Introduction

Ask Eternity (or “AE”) is a social Q&A platform site for providing high-quality questions and answers on issues of eternity. We take the private nature of your personal information very seriously, and are committed to protecting it. To do that, we’ve set up procedures to ensure that your information is handled responsibly and in accordance with applicable data protection and privacy laws. We hope to earn your trust.

This privacy policy describes what information we collect when you visit the site, how we use that information, and what choices we offer you to access, update, and control it. This version of the policy is effective as of July 11^th, 2013.

Safe Harbor Overview

We have chosen to comply with the principles of the Safe Harbor Framework developed by the U.S. Department of Commerce in consultation with the European Commission and the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner of Switzerland, except where limited by any legal, regulatory, ethical or public interest considerations. More information about the principles that make up the Framework, as well as other frequently asked questions relating to Safe Harbor can be found at: http://www.export.gov/safeharbor.

Types of Information

“Personal information” is any information that we could use to identify an individual. It does not include personal information that is encoded or anonymized, or publicly available information that has not been combined with non-public information.

“Sensitive personal information,” is information that meets the “personal information” criteria and also a) reveals race, ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, or b) concerns health or sex life, information about social security benefits, or information on criminal or administrative proceedings other than in the context of pending legal proceedings.

How We Collect Information

We collect information two ways: Information we get from your use of the site, and information you provide to us directly.

Information we get from your use of the site is primarily non-personally- identifying information of the sort that web browsers, servers, and services like Google Analytics (Google Analytics is a registered trademark of Google, Inc.) typically make available, such as the browser type, language preference, referring site, and the time of each visit. Other non-identifying information that we might have access to includes how you use the service (e.g., search queries), your approximate location, cookies, etc.

We collect this non-personally identifying information in order to better understand how visitors use the service and where possible, to improve their experience. For instance, we may monitor the most common content on the site to help identify spam. In some cases, we may publicly display information that is not personally identifying in the aggregate, (e.g., by publishing a report on trends in the usage of the site,) or may provide it to third parties.

When you use the site, we also collect potentially personally identifying information in the form of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. But we don’t use that information to identify you, and we handle and disclose these addresses in the same way we handle other potentially personally identifying information as described below.

Information you provide to us directly. Certain visitors to the site choose to interact with it in ways that may require them to provide us with personally identifying information. The amount and type of information that is provided depends on the nature of the interaction. For example, we ask visitors who sign up for AE to provide a username and email address. We may collect other personal information that is provided by and through a social network if one uses its access to register for an account at AE. We only collect as much information as is necessary or appropriate given the type of interaction. We do not disclose personally identifying information other than as described below. And you can always refuse to supply personally identifying information, with the caveat that it may prevent you from engaging in certain activities.

If you send us a request, such as emailing us for support, we reserve the right to publish it (absent any personally identifying information) in order to help us clarify or respond to your request or help other users.

A cookie is a string of information that a website stores on a visitor’s computer, and that the visitor’s browser provides to the website each time the visitor returns. We use cookies to help us track visitors’ use of the site and their preferences. If you do not wish to have cookies placed on your computer, you should set your browser to refuse cookies, but should be aware that certain features of the site may not function properly without them.

If you are outside the United States, you should know that any personally identifiable information you enter into the site will be transferred out of your country and into the United States, and possibly to other countries. By using the site, you consent to such transfer, and are representing that you have the right to transfer such information outside your country.

We do not knowingly collect any personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13. If you believe that a child has provided us with personally identifiable information without the consent of his or her parent or guardian, please contact us at support@asketernity.com. If we become aware that a child under age 13 has provided us with personally identifiable information, we’ll delete it.

Information You Choose to Display Publicly on the site

Some users may elect to publicly post personally identifying or sensitive information about themselves in their normal use of the site. This could occur through use of the optional profile fields, in question or answer posts, through linking through a social network, or when an individual posts identifiable profile information directly on the site. Information like that, which is voluntarily posted in publicly visible parts of the site, is considered to be public, even if it would otherwise be considered to be personally identifying or sensitive. As such, it is not subject to the protocols listed below, because we don’t control it; you do.

Additionally, voluntarily publicizing such information means that you lose any privacy rights you might normally have with regards to that information. It also increases your chances of receiving unwanted communications, like spam.

Information You Give to Other People

This Policy only applies to information collected by AE. It does not apply to the practices of companies that we don’t own or control, or employees that we don’t manage. The site contains links to third party websites, and any information you provide to those sites will be covered by any privacy policies they may have. Please be sure to read the privacy policies of any third-party sites you visit.

It is those sites’ responsibility to protect any information you give them, so we can’t be held liable for their wrongful use of your personally identifying information.

How We Use Information We Collect

Notice – When we collect your personal information, we’ll tell you how we’re using it, any types of third parties to which we might disclose it, (other than moderators or “Agents,” such as vendors or contractors, who are only processing such information for us or at our direction), and the choices we offer you to limit the use of your information.

Notice will be provided in clear and conspicuous language when you are first asked to provide us with personal information, or as soon as practicable thereafter, and we’ll notify you before we use the information for something other than the purpose for which it was originally collected. If anything in this policy seems unclear, please don’t hesitate to contact us at support@asketernity.com so we can address your question and possibly clarify this privacy policy.

Although most changes are likely to be minor, we may occasionally need to change this policy. If we do update it, we’ll make reasonable efforts to notify you either by posting the new policy on the site or by emailing you the changes or a link to the modified document. (See the “Choice” section below for information about how we’ll notify you if we change our policy regarding sensitive information.) In any case, the way we use information you provide will be covered by the privacy policy that was in effect at the time it was collected.

Here are some of the ways we may use personal information you provide us:

• To allow you to register for our web sites, online communities and other services, and to administer and process those registrations
• To communicate with you about our products, services and related issues
• To evaluate the quality of our products and services, and to enhance your experience on our web sites
• To maintain and administer our web site and comply with our legal or internal obligations and policies

To transfer information to others as described in this policy or to satisfy our legal, regulatory, compliance, or auditing requirements

Choice – Choice is all about making sure you have the ability to control how we share your personal information with others. We almost never share any of your personal information with non-Agent third parties, with one exception, where you basically are asking us to do so:

Users who post questions on our site are generally doing so for the express purpose of getting questions answered. So if you create a profile on our site and choose to make your profile visible to the community your name (which is required) and most of the other (optional) information in your profile will be visible to those within the community. That said, your contact information (email, phone, and address) will not be provided to the community unless you reveal it to them.

We won’t share your personal information with non-Agent third parties unless we are required to do so by law, or if we believe in good faith that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect our property, rights or those of third parties or the public at large. It is possible that we may be sold to a company or non-profit. If that should occur, user information is typically one of the assets that get transferred. If AE or most of its assets were acquired or in the unlikely event that we have to shut down the website user information could be transferred or acquired. You should be aware that such events can occur, and that if it does, the buyer may continue to use your personal and non-personal information, but only as set forth in this policy. Other than in these rare circumstances, AE will not rent or sell potentially personally identifying information to anyone.

We would never consider collecting or sharing sensitive information with a non-Agent third party, but if such were to happen, we will first give you the opportunity to explicitly consent (opt-in or subscribe) to such disclosure or to any use of the information for a purpose other than the one for which it was originally collected or previously authorized.

If you are a registered user of the site and have supplied your email address, we may occasionally send you an email to tell you about new features, solicit your feedback, or just keep you up to date with what’s going on with the site. We generally use the site to communicate this type of information, so we expect to keep this type of communication to a minimum. If we do send you information that you did not expressly request, we will provide you with a way to request that you don’t get any similar notices (opt-out or unsubscribe).

Onward Transfer – Prior to providing Agents with any personal information, we will obtain assurances that they will safeguard it in accordance with this policy. Examples of assurances that may be provided include:

• A commitment that they will handle in the information in accordance with this policy, or will provide the same level of protection, as required by the Safe Harbor Principles, subject to EU Directive 95/46/EC (“the EU Data Protection Directive”);
• In the unlikely event that we should discover that an Agent is using personal information in way that conflicts with this policy, we will take all reasonable steps to stop them immediately.

• Safe Harbor certification by the Agent, or being subject to another European Commission adequacy finding.

Security – All records containing personal or financial information are considered to be our property and are afforded confidential treatment at all times. We work hard to protect against the unauthorized access, use, alteration or destruction of personal or financial information. All such electronic information is stored on password-protected databases, and is generally kept until such time as you may ask us to edit or delete it, as described below. We only disclose such information to our employees, agents or affiliates that a) need to know that information in order to process it for us or to provide other services, and b) have agreed not to disclose it to others.

Data Integrity – In addition to assuring you that we will protect your personal information, we also want to make sure that it is reliable, accurate, and up-to-date. In order to do that, we provide:

Access – Upon request, we will provide you with reasonable access to the personal information we collect about you. You will have the opportunity to correct, update, modify or delete this information by sending an e-mail to support@asketernity.com. Please note that some information may remain in our records even after you request deletion of your information as permitted by the Safe Harbor Principles.

Additionally, there may be limits to the amount of information we can practically provide. For example, we may limit an individual’s access to personal information where the burden or expense of providing access would be disproportionate to the risks to the individual’s privacy or where doing so would violate others’ rights.

Enforcement – We may conduct internal audits of our compliance with this privacy policy, including an annual self-assessment. Our contractors take your privacy as seriously as we do, and we will take all reasonable measures against any contractor found to be in violation of this policy.

If you have any concerns or complaints about how you think we’ve handled your personal information, please contact support@asketernity.com address to “Data Protection Officer” or use the address below for submissions in writing. We will work hard to investigate and resolve any complaints you might have.

We hope it won’t ever come to this, but if you’ve already contacted us and feel that your complaint cannot be resolved between the two of us, we have agreed to participate in the dispute resolution procedures established in the Safe Harbor Principles regarding personal information received from the EEA. For such escalated disputes, you can contact eTrust at 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2, #4000, Valley Cottage, NY 10989.

How to Contact Us

If you have any questions about this policy or our site in general, please contact us at support@asketernity.com

Written Inquiries can be sent to:
“Data Protection Officer”
P.O. Box 7341
Silver Spring, MD 20907
USA