Privacy Policy

 

Xross collects information about you and uses this information to help you connect with others.  This Privacy Statement covers how Xross collects and uses personally-identifiable information collected from visitors to the Xross website (“Personal Information”).

 

Websites Covered

 

This Privacy Statement covers the privacy practices of Xross’s website, (http://www.xross.org).

 

Content on the Xross Website may contain links to other websites. Xross is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such websites. Xross encourages you to review the privacy statements of such websites to understand their privacy practices.

 

Personal Information Collected

 

Xross collects Personal Information from you when you use the Xross Website.  This includes information collected directly from you including your name, your contact details and profile information such as your skills, hobbies and interests, social profiles, certifications. Review and messages, you send are also collected, as is information about how you use the Website.  This includes users you have connected with and profiles you have viewed.

 

You can log into the Website using sign-in services, such as Google Connect or other providers. These services will authenticate your identity and provide you the option to pre-populate our registration form with your Personal Information. Services like Google Connect give you the option to share information about your activities on this Website and others within your network.

 

As you navigate the Website, Xross may also collect information through the use of commonly-used information-gathering tools, such as cookies and web beacons (“Website Navigational Information”). Website Navigational Information includes standard information from your web browser (such as browser type and browser language), your Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, and the actions you take on the Website (such as web pages viewed, and links clicked).  Further information about how Xross uses Website Navigational Information is included below.

 

Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Cookies

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

How long we retain your data

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

 

Where we send your data

Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.

 

This Website uses Google AdWords

 

The Xross Website may use the Google AdWords remarketing service to advertise on third party websites (including Google) to previous visitors to our site. For example, Xross could advertise to a user that has not completed a task on the Website, such as completing their profile. This could be in the form of an advertisement on the Google search results page, or a site in the Google Display Network. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on users’ past visits to the Xross Website.

 

You can set preferences for how Google advertises to you using the Google Ad Preferences page, and if you want to you can opt out of interest-based advertising entirely by editing your browser’s cookie settings or installing a browser plugin.

 

 

Sharing of Personal Information Collected

 

When using the Xross Website and connecting with other users, your Personal Information may be shared with them.  Examples include when you comment on another users’ work, or review another users’ skills, create an event, or participate in a contest.

 

Xross cannot control how other users store or transfer your Personal Information and while Xross endeavors to limit access to the Website to legitimate users, it cannot be guaranteed that unauthorized parties will not gain access.

 

Xross may use your Personal Information and past activities on the Website to enhance your user experience.  Examples include identifying users that you might want to connect with, finding events you might want to attend, or suggesting projects you might want to view.

 

 

Xross uses Website Navigational Information to operate and improve the Website and may use Website Navigational Information alone or in combination with your Personal Information to provide you with personalized information about Xross.  Further information about how Xross uses Website Navigational Information is included below.

 

Xross may share your Personal Information with its service providers to ensure a high-quality user experience.  Unless otherwise described in this Privacy Statement, Xross does not share, sell, rent, or trade Personal Information with third parties for their promotional purposes.

 

Xross reserves the right to use or disclose Personal Information if required by law or if Xross reasonably believes that use or disclosure is necessary to protect Xross’s rights and/or to comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process.

 

Website Navigational Information

 

Due to Internet communications standards, when you visit or use the Xross Website, Xross automatically receives the URL of the Website from which you came and the Website to which you go when you leave the Xross Website. Xross also receives your computer’s Internet Protocol (IP) address (or the proxy server you use to access the World Wide Web), your computer operating system, the type of web browser you are using, and your Internet Service Provider (ISP). This information is used to analyze overall trends to help improve the Website.

 

The Website may use “cookies” to track Website usage, to enable you to sign in to the Website, and to help personalize your online experience. A cookie is a small text file that is placed on your hard disk through your web browser via a webpage server. It contains information about you that can later be read by a web server in the domain that issued the cookie to you. Cookies allow Xross to recognize you as a visitor or user when you return to the Website using the same computer and web browser. Xross uses cookies to store your preferences so that you do not have to repeatedly enter the same information, and to display your personalized content. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies or configure acceptance of cookies. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to sign in or use all of the interactive features of the Website that depend on cookies.

 

Xross may use both session cookies and persistent cookies. A “persistent” cookie is set once you’ve logged in to your Xross user account and remains on your hard drive for an extended period. The next time you visit the Website, the persistent cookie will allow Xross to recognize you as an existing user so that you do not need to log in to the Website again. If you log out of the Xross Website, however, you will need to re-enter your password the next time you wish to access your Account. A “session” cookie is used to enhance or customize a visit to the Xross site. Session cookies expire after a short time or when you close your web browser.

 

Xross may use local browser storage. Once you’ve logged in to your Xross user account, Xross stores some of your account information on your local browser storage and remains on your hard drive for an extended period. The next time you visit the Website, the stored information will allow Xross to recognize you as an existing user so that you do not need to log in to the Website again. If you log out of the Xross Website, however, you will need to re-enter your password the next time you wish to access your Account. The locally stored information is used to enhance or customize a visit to the Xross site.

 

 

Xross employs, or our third-party advertising partner(s) may employ, clear gifs (a.k.a. Web Beacons/Web Bugs). Clear gifs are tiny graphics with a unique identifier that, like cookies, track the online movements of web users. In contrast to cookies, clear gifs are embedded on web pages and are about the size of a pixel. Xross ties the information gathered by clear gifs to certain personally identifiable information of our customers, users and Website visitors to assess the effectiveness of the Website. Xross uses clear gifs in our HTML-based emails to let us know which email alerts have been opened by recipients. This allows Xross to gauge the effectiveness of communications and marketing campaigns.

 

Xross may collect aggregated data regarding the use of the Website, including, without limitation, the number of visitors to the Website, frequency and patterns of use, tag usage, feedback request trends, etc. (“Aggregated Data”). Xross uses this data as a statistical measure, and not in a manner that would identify you personally. Aggregated Data enables Xross to figure out how often users use certain parts of the Website so that they can be improved. Xross may make use of, or make such Aggregated Data available to third parties, in any manner in its sole discretion.

 

 International Transfers of Personal Information

 

To facilitate Xross’s global operations, Xross may transfer and access your Personal Information from around the world, including the United States. This Privacy Statement shall apply even if Personal Information is transferred to other countries.

 

For European visitors to the Xross Website, please note that to provide the information or services requested, your Personal Information may be transferred outside of the European Economic Area (“EEA”). By visiting the Website, you agree to Xross transferring your Personal Information outside the EEA.

 

Communications Preferences and Access to Personal Information

 

You can access, review, correct, update or delete your Personal Information at any time by logging into your account and accessing the Edit Profile page.  Users can also contact Customer Support at support@xross.org.

 

Security

 

Xross takes precautions, including administrative, technical, and physical measures, to help safeguard Personal Information against loss, theft, and misuse as well as unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction.

 

Users are solely responsible for protecting their passwords, limiting access to their computers, and signing out of the Website after their sessions.

 

Changes to this Privacy Statement

 

Xross reserves the right to change this Privacy Statement. Xross post the updated version of the privacy policy on this Website together with the date on which it was revised. We may revise this privacy policy at any time by posting an updated version to this Web page. You should visit this page periodically to review the most current ones because they are binding on you.

 

As well, we may, but are not obliged to, ask you to actively confirm your consent to any revised privacy policy.  If we do not do so, but you continue to use this Website after the changes come into effect, you will be deemed to have agreed to abide by the revised privacy policy.  If you do not agree with the revised privacy policy without limitation or qualification, do NOT log in, discontinue using this Website and the Services and instruct us to disable any password for this Website assigned to you.

We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to change or modify this Website from time to time including but not limited adding or removing functionality or features or changing its name. We may change this Website without prior notice to you.

 

Contact Us

 

Questions regarding this Privacy Statement or the information practices of Xross should be directed to Xross Admin at team@xross.org