Privacy Policy

 
 

thisquality Privacy Policy:

This Privacy Policy outlines thisquality (“We, we”, “Our, our” or “the Company”, “Owned, owned”, “thisquality”) practices with respect to information collected from users who access our website at thisquality.com (“Site”), or otherwise share personal information with us (collectively: “Users, users, User, user, You, you, Your, your, User(s), user(s)”).
 
You may request to: 
  1. Receive confirmation as to whether or not personal information concerning you is being processed, and access your stored personal information, together with supplementary information. 
  2. Receive a copy of personal information you directly volunteer to us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format. 
  3. Request rectification of your personal information that is in our control.
  4. Request erasure of your personal information. 
  5. Object to the processing of personal information by us. 
  6. Request to restrict the processing of your personal information by us.
  7. Lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.

*Please note that these rights are not absolute, and may be subject to our own legitimate interests and regulatory requirements. 

If you wish to exercise any of the aforementioned rights or receive more information, please Contact Us.

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Retention:
We will retain your personal information for as long as necessary to provide our services, and as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our policies. Retention periods will be determined to take into account the type of information that is collected and the purpose for which it is collected, bearing in mind the requirements applicable to the situation and the need to destroy outdated, unused information at the earliest reasonable time. Under applicable regulations, we will keep records containing client personal data, account opening documents, communications and anything else as required by applicable laws and regulations. 
 
We may rectify, replenish or remove incomplete or inaccurate information, at any time and at our own discretion:
Grounds for data collection Processing of your personal information (meaning, any information which may potentially allow your identification with reasonable means; hereinafter “Personal Information”) collection is necessary for the performance of our contractual obligations towards you and providing you with our services, to protect our legitimate interests and for compliance with legal and financial regulatory obligations to which we are subject.

*When you use the Site, you consent to the collection, storage, use, disclosure, and other uses of your Personal Information as described in this Privacy Policy. We encourage Users to carefully read the Privacy Policy and use it to make informed decisions. 
 
What information do we collect?
We collect two types of data and information from Users. 
 
The first type of information is un-identified and non-identifiable information pertaining to a User(s), which may be made available or gathered via your use of the Site (“Non-personal Information”). We are not aware of the identity of a User from which the Non-personal Information was collected. Non-personal Information which is being collected may include your aggregated usage information and technical information transmitted by your device, including certain software and hardware information (e.g. the type of browser and operating system your device uses, language preference, access time, etc.) in order to enhance the functionality of our Site. We may also collect information on your activity on the Site (e.g. pages viewed, online browsing, clicks, actions, screenshots, sharing to other platforms/websites or third-party providers, etc.).
 
The second type of information Personal Information which is individually identifiable information, namely information that identifies an individual or may with reasonable effort to identify an individual.
 
Such includes:
Device Information:
We collect Personal Information from your device. Such information includes geolocation data, IP address, unique identifiers (e.g. MAC address and UUID) and other information which relates to your activity through the Site.
 
How do we receive information about you?

We receive your Personal Information from various sources:

  • When you voluntarily provide us with your personal details in order to register or Contact Us on our Site;
  • When you use or access our Site in connection with your use of our services;
  • From third-party providers, services, and public registers (for example, traffic analytics vendors).

     

How is the information used? To whom do we share the information?
We do not rent, sell, or share Users’ information with third parties except as described in this Privacy Policy.
 
We may use the information for the following:
  • Communicating with you – sending you notices regarding our services, providing you with technical information and responding to any customer service issue you may have;
  • To communicate with you and to keep you informed of our latest updates and services;
  • To serve you advertisements when you use our Site;
  • To market our websites and products;
  • Conducting statistical and analytical purposes, intended to improve the Site.
In addition to the different uses listed above, we may transfer or disclose Personal Information to our subsidiaries, affiliated companies, partnerships, and subcontractors.
 
In addition to the purposes listed in this Privacy Policy, we may share Personal Information with our trusted third-party providers, who may be located in different jurisdictions across the world, for any of the following purposes: 
  • Hosting and operating our Site;
  • Providing you with our services, including providing a personalized display of our Site;
  • Storing and processing such information on our behalf; 
  • Serving you with advertisements and assist us in evaluating the success of our advertising campaigns and help us retarget any of our users;
  • Providing you with marketing offers and promotional materials related to our Site and services; 
  • Performing research, technical diagnostics or analytics;

We may also disclose the information if we have good faith to believe that disclosure of such information is helpful or reasonably necessary to: (i) comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request; (ii) enforce our policies (including our Agreement), including investigations of potential violations thereof; (iii) investigate, detect, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities or other wrongdoing, suspected fraud or security issues; (iv) to establish or exercise our rights to defend against legal claims; (v) prevent harm to the rights, property or safety of us, our users, yourself or any third party; or (vi) for the purpose of collaborating with law enforcement agencies and/or in case we find it necessary in order to enforce intellectual property or other legal rights.

 
Cookies:
We and our trusted partners use cookies and other technologies in our related services, including when you visit our Site or access our services. 
 
A “cookie” is a small piece of information that a website assign to your device while you are viewing a website. Cookies are very helpful and can be used for various different purposes. These purposes include allowing you to navigate between pages efficiently, enable automatic activation of certain features, remembering your preferences and making the interaction between you and our Services quicker and easier. Cookies are also used to help ensure that the advertisements you see are relevant to you and your interests and to compile statistical data on your use of our Services. 
 
The Site uses the following types of cookies:

A. ‘session cookies' which are stored only temporarily during a browsing session in order to allow normal use of the system and are deleted from your device when the browser is closed; 

B. ‘persistent cookies' which are read-only by the Site, saved on your computer for a fixed period and are not deleted when the browser is closed. Such cookies are used where we need to know who you are for repeat visits, for example, to allow us to store your preferences for the next sign-in; 

C. ‘third party cookies' which are set by other online services who run content on the page you are viewing, for example by third party analytics companies who monitor and analyze our web access.
 
Cookies do not contain any information that personally identifies you, but Personal Information that we store about you may be linked, by us, to the information stored in and obtained from cookies. You may remove the cookies by following the instructions of your device preferences; however, if you choose to disable cookies, some features of our Site may not operate properly and your online experience may be limited.
 
We use a tool which is based on the Snowplow Analytics technology to collect information about your use of the Site. The tool collects information such as how often users access the Site, what pages they visit when they do so, etc. the tool does not collect any Personal Information and is only used by our Site hosting and operating service provider to improve their Site and services.
 
d. ‘Google advertising cookies'

Google uses cookies to help serve the ads it displays on the websites of its partners, such as websites displaying Google ads or participating in Google certified ad networks. When users visit a Google partner's website, a cookie may be dropped on that end user's browser.

Use of script libraries (Google Web Fonts):

In order to present our contents correctly and graphically appealing across all browsers, we use script libraries and font libraries such as Google Web Fonts (https://www.google.com/webfonts) on this website. Google Web Fonts are transferred to your browser's cache to avoid multiple loading. If your browser does not support Google Web Fonts or does not allow access, the content will be displayed in a default font. 

  • Calling script libraries or font libraries automatically triggers a connection to the library operator. In theory, it is possible – but currently also unclear whether and, if so, for what purposes – that operators of corresponding libraries collect data.
  • The privacy policy of the library operator Google can be found here: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy.
Third-party collection of information:
Our policy only addresses the use and disclosure of information we collect from you. To the extent you disclose your information to other parties or sites throughout the internet, different rules may apply to their use or disclosure of the information you disclose to them. Accordingly, we encourage you to read the terms and conditions and privacy policy of each third party that you choose to disclose information to.

This Privacy Policy does not apply to the practices of companies that we do not own or control, or to individuals whom we do not employ or manage, including any of the third parties which we may disclose information as set forth in this Privacy Policy. 

How we safeguard your information:
We take great care in implementing and maintaining the security of the Site and your information. Although we take reasonable steps to safeguard information, we cannot be responsible for the acts of those who gain unauthorized access or abuse our Site, and we make no warranty, express, implied or otherwise, that we will prevent such access.
 
Transfer of data outside the EEA:
Please note that some data recipients may be located outside the EEA. In such cases, we will transfer your data only to such countries as approved by the European Commission as providing an adequate level of data protection or enter into legal agreements ensuring an adequate level of data protection.
Advertisements
 
*We may use third-party advertising technology to serve advertisements when you access the Site. This technology uses your information with regards to your use of the Services to serve advertisements to you (e.g., by placing third-party cookies on your web browser). 
 
You may opt-out of many third-party ad networks, including those operated by members of the Network Advertising Initiative (“NAI”) and the Digital Advertising Alliance (“DAA”). For more information about this practice by NAI and DAA members, and your choices regarding having this information used by these companies, including how to opt-out of third-party ad networks operated by NAI and DAA members, please visit their respective websites: http://optout.networkadvertising.org/#!/ and http://optout.aboutads.info/#!/.
 
Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to your website or other websites:
Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to users based on their visit to your sites and/or other sites on the Internet.
 
Users may opt-out of personalized advertising by visiting Ads Settings:
(Alternatively, you can direct users to opt-out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies for personalized advertising by visiting www.aboutads.info.)
If you have not opted out of third-party ad serving, the cookies of other third-party vendors or ad networks may also be used to serve ads on your site, which should also be disclosed in your privacy policy in the following manner:
 
  1. Notify site visitors of the third-party vendors and ad networks serving ads on your site.
  2. Provide links to the appropriate vendor and ad network websites.
  3. Inform users that they may visit those websites to opt out of the use of cookies for personalized advertising (if the vendor or ad network offers this capability). Alternatively, you can direct users to opt-out of some third-party vendors’ uses of cookies for personalized advertising by visiting www.aboutads.info.
 
Because publisher sites and laws across countries vary, we're unable to suggest specific privacy policy language:
However, you may wish to review resources such as the Network Advertising Initiative for guidance on drafting a privacy policy. For additional details regarding cookie consent notices, please refer to cookiechoices.org.
 
Marketing:
We may use your Personal Information, such as your name, email address, telephone number, etc. ourselves or by using our third-party subcontractors for the purpose of providing you with promotional materials, concerning our services, which we believe may interest you.  
 
Out of respect to your right to privacy, we provide you with such marketing materials with means to decline to receive further marketing offers from us. If you unsubscribe we will remove your email address or telephone number from our marketing distribution lists. 
 
*Please note that even if you have unsubscribed from receiving marketing emails from us, we may send you other types of important e-mail communications without offering you the opportunity to opt-out of receiving them. These may include customer service announcements or administrative notices.
 
Corporate transaction:
We may share information in the event of a corporate transaction (e.g. sale of a substantial part of our business, merger, consolidation, or asset sale). In the event of the above, the transferee or acquiring company will assume the rights and obligations as described in this Privacy Policy.
 
Minors:
We understand the importance of protecting children’s privacy, especially in an online environment. The Site is not designed for or directed at children. Under no circumstances shall we allow the use of our services by minors without prior consent or authorization by a parent or legal guardian. We do not knowingly collect Personal Information from minors. If a parent or guardian becomes aware that his or her child has provided us with Personal Information without their consent, he or she should Contact Us.
 
Contact us form policy:
We require a user to submit their full name, address, email, phone number & all fields to be factually filled in when Contact Us. Failing to submit this information to us within a contact request form will result in the contact request being sent to spam or trashed. This ensures a user is authentic, this also protects us from spam & fraudulent contact requests. A user is required to submit the email reason; Technical, Support, News-tip, DMCA, Copyright, Terms of Service, or Other.
 
Transparency policy:
To be as transparent as possible, readers can Contact Us to find out more information on who we are partnered with.

Some videos, news articles, pages or publications posted to any @thisquality owned social media handles or websites may contain authorised signatures to indicate a partnership authority and authorisation – representing a payment or funding for certain projects.

Author name suppression policy:
Writers publishing publications on our website, or on thisquality owned platforms including social media handles that distribute publication content grant all rights to have author name suppression at any time at the front end of the website (public domain and content pages).

Authors, guests or contributors may choose to display their names publically at their own will.
 
Writers in the backend of the website require full first and last names where editors approve or disapprove content to be published as publications. Their names are kept in the backend of the website to ensure that any breaches made can be applied to the appropriate persons for the responsibility of any revisions before they hit the public eye.

As of September 11, 2021, the names of writers were made public to readers at the front end of the website.
 

If you the reader wishes to make a complaint about a story, you can do so by contacting us. Before contacting us, please read the Contact Us form policy for more information on how we collect your data as described in this Privacy Policy.

Managed conversation platform (MCP) policy:

We embrace comments from active readers on our website and encourage all to join in. Please feel free to discuss issues and share your views, ideas and perspectives. Criticism is allowed given it is civil. 

The comment section is a managed online conversation on our platform, not a public forum.

We reserve all right to reject comments, images or links that contain the following:

* Offensive materials.
* Illicit language which also includes the use of symbols — these may be not allowed provided that all symbols can be used unless a mediator employed by thisquality deems it to not be suitable, it will be removed.)
* Trolling or threats that may harm or affect another user — we reserve the right to reject comments we consider, including expectations, to be considered as falsehoods.
* Impersonation of an individual or organisation or is fraudulent, defamatory any person.
* Threats of being invasive with someone else's privacy — this includes personal attacks.
* Supports or endorses disturbance, vigilantism or violation.
* Infringe on copyrights or trademarks including self-promoting.
* Violate the law or breach court-ordered suppressions or have the potential to breach future suppressions by government, courts or other appropriate enforcement agencies.
* Constitute a contempt of court or that contain details of cases and individuals before the courts.
* Violate our terms and conditions for our managed conversation platform for organic generated content made by users.
* Promote, advertise or solicit the sale of any goods or services.
* Nitpick other users' grammar — this includes name-calling, insults, mocking the story subject titles abusing staff or contributors of thisqulaity.

(MCP) Our rights:
We retain the right and preference (but not an obligation) to edit, delete, reject or remove any comment which you post or attempt to post on our managed conversation platform.

When you post or attempt to post on our managed conversation platform, you allow us to have a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, worldwide licence to republish any material you submit to us, without limitation and in any format.

Please be aware that mediators employed by thisquality may contact you at any time by email in relation to your participation on our managed conversation platform, especially where an issue comes up in relation to the managed conversation platform policy.

Any advice they do give, request or make should be adhered to, as our mediators are employed to enforce the managed conversation platform policy and create a constructive environment for everyone who contributes.

We retain the right and preference to terminate your account if we believe you are abusing the managed conversation platform in any way shape or form and this includes any breaches you follow in the attempt — this includes users who breach the terms and conditions of thisquality. 

If you post offensive comments or use offensive usernames, you will immediately be rejected or terminated from using the managed conversation platform at any given time without notice. You may not receive a notice stating you have been terminated, instead, you will be unable to use the managed conversation platform any-longer.

If you post illegal material or hate speech, this may result in having your personal details that we collect as data stated in this privacy policy including IP addresses, it will be reported to the appropriate authorities.

When you use our managed conversation platform you are consenting to thisquality collecting and storing your email and IP address for security purposes.

(MCP) Your obligations:
Adhering to the managed conversation platform policy stated above, you are not allowed to post any material that is:

  • Not your unique work of which you own the copyright(s), or in any way that violates or infringes the copyright, identity, registered trademark or intellectual property preferences of another person or entity.
  • Offensive, pornographic, vulgar, irreligious or otherwise of illegal measures.
  • Racial or religious slanders or scandals, content that encourages violence or negativity, or is likely to offend, insult or humiliate others based on race, religion, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation or any physical or mental disabilities not listed.
  • Not misleading or convincing commitments that are aimed to promote your own agendas which forces it against another user.
  • Not advertisements, promotions or in any way shape or form talking about trade or commerce, your own entity, products or goods and services.

(MCP) Governing law:
These terms and conditions shall be construed and applied in accordance with the laws of New Zealand, and you consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of the New Zealand Courts to determine any matter or dispute which arises under these terms and conditions in accordance with the laws of New Zealand.

(MCP) Restitution:
You agree to completely reimburse and hold us thisquality (and other related third party entities, partners or contractors) harmless against any liabilities, claims, costs, loss (including consequential loss) or damage contracted as a result of any materials you post in the managed conversation platform, or as a result of any breach made by you of these terms and conditions defined.

We and or other related entities retain all right to consider the treatment of any defence to any claim brought against us, and of any proceeding or appeal issued by us, and you also agree to provide all reasonable cooperation which includes making relevant documents available that we may require from your in relation to any claim made by you, proceeding or in an appeal process.

Updates or amendments to this Privacy Policy:
We reserve the right to periodically amend or revise the Privacy Policy; material changes will be effective immediately upon the display of the revised Privacy policy. The last revision will be reflected in the “Last modified” section. Your continued use of the Platform, following the notification of such amendments on our website, constitutes your acknowledgment and consent of such amendments to the Privacy Policy and your agreement to be bound by the terms of such amendments.
 
How to contact us:
If you have any general questions about the Site or the information we collect about you and how we use it, you can Contact Us.
 
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