media features.
SteemIt	To enable functionality with social media
Mewe	To enable functionality with social media
Gab.ai	To enable functionality with social media

Purposes for using information

In addition to the purposes mentioned above, we may use your information for the following purposes:

• To communicate with you (such as through email) about products that you have downloaded and services that you have signed up for, changes to this Privacy Policy, changes to the Terms of Service, or important notices;
• To keep you posted on new products and services, upcoming events, offers, promotions and other information that we think will be of interest to you;
• To ask you to participate in surveys, or to solicit feedback on our products and services;
• To set up and maintain your account, and to do all other things required for providing our services, such as enabling collaboration, providing website and mail hosting, and backing up and restoring your data;
• To understand how users use our products and services, to monitor and prevent problems, and to improve our products and services;
• To provide customer support, and to analyze and improve our interactions with customers;
• To detect and prevent fraudulent transactions and other illegal activities, to report spam, and to protect the rights and interests of Silica.news, Silica.news' users, third parties and the public;
• To update, expand and analyze our records, identify new customers, and provide products and services that may be of interest to you;
• To analyze trends, administer our websites, and track visitor navigations on our websites to understand what visitors are looking for and to better help them;
• To monitor and improve marketing campaigns and make suggestions relevant to the user.

Your choice in information use

Opt out of non-essential electronic communications: You may opt out of receiving newsletters and other non-essential messages by using the 'unsubscribe' function included in all such messages. However, you will continue to receive notices and essential transactional emails.

Disable cookies: You can disable browser cookies before visiting our websites. However, if you do so, you may not be able to use certain features of the websites properly.

Optional information: You can always choose not to fill in non-mandatory fields when you submit any form linked to our websites.

Who we share your information with

We do not sell any personal information. We share your information only in the ways that are described in this Privacy Policy, and only with parties who adopt appropriate confidentiality and security measures.

Employees and independent contractors: Employees and independent contractors of all Silica.news group entities have access to the information covered in Part I on a need-to-know basis. We require all employees and independent contractors of Silica.news group entities to follow this Privacy Policy for personal information that we share with them.

Third-party service providers: We may need to share your personal information and aggregated or de-identified information with third-party service providers that we engage, such as marketing and advertising partners, event organizers, web analytics providers and payment processors. These service providers are authorized to use your personal information only as necessary to provide these services to us.

Your rights with respect to information we hold about you as a controller

If you are in the European Economic Area (EEA), you have the following rights with respect to information that Silica.news holds about you.Silica.news undertakes to provide you the same rights no matter where you choose to live.

Right to access: You have the right to access (and obtain a copy of, if required) the categories of personal information that we hold about you, including the information's source, purpose and period of processing, and the persons to whom the information is shared

Right to rectification: You have the right to update the information we hold about you or to rectify any inaccuracies. Based on the purpose for which we use your information, you can instruct us to add supplemental information about you in our database.

Right to erasure: You have the right to request that we delete your personal information in certain circumstances, such as when it is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was originally collected.

Right to restriction of processing: You may also have the right to request to restrict the use of your information in certain circumstances, such as when you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.

Right to data portability: You have the right to transfer your information to a third party in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, in circumstances where the information is processed with your consent or by automated means.

Right to object: You have the right to object to the use of your information in certain circumstances, such as the use of your personal information for direct marketing.

Right to complain: You have the right to complain to the appropriate supervisory authority if you have any grievance against the way we collect, use or share your information. This right may not be available to you if there is no supervisory authority dealing with data protection in your country.

Retention of information

We retain your personal information for as long as it is required for the purposes stated in this Privacy Policy. Sometimes, we may retain your information for longer periods as permitted or required by law, such as to maintain suppression lists, prevent abuse, if required in connection with a legal claim or proceeding, to enforce our agreements, for tax, accounting, or to comply with other legal obligations. When we no longer have a legitimate need to process your information, we will delete or anonymize your information from our active databases. We will also securely store the information and isolate it from further processing on backup discs until deletion is possible.

Part II – General

Children's personal information

Our products and services are not directed to individuals under 13. Silica.news does not knowingly collect personal information from children who are under 13 years of age. If we become aware that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, we will take steps to delete such information. If you believe that a child under 13 years has provided personal information to us, please write us with the details, and we will take the necessary steps to delete the information we hold about that child.

How secure is your information

At Silica.news, we take data security very seriously. We have taken steps to implement appropriate administrative, technical & physical safeguards to prevent unauthorized access, use, modification, disclosure or destruction of the information you entrust to us. If you have any concerns regarding the security of your data, we encourage you to write to us at with any questions.

Locations and international transfers

By accessing or using our products and services or otherwise providing personal information or service data to us, you consent to the processing, transfer, and storage of your personal information or Service Data within the United States of America, the European Economic Area (EEA) and other countries where Silica.news operates. Such transfer is subject to a group company agreement that is based on EU Commission's Model Contractual Clauses.

External links on our websites

Some pages of our websites may contain links to websites that are not linked to this Privacy Policy. If you submit your personal information to any of these third-party sites, your personal information is governed by their privacy policies. As a safety measure, we recommend that you not share any personal information with these third parties unless you've checked their privacy policies and assured yourself of their privacy practices.

Blogs and forums

We offer publicly accessible blogs and forums on our websites. Please be aware that any information you provide on these blogs and forums may be used to contact you with unsolicited messages. We urge you to be cautious in disclosing personal information in our blogs and forums. Silica.news is not responsible for the personal information you elect to disclose publicly. Your posts and certain profile information may remain even after you terminate your account with Silica.news. To request the removal of your information from our blogs and forums, you can contact us.

Social media widgets

Our websites include social media widgets such as Twitter "tweet" buttons that let you share articles and other information. These widgets may collect information such as your IP address and the pages you navigate in the website, and may set a cookie to enable the widgets to function properly. Your interactions with these widgets are governed by the privacy policies of the companies providing them.

Disclosures in compliance with legal obligations

We may be required by law to preserve or disclose your personal information and service data to comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request, including to meet national security requirements.

Enforcement of our rights

We may disclose personal information and service data to a third party if we believe that such disclosure is necessary for preventing fraud, investigating any suspected illegal activity, enforcing our agreements or policies, or protecting the safety of our users.

Compliance with this Privacy Policy

We make every effort, including periodic reviews, to ensure that personal information you provide is used in conformity with this Privacy Policy. If you have any concerns about our adherence to this Privacy Policy or the manner in which your personal information is used, kindly write to us. We'll contact you, and if required, coordinate with the appropriate regulatory authorities to effectively address your concerns.

Your consent

By using our Web Site, you consent to the collection and use of information by us as set forth in this privacy statement. We reserve the right to modify, alter or otherwise update our privacy policy, and we will post those changes on this page so that you will always be aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what limited circumstances we disclose it. Continued access or use of the Web Site shall constitute your express acceptance of any modifications, alterations or updates to this privacy statement. However, please note that unless we obtain your express consent, any revised Privacy Policy will apply only to information collected after such time as the revised Privacy Policy takes effect. If at any point we decide to use Personally Identifiable Information in a manner different from that stated at the time it was collected, we will notify you by way of email and you will then have a choice whether or not we can use such information in this different manner. If you are concerned about how your personal information is used, you should check this page periodically.

Contact Information

If you have any questions regarding our privacy policy, please contact us.