Privacy Policy

Last updated: June 27, 2016

We at Scientific American, a division of Nature America, Inc. respect your concerns about privacy and value the relationship we have with you. This Online Privacy Notice applies to personal information we collect on this website (the "Site"). This Online Privacy Notice describes the types of personal information we collect on the Site, how we may use the information, with whom we may share it and the choices available to you regarding our use of the information. We also describe the measures we take to safeguard the information and tell you how to contact us about our privacy practices. Click on one of the links below to jump to the listed section:

Information We Collect

We may obtain certain personal information when you choose to provide them through our Site. The types of personal information we may collect include:

your name
postal address
e-mail address
telephone number
date of birth
username and password
employment information, such as your work experience
information concerning your interests and product preferences
payment information to process payments for items or services you purchase from ScientificAmerican.com

In addition, when you visit our Site, we may collect certain information by automated means, such as cookies and web beacons. The information we collect in this manner includes IP address, browser characteristics, device characteristics, operating system, language preferences, referring URLs, information on actions taken on our site, and dates and times of website visits.

A "cookie" is a text file that websites send to a visitor's computer or other Internet-connected device to uniquely identify the visitor's browser or to store information or settings in the browser. On this Site, we use two kinds of cookies: session cookies and persistent cookies. Session cookies exist only for as long as your browser remains open. Once you close your browser, they are deleted. Persistent cookies, in contrast, last beyond each visit to the Site and remain on your hard drive after you close your browser. The cookies used on the Site include those that are strictly necessary cookies for access and navigation, cookies that track usage (performance cookies) and remember your choices (functionality cookies), and cookies that provide you with targeted content or advertising. We may use the information we obtain from your use of our cookies for the following purposes:

to recognize your computer when you visit the Site
to track you as you navigate the Site, and to enable the use of e-commerce capabilities
to improve the Site's usability
to analyse use of the Site
to manage the Site
to personalize the Site, including targeted advertisements that may be of particular interest to you

We also may use "web beacons" on our Site. A web beacon, also known as a pixel tag or clear GIF, may be used to transmit information collected through cookies to our service providers' servers, such as the server of Google Adwords. These web beacons enable our service providers to compile anonymous information about your browsing activity on the Site. For more information, see the section on "Online Tracking" below.

Your browser may tell you how to be notified when you receive certain types of cookies or how to restrict or disable certain types of cookies. Please note, however, that without cookies you may not be able to use all of the features of our Site.

For more information about how we use cookies click here.

How We Use The Information We Collect

We may use the information we obtain through the Site to:

create and manage your account.
offer and provide products, services and information to you, including newsletters.
permit you to participate in blogs, forums, and discussion groups.
communicate with you about, and administer your participation in, special events, programs, surveys, contests, sweepstakes, and other offers or promotions, to the extent permitted by law.
display content on our Site, such as stories, product reviews and photos.
respond to and communicate with you about your requests, questions and comments.
process claims we receive in connection with our products and services.
operate, evaluate and improve our business (including developing new products and services, managing our communications, determining the effectiveness of our sales, marketing and advertising, analysing and enhancing our products, services and Site, and performing accounting, auditing, billing, reconciliation and collection activities).
perform data analyses and other processing (including market and consumer research, trend analysis, financial analysis, anonymisation, encryption and tokenization of personal information).
protect against, identify and prevent fraud and other criminal activity, claims and other liabilities.
comply with and enforce applicable legal requirements, relevant industry standards and our policies.
fulfill items or services, you purchase from our Site.
process payments for items or services you purchase from our Site.

We also use this information to help diagnose technical and service problems, administer our Site, identify users of our Site, and gather demographic information about our users. We use clickstream data to determine how much time users spend on web pages of our Site, how users navigate through our Site, and how we may tailor our Site to better meet the needs of our users.

We also may use the information we obtain about you in other ways for which we provide specific notice at the time of collection.

Online Tracking

We may use third-party web analytics services on our Site, like Webtrends and Google Analytics. These service providers help us analyse how users use our Site. The information collected for this purpose (including your IP address and other information collected by automated means) will be disclosed to or collected directly by these service providers. These service providers may retain and use anonymised, aggregated data collected from users of our Site in connection with their own businesses, including in order to improve their products and services.

On the Site, we may collect information about your online activities for use in providing you with advertising about products and services tailored to your individual interests. This section of our Online Privacy Notice provides details and explains how to exercise your choices.

You may see certain ads on other websites based on your visits to our Site because we participate in advertising networks administered by third-party vendors, such as Google Adwords. Ad networks allow us to target our messaging to users considering demographic data, users' inferred interests and browsing context. These networks track your online activities over time by collecting information through automated means, including through the use of cookies, web server logs and web beacons. The networks use this information to show you advertisements that are tailored to your individual interests, to track your browser across multiple websites, and to build a profile of your web browsing. The information our ad network vendors collect includes information about your visits to websites that participate in the vendors' advertising networks, such as the pages or advertisements you view and the actions you take on the websites. This data collection takes place both on our Site and on third-party websites that participate in the ad networks. This process also helps us track the effectiveness of our marketing efforts.

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google Inc., Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA (“Google”). Google Analytics uses what is known as “cookies”, text files which are stored on your computer to allow us to analyse your use of the websites. The information generated by the cookie regarding your use of this website will, as a rule, be transmitted to and stored on a server of Google in the US. Due to the IP anonymisation on this website, your IP address is shortened by Google within the territory of Member States of the European Union or in other signatory States to the Agreement on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases will your full IP address be transmitted to a server of Google in the US and shortened there. Google will use this information on our behalf to analyse your use of the website, to compile reports on website activities and provide additional services relating to website use and internet use to the website operator. The IP address collected through Google Analytics from your browser will not be merged with any other data held by Google. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser; however, please note that if you do this, you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website.

You may also prevent Google from collecting and storing information in cookies, from storing information about your use of the website (including your IP address) and from processing such information by downloading and installing the browser plug-in available at the following link:
https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en-GB

For more information about privacy policies and Google Analytics, please refer to the Google website:
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=en

To learn more about how to opt out of ad network interest-based advertising, click here. This Site is not designed to respond to "do not track" signals received from browsers.

Information We Share

We may share the information you provide with companies that are related to Scientific American through common ownership. We may also share the personal information we obtain with our publishing partners during and upon termination of our publishing relationship.

If you agree we may share information about you with non-affiliated joint marketing partners and/or third parties whose products or services may be of interest to you. These third parties may contact you directly about their products and services. We will not share your information with these third parties for their own marketing purposes if you request that we not do so. We may, however, engage in joint marketing activities with selected third parties and may share personal information about our Site visitors with them.

We share personal information with third parties who perform services on our behalf. For example, when you make a purchase we may share information about you and your transaction with other companies for the purpose of processing your transaction including payments and continuous service subscription renewals, if applicable. In addition, we may retain third party service providers to manage our customer databases or distribute e-mail offerings.

If you enter a contest, giveaway, sweepstakes or other promotion that is sponsored by one or more third-parties, or co-sponsored by Scientific American and one or more third parties, we may share the personal information you provide with your entry with the third parties.

Our Site may feature blogs, forums and discussion groups. Please be aware that some or all of the information you provide (including personal information) in connection with these activities may be made publicly available.

We also may disclose information about you (i) if we are required to do so by law, regulation or legal process (such as a court order or subpoena), (ii) in response to requests by government agencies, such as law enforcement authorities, or (iii) when we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to prevent physical harm or financial loss or in connection with an investigation of suspected or actual illegal activity. We reserve the right to transfer any information we have about you in the event we sell or transfer all or a portion of our business or assets (including in the event of a reorganization, dissolution or liquidation).

Links To Other Websites

Our Site may contain links to other websites for your convenience and information. These may include, for example, some of the blogs and forums you may access through this Site. These websites may be operated by companies not affiliated with us. Linked websites may have their own privacy policies or notices, which we strongly suggest you review if you visit any linked websites. We are not responsible for the content of any websites that are not affiliated with Scientific American, or the privacy practices of those websites.

Children's Privacy

Our Site is not directed to children under the age of 13 and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13 on our Site. If we become aware that we have inadvertently received personal information from a visitor under the age of thirteen on our Site, we will delete the information from our records.

How We Protect Personal Information

We maintain administrative, technical and physical safeguards designed to protect the personal information you provide against accidental, unlawful or unauthorized destruction, loss, alteration, access, disclosure or use.

Your Choices

We give you the option of requesting that we not use your information for marketing purposes, or share your information with related companies for their own marketing purposes. Click here to send us an e-mail with your name and e-mail address, if you do not want us to use your information for marketing purposes, or share your information with related companies for their own marketing purposes.

Please be aware that we are able to process an opt-out request only for a specific e-mail address. So, if you have more than one e-mail address or if you have changed your e-mail address, your opt-out request may not be processed properly. If you believe you have opted out, but continue to receive e-mails from us, please contact us by one of the means listed under "How to Contact Us" below, and we will endeavor to resolve the issue.

Notice to California Residents

California's "Shine the Light" law, Civil Code section 1798.83, requires certain businesses to respond to requests from California customers asking about the business' practices related to disclosing personal information to third parties for the third parties' direct marketing purposes. In the alternative, such businesses may have in place a policy not to disclose personal information of customers to third parties for the third parties' direct marketing purposes if the customer has opted out of such information-sharing. We have such a policy in place. As discussed above in the section entitled "Your Choices", if you wish to opt-out of our sharing of your information with third parties for the third parties' direct marketing purposes, please follow the appropriate opt-out link in that section.

Access and Correction

Subject to applicable law, you may (i) have the right to access certain personal information we maintain about you and obtain a copy of that information, (ii) update or correct inaccuracies in that information, (iii) object to our use of your personal information, and (iv) delete your personal information from our database. To exercise these rights, please contact us as indicated in the How To Contact Us section of this Online Privacy Notice. To help protect your privacy and maintain security, we may take steps to verify your identity before granting you access to the information. If you are resident in the EU, a charge may be applicable before we provide a copy to you of any of your personal information that we maintain.

Data Transfers

We may transfer the personal information we collect about you to countries other than the country in which the information originally was collected. Those countries may not have the same data protection laws as the country in which you initially provided the information. When we transfer your information to other countries, we will protect that information as described in this Online Privacy Notice and in accordance with applicable law. Where your personal information is collected in the EEA and we then transfer it outside the EEA, we will ensure that an adequate level of protection is in place to protect your personal information.

Updates To Our Online Privacy Notice

Changes to this Online Privacy Notice will become effective when those changes are posted to the Site. Your continued use of the Site subsequent to any change to this Online Privacy Notice constitutes your acceptance of the change. Please review this statement periodically to ensure you are aware of any changes or updates to this Online Privacy Notice. We indicate the effective date of this Online Privacy Notice (and any updates) at the top of the Notice.

How To Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Online Privacy Notice, or if you would like to update information we have about you or your preferences:

E-mail us at Webmaster@sciam.com.

Call us on 1 800 333 1199 (US and Canada) or +1 515 248 7684 (International).

Write to us at:

Customer Service Department
Scientific American
One New York Plaza
Suite 4500
New York NY 10004-1562
USA

Privacy Policy

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