Effective date: July 11, 2020

What this policy covers

Your privacy is important to us, and so is being transparent about how we collect, use, and share information about you. This policy is intended to help you understand:

• What information we collect about you
• How we use information we collect
• How we share information we collect
• How we store and secure information we collect
• How to access and control your information
• How we transfer information we collect internationally
• Other important privacy information

This policy also explains your choices about how we use information about you.  Your choices include how you can object to certain uses of information about you and how you can access and update certain information about you.  If you do not agree with this policy, do not access or use our Services or interact with any other aspect of our business.  

What information we collect about you

We collect information about you when you provide it to us, when you use our website, and when other sources provide it to us, as further described below.  

Information you provide to us

We collect information about you when you sign up for a chess membership, purchase a product, or otherwise provide it directly to us.    

Account and Profile Information: We collect information about you when you register for an account, create or modify your profile, set preferences, sign-up for or make purchases through the website. We keep track of your preferences when change them under My Account.

Payment Information:  We collect certain payment and billing information when you register for certain paid services.  These include name, email, phone number, billing address, shipping address, and a username you create to access your account. We use these items to process your payment, contact you about your payment when necessary, and give you access to your membership. 

Information we collect automatically when you use thechesswebsite.com

We collect information about you when you use our website, including browsing our website and taking certain actions within the site.  

To track this, the site uses cookies and similar technologies. Cookies are files with small amount of data which may include an anonymous unique identifier. Cookies are sent to your browser from a website and stored on your device. Tracking technologies also used are beacons, tags, and scripts to collect and track information and to improve and analyze our website.

You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our website.

Examples of Cookies we use:

• Session Cookie. We use this to keep you logged into the website.
• Preference Cookies. We use this to remember your preferences and various settings under My Account.
• Advertising Cookies. Advertising Cookies are used to serve you with advertisements that may be relevant to you and your interest. On this site we use Google AdSense to display ads. To change your personal settings for ads from Google visit https://www.google.com/ads/preferences/. We also use cookies from Facebook. This allows us to better understand the audiences that use our website and how to effectively market to them. If you would like to adjust how ads are targeted to you based on your Facebook activity you can visit https://www.facebook.com/help/568137493302217. 

How we use information we collect

How we use the information we collect depends in part on which services you use, how you use them, and any preferences you have communicated to us.  Below are the specific purposes for which we use the information we collect about you.

To enable member only content and personalize your experience: When you sign into your account your name will display at the top of the page based on the information we have collected from you. You can change this information at anytime. There is also a link to access “My Account” where you can change any other information you have provided to thechesswebsite. Any payment information is securely stored with your account so that payments can be made for the membership and any future purchases will have your payment preferences on file.

To communicate with you about purchases or important website announcements: We use your contact information to send transactional communications via email, including confirming your purchases, reminding you of subscription expirations, and administrative messages.   

To market and promote new products and services: We are always looking to come out with new and exciting features at thechesswebsite.com. We will communicate, via email, about new product offers, promotions, or contests. You can control whether you receive these communications as described under “Opt-out of communications.”

For safety and security: We use information about you and your website use to verify accounts and activity, to monitor suspicious or fraudulent activity and to identify violations of website policies.

How long do we retain data

Thechesswebsite.com will retain your Personal Data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use your Personal Data to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your data to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes, and enforce our legal agreements and policies.

At anytime, if you would like your personal data sent to you, or completely removed from our records please let us know and we will accommodate your request.

How to access and control your information

Opt out of communications: You may opt out of receiving promotional communications from us by using the unsubscribe link within each email or by contacting us as provided below to have your contact information removed from our promotional email list or registration database.  Even after you opt out from receiving promotional messages from us, you will continue to receive transactional messages from us regarding our website.

Your Data Protection Rights Under General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

If you are a resident of the European Economic Area (EEA), you have certain data protection rights. Thechesswebsite.com aims to take steps to allow you to correct, amend, delete, or limit the use of your Personal Data.

If you wish to be informed what Personal Data we hold about you and if you want it to be removed from our systems, please contact us.

You can edit your thechesswebsite.com account information at any time. In certain circumstances, you have the following data protection rights:

• The right to access, update or to delete the information we have on you. Under My Account you can make any modifications to your account information. If you would like any or all information deleted entirely you can contact us and we will accommodate your request.
• The right of rectification. You have the right to have your information rectified if that information is inaccurate or incomplete.
• The right to object. You have the right to object to our processing of your Personal Data.
• The right of restriction. You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal information.
• The right to data portability. You have the right to be provided with a copy of the information we have on you in a structured, machine-readable and commonly used format.
• The right to withdraw consent. You also have the right to withdraw your consent at any time where thechesswebsite.com relied on your consent to process your personal information.

If you need assistance with any of these rights, please contact us at thechesswebsite@gmail.com.

When you reach out to us, we will ask you to verify your identity before completing your request.

How we share information we collect

Analytics

We use a third-party service provider, Google Analytics, to provide insights into the use our thechessswebsite.com. Google Analytics is a web analytics services that tracks traffic and user behavior on the website (e.g. what pages are most popular, how long people stay on pages, and what people search for). You can view their privacy policy by visiting https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en.

Advertising

We use Google’s AdSense Ad network to display ads to non-members. This is done to help support thechesswebsite.com and allows us to keep providing new content.

You may opt out of the use of the Adsense Cookie for interest-based advertising by visiting the Google Ads Settings web page: https://www.google.com/ads/preferences/

We also use Facebook’s pixel. This allows us to better understand the audiences that use our website and how to effectively market to them. If you would like to adjust how ads are targeted to you based on your Facebook activity you can visit https://www.facebook.com/help/568137493302217. 

Sharing Your Information With Third Parties

Thechesswebsite.com may share information, including Personal information, in the following circumstances:

• With a third party if we have your consent to do so;
• When we have a good faith belief that access, use, preservation, or disclosure of such information is reasonably necessary to (a) satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request, including lawful requests by public authorities, for example to meet national security or law enforcement requirements, (b) enforce our Terms of Use or other applicable policies or agreements governing your use of the Site, including investigation of potential violations thereof.

International Data Transfer

We are located in the United States. Your data is collected and held here.

Sale of Business

Should we sell this site or our business, your personal information will be an asset transferred to the new owner.

Payments

We may provide paid products and/or services within the website. In that case, we use third-party services for payment processing (e.g. payment processors).

We will not store or collect your payment card details. That information is provided directly to our third-party payment processors whose use of your personal information is governed by their Privacy Policy. These payment processors adhere to the standards set by PCI-DSS as managed by the PCI Security Standards Council, which is a joint effort of brands like Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover. PCI-DSS requirements help ensure the secure handling of payment information.

The payment processors we work with are:

• PayPal
  • Their Privacy Policy can be viewed at https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/ua/privacy-full
• Stripe
  • https://stripe.com/us/privacy

Links To Other Sites

Our website may contain links to other sites that are not operated by us. If you click on a third party link, you will be directed to that third party’s site. We strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of every site you visit.

We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third party sites or services.

Children’s Privacy

Thechesswebsite.com does not target anyone under the age of 13 (“Children”) for use of our website.

We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your Children has provided us with Personal Data, please contact us. If we become aware that we have collected Personal Data from children without verification of parental consent, we take steps to remove that information from our servers.

Data Breach Notifications

If there is a data breach we will notify everyone via email and add site alerts within 72 hours of thechesswebsite.com learning of the breach.

California Privacy Rights

California law permits users who are California residents to request and obtain from us once a year, free of charge, a list of the third parties to whom we have disclosed their personal information (as defined by applicable California law) for their direct marketing purposes in the prior calendar year, as well as the type of personal information disclosed to those parties.

Changes To This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page.

We will let you know via a prominent notice on our website, prior to the change becoming effective and update the “effective date” at the top of this Privacy Policy.

You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.

Questions or Concerns about your personal information?

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us:

• By email: thechesswebsite@gmail.com

You can also contact us via traditional mail to The Chess Website, PO Box 200222, Austin, TX 78720.