This Privacy Policy applies to QingdaoChinaGuide.com (along with all subsidiaries, affiliates, successors and assigns thereof, referred to hereinafter collectively as “QingdaoChinaGuide.com”, “we”, “our” and/or “us”), our websites, subdomains, and services. By visiting this or another QingdaoChinaGuide.com website displaying this Privacy Policy or a link thereto (a “Website”, or collectively the “Websites”), or by otherwise interacting with QingdaoChinaGuide.com, you agree to accept the practices described in this Privacy Policy. For questions on this Privacy Policy please contact our customer support via the contact information found on this Website (“About Us”).
Qingdao China Guide has provided this privacy policy because we value your right to privacy. This policy governs the collection of personal information through this website. This policy describes the types of information Qingdao China Guide collects from its users and how that information is used. Please read this policy carefully before providing us with any personal information.
Information collected
Unregistered users:
We encourage you to register with us in order to take advantage of Qingdao China Guide’s many personalization features. However, you may choose not to register and take advantage of any feature of our site where registration is not required. If you do not register, then the information we collect from you is limited. We log your IP address in order to help diagnose problems with our servers, administer our Site, and track usage statistics. If you reached our site by clicking on a link or advertisement on another site, then we also log that information. This helps us to maximize our Internet exposure, and to understand the interests of our users.
We also place a small file known as a “cookie” on your computer’s hard drive. A cookie may contain information that allows us to track your path through our Site as well as determine whether you have visited us before. We use cookies in this manner to help us understand how visitors use our Site. However, unless you register with us, it contains no personally identifiable information that would allow us to identify you. Cookies cannot be used to read data off of your hard drive, and cannot retrieve information from any other cookies created by other web sites. You may refuse to accept a cookie from us by following the procedures specific to your web browser.
If you visit our site by “clicking-through” from a site operated by one of our partners, and you have registered with that partner, then certain information about you that you have provided to that partner may be transmitted to us. You should review the privacy policy of the web site from which you reached our site in order to determine what information was collected and how you agreed that our partner could use that information.
Registered users:
If you choose to register with us, you’ll be able to add content to our site. For example, you may post your own reviews and participate in our discussion forums. You will also be able to email Qingdao China Guide content to yourself and others. In addition, you will benefit from the ability to personalize your Qingdao China Guide site experience. The benefits of registering will increase over time as we get to know you better and introduce new features. We encourage you to register so that you can experience everything that Qingdao China Guide has to offer!
If you register with us, we will collect personal information from you in addition to the non-personal information described above. That personal information may include your name, email address, mailing address, telephone number, travel preferences, user name and password, as well as contact information for other people that you provide to us. The information we collect may vary, but we only collect the information that you manually enter into our forms or otherwise authorize us to collect. We may store all or some of that information in a cookie file on your hard drive, so that our system will recognize you each time you visit our site. In that way, we can save your preferences from visit to visit and present you with a customized Site, without requiring you to log into our site every time you visit. To improve services and enhance personalization, we may periodically obtain information about you from other independent third-party sources and add it to your registration information. Additionally, authorized Qingdao China Guide personnel may update your registration information to accurately reflect any new information included in communications received from you. If you visit our site by “clicking-through” from a site operated by one of our partners, and you have registered with that partner, then certain information about you that you have provided to that partner may be transmitted to us. You should review the privacy policy of the Web site from which you reached our site in order to determine what information was collected and how you agreed that our partner could use that information. We may or may not retain that information; if we do, then we will only use it in accordance with our privacy policy, regardless of the policy of the partner site from which you came to us.
If you reach our site through one of our partners (whether or not you have registered with our partner), and you choose to register with us, we may be required to give our partner some or all of your registration information. We will only do so in accordance with this policy, but we cannot control how our partner uses the information. If you have questions about our partner’s privacy policy, you should review their policy before providing information to us. Of course, you can ensure that the personal information you provide to us is not shared with our partners (except in accordance with this policy), by visiting us directly instead of clicking-through from one of our partners.
Demographic Information:
We may collect and store anonymous demographic information (such as your zip code, gender and age), and use this data to tailor your experience on our Websites, provide content that we think you might be interested in, perform general improvements to the Websites, and display the content according to your preferences. Such demographic information may be shared with partners, market researchers and other third parties on an aggregate, non-personally identifiable basis. No personally identifiable information will be linked to such aggregated demographic information that is shared with third parties. One of the products we use to do this is Google Analytics.
Other Information:
We collect and store certain types of information whenever you interact with us. For example, our servers track the type of web browser you are using and the page from which you link. Additionally, we log IP addresses (a unique number assigned to every computer on the Internet) in order to improve security, analyze trends and administer the Websites. We may track your movement within the Websites, the third-party website pages from which you were referred, access times and browser types. We use this information to gauge the effectiveness of our Websites, track information for statistical purposes and to improve the products and services we provide. We collect this information to better develop a sense of what services our customers need and identify areas of improvement to the Websites. We may use such information for marketing purposes, and to send information to you that we believe might be of interest. In addition, such information may be shared with partners, market researchers and other third parties on an aggregate, non-personally identifiable basis. No personally identifiable information will be linked to such aggregated information shared with third parties. One of the products we use to do this is Google Analytics.
We may supplement the information you provide us by acquiring publicly or commercially available information as available in the public domain or from third parties, for instance, to verify your address or to update your information and to create a profile of your preferences. We tie your personally identifiable information to information in the profile, in order to improve the content of the Websites for you or to inform you about products or services that we think will be of interest to you. In addition, we may obtain non-sensitive contact information from third parties, including via bulk access licenses from other registrars. From time to time, we may also ask you to participate in surveys or other communications conducted by us or third parties designed to help us improve the Websites or the products or services we provide.
Cookies:
The Websites may use “cookie” technology for such purposes as enhancing your online experience by making it easier for you to navigate through the Websites and making certain features work better. Cookies are text files which are commonly deposited by websites on a user’s hard drive when the user visits a website. The file identifies a user’s computer and can record the user’s preferences and other data about the user’s website visit. We do not extract information about individual users during this process. Your web browser may enable you to disable cookies, but please note that certain services may not function correctly without it and your experience on our Websites may be hindered.
Third Party Cookies:
We may use third-party advertising companies to serve ads on our behalf across the Internet. These companies may collect and use information about your visits to this and other websites and your interaction with our products and services in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. However, no personally identifiable information (such as your name, address, email address or telephone number) will be connected with such information. They may use information about your visits to this and other websites to target advertisements for goods and services and may be used to keep track of user response to each advertisement. These targeted advertisements may appear on our Websites or on other sites that you visit. The anonymous information is collected through the use of a pixel tag or cookies, which are industry standard technologies used by most major websites. If you do not want such companies to collect this information you may opt-out. One of the products we use to do this is Google Analytics and/or AdWords. To learn more about the use of this information or choose not to have this information used by certain third-party advertising partners, please visit the Network Advertising Initiative at http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices or go to http://www.adobe.com/privacy.html. Please note that if you delete your cookies, use a different browser, or buy a new computer, you will need to renew your opt-out choice.
Web Beacons:
The Websites may contain electronic images (called a “single-pixel GIF” or a “web beacon”) that allow a website to track the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. No personally identifiable information will be transmitted via web beacons.
Telephone Recording and Monitoring:
To ensure our customers receive quality service, we select phone calls for recording and/or monitoring. These calls, between our customers (or potential customers) and employees, are evaluated by supervisors and/or other QingdaoChinaGuide.com representatives. This is to guarantee that prompt, consistent assistance and accurate information is delivered in a professional manner. In contacting QingdaoChinaGuide.com, creating an account with QingdaoChinaGuide.com, or by otherwise utilizing any QingdaoChinaGuide.com products or services, you hereby consent to any such call recording and/or monitoring.
Children’s Privacy
This website is a general audience site, and we do not knowingly collect information about children. Should a child whom we know to be under 13 send personal information to us, we will use that information only to respond directly to that child to inform him or her that we must have parental consent before receiving his or her personal information.
Disclosure of your personal information
We do not sell or rent any personal information to any third party, other than our partners, as discussed in this policy. As you might expect, QingdaoChinaGuide.com must cooperate with legal authorities, and may in some circumstances be required to disclose personally identifiable information in response to requests from law enforcement authorities, or in response to a subpoena or other legal process. We don’t expect this to happen, but if it does, we will provide only the information required. In other words, we will not simply turn over our database in response to a specific legal requirement. We can also turn over information about you if we believe we must in order to prevent a violation of the law, and by accepting this policy, you consent to our doing so, in our sole discretion. You also consent to our disclosing information about you in the course of legal proceedings if we are legally required to do so, if we reasonably believe that doing so may mitigate our liability, or if doing so will assist us in enforcing our legal rights. We also may share your information in connection with a corporate transaction, such as a divestiture, merger, consolidation, or asset sale, and in the unlikely event of bankruptcy. Your profile on QingdaoChinaGuide.com will be publicly viewable and identifiable via your screen name. QingdaoChinaGuide.com will not share your email address with any other members nor display it any public manner. If you choose to participate in our member-to-member communications programs, you may be contacted by other QingdaoChinaGuide.com members, using QingdaoChinaGuide.com as an intermediary. All QingdaoChinaGuide.com members will have the option to turn off the member-to-member communication features at any time. Steps we take to protect your personal information.
QingdaoChinaGuide.com has implemented security procedures to help protect the personal information stored in our systems. For example, we limit access to personal information about you to employees who we believe reasonably need to come into contact with that information. We also employ processes (such as password hashing, login auditing, and idle session termination) to protect against unauthorized access to your personal information. But please know that there is no way for us to guarantee the security of your personal information.
How we use the personal information we collect
We use the personal information we collect to help both of us! As we mentioned above, registering with us allows you to personalize our Site so that it is most useful to you. It also allows you to log into our site automatically each time you visit, rather than manually typing your user name and password every time. We may also use your personal information to periodically contact you with news or important information from QingdaoChinaGuide.com, to provide you with other information or invitations related to your membership or the QingdaoChinaGuide.com community, and to request your feedback on our site. In addition to these periodic updates, we may email you additional materials, but only if you specifically request them. These might include opt-in newsletters and other materials that you proactively request from QingdaoChinaGuide.com
From time to time, QingdaoChinaGuide.com may use your personal information to contact you by electronic mail concerning our services. These communications are often intended to inform you of important information regarding your account, or about general services provided by QingdaoChinaGuide.com and/or its affiliates. If you do not want to receive email from us or our affiliates regarding new services, please click the “unsubscribe” link which is included at the bottom of any email you receive from us. However, in order to fulfill our service obligations to you, we will continue to send you emails regarding your account administration, as well as any necessary information, such as renewal notices and instructions. By providing us with your email address you consent to receiving communications from us electronically and all notices, disclosures and other communications that we provide to you electronically satisfy any legal requirement that such communications be in writing.
You can cancel your registration with us by contacting us, and placing your email address & user name in the subject of the e-mail along with “Cancel My Account” in the message body. We will send you an e-mail to confirm your request. After we receive confirmation, we will remove your information from our active database, but some information may remain in our archives.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We reserve the right to change this policy should we deem it advisable to do so. If we make material changes that will affect personal information we have already collected from you, we will make reasonable efforts to notify you of the changes and to give you the opportunity to amend or cancel your registration.
Copyright
Except as otherwise indicated, the Site, and all text, images, marks, logos and other content contained herein, including, without limitation, the Qingdao China Guide logo and all designs, text, graphics, pictures, information, data, software, sound files, other files, Content (as defined below) and the selection and arrangement thereof (collectively, the “Site Content”) are the proprietary property of Qingdao China Guide or its licensors or users and are protected by U.S. and international copyright laws. The Site and all Site Content is (C) 2007-2015 Qingdao China Guide, All Rights Reserved.
Trademarks
The Qingdao China Guide logo and all other product or service names or slogans displayed on the Site are registered and/or common law trademarks of Qingdao China Guide and/or its suppliers or licensors, and may not be copied, imitated or used, in whole or in part, without the prior written permission of Qingdao China Guide or the applicable trademark holder. In addition, the look and feel of the Site, including all page headers, custom graphics, button icons and scripts, is the service mark, trademark and/or trade dress of Qingdao China Guide and may not be copied, imitated or used, in whole or in part, without the prior written permission of Qingdao China Guide. All other trademarks, registered trademarks, product names and company names or logos mentioned in the Site are the property of their respective owners. Reference to any products, services, processes or other information, by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, and supplier or otherwise does not constitute or imply endorsement, sponsorship or recommendation thereof by Qingdao China Guide.
Limited License
Qingdao China Guide grants you a limited license to access and use the Site and to view, copy and print portions of the Site Content. Such license is subject to these Site Terms, and specifically conditioned upon the following: (i) you may only view, copy and print portions of the Site Content for your own informational, personal and non-commercial use; (ii) you may not modify or otherwise make derivative uses of the Site or the Site Content, or any portion thereof; (iii) any displays or printouts of Site Content must be marked “(c) 2007-2015, Qingdao China Guide, All rights reserved.”; (iv) you may not remove or modify any copyright, trademark, or other proprietary notices that have been placed in the Site Content; (v) you may not use any data mining, robots or similar data gathering or extraction methods; (vi) you may not use the Site or the Site Content other than for its intended purpose; and (vii) you may not reproduce, prepare derivative works from, distribute or display the Site or any Site Content (except for page caching), except as provided herein. Except as expressly permitted above, any use of any portion of the Site or Site Content without the prior written permission of Qingdao China Guide is strictly prohibited and will terminate the license granted herein.
Any such unauthorized use may also violate applicable laws, including without limitation copyright and trademark laws and applicable communications regulations and statutes. Unless explicitly stated herein, nothing in these Site Terms may be construed as conferring any license to intellectual property rights, whether by estoppels, implication or otherwise. This license is revocable at any time. You represent and warrant that your use of the Site and the Site Content will be consistent with this license and will not infringe or violate the rights of any other party or breach any contract or legal duty to any other parties, or violate any applicable law. You expressly agree to indemnify Qingdao China Guide against any liability to any person arising out of your use of Site Content not in accordance with these Site Terms.
Liability
Qingdao China Guide, That’s Qingdao, or any of its affiliates are not liable for any third party comment or user post Under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA). An “interactive service provider” (e.g., an Internet Service Provider or a website operator, among others) may not be treated as the “publisher or distributor” of “information” provided by a third party user of its service. As the district court explained in Collins v. Purdue University, this language has been consistently interpreted to provide online publishers with broad immunity from liability for defamation and other wrongful acts on the part of users of their services.