Privacy Policy of Digital Photography Review

Last updated: 16 November 2010

Digital Photography Review (“dpreview.com”) knows that you care how information about you is used and shared, and we appreciate your trust in us to do that carefully and sensibly. This notice describes the privacy policy of dpreview.com. By visiting dpreview.com, you are accepting and consenting to the practices described in this Privacy Notice.

Please also see our Site FAQ, specifically as it relates to the privacy of private user-to-user messages.

Controllers of Personal Information

Any personal information provided to or to be gathered by dpreview.com is controlled primarily by Dpreview.com Limited., the data processor, which is a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc.

Amazon.com, Inc. and most of its controlled US subsidiaries are participants in the Safe Harbour programme developed by the US Department of Commerce and the European Union. These Amazon Group companies have certified that they adhere to the Safe Harbour Privacy Principles agreed upon by the US and the EU. For more information about the Safe Harbour and to view these Amazon Group companies’ certification, visit the U.S. Department of Commerce's Safe Harbour website. If you would like to contact Amazon directly about the Safe Harbour programme, please send an e-mail to safeharbour@amazon.com.

What Personal Information About Users Does dpreview.com Gather?

The information we learn from users helps us personalise and continually improve your experience at dpreview.com. Here are the types of information we gather.

• Information You Give Us: We receive and store any information you enter on our website or give us in any other way. Click here to see examples of what we collect. You can choose not to provide certain information but then you might not be able to take advantage of many of our features. We use the information that you provide for such purposes as responding to your requests, customising future browsing for you, improving our site, and communicating with you.
   
• Automatic Information: We receive and store certain types of information whenever you interact with us. For example, like many websites, we use "cookies" and we obtain certain types of information when your Web browser accesses dpreview.com or advertisements and other content served by or on behalf of dpreview.com on other Web sites. Click here to see examples of the information we receive.
• Information from Other Sources: We might receive information about you from other sources and add it to our account information.

What About Cookies?

• Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that are stored by your Web browser to enable our systems to recognise your browser and to provide features such as personalised site features and automatic login.
• The Help menu on the menu bar of most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie and how to disable cookies altogether. Additionally, you can disable or delete similar data used by browser add-ons, such as Flash cookies, by changing the add-on's settings or visiting the website of its manufacturer. However, because cookies may allow you to take advantage of some of dpreview.com's essential features, we recommend that you leave them turned on.
• We use web beacons (also known as "action tags" or "single-pixel gifs") and other technologies to measure the effectiveness of certain site features and to conduct research and analysis. We also allow third parties to place web beacons and other technologies on our site to conduct research and analysis, but we do not provide personal information to such third parties.

Does dpreview.com share the Information it receives?

Information about our users is an important part of our business and we are not in the business of selling it to others. dpreview.com shares user information only as described below and with Amazon.com, Inc. and the subsidiaries which Amazon.com, Inc. controls.

• Affiliated Businesses We Do Not Control: We may include features, offerings or joint offerings from affiliated businesses on dpreview.com. You will be able to tell when a third party is involved in your transactions, and we may share user information related to those transactions with that third party.
• Third Party Service Providers: We may employ other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. Examples include sending e-mail, analysing data, providing marketing assistance, and providing customer service. They may have access to personal information needed to perform their functions, but may not use it for other purposes. Further, they must process the personal information in accordance with this Privacy Notice and as permitted by the Data Protection Act in the UK.
• Business Transfers: As we continue to develop our business, we might sell or buy subsidiaries or business units. In such transactions, user information generally is one of the transferred business assets. Also, in the unlikely event that Dpreview.com Limited, Amazon.com, Inc. or substantially all of either of their assets are acquired, user information will, of course, be one of the transferred assets. In all such transactions, user information remains subject to the promises we made in our pre-existing Privacy Notice (unless the user consents otherwise).
• Protection of dpreview.com and Others: We release account and other personal information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law; enforce or apply agreements; or protect the rights, property or safety of dpreview.com, our users or others. Obviously, however, this does not include selling, renting, sharing or otherwise disclosing personally identifiable information from users for commercial purposes in a way that is contrary to the commitments made in this Privacy Notice.
• With your consent: other than as set out above, you will receive notice when information about you might go to third parties and you will have an opportunity to choose not to share the information.

Whenever we transfer personal information to countries outside of the European Economic Area in the course of sharing information as set out above, we will ensure that the information is transferred in accordance with this Privacy Notice and as permitted by the applicable laws on data protection.

How Secure Is Information About Me?

• We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards in connection with the collection, storage and disclosure of personally identifiable user information.
• It is important for you to protect against unauthorised access to your password and to your computer. Be sure to sign off when you finish using a shared computer.

What About Third-Party Advertisers and Links to Other Web sites?

dpreview.com includes third-party advertising and links to other web sites. We do not provide any personally identifiable user information to these advertisers or third-party web sites.

These third-party web sites and advertisers, or Internet advertising companies working on their behalf, sometimes use technology to send (or "serve") the advertisements that appear on the dpreview.com web site directly to your browser. They automatically receive your IP address when this happens. They may also use cookies, JavaScript, web beacons (also known as "action tags" or "single-pixel gifs"), and other technologies to measure the effectiveness of their ads and to personalize advertising content. We do not have access to, or control over, cookies or other features that they may use, and the information practices of these advertisers and third-party web sites are not covered by this Privacy Notice. Please contact them directly for more information about their privacy practices.

dpreview.com may also display targeted advertising on the dpreview.com web site based on personal information about users. Although dpreview.com does not provide any personal information to advertisers, advertisers (including ad-serving companies) may assume that users who interact with or click on a targeted advertisement meet the targeting criteria used to display the advertisement (for example, users in the United Kingdom who read a Canon or Nikon review). If you do not want us to use personal information that we gather to allow third parties to personalise advertisements we display to you, please adjust your Advertising Preferences.

What Choices Do I Have?

• As discussed above, you can always choose not to provide information, even though it might be needed to take advantage of dpreview.com features.
• The Help menu on the menu bar of most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie and how to disable cookies altogether. Additionally, you can disable or delete similar data used by browser add-ons, such as Flash cookies, by changing the add-on's settings or visiting the website of its manufacturer. However, because cookies allow you to take advantage of some of dpreview.com's essential features, we recommend that you leave them turned on.
• If you do not want us to use personal information that we gather to allow third parties to personalise advertisements we display to you, please adjust your Advertising Preferences.

Notices and Revisions

If you have any concern about privacy at dpreview.com, please contact us via the Feedback option with a thorough description and we will try to resolve the issue for you.

Our business changes constantly and our Privacy Notice will change also. We may e-mail periodic reminders of our notices and conditions, unless you have instructed us not to, but you should check our website frequently to see recent changes. Unless stated otherwise, our current Privacy Notice applies to all information that we have about you and your account. We stand behind the promises we make, however, and will never materially change our policies and practices to make them less protective of user information collected in the past without the consent of affected users.

Examples of Information Collected

Information You Give Us

When you sign up to become a dpreview.com member you are asked to provide us with a valid e-mail address. We will verify this with a token e-mail. Your login identity on dpreview.com (your ‘name’) can be your real name or an alias.

Automatic Information

Examples of the information we collect and analyse include: the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet; login; e-mail address; password; computer and connection information such as browser type and version; operating system and platform; the full Uniform Resource Locators (URL) clickstream to, through and from our website (including date and time). We may also use browser data such as cookies, Flash cookies (also known as Flash Local Shared Objects), or similar data on certain parts of our website for personalization and other purposes. During some visits we may use software tools such as JavaScript to measure and collect session information, including page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information, and methods used to browse away from the page.