The Types of Information We Collect, How We Collect It & Our Business Purpose
We collect the types of information described below. We provide a summary of how we collect and use information below and more details about how we collect personal information under Advertising and Affiliate Links and Automatically Collected Information. We provide more details about how we use and share information under How we Use Information we Collect and How we Share Information we Collect. We may link, combine, or supplement the information you provide us with other information we receive from third parties to create inferences.
- Identifiers: : Internet protocol (IP) addresses, clickstream data, click ID, or demand side platform ID, mobile ad identifiers, customer number, unique pseudonym, or user alias. Identifiers may also include “probabilistic identifiers” or “user agents” which are means to identify an individual based upon technical characteristics of their device such as hardware address, browser type, operating system. Identifiers also includes “Unique Identifiers” which are persistent identifiers that can be used to recognize an individual or device that is linked to an individual or group of individuals, over time and across different services. We collect this information automatically when you visit and interact with the Site, click links on our Site, engage with our content, click on advertising, or open our emails. We use cookies, pixels, flash cookies or other tracking technology (explained below) (“Automatic Tracking Technologies”). We use this information to identify you and to analyze how you use our Site, to improve your experience, to remember your settings, to evaluate the performance of content, advertisements, or marketing campaigns, to tailor content, advertising or marketing to you, to evaluate or analyze trends, to help our advertising or affiliate program partners provide content or advertising that is relevant to you, to administer contests, sweepstakes, or promotions, for operational or security purposes such as to administer and deliver the Site or services, or to improve our Site or services.
- Technical Information: Connection type, settings, operating system, browser type, IP address, URLs of referring/exit pages, device, device identifiers, or crash data, browser type, Internet service provider (ISP), referrer URL, exit URL, the pages viewed (e.g., HTML pages, graphics, etc.), length of time viewed, operating system, date/time, downloads, geolocation (not precise geolocation). We collect this information automatically when you visit and interact with the Site, click links on our Site, engage with our content, click on advertising, or open our emails. We use Automatic Tracking Technologies to collect this information. We use this information to identify you and to analyze how you use our Site, to improve your experience, to remember your settings, to evaluate the performance of content, advertisements, or marketing campaigns, to tailor content, advertising or marketing to you, to evaluate or analyze trends, to help our advertising or affiliate program partners provide content or advertising that is relevant to you, to administer contests, sweepstakes, or promotions, for operational or security purposes such as to administer and deliver the Site or services, or to improve our Site or services.
- Demographics: Demographic data is generally aggregated information like age group, gender, behavior, interests, likes, or browsing or purchasing history, and may be combined with Identifiers and Technical Information. We receive this information from third parties, like ad networks, or collect it automatically when you visit the Site, click on links, engage with our content, click on advertising, or open our emails. We use this information to identify you as part of a demographic group, to analyze how you use our Site, to improve your experience, to evaluate the performance of content, advertisements, or marketing campaigns, to tailor content, advertising or marketing to you, to evaluate or analyze trends, to help our advertising or affiliate program partners provide content or advertising that is relevant to you, for operational purposes such as to administer and deliver the Site or services, or to improve our Site or services.
- Information You Provide Us: Name, email address, phone, address, contest, sweepstakes, or promotion entry information, email communications you send us, or any other information you provide to us. We receive this information when you sign up to receive our email newsletter, enter a contest, sweepstakes, or promotion, download content from the Site, respond to a survey, provide or respond to communications, or if you share our content. We may use Automatic Tracking Technologies and collect Persistent Identifiers and Technical Information and combine it with the information you provide us. We use this information to provide our newsletters to you, to communicate with you, to administer our contests, sweepstakes, or promotions, to provide you with relevant content, to provide you with content, advertisements, offers, coupons or other deals that may be of interest to you or to otherwise fulfil the purpose for which you provided the information.
- Interactions with Third Party Ads Placed on the Site: Clickstream data, click ID, Identifiers, Technical information, privacy consent events where applicable. Third parties may place advertising on our Site, or third parties may purchase advertising through unaffiliated ad networks that appears on our Site. When you engage with advertising on our Site, we and the third-party advertiser and/or ad network collect information about you. We share that information with the third party that placed the advertisement and/or the ad network. Both we and the third party use Automatic Tracking Technologies. The third-party advertiser and/or ad network may also identify you as a visitor of a previous website or webpage and they may combine other information they collect about you. We use this information to identify you, to analyze how you use our Site, to improve your experience, to remember you and to provide you with relevant content, advertisements, offers, coupons or other deals that may be of interest to you, to help our advertising or affiliate program partners provide content or advertising that is relevant to you, and to provide and improve the Site and services.
- Social Media Interactions: Identifiers, Technical Information, name, email address, social media account information or activities (shares, likes). When you click on social media icons on our Site (e.g., to share content or like content), interact with our advertisements on social media platforms, or interact directly with our social media pages, we receive information directly from you, from the social media platform provider, and through Automatic Tracking Technology. We use information collected from social media platform providers to allow you to use the features of the social media platform (e.g., to share content with your network), to track your engagement with our Site, our social media pages, or content (such as “likes”, “shares” etc.), to understand overall engagement, to communicate with you, to analyze trends and usage patterns, or to help us improve our Site or services.
- Interactions with Third Party Content Platforms: Identifiers, Technical Information, name, email address, social media account information or activities (shares, likes). Our content may be made available through third-party platforms or applications. When you interact with our content by viewing, clicking, or sharing our content, we will receive information about you from the third-party platform provider. The third-party platform provider uses Automatic Tracking Technology to collect this information and share it with us. We use this information evaluate our content or advertising, to tailor content or advertising to you, provide you with relevant content, offers or advertising, evaluate or analyze trends, for internal operational or security purposes, to evaluate or analyze usage trends, or to improve our Site or services.
- Customer Information: Username, first name, last name, password, name, company, business address, business email phone number, limited payment information such as transaction date, time, transaction ID, account activity, Identifiers, Information You Provide Us, communications or support information, other information you provide us. Customers that purchase advertising placements directly from us are required to create an account at www.dtadsolutions.com. Creating an account requires customers to provide their personal information. We collect this information directly from you when you provide it to us, through Automatic Tracking Technology, or from third party service providers (e.g. lead generation tools). We use this information to provide services to you, to facilitate contracts or transactions with you, to support the Site and the services, for legal purposes (such as to fulfil a contract or enforce our rights), for internal business purposes, for sales and marketing purposes, or for the purposes for which you provide it.
- Widgets (Ad Blockers, Push Notifications): First name, last name, email address, browser ID, push notification ID, Identifier, and Technical Information. Third-party widgets like ad blockers and push notification functionality may be integrated with the Site. These third-party services share information with us if you engage with or use these widgets on our Site. We collect information when you interact with a widget to facilitate the features, functionality or purpose for which you provided it, and to remember you and your preferences.
Advertising & Affiliate Links
We display content, offers, or advertisements that may be of interest to our users on the Site, or other digital properties or applications. We use Inferences (see “Identifiers” above) and demographic data to identify segments of similar users. We will provide content or advertising that may interest individuals we identify to be similar to that segment based on our Inferences. Advertisements are targeted based on information that we collect directly or that we receive from third parties (like ad networks, ad servers, or through third party affiliate marketing programs, we call these “Advertising Partners”). If we match you to a particular segment, we may provide offers, deals, content, or advertising that may be of interest to that segment, including you, and we may allow our advertising partners to better target their advertisements to that segment, including you (“Cross-Contextual Behavioral Advertising”). We, the third-party businesses we interact with, and our third-party service providers use the information we collect for the purposes disclosed above, but primarily to identify you and to serve relevant advertising or content to you, to analyze performance of advertisements and content, to analyze usage trends, and to target offers, promotions, deals, or content to you on the Site and elsewhere online.
We and our Advertising Partners use Automatic Tracking Technology to collect information from you and to identify you. We will receive your information from third parties when you click through an advertisement or promotion on the Site, or when you click on an affiliate link in our content or purchase a product from an affiliate link. If you purchase product or service from an affiliate, we do not receive credit card information, or the specific items purchased.
We are not responsible for the privacy practices of any of our Advertising Partners, and we encourage you to read their privacy policies so that you understand how they process information about you.
Automatically Collected Information
When you visit the Site, based upon your cookie preferences, a cookie or local storage will be sent to your computer that uniquely identifies your browser. “Cookies” and local storage are small files containing a string of characters that are sent to your computer’s browser and stored on your device when you visit a website. Cookies uniquely distinguish your web browser and keep track of information relating to serving ads on your web browser, such as the type of ads shown and the webpages on which the ads appeared. Advertising Partners place cookies on our Site and combine information they collect from our Site with other information they have independently collected across their network of websites. Advertising Partners collect and use this information under their own privacy policies. If you click on links in our content, our affiliate marketing partners use cookies to collect information about you and combine it with information they collect elsewhere.
We use the following types of cookies on the Site for the following purposes:
- Analytics and Performance Cookies: We use these cookies to collect information about traffic to our Site and how users use our Site. It includes the number of visitors, the websites that referred them to our Site, the pages that they visited on our Site, what time of day they visited, whether they have visited our Site before, and other similar information. We use this information to help operate our Site more efficiently, to gather broad demographic information and to monitor the level of activity. We also use Google Analytics for this purpose. Google Analytics uses its own cookies (e.g., third party cookies) and provides demographic information to us.
- Functional Cookies/Strictly Necessary Cookies: These cookies are required to provide the Site and to enable you to use its features.
- Social Media Cookies: These cookies are used when you share information using a social media sharing button or “like” button on our Site or engage with our content on or through social media sites. The social media sites will record that your activities.
- Targeted and Advertising Cookies: The purpose of these cookies is to provide you with a more personal experience and to remember you when you visit our Site. Targeted cookies will track your browsing habits across websites to enable us to show advertising which is more likely to be of interest to you. These cookies use information about your browsing history to group you with other users who have similar interests. Based on that information, third-party advertisers can place cookies to enable them to show ads which we/they think will be relevant to your interests while you are on our Site. These cookies also store your location, including your latitude and longitude, which helps us/them show you locale-specific content.
Flash Cookies
A Flash cookie is a data file placed on a device via the Adobe Flash plug-in that is built into or downloaded by you onto your device. Flash cookies are used for various purposes, including, without limitation, enabling a Flash feature and remembering your preferences. For more information about Flash and the privacy choices Adobe offers, visit
here. If you choose to adjust your Flash privacy settings on your device some features of the Site may not function properly.
We use “pixel tags,” which are small graphic files that allow us and third parties to monitor the use of the Site and collect usage data. A pixel tag can collect information such as the IP address of the computer that downloaded the page on which the tag appears, the URL of the page on which the pixel tag appears, the time (and length of time) the page containing the pixel tag was viewed, the type of browser that retrieved the pixel tag, and the identification number of any cookie previously placed by that server on your computer. We use pixel tags, either provided by us or by our third party advertisers, social media sites, third party affiliate partners or ad networks, to collect information about your visit, including the pages you view, the links you click and other actions taken in connection with our Site and use them in combination with our cookies. Pixel tags also enable ad networks to serve targeted advertisements to you when you visit our Site or other websites.
Log Files
A log file is a file that records events that occur in connection with your use of the Site, such as your service use data.
Device fingerprinting
Device fingerprinting is the process of analyzing and combining sets of information elements from your device’s browser, such as JavaScript objects and installed fonts, to create a “fingerprint” of your device and uniquely identify your device and apps.
U.S. STATE DATA PRIVACY RIGHTS
California Resident Privacy Rights
If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) provides you with additional rights regarding our use of your information. The rights outlined in this section do not apply to information exempted under the CCPA, including aggregated data or to individuals who are not residents of California.
CCPA Rights
To the extent provided under the CCPA, and subject to applicable exceptions, California residents have the following rights with respect to the information that we collect:
- The right to know the categories and specific personal information we have collected, the categories and sources from which we collected the personal information, the categories of third parties with whom we share personal information, and the business or commercial purpose for collecting or selling (if applicable) personal information,
- To request a copy of the personal information that we have collected about you during the past 12 months,
- The right to opt out of sales of personal information (if applicable) or sharing personal information for Cross-Contextual Behavioral Advertising,
- To request that we delete the personal information that we have collected from you, subject to certain exceptions,
- To correct inaccurate information that we maintain about you,
- The right to limit the disclosure of sensitive personal information, if we use or disclose sensitive personal information,
- The right to request information about and opt out of automated decision making (if applicable),
- To exercise the rights described above free from discrimination or retaliation as prohibited by the CCPA, and
Categories of Personal Information
For purposes of CCPA, we collect the following categories of personal information:
For the purposes of CCPA 7011(d), in the previous 12 months, we collected:
- Identifiers, such as name, unique identifier, online identifier, email address, transaction identifiers, or IP address,
- Select Information in Customer Records, such as name, email, address, or telephone number,
- Geolocation (not precise geolocation),
- Commercial Information, such as products or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies,
- Internet or Network Activity,
- Professional or Employment Related Information (for job applicants only in accordance with our Job Applicant Privacy Policy), and
- Inferences from Information that Could be Used to Create a Profile, such as preferences or characteristics.
We have not collected the following categories of information in the previous 12 months:
- Biometric Information, such as hair color, eye color, fingerprints, retinal scans, or thermal, olfactory, or similar information, Audio, Electronic, and Visual Information,
- Sensitive personal information (we do not collect precise geolocation)
We have disclosed the following categories of information for a business purpose in the preceding 12 months:
- Identifiers: to service providers, Advertising Partners, content networks, technology partners, our online marketplace, or customers.
- Select Information in Customer Records: to service providers, Advertising Partners, content networks, technology partners, customers, or with our online marketplace.
- Geolocation (not precise geolocation): to service providers, Advertising Partners, content networks, technology partners, customers, or with our online marketplace.
- Commercial Information: to service providers and customers.
- Internet or Network Activity: to service providers, Advertising Partners, content networks, technology partners, customers, or with our online marketplace.
- Professional or Employment Related Information: to service providers.
- Inferences: to service providers, Advertising Partners, content networks, technology partners, customers, or with our online marketplace.
We disclose this information for the purposes described in the following Sections: Advertising & Affiliate Links, How We Use Information We Collect & Our Business Purpose, How We Share Information.
Sales of Personal Information, Sharing of Personal Information, Right to Opt-Out
We do not “sell” personal information as the term “sell” is traditionally understood. However, to the extent “sale” under the CCPA is interpreted to include advertising technology activities as a “sale,” we have sold or shared for Cross Contextual Behavioral Advertising purposes the following categories of information: Identifiers, Geolocation (not precise Geolocation), Internet or Network Activity, and Inferences. We provide you the option to request that we not “sell” or “share” your personal information. We sell or share this information with our Advertising Partners or customers.
We do not collect information about user’s age. Where we receive demographic information from third parties, we receive age ranges. Therefore, we do not have actual knowledge of collection of information from individuals under the age of 16 and do not have actual knowledge of sales of information of individuals under the age of 16.
To the extent we sell or share your personal information as those terms are defined under the CCPA, you have the right to opt-out of the sale or sharing of your personal information by us to third parties at any time. You may submit a request to opt-out of by clicking Do Not Sell My Personal Information. You may also submit a request to opt-out by emailing us at privacy@digitaltrends.com.
Collection of Sensitive Personal Information
We do not collect sensitive personal information as that term is defined by the CCPA.
Virginia Resident Privacy Rights
If you are a Virginia resident, the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA) provides you with additional rights regarding our use of your information. The rights outlined in this section do not apply to information exempted under the VCDPA, including aggregated data, or to individuals who are not residents of Virginia.
We describe the Information We Collect, How We Use Personal Information, and How We Share Personal Information above. We describe how we use personal information for targeting or advertising in our Affiliate Links & Advertising Section. We do not collect sensitive personal information as that term is defined by the VCDPA.
To the extent provided under the VCDPA, and subject to applicable exceptions, Virginia residents have the following rights with respect to the information that we collect:
- To know the personal information that we process about you,
- To access personal information that we process about you,
- To correct inaccurate information that we maintain about you,
- To obtain a copy of the personal information that we have collected about you,
- The right to opt out of the processing of personal information for (i) targeted advertising, (ii) the sale of personal data, or (iii) profiling for decisions with legal or other significant effects on the consumer.
- To request that we delete the personal information that we have collected from you, subject to certain exceptions,
- To exercise the rights described above free from discrimination or retaliation as prohibited by the VCDPA, and
To the extent “sale” under the VCDPA is interpreted to include advertising technology activities as a “sale,” we have sold the following categories of information: Identifiers, Geolocation (not precise geolocation), Internet or Network Activity, and Inferences. We sell or share this information with our Advertising Partners or customers. You may submit a request to opt-out of by clicking Do Not Sell My Personal Information. You may also submit a request to opt-out by emailing us at privacy@digitaltrends.com.
Financial Incentives
Financial incentives are programs, benefits, or other offerings, including payments to consumers as compensation, for the disclosure, deletion, or sale of personal information about them. We do not offer financial incentives in exchange for information. If you use an ad blocker to restrict our collection of information about you, we may not allow you to access the content on our Site. We are able to provide the Site and services to you by allowing advertisers to target advertisements to our visitors.
Exercising Your CCPA or VCDPA Rights
California residents may exercise CCPA rights and Virginia residents may exercise their VCDPA rights by contacting us by phone or email as indicated in
the Contacting Digital Trends section below. Your rights may only be exercised by you or by your designated agent. You may submit a CCPA request to know twice within a 12-month period.
Your request must include enough information to allow us to reasonably verify that you are the person about whom we collected personal information or an authorized representative, which may include: (1) verifying your account information if you have an account with us, or (2) requesting two forms of identification that are reliable for verification purposes, unless the request includes sensitive information and, in which case, we may require three forms of verification and a signed declaration. The information included in your request must allow us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to it.
We cannot respond to your request if we cannot verify your identity or authority to make the request and confirm that the personal information relates to you. If we cannot verify your identity or authority, we will not fulfill your request. We will only use personal data provided in the request to verify the requestor’s identity or authority to make it.
You may submit a request through a designated agent. You must instruct that agent that they will need to state that they are acting on your behalf when making the request, have reasonably necessary documentation, and be prepared to provide the necessary personal information to identify you in our database.
California Shine the Light Disclosure
Under California Civil Code sections 1798.83- 1798.84, California residents are entitled to ask for a notice identifying the categories of personal customer data which we share with our affiliates and/or third parties for their own direct marketing purposes and providing contact information for such affiliates and/or third parties. If you are a California resident and would like a copy of this notice, please submit a written request to the following address: 111 SW 5th Ave Ste 1000, Portland, OR 97204.
European Resident Privacy Rights
If you are a resident of Switzerland, the United Kingdom, or a country within the European Economic Area (EEA), you may have rights under European data protection laws regarding the processing of your information. You have the right to access the information that we hold about you and, in some cases, to ask that your information be corrected, erased, or transferred (subject to limitations in applicable law). You may also have the right to object to or request that we restrict the processing of your information. If we collected information based on your consent, you have the right to revoke your consent.
If you would like to exercise any of these rights, you may contact us as indicated in the Contacting Digital Trends section below. The rights may not apply in some cases, including where providing access is unreasonably burdensome or expensive under the circumstances or where it would violate the rights of a third party. We may request specific information from you to confirm your identity. In some cases, we may charge a reasonable fee for access to your information.
You may file a complaint with a
data protection authority. The data protection authority will require you to first attempt to resolve any complaint with us. Please see
Contacting Digital Trends below to file a complaint with us.
With respect to the information that we collect or process as a result of your use or interaction with the Site, we may be considered a joint controller with our third-party partners (e.g. ad networks, analytics providers or affiliate marketers). Third party partners that are joint controllers as a result of the information that they receive, collect and process from the Site are responsible for obtaining any necessary consent and/or ensuring that they have a lawful basis for processing personal information.
Where we collect information for our own purposes, like when we collect information when you visit the Site, when you interact with our social media pages, email newsletters or other marketing, sign up for a contest, or the information that we collect about your use of the Site, Digital Trends is the “data controller.” Our lawful basis for collecting this information is with your consent, to fulfill contracts, our legitimate interest in providing the Site and content to you, or to comply with our legal obligations.
We will retain information for as long as necessary to fulfill our legitimate business purpose, to comply with any laws or regulations, resolve disputes, or enforce our agreements. We may retain information longer for our legitimate business interest if retention is not outweighed by your personal rights and freedoms.
