Forest Software

Web, SEO and IT & Business Advice for the Smaller Business

Forest Software's Privacy Policy

We respect and are committed to protecting your privacy. That is why we have adopted this Privacy Policy. Our Privacy Policy lets you know how your personal information is processed and explains data collection and use practices for the Forest Software website. The Forest Software website includes all Web pages, newsletters, discussion forums and lists and opt-in announcement lists owned and operated by Forest Software. By accessing our website, you are consenting to the information collection and use practices described in this Privacy Policy.

We promise that we will use your personal information only in ways that are compatible with this Privacy Policy as follows-

What information are you collecting and how are you collecting it?

Do you collect IP addresses?
Every computer connected to the Internet is given a set of numbers, that serve as that computer's IP ("Internet Protocol") address.
When a visitor requests a page from any Web site within our network of sites, our Web servers automatically recognize that visitor's IP address (and possibly a domain name associated with the IP address). The domain name and IP address reveal nothing personal about you other than the IP address from which you have accessed our Sites.
We use this information to examine our traffic in aggregate, and to investigate misuse of our network, its users, or to cooperate with law enforcement.
We do not collect and evaluate this information for specific individuals.
Our Web servers do not automatically record e-mail addresses of the visitors.

What are cookies?
From time to time, we or our advertisers may send a "cookie" to your computer.
A cookie is a small piece of data that is sent to your Internet browser from a Web server and stored on your computer's hard drive. A cookie can not read data off of your computer hard disk or read cookie files created by other Web sites. Cookies do not damage your system.
We use cookies to identify which areas of our website you have visited. Our advertisers may also use cookies to ascertain how many times you've seen an advertisement. Our advertisers and we may use this information to better personalise the content, banners, and promotions that you see on our Site.

This website uses Google Analytics to help analyse how our visitors use the site. The tool uses "cookies," which are text files placed on your computer, to collect standard Internet log information and visitor behaviour information in an anonymous form. The cookie is used to store information, such as what time the current visit occurred, whether the visitor has been to the site before, and what site referred the visitor to the web page. A different cookie is used for each website, and visitors are not tracked across multiple sites. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including IP address) is transmitted to Google. This information may then be used to evaluate visitors' use of the website and to compile statistical reports on website activity including some general demographic information via Google Analytics Demographics, although we can not and will never track your progress though the site. This then allows us to improve our website to better serve you, the visitor.

Google Analytics

Cookie name Purpose Expires
__utma This cookie is used to determine unique visitors to our site. 2 years.
__utmb This cookie is used to calculate the average length of time users spend on our site. 30 minutes
__utmc This cookie is used to ??to determine whether the user is in a new session/visit When browser is closed
__utmz This cookie records information about how the page was reached (for example via a search engine result or a direct link). 6 months.
test_cookie This cookie is used to provide basic demographic information 1 day
_drt_ This cookie is used to provide basic demographic information and for online advertising frequency capping and avoiding the duplication of ads on a page, meaning a user will not have to view the same ad over and over again. We do not use this cookie for "remarketing" to our visitors 2 years

Full details on the cookies set by Google Analytics are published on the Google website here.

To disable this type of cookie, some browsers will indicate when a cookie is being sent and allow you to decline cookies on a case-by-case basis. In addition to declining cookies, you can also install the Google Analytics Opt-out Add-on in your browser, which prevents Google Analytics from collecting information about your website visits.
Learn more about the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on and other Google Analytics privacy information.

Advertising Cookies

Third party vendors displaying adverts on our site, including Google, may use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to this website, these cookies contain no personally identifiable information. Sometimes the cookie contains an additional identifier that is similar in appearance to the cookie ID. This identifier is used to identify an ad campaign to which a user was exposed previously to limit the number of times the same advert is displayed.

Google's use of the DoubleClick cookie enables it and its partners to serve ads to your users that are based on their visit to your sites and/or other sites across the Internet.

You may opt out of using the DoubleClick cookie for interest-based advertising by visiting Ads Settings.

We will never (and will not allow any third party to) use the statistical analytics tool to track or to collect any Personally Identifiable Information (PII) of visitors to our site. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. Neither we nor Google will link, or seek to link, an IP address with the identity of a computer user. We will not associate any data gathered from this site with any personally identifiable information from any source, unless you explicitly submit that information via a fill-in form on our website.

You can choose whether to accept cookies by changing the settings of your Internet browser. You can reset your browser to refuse all cookies, or allow your browser to show you when a cookie is being sent. You can also change the settings on your browser to clear all cookies (or run cookie removal software if you prefer).
If you choose not to accept these cookies, your experience at our Site and other Web sites may be diminished and some features may not work as intended.

By using our website, if you do not change the settings of your internet browser, you agree that we can place these types of cookies on your device.

How do you use single-pixel gifs?
We, and our advertisers, may use single-pixel gif images, sometimes referred to as web beacons, to count Web page accesses and gather some general statistical information.
We do not gather personal information through the use of these images. Our advertisers and third party providers may use single-pixel gifs that can track information from cookies that may have been previously placed on a user's computer.
We may also use various third party providers (including Google Analytics) to track and analyze non-personally identifiable aggregate usage information from visitors to our websites in order to continuously improve the quality of our sites and services to you.

What personal information do you collect?
Wherever we collect personal information we make an effort to include a link to this Privacy Policy.
We will ask you when we need information that personally identifies you (personal information) or allows us to contact you. The personal information we collect may include your name, title, e-mail address, phone number and business.

We may request your e-mail address or mailing address for the purposes of conducting a contest or to provide additional services (for example, subscriptions to announcement lists or information about conferences and trade shows).
Participation in contests or other promotions on our network is completely voluntary and you have a choice whether or not to disclose personal information.
Information requested may include contact information (such as name and shipping address), and demographic information (such as PostCodes). Contact information will be used to notify the winners and award prizes.

We may also offer access to some services that require registration. We may use your registration contact information to send notification to you of products and services by e-mail and/or postal mail. We will not share that information with our clients. We may, however, use your IP address internally and share it with third parties.

When you use co-branded services, or those provided by a third party, within our Network, your information may be passed to the co-brand or third party provider and their use of your information is subject to their applicable privacy policies.

We may from time to time send you an e-mail announcing new products and services. If you choose to supply your postal address in an online form, you may receive postal mailings from us.

Will you disclose the information you collect to outside third parties?
We will only disclose personal information and/or an IP address:

1) When required by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to:
a) Cooperate with the investigations of purported unlawful activities and conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process served on us ;
b) Protect and defend the rights or property of our network of sites and related properties, or visitors to our network of sites and related properties;
c) Identify persons who may be violating the law, our terms of use and Web site User Agreement, the rights of third parties, or otherwise misusing our network or its related properties;
2) When we have your consent to share the information;
3) When you use co-branded services within our network of sites, you grant us permission to pass your registration information back to that service partner. Their use of your information is subject to their applicable privacy policies.

We maintain a strict "No-Spam" policy that means that we do not sell, rent, or otherwise give your e-mail address to a third-party, without your consent or as permitted by this Privacy Policy.

What else should I know about my privacy when online?
We may use third-party advertising companies and advertising networks to serve ads to you based on information (not including your name, address, email address or telephone number) about your visits to our Web sites in order to provide targeted advertisements about goods and services that we feel may be of interest to you.

Our network of websites contains many hyperlinks to third party Web sites, it also contains advertisements of third parties. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such third party Web sites or advertisers. We do not share any of the individual personal information you provide us with the third parties to which we link, except as stated elsewhere within this Privacy Policy, although we may share general, aggregate data with such third parties (for example, how many people use our website).

Please keep in mind that whenever you voluntarily disclose personal information online - for example through e-mail, discussion lists, or elsewhere - that information can be collected and used by others. In short, if you post personal information online that is accessible to the public, you may receive unsolicited messages from other parties in return.

Ultimately, you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your personal information. Please be careful and responsible whenever you're online.

Your Consent To This Agreement
By using our network of websites, you consent to the collection and use of information by us as specified above. We reserve the right to modify this Policy in the future. If we decide to change our Privacy Policy, we will post those changes on this page so that you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances we would disclose it.

(Last revised 22nd August 2015 - Included reference to Advertising Cookies)

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