This is the privacy policy of Hacking Chinese, operated and managed by Lingedu AB. In this document, “we”, “our”, or “us” refer to Lingedu AB.
We are company number 559158-1615 registered in Sweden.
Our registered office is at Sjöfartsgatan 11, 12062 Stockholm, Sweden.
Please also read our Terms and Conditions.
Introduction
- This is a notice to inform you of our policy about all information that we record about you. It sets out the conditions under which we may process any information that we collect from you, or that you provide to us. It covers information that could identify you (“personal information”) and information that could not. In the context of the law and this policy, “process” means collect, store, transfer, use or otherwise act on information.
- We regret that if there are one or more points below with which you are not happy, your only recourse is to leave our website immediately.
- We take seriously the protection of your privacy and confidentiality. We understand that all visitors to our website are entitled to know that their personal data will not be used for any purpose unintended by them, and will not accidentally fall into the hands of a third party.
- We undertake to preserve the confidentiality of all information you provide to us, and hope that you reciprocate.
- Our policy complies with Swedish law accordingly implemented, including that required by the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
- The law requires us to tell you about your rights and our obligations to you in regards to the processing and control of your personal data. We do this now, by requesting that you read the information provided at www.knowyourprivacyrights.org.
- Except as set out below, we do not share, or sell, or disclose to a third party, any information collected through our website.
The bases on which we process information about you
The law requires us to determine under which of six defined bases we process different categories of your personal information, and to notify you of the basis for each category.
If a basis on which we process your personal information is no longer relevant then we shall immediately stop processing your data.
If the basis changes then if required by law we shall notify you of the change and of any new basis under which we have determined that we can continue to process your information.
1. Information we process because we have a contractual obligation with you
When you buy a product or service from us, or otherwise agree to our terms and conditions, a contract is formed between you and us. In order to carry out our obligations under that contract we must process the information you give us. Some of this information may be personal information.
We may use it in order to:
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- verify your identity for security purposes
- sell products to you
- provide you with our services
- provide you with suggestions and advice on products, services and how to obtain the most from using our website
We process this information on the basis there is a contract between us, or that you have requested we use the information before we enter into a legal contract.
Additionally, we may aggregate this information in a general way and use it to provide class information, for example to monitor our performance with respect to a particular service we provide. If we use it for this purpose, you as an individual will not be personally identifiable.
We shall continue to process this information until the contract between us ends or is terminated by either party under the terms of the contract.
2. Information we process with your consent
Through certain actions when otherwise there is no contractual relationship between us, such as when you browse our website, sign up for our newsletter or ask us to provide you with more information about our business, you provide your consent to us to process information that may be personal information.
Wherever possible, we aim to obtain your explicit consent to process this information, for example, by asking you to agree to our use of cookies. When you visited our website the first time, you were prompted to agree to our use of cookies. These include:
Sometimes you might give your consent implicitly, such as when you send us a message by e-mail to which you would reasonably expect us to reply.
Except where you have consented to our use of your information for a specific purpose, we do not use your information in any way that would identify you personally. We may aggregate it in a general way and use it to provide class information, for example to monitor the performance of a particular page on our website.
We continue to process your information on this basis until you withdraw your consent or it can be reasonably assumed that your consent no longer exists.
You may withdraw your consent at any time by instructing us at editor@hackingchinese.com.
3. Information we process for the purposes of legitimate interests
We may process information on the basis there is a legitimate interest, either to you or to us, of doing so.
Where we process your information on this basis, we do after having given careful consideration to:
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- whether the same objective could be achieved through other means
- whether processing (or not processing) might cause you harm
- whether you would expect us to process your data, and whether you would, in the round, consider it reasonable to do so
For example, we may process your data on this basis for the purposes of:
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- record-keeping for the proper and necessary administration of our business
- responding to unsolicited communication from you to which we believe you would expect a response
- protecting and asserting the legal rights of any party
- protecting your interests where we believe we have a duty to do so
4. Information we process because we have a legal obligation
We are subject to the law like everyone else. Sometimes, we must process your information in order to comply with a statutory obligation.
For example, we may be required to give information to legal authorities if they so request or if they have the proper authorisation such as a search warrant or court order.
This may include your personal information.
Specific uses of information you provide to us
5. Information provided on the understanding that it will be shared with a third party
Our website allows you to post information with a view to that information being read, copied, downloaded, or used by other people.
Examples include:
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- posting a comment to an article, resource or challenge
- submitting a learning resource or challenge update
In posting personal information, it is up to you to satisfy yourself about the privacy level of every person who might use it.
We do not specifically use this information except to allow it to be displayed or shared.
We do store it, and we reserve a right to use it in the future in any way we decide.
Once your information enters the public domain, we have no control over what any individual third party may do with it. We accept no responsibility for their actions at any time.
Provided your request is reasonable and there is no legal basis for us to retain it, then at our discretion we may agree to your request to delete personal information that you have posted. You can make a request by contacting us at editor@hackingchinese.com.
6. Complaints regarding content on our website
Our website is a publishing medium. Anyone may register or publish information about himself, herself or some other person.
We attempt to moderate user generated content, but we are not always able to do so as soon as that content is published.
If you complain about any of the content on our website, we shall investigate your complaint.
If we feel it is justified or if we believe the law requires us to do so, we shall remove the content while we investigate.
Free speech is a fundamental right, so we have to make a judgment as to whose right will be obstructed: yours, or that of the person who posted the content that offends you.
If we think your complaint is vexatious or without any basis, we shall not correspond with you about it.
7. Information relating to your method of payment
Payment information is never taken by us or transferred to us either through our website or otherwise. Our employees and contractors never have access to it.
We use external payment service providers, through whose platforms the users and we can make payment transactions. The e-commerce platform we use is E-junkie. You can find out more about their services in relation to data protection here and here. E-junkie does not process the transactions themselves. This is done through PayPal.
In order to fulfil contracts, as well as on the basis of legitimate interest, we use PayPal in order to offer our users effective and secure payment options. Amongst the data processed by the payment service providers are inventory data, e.g. the name and the address, bank data, such as account numbers or credit card numbers, passwords, TANs and check sums, as well as contract, summary and recipient-related information. This information is required to complete the transactions.
However, the data entered will only be processed and stored by the payment service providers; we do not receive any account or credit card information, but only information with confirmation or negative disclosure of the payment, along with basic information about customer country, which is required by law for the proper application of value added tax within the EU.
The data may be transmitted by the payment service providers to credit reporting agencies. This transmission aims at identity and credit checks. For this we refer to the terms and privacy policy of payment service providers. For the payment transactions, the terms and conditions and the privacy notices of the respective payment service providers, which are available within the respective websites, or transaction applications apply. We also refer to these for further information and assertion of rights of withdrawal, information and other data subjects.
8. Contacting us via the contact form or e-mail
When you contact us, whether through our website or by e-mail, we collect the data you have given to us in order to reply with the information you need.
We record your request and our reply in order to increase the efficiency of our business.
We keep personally identifiable information associated with your message, such as your name and email address so as to be able to track our communications with you to provide a high quality service.
9. Complaining
When we receive a complaint, we record all the information you have given to us.
We use that information to resolve your complaint.
If your complaint reasonably requires us to contact some other person, we may decide to give to that other person some of the information contained in your complaint. We do this as infrequently as possible, but it is a matter for our sole discretion as to whether we do give information, and if we do, what that information is.
We may also compile statistics showing information obtained from this source to assess the level of service we provide, but not in a way that could identify you or any other person.
10. Affiliate and business partner information
This is information given to us by you in your capacity as an affiliate of us or as a business partner.
It allows us to recognise visitors that you have referred to us, and to credit to you commission due for such referrals. It also includes information that allows us to transfer commission to you.
The information is not used for any other purpose.
We undertake to preserve the confidentiality of the information and of the terms of our relationship.
We expect any affiliate or partner to agree to reciprocate this policy.
Use of information we collect through automated systems when you visit our website
11. Cookies
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer’s hard drive by your web browser when you visit any website. They allow information gathered on one web page to be stored until it is needed for use on another, allowing a website to provide you with a personalised experience and the website owner with statistics about how you use the website so that it can be improved.
Some cookies may last for a defined period of time, such as one day or until you close your browser. Others last indefinitely. Your web browser should allow you to delete any you choose. It also should allow you to prevent or limit their use.
Our website uses cookies. They are placed by software that operates on our servers, and by software operated by third parties whose services we use.
When you first visit our website, we ask you whether you wish us to use cookies. If you choose not to accept them, we shall not use them for your visit except to record that you have not consented to their use for any other purpose.
If you choose not to use cookies or you prevent their use through your browser settings, you will not be able to use all the functionality of our website.
We use cookies in the following ways:
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- to track how you use our website
- to record whether you have seen specific messages we display on our website
- to keep you signed in to our site
- to record your answers to surveys and questionnaires on our site while you complete them
Notes regarding specific cookies we use:
- Google Analytics – Please refer to the subsection titled “Google Analytics” under “Personal identifiers from your browsing activity” below.
- StatCounter – This service is used for aggregate statistics regarding user activity on our website. The cookie is used to determine whether or not you are a unique visitor or not. It expires automatically after 24 hours.
- Hacking Chinese Challenges and Hacking Chinese Resources – These services set session cookies to prevent hacking/phishing. They might also set cookies if you want them to remember your login details for easier access.
12. Personal identifiers from your browsing activity
Requests by your web browser to our servers for web pages and other content on our website are recorded.
We record information such as your geographical location, your Internet service provider and your IP address. We also record information about the software you are using to browse our website, such as the type of computer or device and the screen resolution.
We use this information in aggregate to assess the popularity of the webpages on our website and how we perform in providing content to you.
If combined with other information we know about you from previous visits, the data possibly could be used to identify you personally, even if you are not signed in to our website.
Google Analytics
Based on our legitimate interest, i.e., the interest in the analysis, optimisation, and economic operation of our online services, we use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, which uses cookies. The information generated by the cookies about the use of our online services by the users are usually transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there. Google is certified under the Privacy Shield Agreement, which provides a guarantee to comply with European privacy legislation.
Google will use this information on our behalf to evaluate the use of our online services by users and to compile reports on activities within our services. In this case, pseudonymous usage profiles can be generated based on the processed data.
We only use Google Analytics with activated IP anonymisation. This means that the IP addresses of the users will be shortened by Google within member states of the European Union or in other contracting states of the Agreement on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be sent to a Google server in the US and shortened there. The IP address submitted by the user’s browser will not be merged with other data provided by Google.
Users can prevent the storage of cookies by setting their browser software accordingly. Users may also prevent Google from collecting and processing the data generated by the cookie by downloading and installing the following browser plug-in: Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on (Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on).
For more information, please read Google’s Privacy Policy and Google’s Ads Settings. The personal data of users will be deleted or anonymised after 14 months.
Google Fonts
We make use of Google Fonts, provided by Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheater Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. Privacy Policy. To learn more about how this influences your privacy, please read this document, as well as Google’s Privacy Policy. You can also opt-out here, if you should so wish.
Process and storage of your information
13. Web hosting and newsletter
One and Hetzner
The hosting services we use are for the purpose of providing the following services:
- infrastructure and platform services
- computing capacity, storage and database services
- security and technical maintenance services
- we use to operate this online service
Here we, or our hosting provider, process inventory data, contact data, content data, contract data, usage data, meta and communication data of customers, interested parties and visitors to our website or users of our services, on the basis of our legitimate interests in an efficient and secure provision of our website and related services.
For hosting purposes, we use One and Hetzner.
MailChimp
The service delivering the newsletter and other e-mails to subscribers is operated by MailChimp, a service provider of Rocket Science Group, LLC, 675 Ponce De Leon Ave # 5000, Atlanta, GA 30308, USA. Their privacy policy can be reviewed here. The Rocket Science Group LLC is certified under the Privacy Shield Agreement, which provides a guarantee to comply with European data protection standards.
The service provider may use the data of the recipients in pseudonymous form, i. without assignment to a user, to optimise or improve their own services, e.g. for the technical optimisation of delivering and the presentation of newsletters or for statistical purposes. However, the service provider does not use the data of our newsletter recipients to address them themselves or to pass the data on to third parties.
Disclosure and sharing of your information
15. Information we obtain from third parties
Although we do not disclose your personal information to any third party (except as set out in this policy), we sometimes receive data that is indirectly made up from your personal information from third parties whose services we use.
No such information is personally identifiable to you.
16. Third party advertising on our website
Third parties may advertise on our website. In doing so, those parties, their agents or other companies working for them may use technology that automatically collects information about you when their advertisement is displayed on our website.
We do not have control over these technologies or the data that these parties obtain. Accordingly, this privacy policy does not cover the information practices of these third parties.
17. Data may be processed outside the European Union
Our websites are hosted in Sweden.
We may also use outsourced services in countries outside the European Union from time to time in other aspects of our business.
Accordingly data obtained within Sweden or any other country could be processed outside the European Union.
For example, some of the software our website uses may have been developed in the United States of America or in Australia.
18. Access to your personal information
- At any time you may review or update personally identifiable information that we hold about you, by signing in to your account on our website.
- To obtain a copy of any information that is not provided on our website you may send us a request at editor@hackingchinese.com.
- After receiving the request, we will tell you when we expect to provide you with the information, and whether we require any fee for providing it to you.
19. Removal of your information
If you wish us to remove personally identifiable information from our website, you may contact us at editor@hackingchinese.com.
This may limit the service we can provide to you.
20. Verification of your information
When we receive any request to access, edit or delete personal identifiable information we shall first take reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting you access or otherwise taking any action. This is important to safeguard your information.
Other matters
21. Use of site by children
- We do not sell products or provide services for purchase by children, nor do we market to children.
- If you are under 18, you may use our website only with consent from a parent or guardian
22. Encryption of data sent between us
We use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates to verify our identity to your browser and to encrypt any data you give us.
Whenever information is transferred between us, you can check that it is done so using SSL by looking for a closed padlock symbol or other trust mark in your browser’s URL bar or toolbar.
23. How you can complain
- If you are not happy with our privacy policy or if have any complaint then you should tell us by email. Our address is editor@hackingchinese.com.
- If a dispute is not settled then we hope you will agree to attempt to resolve it by engaging in good faith with us in a process of mediation or arbitration.
- Retention period for personal data
Except as otherwise mentioned in this privacy policy, we keep your personal information only for as long as required by us:
- to provide you with the services you have requested;
- to comply with other law, including for the period demanded by our tax authorities;
- to support a claim or defence in court.
24. Compliance with the law
Our privacy policy has been compiled so as to comply with the law of every country or legal jurisdiction in which we aim to do business. If you think it fails to satisfy the law of your jurisdiction, we should like to hear from you.
However, ultimately it is your choice as to whether you wish to use our website.
25. Review of this privacy policy
We may update this privacy policy from time to time as necessary. The terms that apply to you are those posted here on our website on the day you use our website. We advise you to print a copy for your records.
If you have any question regarding our privacy policy, please contact us.
This privacy policy was based on a template provided by Net Lawman.