Introduction:
The mission of GeoWorld is to connect the world’s engineers and geologists and enable them to be more productive and successful. We work to fulfill this mission by helping you, your connections, and millions of other professionals meet, exchange ideas, learn, and make decisions in a network of trusted relationships and groups.
Being part of GeoWorld means sharing information about yourself with other professionals, communicating with them, as well as working privately on your own. By default, your account is set up to share the information that we have found the vast majority of our users are interested in sharing. But the amount and type of information you decide to share, and with whom you share it, is up to you.
Here are the three main types of information on GeoWorld:
Of course, maintaining your trust is our top concern, so we adhere to the following principles to protect your privacy:
We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time, so please review it frequently. If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you by means of a notice on our home page. By continuing to use the GeoWorld service after notice of changes has been sent to you or published on the GeoWorld website, you are consenting to the changes.
Please read this policy and send us questions, concerns and suggestions at [email protected].
1. Personal information collected
The mission of GeoWorld is to connect the world’s engineers and geologists and enable them to be more productive and successful. To achieve this mission, GeoWorld makes services available through our website, to enable users to develop, maintain and enhance a network of contacts, seek experts and consultants, create, share, and distribute information in collaboration with one another (“Services”). By joining GeoWorld, you voluntarily and willingly provide us certain information, including personally identifiable information, which we collect in order to provide the Services. If you have any hesitation about providing information to us and/or having your information displayed on the GeoWorld website or otherwise used in any manner permitted in this Privacy Policy and the Terms of use, you should not become a member of the GeoWorld community; and, if you are already a member, you should request closing your account by contacting at [email protected].
We collect your personal information in the following ways:
A. Registration
In order to become a user, you must provide us the following information to create an account: name, email address, location, date of birth, gender, industry, title and password. Like other passwords, you should choose one that is known only by you. You acknowledge that this information is personal to you, and by creating an account on GeoWorld, you allow others, including GeoWorld, to identify you.
B. Profile Information
Once you become a User, you may provide additional information in the Profile Section describing your skills, professional experiences, educational background, group memberships, and networking objectives. Providing additional information about yourself beyond what is minimally required at registration is entirely up to you. Any information you provide at registration or in the profile section may be used by GeoWorld as described in the Terms of use and this Privacy Policy.
C. Contacts Information
In order to connect with others on GeoWorld, you may use the services to send invitations either to their GeoWorld profiles or email addresses if they are not Users. The names and email addresses of people whom you invite will be used to send your invitations and reminders as well as to allow GeoWorld to help expand your network. You may not invite anyone you do not know and trust to connect with you.
By providing email addresses or other information of non-Users to GeoWorld, you represent that you have authority to do so. All information that you enter or upload about your contacts will be covered by the User Agreement and this Privacy Policy and will enable us to provide customized services such as suggesting people to connect with on GeoWorld.
D. Cookies
Like most websites, we use cookies and web log files to track site usage and trends, to improve the quality of our service, to customize your experience on GeoWorld. A cookie is a tiny data file that resides on your computer, mobile phone, or other device, and allows us to recognize you as a User when you return to the GeoWorld website using the same computer and web browser. You can remove or block cookies using the settings in your browser, but in some cases that may impact your ability to use GeoWorld. One type of cookie, known as a “persistent” cookie, is set once you’ve logged in to your GeoWorld account. The next time you visit the GeoWorld website, the persistent cookie will allow us to recognize you, as an existing User, so you will not need to log in before using the Services. Another type of cookie, called a “session” cookie, is used to identify a particular visit to the GeoWorld website. Session cookies expire after a short time or when you close your web browser.
E. Log files, IP addresses and information about your computer
Due to the communications standards on the internet, when you visit the GeoWorld website we automatically receive the URL of the site from which you came. GeoWorld also receives the internet protocol (“IP”) address of your computer (or the proxy server you use to access the World Wide Web), your computer operating system and type of web browser you are using and email patterns. We use this information anonymously to analyze overall trends to help improve the service.
F. Linked Accounts
If you link your GeoWorld account to another account or service, or use other, third-party sites or services in conjunction with your GeoWorld account, we may collect information related to your use of third party sites and services accessed through GeoWorld or when you access GeoWorld through a third-party site or service.
G. Rights to Access, Correct and Eliminate Information About You
You have the right to access, modify, correct and eliminate the data you supplied to GeoWorld. If you update any of your information, we may keep a copy of the information that you originally provided to us in our archives for uses documented in this policy. You may request all data collected or deletion of your information at any time by contacting GeoWorld at [email protected]. We will respond to your request within 5 days.
Provided that you have chosen your information to be included in the Geotechnical Business Directory (GBD), it cannot be removed from the e-book or in-print version of issues which have been published at a time prior to your information deletion request. The same applies for GBD issues which are scheduled for publication and information deletion requests are subsequent to data collection deadlines which are sent as email notifications to all GeoWorld members having requested to be included in the GBD.
2. Uses of personal information
A. Consent to GeoWorld Processing Information About You
The information you provide to GeoWorld may reveal, or allow others to identify, your nationality, ethnic origin, religion, gender, age, geography, or other aspects of your private life. By providing information to us for the purposes of creating your User account or adding any additional details to your GeoWorld profile, you are expressly and voluntarily accepting the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy and GeoWorld’s Terms of use that allow GeoWorld to process information about you. Supplying information to GeoWorld, including any information deemed “sensitive” by applicable law, is entirely voluntary on your part. You have the right to withdraw your consent to GeoWorld’s collection and processing of your information at any time, in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy and the Terms of use, by changing your Settings, or by closing your account, but please note that your withdrawal of consent will not be retroactive.
B. GeoWorld Communications
As described in the User Agreement, we will communicate with you through email and messages to your GeoWorld inbox. We may send you a series of emails that help inform new Users about the features of the Services, and we will also send you service messages relating to the functioning of the Services. We may also send you messages with promotional information directly or on behalf of our partners, unless you have opted out of receiving promotional information.
You can change your e-mail and contact preferences at any time by logging into your account and changing your settings related to your email notification choices. Please be aware that you cannot opt-out of receiving service messages from GeoWorld, unless you choose to eliminate your account.
C. Customized Content
We use information provided to us (or to third parties with whom it offers combined services) to customize your experience on our website. For example, when you login to your account, we will display the names of new Users who have recently joined your network or recent status updates from your connections.
D. Sharing Information with Third Parties
GeoWorld takes the privacy of our Users very seriously, and we do not sell, rent, or otherwise provide your personally identifiable information to third parties for marketing purposes. Further, we will only share your personally identifiable information with third parties to carry out your instructions or to provide the Services or information unless compelled by law, or as necessary to enforce our Terms of use or protect the rights, property, or personal safety of GeoWorld, its Users, and the public. By default, all new created GeoWorld profiles are set to public. Public profiles is what search engines will display when someone searches for your name. Users may opt-out of this feature by editing their account settings; however, GeoWorld does not warrant how often third-party search engines will update their caches, which may contain old public profile information. We may provide aggregated anonymous data about the usage of the Services to third parties for purposes that we deem, in our sole discretion, to be appropriate, including to prospective advertisers on GeoWorld.
E. Working with Third Parties to Offer Services
At this point, GeoWorld does not work with third parties to offer services but may do so in the future. A notification about changes in the Privacy Policy will be sent should changes are made.
F. Search
We offer search services to help find information and learn more about other Users (for example, you can search for Users with particular expertise or consulting experience, or that you may know from your industry or profession), as well as employment opportunities. GeoWorld search also allows Users to find jobs, companies, and contributions to the community aspects of the GeoWorld Services, such as Groups and Answers that will help Users more effectively use GeoWorld and expand their network. We use information from User profiles and contributions to Groups and Answers to inform and refine our search service.
G. Testimonials and Advertisements Placed through GeoWorld Ads Service
If you provide any testimonials about the GeoWorld Services or place advertisements through the GeoWorld Ads, we may post those testimonials and examples of advertisements you place in connection with our promotion of these services to third parties.
Compliance with Legal Process
It is possible that we may need to disclose personal information, profile information and/or information about your activities as a GeoWorld User when required by subpoena or other legal process, or if GeoWorld has a good faith belief that disclosure is necessary to (a) investigate, prevent or take action regarding suspected or actual illegal activities or to assist government enforcement agencies; (b) to enforce the User Agreement, to investigate and defend ourselves against any third party claims or allegations, or to protect the security or integrity of our site; and/or (c) to exercise or protect the rights, property or personal safety of GeoWorld, our Users, employees, or others.
3. Your information choices
A. Accessing and Changing Your Account Information
You can review the personal information you provided to us and make any desired changes to the information you publish, or to the settings for your GeoWorld account including your email and contact preferences, at any time by logging in to your account on the GeoWorld website.
B. Default Settings
We have established what we believe to be reasonable default settings that we have found most users desire. Because users may use and interact with GeoWorld in a variety of ways, and because those uses may change over time, we designed our settings to provide our users granular control over the information they share. We encourage our Users to review their account settings and adjust them in accordance with their preferences.
C. Closing Your Account
If you close your GeoWorld account, we will remove all account’s information and activity from our database. GeoWorld does not control when search engines update their cache, which may contain certain public profile information that has since been removed from GeoWorld’s database.
D. Memorialising Accounts
If we learn that a user is deceased, we may memorialize the user’s account. In these cases, we may restrict profile access, remove messaging functionality, and close an account if we receive a formal request from the user’s next of kin or other proper legal request to do so.
4. Your Obligations
As a User, you have certain obligations to other Users. Some of these obligations are imposed by applicable law and regulations, and others have become commonplace in user-friendly communities of like-minded members such as GeoWorld:
Any violation of these guidelines may lead to the restriction, suspension or termination of your account at the sole discretion of GeoWorld.
5. Important Information
Children and Minors
Children are not eligible to use our service and we ask that minors (under the age of 18) not submit any personal information to us or use the service.
Changes to this Private Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy at any time, with or without advance notice. In the event there are significant changes in the way we treat your personally identifiable information, or in the Privacy Policy document itself, we will display a notice on the GeoWorld website or send you an email, as provided for above. Unless stated otherwise, our current Privacy Policy applies to all information that GeoWorld has about you and your account.
Using the GeoWorld Services after a notice of changes has been sent to you or published on our site shall constitute consent to the changed terms or practices.
6. Security
In order to help secure your personal information, access to your data on GeoWorld is password-protected, when it is exchanged between your web browser and the GeoWorld website. To protect any data you store on our servers, GeoWorld also regularly audits its system for possible vulnerabilities and attacks. However, since the internet is not a 100% secure environment, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to GeoWorld. There is no guarantee that information may not be accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed by breach of any of our physical, technical, or managerial safeguards. It is your responsibility to protect the security of your login information.
7. How to contact us
If you have questions or comments about this Privacy Policy, please email us at: [email protected].