Last Updated: 11 August 2019
COSSD is committed to protecting you, which is why we have adopted this Privacy Policy. This is intended to describe how your personal information is processed and used, and we will make every effort to ensure that our activities keep within the spirit of this Policy.
As a website user, you can tour through most of our site without giving any information that personally identifies you, reveals personal information or allows us to contact you. At times we do require information to respond to your requests.
COSSD collects, uses, shares or otherwise processes personal information that you provide to us when you subscribe to our services, or that we may otherwise obtain or generate, which relates to you.
1.1. Website users
Every computer connected to the Internet is provided with a domain name (e.g. google.com) and an IP Address (e.g. 143.232.18.134). When a visitor requests a page from within this site, our servers automatically identify and log the HTTP request that is made to our Web Server. Our website also uses a technology called "cookies". A cookie is an element of data that a website can send to your browser, which may then store it on your system. Cookies are created for each session when you visit our website. None of the information collected by means of cookies is associated with you as an individual. We do not use the cookie technology to capture individual e-mail addresses or any personally identifying information about you.
In fact, very little information is automatically gathered and logged.
This information may include:
There is nothing special about the information described, and the practice of collecting this data has been generally standardized by virtually every Web Server on the Internet today. COSSD has found it advantageous to observe visitor traffic in its aggregate, so that we can ensure maximum compatibility for the various browsers and operating systems that users like yourself use to visit our website.
Should you wish to reject all or certain cookies used by our website, you may modify your web browser preferences to do so. If, however you reject all cookies then you might be unable to use some of the services available on our website. Moreover, you may set your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie, giving you the opportunity to choose whether you wish to accept it. Usually, the information on how to change your options regarding cookies can be obtained by referring to your operating systems manual or to the 'Help' section of your web browser, or by contacting your Internet Service Provider.
We may also request your e-mail address, name, surname, company, position, location, web address, services you may be interested in and your comments, as well as certain optional information such as your gender, birth date, wedding date and contact number for marketing purposes. We maintain a strict "No Spam" policy that means we do not intend to sell, rent, or otherwise give your e-mail address to a third-party, without your consent. In addition, COSSD will not send you e-mails that you have not agreed to receive or otherwise communicate with you in ways which you have not authorized. If you wish to have specific communications with a member of the COSSD staff, you will be required to provide specific information that will be routed to the appropriate contact within COSSD
We may also receive professional information about you from other sources, including publicly available sources. We may combine information that we have about you from various sources, including the information that you have provided to us.
The information gathered through cookies may include:
Should you wish to reject all, or certain cookies used by our website, you may modify your web browser preferences to do so. If, however you reject all cookies then you might be unable to use some of the services available on our website. Moreover, you may set your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie, giving you the opportunity to choose whether you wish to accept it. Usually, the information on how to change your options regarding cookies can be obtained by referring to your operating systems manual or to the 'Help' section of your web browser, or by contacting your Internet Service Provider.
The personal information that we collect about you when you subscribe to one of our services may include:
We gather and generate information about you when you provide it to us or interact with us directly. We may also collect your personal information in the course of our normal business operations which include monitoring of businesses operating within the US and Canada and compiling data on such businesses. Otherwise, we may also receive professional information about you from other sources, including publicly available sources. We may combine information that we have about you from various sources, including the information that you have provided to us.
The personal information you submit on our website will be used for the purpose specified in the relevant part of the website and for any purpose which you give your consent to. Any and all processing of your data shall be in accordance with applicable data protection rules, regulations and guidelines and as specified in this Privacy Policy.
For the performance of a contract: We process your personal data as necessary in order to provide you with the contracted services when you place an order for advertisement space to feature in one of our publications or websites and Mobile App services.
With your consent:
We will process your personal information when you have given your consent to the processing of your personal data for one or more specific purposes set out above. You have various rights where we are processing your information based on your consent. For example, if you no longer wish to be on one of our mailing lists, you can choose to opt out at any time by following the "unsubscribe" instructions at the bottom of our promotional emails. If you have an online account with us, you can also opt out by updating your preferences.
For legitimate business purposes: Using your personal information helps us to operate and improve our business and provide up to date information on businesses operating in the US and Canada. Using your personal information allows us to feature your business on all COSSD' platforms together with other businesses operating in the US and Canada. Where we use your personal information for this purpose, rest assured that we will take measures to protect your personal information.
To comply with a legal obligation:There may be instances where we are legally obliged to process your personal information.
Your personal information will be received by COSSD 's representatives and employees.
We may also share your personal information with any of the following:
We may transfer your personal information outside of the US and Canada. The countries to which your personal information is transferred may not offer an equivalent level of protection for personal information to the laws of the US or Canada. Where appropriate, we will take steps to ensure your information is transferred subject to appropriate safeguards, such as by entering into data transfer agreements. Where we have put data transfer agreements or similar safeguards in place, we may be able to make a copy of this available to you if you contact us via one of the methods set out under the header "Advertise" link above.
We have a data retention policy that sets out how long we keep your information. This policy is based on the type of information, the purpose of collection, and the system within our digital platforms in which the information is held. As a rule, we keep your personal information for as long as we need to in order to carry out those purposes for which your data has been collected.
We use reasonable efforts to safeguard the integrity, availability and confidentiality of all personal data that we process relating to you and regularly review and enhance our technical, physical and managerial procedures so as to ensure that your personal data is protected from:
To this end we have implemented security policies, rules and technical measures to protect the personal data that we have under our control. All our employees and data processors, who have access to and are associated with the processing of personal data, are further obliged to respect the confidentiality of our clients' and visitors' personal data.
By its very nature however the Internet is not a secure medium and data sent via this medium can potentially be subject to unauthorized acts by third parties. We cannot guarantee the privacy or confidentiality of any information passing over our website.
Moreover, data sent via the Internet may be transmitted across international borders even where sender and receiver of information are in the same country. Consequently, data relating to you may be transmitted via a country having a lower level of data protection than that existing in your country of residence. We shall accept no responsibility or liability whatsoever for the security of your data while in transit through the Internet.
Our website may contain links to third party local and international websites. Please note that such links are not an endorsement by us of any information, products or services in such websites and we shall not accept any responsibility whatsoever for the content, use, availability, privacy practices or the content of any such websites. Please note that upon linking to such other websites, you will no longer be on our website and you will become subject to the privacy policy, if any, of such other website. For this purpose, we urge you to read the terms & conditions and privacy notices of these third-party websites.
No third party is permitted to link any other website to our website without obtaining our prior written consent.
You have the right to:
If you would like access to the information that we hold about you, if any of the information that we hold about you is inaccurate or out of date, or if you wish to withdraw your consent to the processing of your data or to restrict or object to us processing it, please let us know by getting in touch via one of the methods set out under the header "Advertise" link above.
If you object to our processing of your personal information, we will respect such requests in accordance with our legal obligations. Your objection may mean that we may not be able to perform the actions necessary to achieve the purposes set out above.
COSSD may be required or entitled to retain your information to comply with legal and regulatory obligations and to protect and exercise our legal rights and legitimate interests.
In addition to those rights outlined above you also have an unconditional right to object at any time to the processing of your personal information for direct marketing purposes by contacting us via one of the methods set out under the header "Advertise" link above.
Any changes to this Privacy Policy will be posted on this page so that you are always aware of the information that we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances we disclose it.