This Privacy Policy covers the treatment of personally identifiable information ("Personal Information") gathered when you are using or accessing the Services. This Privacy Policy also covers our treatment of any Personal Information that our business partners share with us or that we share with our business partners.
This Privacy Policy does not apply to the practices of third parties that we do not own or control, including but not limited to any third party websites, services and applications, such as Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, or any Private Content Providers (defined below) (collectively, "Third Party Services"), that you elect to access through the Service or to individuals that we do not manage or employ. While we attempt to facilitate access only to those Third Party Services that share our respect for your privacy, we cannot take responsibility for the content or privacy policies of those Third Party Services. We encourage you to carefully review the privacy policies of any Third Party Services you access.
The information we gather enables us to personalize, improve and continue to operate the Services. In connection with certain aspects of the Services, we may request, collect and/or display some of your Personal Information. We collect the following types of information from our users.
Account Information:
When you create an Account, you will provide information that could be Personal Information, such as your name, password and email address. You acknowledge that this information may be personal to you, and by creating an account on the Services and providing Personal Information to us, you allow others, including us, to identify you and therefore may not be anonymous. We may use your contact information to send you information about our Services or as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy. If you access the Services through your LinkedIn or Google account, you are allowing the Services to access your information from such account. We will use all information available that we may receive through your LinkedIn or Google account in accordance with LinkedIn and Google policies and your account privacy settings selected through LinkedIn and Google, so please review such policies and settings, as applicable.
User Content:
Some features of the Services allow you to provide content to the Services, such as written comments, videos, multimedia, images, or charts. All content submitted by you to the Services may be retained by us indefinitely, even after you terminate your account.
Financial Information:
If you make payments for Paid Services (as defined in the Acquirers's Terms of Service) through the Services, your financial information, such as your payment method (bank account number, valid credit card number, type, expiration date or other financial information), is collected and stored by our third party payment processing company (the “Payment Processor"), and use and storage of that information is governed by the Payment Processor's applicable terms of service and privacy policy. We could use Stripe as our Payment Processor (https://stripe.com/us/legal). In order to facilitate your payments, we collect and store your billing zip code, credit card type and the last four digits of your credit card number, but no other financial information. You may be able to purchase certain Private Content on the Services from the provider of such Private Content, and in such cases, Acquirers may share your financial information collected by Acquirers or received from the Payment Processor with such provider in order to facilitate your payments.
IP Address Information and Other Information Collected Automatically:
We automatically receive and record information from your web browser when you interact with the Services, including your IP address and cookie information. This information is used for fighting spam/malware and also to facilitate collection of data concerning your interaction with the Services (e.g., what links you have clicked on). Generally, the Services collect usage information, such as the number and frequency of visitors to the Site. We may use this data in aggregate form, that is, as a statistical measure, which in certain cases could be used to identify you personally (“Aggregate Information”). This type of aggregate data enables us and third parties authorized by us to figure out how often individuals use parts of the Services so that we can analyze and improve them. For registered users, the Services automatically collect click stream usage information in order to better curate the user’s feed and other content presented to such user on the Services.
Email Communications:
We may receive a confirmation when you open an email from us. We use this confirmation to improve our customer service.
Information Collected Using Cookies:
Information Related to Advertising and the Use of Web Beacons:
To support and enhance the Services, we may serve advertisements, and also allow third parties advertisements, through the Services. These advertisements are sometimes targeted and served to particular users and may come from third party companies called "ad networks." Ad networks include third party ad servers, ad agencies, ad technology vendors and research firms.
Advertisements served through the Services may be targeted to unregistered users and logged out registered users who fit a certain general profile category and may be based on anonymized information inferred from information provided to us by a user, including Personal Information (e.g., gender or age), or may be based on the Services usage patterns of particular users, or may be based on such users’ activity on Third Party Services. We do not provide Personal Information to any ad networks for use outside of the Services.
To increase the effectiveness of ad delivery, we may deliver a file (known as a "web beacon") from an ad network to you through the Services. Web beacons allow ad networks to provide anonymized, aggregated auditing, research and reporting for us and for advertisers. Web beacons also enable ad networks to serve targeted advertisements to you when you visit other websites. Because your web browser must request these advertisements and web beacons from the ad network’s servers, these companies can view, edit or set their own cookies, just as if you had requested a web page from their site.
Public Information on the Services:
You may choose to publicly post information or content on your profile or firm profile page. Please remember that if you choose to provide Personal Information using such public features of the Services, then that information is publicly available and individuals reading such information may use or disclose it to other individuals or entities without our control and without your knowledge, and search engines may index that information. We therefore urge you to think carefully about including any specific information you may deem private in information or content that you post publicly through the Services.
IP Address Information:
While we collect and store IP address information, that information is not made public. We may at times, however, share this information with our partners, service providers and other persons with whom we conduct business, and as otherwise specified in this Privacy Policy.
Information You Elect to Share through Third Party Services:
You may access other Third Party Services through the Services, for example by clicking on links to those Third Party Services from within the Site. You may also be able to connect your activity on your Account to third party accounts, such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. We are not responsible for the privacy policies and/or practices of these Third Party Services, and you are responsible for reading and understanding those Third Party Services’ privacy policies. This Privacy Policy only governs information collected on the Services. BY CONNECTING YOUR ACTIVITY ON YOUR ACCOUNT TO ANY THIRD PARTY SERVICE, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT YOU ARE CONSENTING TO THE CONTINUOUS RELEASE OF INFORMATION ABOUT YOU TO THIRD PARTIES (IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PRIVACY POLICIES OF THOSE THIRD PARTY SERVICES). IF YOU DO NOT WANT INFORMATION ABOUT YOU TO BE SHARED IN THIS MANNER, DO NOT USE THIS FEATURE. You may disconnect your Account from certain Third Party Services at any time, by visiting the "Account" section of the Site and clicking on "Social Networks."
Aggregate Information and Usage Information:
We share Aggregate Information with our partners, service providers and other persons with whom we conduct business. We share this type of statistical data so that our partners can understand how and how often people use our Services and their services or websites, which facilitates improving both their services and how our Services interface with them. In addition, these third parties may share with us non-private, aggregated or otherwise non-Personal Information about you that they have independently developed or acquired. We may create, use, distribute, commercialize and fully exploit anonymized aggregate data analyses and compilations from users’ use of and interaction with the Services. We may also use usage information in a way that specifically identifies the user in order to improve or provide you the Services; for example, with respect to registered users, the Services automatically collect click stream usage information in order to better curate the user’s feed and other content presented to such user on the Services.
Email Communications with Us:
As part of the Services, you may occasionally receive email and other communications from us, such as communications relating to your Account or email notifications relating to content services. Communications relating to your Account will only be sent for purposes important to the Services, such as password recovery. You may also opt in through your Account to receive certain notifications related to the Services, but please note that in some cases, you may receive some types of email notifications related to the Services without having previously opted in to receive such notifications. We may also contact you via surveys to conduct research about your opinion of our Services or of potential new services or products that may be offered. You may unsubscribe from these messages through your Account settings, or by following instructions provided to you, or by visiting the Notifications page, although we, regardless, reserve the right to contact you when we believe it is necessary, such as for account recovery purposes.
User Profile Information:
Information that you edit directly on your profile page will be visible on your public profile page and made publicly accessible. Users’ email addresses are never made publicly available by us nor directly sold by us to any third parties.
Financial Information:
As stated above, your financial information is collected and stored by our Payment Processor; we collect and store your billing zip code, credit card type and the last four digits of your credit card number only. However, we may from time to time request and receive some of your other financial information from our Payment Processor for the purposes of completing payments you have initiated through the Services, enrolling you in discount, rebate, and other programs in which you elect to participate, protecting against or identifying possible fraudulent transactions, and otherwise as needed to manage our business.
Information Shared with Our Agents:
We employ and contract with people and other entities that perform certain tasks on our behalf and who are under our control (our "Agents"). We may need to share Personal Information with our Agents in order to provide products or services to you. Unless we tell you differently, our Agents do not have any right to use Personal Information or other information we share with them beyond what is necessary to assist us. You hereby consent to our sharing of Personal Information with our Agents.
Information Disclosed Pursuant to Business Transfers:
In some cases, we may choose to buy or sell assets. In these types of transactions, user information is typically one of the transferred business assets. Moreover, if we, or substantially all of our assets, were acquired, or if we go out of business or enter bankruptcy, user information would be one of the assets that is transferred or acquired by a third party. You acknowledge that such transfers may occur, and that any acquirer of us or our assets may continue to use your Personal Information as set forth in this policy.
Information Disclosed for Our Protection and the Protection of Others:
We also reserve the right to access, read, preserve, and disclose any information as we reasonably believe is necessary to (i) satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request, (ii) enforce these Terms of Service, including investigation of potential violations hereof, (iii) detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues, (iv) respond to user support requests, or (v) protect our rights, property or safety, our users and the public. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for fraud protection and spam/malware prevention.
Information We Share With Private Content Providers and With Your Consent:
Users who opt in or have been permissioned to access membership of a private page, or to access Private Content (as defined in the Acquirers's Terms of Service) (such as private marketing materials) acknowledge that they may be required to meet certain qualifications or criteria. As a result this information which could be Personal Information, including the user’s name, email address, company name and title, may be privately shared with such user and the administrator of such private page, or Private Content distribution (collectively, “Private Content Provider”). Users have the right to unsubscribe from any communications through the Services as well as to remove their own access at any time from any private or exclusive access through the Services, but please note that we cannot control whether Private Content Providers contact users outside of the Services. Acquirers may also share with Private Content Providers statistical and usage data relating to users who opt in or have been permissioned to access to such content. You may be able to purchase certain Private Content on the Services from the provider of such Private Content, and in such cases, Acquirers may share your financial information collected by Acquirers or received from the Payment Processor with such provider in order to facilitate your payments.
You agree that we are not responsible for the actions of Private Content Providers with respect to your Personal Information. It is important that you review the applicable policies of a Private Content Provider before opting in to such Private Content Provider’s content. You hereby consent to our sharing of Personal Information with Private Content Providers in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
Except as set forth above, you will be notified when your Personal Information may be shared with third parties, and will be able to prevent the sharing of this information.
If you have an Account password, your Account information will be protected by a password for your privacy and security. You need to prevent unauthorized access to your Account and Personal Information by selecting and protecting your password appropriately and limiting access to your computer and browser by signing off after you have finished accessing your Account.
We seek to protect Account information to ensure that it is kept private; however, we cannot guarantee the security of any Account information. Unauthorized entry or use, hardware or software failure, and other factors, may compromise the security of user information at any time.
We otherwise store all of our information, including your IP address information, using industry-standard techniques. We do not guarantee or warrant that such techniques will prevent unauthorized access to information about you that we store, Personal Information or otherwise.
If you are a registered user, you can access information associated with your Account by logging into the Services. Registered and unregistered users can access and delete cookies through their web browser settings.
Should you ever decide to delete your Account, you may do so by following the instructions on the Site or through the Services. In the event you are unable to delete your Account due to disability or death, we may, in our sole discretion, allow family members or next of kin do so on your behalf. If your Account is terminated, your information will remained stored by us, but such information will no longer be accessible through the Services to you or as applicable, other users. However, given the nature of sharing on the Services, any public activity on your Account prior to deletion will remain accessible to the public.
We may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time. Use of information we collect now is subject to the Privacy Policy in effect at the time such information is used. If we make changes in the way we collect or use information, we will notify you by posting an announcement on the Services or sending you an email. A user is bound by any changes to the Privacy Policy when he or she uses the Services after such changes have been first posted.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding privacy or your data using the Services, please send us a detailed message to our Data Protection Officer (DPO) gustaf@acquirers.com
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a comprehensive European data protection law that provides greater data rights for individuals and increases compliance responsibilities for organizations. At its core, the GDPR grants EU residents greater control over their personal data and gives national regulators new powers to impose significant fines on organizations that breach this law.
Acquirers is taking a global approach to the GDPR to help ensure all members benefit from increased control and clarity, which is in line with our commitment to putting our members first and working every day to maintain the trust they put in us.
You have the following rights under the GDPR:
In addition to the information in our Private Policy, please know:
How to contact Acquirer's Data Protection Officer
Acquirers has a GDPR-compliant process for transferring data from Europe