1. Background
- The services provided by us through the Website (“HowToBuyBitcoin.org”, “us“, “we“, or “our shall be known as the “Services”. Any reference to “you” or the “User” shall mean you, the user of the Services. HowToBuyBitcoin.org and you shall collectively be known as the “Parties” for the purposes of these Terms of Use.
- Your privacy is very important to us. We respect your privacy and believe that we should clearly and transparently disclose our privacy practices to you. This privacy policy explains our policies regarding collection, use and disclosure of your personal information, personally identifiable information and other data collected from you when you access the Website. This Privacy Policy does not apply to any third-party websites or applications. Please note that you shall visit any third-party sites and apps at your own risk upon conditions laid down in their respective terms of use and privacy policies.
- We may change, modify, amend, terminate or replace this Privacy Policy at any time at our discretion. If we change, modify, amend or terminate this Privacy Policy, such modifications will become effective immediately upon posting to the Website. You agree to periodically review the current version of the Privacy Policy, as posted on the Website. If you do not agree with the terms of this Privacy Policy, please do not use the Website.
- We will not use or share your information with anyone except as described in this Privacy Policy. We use your information to operate and improve the Website. By accessing the Website, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
- This Privacy Policy is to be read with, and is an integral part of, our Terms & Conditions available at “Terms & Conditions” Unless otherwise defined in this Privacy Policy, terms used in this Privacy Policy have the same meanings as in our Terms of Conditions.
2. Collection of information
- While accessing the Website, we collect certain personally identifiable information (“PII”) that can be used to contact or identify you. PII includes, but is not limited to, your name, phone number, postal address, email address and other information that by itself or in conjunction with other information, can be used to specifically identify you. However, PII does not include aggregated information that, by itself, does not permit identification.
- Information that we collect when you use the Website includes:
a. Information provided by you
We may require you to provide us with certain information such as your name, email address, mobile number and payment preferences. Further, if you communicate with us via the Website or through email, we may collect any information provided in such communication.
b. Log Data
We collect information that your browser or device sends us whenever you visit the Website (“Log Data“). This Log Data includes information such as your Internet Protocol (“IP“) address, geolocation and geospatial data, browser details, domain servers, device ID& model number, details of your operating system, and other related information. We also collect data on the specific pages of our Website that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages, default language and user preferences, and other similar usage related statistics. We may assign each user of the Website unique identifiers to help keep track of future visits.
c. Cookies
When you utilise our Website, we may be able to access information via cookies. Cookies are files with small amounts of data which are transferred to your browser or device that allow our systems to recognise your browser or device and capture certain information. For example, we may use cookies to compile data about our operations, display relevant advertisements to you or to understand your preferences based on your previous activity to optimise your user experience on the Website. The cookies we send to your browser or device may also include anonymous unique identifiers, which we may use to collect data about your device, to create and store a unique identity of you for the purposes of fraud prevention, security or authentication.
Most browsers and devices are by default set up to accept cookies. You may reset your settings to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, it is likely that some of the features on our Website may not function properly if cookies are disabled on your browser or device.
Please note that clicking on any links to third-party services may result in cookies being transmitted to your browser or device. In such events, you understand that except for cookies transmitted to you by intermediaries authorised by us for that purpose, this Privacy Policy does not cover the transmission and use of cookies by any third-parties. We bear no responsibility for the data collected by such third parties and encourage you to review and understand the relevant privacy policies of such third-parties before utilising their services.
d. Information received from others
We may combine information about you that we already have with information we obtain from other sources, to provide you a better user experience, to show you advertisements relevant to you, or to optimise the operations of the Website. Examples of information we may receive from other sources includes without any limitation, customer support or enrolment information, page view, search term and search result information, and credit or identity information.
- Apart from the information listed above, we do not collect any sensitive information such as financial data, political opinions, health-related information or any information related to race, caste, language or religion (collectively, “Sensitive Personal Information”), unless provided by you voluntarily or required by provisions of any applicable law.
3. Use of information
We use your PII and other information collected from you for the following purposes:
- To provide you with the functionalities of the Website in a proper manner;
- To track your usage of the Website and customise it accordingly to best suit your requirements;
- To send you communications, as per your notification settings, on any updates or developments pertaining to the Website or your use of the Website;
- To provide you with support services, whether through email, phone, push notifications or messages within the Website;
- To provide you with technical support, including Website updates;
- To improve the quality, features and functionality of the Website;
- For the purposes of auditing, research and analysis to ensure the stability of the Website;
- To improve the security of the Website;
- To carry out marketing analysis to understand the specific pages or features of the Website that may be optimised;
- To back up our systems to ensure preparedness for disaster recovery;
- To protect our rights and property and the rights and property of our other users;
- To offer customized ad experience by us or google ads;
- To combine your PII or other information with information obtained from other sources, and publish summaries online or offline;
- To provide information to third-parties performing services in support of our Website;
- To communicate promotions and other offers, and for the purposes of advertisements;
- To prevent and detect any fraud or other illegal activity on the Website, and to prevent violations of our Terms of Use;
- To respond to legal requirements, exercise our legal rights and defend against any legal claims, to protect our interests or those of any third parties; and
- As may otherwise be necessary to enforce the terms of this Privacy Policy and the Terms of Use.
4. Storage of information
- Your PII or other information collected from you may be stored and processed on computer systems, and through your use of the Website you unequivocally consent to the processing and storage of your information outside of your own jurisdiction. You understand and agree that we may continue to store your information after you cease to use the Website or disable your use of the Website.
- We store some of your information on your browser or device for subsequent retrieval and utilisation. Such information stored on your personal device is subject to the security offered by your device, browser and other components. You understand and agree that we cannot be held responsible for any compromise of access to your personal browser or device, for loss of information, theft or for any exploits or logic attacks on your browser or device through malware or other software or hardware that is outside the control of our Website.
- Although the security of your PII and other information is important to us, do remember that no method of electronic storage or method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable and standard means to protect your information, including internal reviews of our data collection, storage and processing practices and security measures, we cannot guarantee absolute security in this regard. You provide your PII and other information to us at your own risk.
5. Disclosure and sharing of information
We may employ third parties to facilitate the functioning of the Website, to provide the Website functionalities on our behalf, to help us analyse how the Website is used, to serve advertisements to our users, or to perform other related activities pertaining to our operations. We may share your information with third-parties in the following circumstances:
- We have obtained your consent, including when you choose to provide us your information for any purpose whatsoever;
- If sharing or disclosure of your PII or other information is necessary to operate the Website;
- For the purposes of displaying advertisements on the Website;
- If we have been purchased by a third-party;
- If sharing or disclosure of your PII or other information is necessary to be shared with our associate entities, including any related companies, successors, assigns, licensees, affiliates or business partners. We require that these entities process your PII or other information as per our instructions and in compliance with the conditions of this Privacy Policy and other appropriate confidentiality and security measures;
- If your PII or other information is demanded by a court order or by governmental or statutory authorities;
- If sharing or disclosure of your PII or other information is needed to help prevent against fraud or the violation of any applicable law, statute, regulation, ordinance, or treaty;
- If sharing or disclosure of your PII or other information is needed to protect our employees, independent contractors, officers, members or other users; and
- If otherwise permitted to do so by this Privacy Policy or by applicable law.
- When any PII or other information pertaining to Website users is shared with third-parties such as advertisers, licensees and content distributors, we ensure that such information is non-private, aggregated or anonymised so that it will not identify you personally. You understand that we may further distribute your information to a wider audience through third-party sites and services, if such distribution is consistent with this clause and the contents of this Privacy Policy.
- We may use external advertising companies to serve you advertisements when you have visited our Website. These companies may use anonymised information about your visits to the Website and other websites to provide advertisements about products or services that may be of interest to you.
- We may share your PII or other information with our parents, subsidiaries, divisions, and affiliates or as part of any sale, merger or acquisition.
- We will never sell your PII or other information to unaffiliated third-parties without your approval.
6. Information retention
Upon you deactivating the Website, we shall archive your PII. We will retain archived information indefinitely in our secure database for the purposes of our records. Non-personally identifiable information is retained indefinitely for analytics. However, any Sensitive Personal Information collected by us, if any, shall be destroyed upon such deactivation.
We collect and retain certain information that is required for our detection, investigation and prevention of fraud, cheating and other violations of our Terms of Use and applicable laws (“Breach(es)“). This data is used only for the purposes of detection, investigation, prevention and, where applicable, acting on such Breaches and stored only for the minimum amount of time needed for the purpose of dealing with such Breaches. If the data indicates that such a Breach has occurred, we will further store the data for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, until a legal case related to it has been resolved, or such legal claim no longer exists due to the expiry of relevant limitation periods. Please note that the specific data stored for dealing with Breaches may not be disclosed to you if such disclosure will compromise our legal rights as well as the mechanism through which we detect, investigate and prevent such Breaches.
7. Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. You agree to periodically review the current version of the Privacy Policy, as posted on the Website. We will notify you of material changes by notice on this page when you access the Website. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page. If you do not agree to any change, you may decide not to continue to use the Website.
8. Contact us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or have any grievances, please contact us at contact@howtobuybitcoin.org