Privacy

Privacy Policy 

This privacy policy is effective as of November 1, 2020

In order to know and serve you better, we may collect information about how you interface with our website.  Our Privacy Policy explains what type of information we collect and what we do with that information, which allow you to make choices about the way your information is collected and used.  

The information we may collect from you, and why.

You may visit this website without identifying who you are or revealing any information about yourself. Information collected online can generally be categorized as anonymous or personally identifiable. Anonymous information is information that cannot be connected to the identity of a specific individual. Personal identifiable information and data (“Personal Information”) is specific information that identifies a particular user, such as name, address, or phone number, or other contact information. Additionally, we may collect information about your finances. We may collect information about your financial account status, purchase and payment history and other financial data to help establish a financial status for your on-screen persona. This information will not reveal or be linked to you personally. 

The website may record the number of visits to a particular page, that occur in a given period of time, it does not necessarily tell us the names or other identifying information of every visitor. Some users of this Website may choose not to provide any Personal Information; therefore, those individuals are anonymous to us, and any data collected about their use of our Website is also anonymous. 

We may collect information needed to contact you.

If personal contact information is collected (as described above for customer service purposes), you may not be able to access, modify or remove it from our system later. You may choose to simply not provide personal contact information by opting out at the point of collection. In addition, we may collect non-personal analytical information, measure the effectiveness of our Website, and to provide targeted advertising. 

This information does not inherently reveal and will not be personally linked to you. We use this information to complete and support the immediate activity requested, and to comply with any requirements of law. This information may be disclosed only to our staff and to our immediate agents.

How we collect contact information.

You may give us information directly, for example, when you create an account, buy products or services, subscribe to our newsletters, opt into marketing, publish posts or comments, ask for user support, or contact us for any reason.  If and when you register on this Website, you may be asked for your name, email address, mailing address and/or phone number.  For us to provide the products, services, or content you request, we may need your Personal Information.  Therefore, if you do not provide such Personal Information, we cannot deliver the products, services, or content.

Third parties who provide advertising and related services may give us your Personal Information, including analytics providers and advertising networks.  Our Website may allow you to share information with us that you have already provided to a third party.  For example, you may be able to create an account on our Website or log in to our Website using your third-party credentials.  If you do so, Personal Information that you have provided to the third party may be made available to us by that third-party subject to its own privacy policy, terms, and conditions. 

When you contact us, participate in chats with us via the Website, or respond to surveys, questionnaires or applications we make available, or if you email us, you are voluntarily releasing information to us.  You may decide not to volunteer information, but this may limit the functionality of this Website.

We automatically collect Personal Information when you interact with this Website.  We collect information about your devices and browsing actions and interests by using cookies and similar technologies, as described in more detail below. 

Certain exceptional disclosure.

We may disclose your information, if necessary, to protect our legal rights or if the information relates to actual or threatened harmful conduct. Disclosure may be required by law or if we receive legal process.

What are cookies, and why we use them?

Cookies are small files, typically made up of a string of text and numbers, that assign you a unique identifier, which are stored by your browser in your computer when you visit our Website (“Website” refers to the following: https://www.leitz.org/en-us/ . We use cookies to improve our Website and make it easier to use. Cookies permit us to recognize users and avoid repetitive requests for the same information. We mostly use "session cookies" that are automatically deleted after each visit. Cookies from our Website cannot be read by other Websites. Most browsers will accept cookies until you change browser settings to refuse them. You may set your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie or to prevent cookies from being sent; if you do so, this may limit the functionality we can provide you when you visit our Website. To the extent that a cookie can uniquely identify a computer mobile device, or tablet or the person using that device, and you are an EU resident, under the GDPR, this is Personal Information, and this policy shall apply to such Personal Information.

You may delete cookies that are already on your computer, and stop cookies from being accepted in the future, by referring to your manufacturer’s instructions by clicking “Help” in your browser menu. All browser settings are slightly different, so to manage cookies, you should refer to the relevant settings within your browser. If you would like to obtain more detailed information about types of cookies, how they are used, and how you can manage your cookie preferences you may want to visit: www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org.

You will have the opportunity to opt out of providing non-personal information for analytical studies or targeted advertising or both. However, the non-personal information we gather via cookies may be shared with third parties to carry out analytical studies to improve our Website and to conduct targeted advertising on our behalf.

How do we protect the information we collect?

We are concerned with protecting your privacy and data, but we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us.  We operate secure data networks protected by industry standard firewall and password protection systems. When you submit sensitive information via our Website (e.g., credit card data), we encrypt that information. We require third parties we contract with to support our business operations to employ reasonable security measures as well.  Our security and privacy policies are periodically reviewed and enhanced as necessary, and only authorized individuals have access to the Personal Information provided by our users. However, no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure. We do not guarantee that unauthorized, inadvertent disclosure will never occur or that our information may not be accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed by any breach of any of our industry standard physical, technical, or managerial safeguards.

How long do we keep user information?

Your Personal Information is stored on servers that are operated and maintained by us and by third parties under contract with us. We retain this information for the duration of your business relationship with us, and for a period of time thereafter to allow members to recover, to analyze the information for our own operations, and for historical and archiving services.  We may alter this practice according to changing requirements. For example, we may delete some data if needed to free up storage space. We may keep other data for longer periods if the law requires it.

Data management requests are administered in an orderly manner to the extent feasible and within our direct control. Note: We have greater control over recently collected data than over archived data. Once data is removed from the system and archived, it may not be feasible to accommodate specific requests.

For more information on where and how long your Personal Information is stored, and for more information on your rights of erasure and portability, please contact us at https://www.leitz.org/en-us/

Use of Google Services

This Website may be enabled with a number of Google Services, such as Google Analytics and associated tools (including Google AdWords and AdSense).  As such, this Website will collect information consistent with the terms of Google’s Privacy Policy, which could include but is not limited to the collection of device-specific information, log information, location information and cookie-related information as described in the Google Privacy Policy.  Because this Website is enabled with add-on Google services, Google will have access to information that is collected by this Website in conjunction with these services, and may use such information to improve these services.  We will use such information, to the extent available by way of Google Analytics, to better understand the use of the Website and topics of interest among Website visitors and to enhance the personalized user experience of our Website. We may also use these Google services to advertise on third party Websites (including Google) to previous visitors of our Website.  This could be in the form of an advertisement on the Google search results page, or a Website in the Google Display Network.  Users may opt out of Google’s use of cookies and may opt out of Google Analytics by visiting the Google Opt-Out page.

How Do We Use collected Information?

We use the information that we collect to operate and maintain the Website, to provide services to you, to send you marketing communications, to respond to your questions and concerns, to help our partners improve their online offerings, and for our own marketing purposes. We may also use the information to provide you with certain communication, such as product and service announcements and administrative messages. We may also monitor and analyze data trends and usage. This is described further below.

Technical Information collections

When you visit our Website, we collect certain technical and routing information about your computer. For example, we log environmental variables such as browser type, operating system and CPU speed, and the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your originating Internet Service Provider, in order to provide the best possible service. We also record search requests and results to try to ensure the accuracy and efficiency of our search engine. We use your IP address to track your use of the Website, including pages visited and the time spent on each page. We collect this information and use it to measure the use of this Website and to improve its content and performance. To the extent we share such information with third parties, it is not traceable to any particular user and will not be used to contact you.

At times, we may share aggregated demographic information with our partners and our external vendors. This data is not linked to any Personal Information that can identify you.

Personal Information collection

Some of our Websites may require you to provide us with Personal Information, which may include your direct identifiers, such as name, birth date, email address, or telephone number.

We collect Personal Information only for providing the services and content you request, generating statistical studies, conducting marketing research, improving products and services, sending you surveys, contacting you to offer additional services, products and content offered by us or by third parties that may be of interest to you, and notifying you of new products and any other changes to our Website or services that may affect you. When you submit Personal Information to us, you understand that you are agreeing to allow us to access, store, and use that information for those purposes.

We will not sell or give any Personal Information to any third parties without your consent. We don’t disclose Personal Information except for legal obligations determinations of the potential for harm, or in the instance that our company merges with another company.

For European Union residents, the following table provides information required by the GDPR relating to our use of your Personal Information.

We may use automated decision making in processing your personal information for services and products. You can request a manual review of the accuracy of an automated decision if you are unhappy with it.

Third Parties

We may engage trusted third parties to perform functions and provide services to us. We may share information we collect with those third parties to the extent necessary to perform these functions and provide these services, consistent with the protections in this Privacy Policy. We share your personal information with third parties who process your information on our behalf when they provide services to us, for example, data analytics, ad networks, research, marketing, and financial services.

Each third-party website has its own privacy policy that you are entitled to rely upon. Please note that this Privacy Policy is not binding on any such third-party website and the privacy policy of any such third-party website is not binding on Stiles. We may share your personal information with third parties who use it for their own purposes if you have provided consent.

You share your personal information with third parties when you publish content including articles, comments and reviews to public areas of the website.
We may also share or disclose your non-private, aggregated or otherwise anonymous information.

If we sell, transfer, or merge parts of our business, or if we buy or merge with another business, we may share your personal information. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal information as set forth in this Privacy Policy.

We may be legally required to disclose or share your personal information without your consent in some circumstances, for example, to comply with a court order or law enforcement. We may also share your information when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights or property, protect your safety or the safety of others, investigate fraud, or respond to a government agency, law enforcement, judicial or public authority, or other legal request, or to comply with the law.

We may also share your information with our lawyers and other professional advisors, and third-party providers of services such as cloud storage, customer relationship management systems, and others who need your information to provide services to us (or on our behalf).

Overseas transfers

Our headquarters are in Germany, and information we collect from you will be processed in  Germany. If you are visiting our Website from outside the United States, please be aware that you are sending information (including Personal Information) to Germany where our servers are located. That information may then be transferred to the United States or back out of the United States to other countries outside your country of residence, depending on the type of information and how it is stored by us. Please note for Personal Information only: with your consent, to perform a contract with you, or to fulfill a compelling legitimate interest that does not outweigh your rights and freedoms. These countries (including the United States) may not necessarily have data protection laws as comprehensive and protective as those in your country of residence; however, our collection, storage and use of your Personal Information will always continue to be governed by this Privacy Policy.

California

Under California Civil Code Section 1798.83, if you are a California resident and your business relationship with us is primarily for personal, family, or household purposes, you may request certain data regarding our disclosure, if any, of Personal Information to third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please send an email to us using the contact details below with “Request for California Privacy Information” in the subject line. You may make such a request once per calendar year. If applicable, we will provide you, by email, a list of the categories of Personal Information disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes during the immediately preceding calendar year, along with the third parties’ names and addresses.

If you are a California resident under the age of 18, and a registered user of this Website, California Business and Professions Code Section 22581 permits you to request and obtain removal of content or information you have publicly posted. To make such a request, please send an email with a detailed description of the specific content or information using the contact details below with “Request for Removal California Privacy Information” in the subject line. Please be aware that such a request does not ensure complete or comprehensive removal of the content or information you have posted and that there may be circumstances in which the law does not require or allow removal even if requested.
 

Children

We do not knowingly collect information from children under 14 years of age, without insisting that they seek prior parental consent if required by applicable law. We will only use or disclose Personal Information about a child to the extent permitted by law, to seek parental consent pursuant to local law and regulations or to protect a child.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy is effective as of the date at the beginning of this page and will remain in effect except with respect to any changes in its provisions in the future, which will be in effect immediately after being posted on this page. We reserve the right to update or change our Privacy Policy at any time and for any reason and you should check this Privacy Policy periodically. Changes to the Privacy Policy will be posted on this Website, and we may contact you via email to notify you of updates. Your continued use of the Website after we post any modifications to the Privacy Policy on this page will constitute your acknowledgment of the modifications and your consent to abide and be bound by the modified Privacy Policy.

Legal language

THIS WEBSITE OPERATES AS-IS AND AS-AVAILABLE. ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF ACCURACY, QUALITY, TITLE, FITNESS OR MERCHANTABILITY ARE DISCLAIMED. WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO DAMAGES DUE TO LOST PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, AND/OR LOSS OF PROGRAMS OR OTHER DATA.