Solaris Modalis PRIVACY POLICY

Effective May 25, 2018

Solaris Modalis takes your privacy very seriously and I hope you find this information helpful.

Who we are:

Solaris Modalis is a website that shares photography, commentary, videos and articles with readers all over the world.

Our direct mailing address is:

SOLARIS MODALIS
PO BOX 151108
San Rafael, California, 94915
United States of America

Our website address is: https://solarismodalis.com.

Privacy Policy

Solaris Modalis (the “Company”) is committed to maintaining robust privacy protections for its users.  Our Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) is designed to help you understand how we collect, use and safeguard the information you provide to us and to assist you in making informed decisions when using our Service.

For purposes of this Agreement, “Service” refers to the Company’s service which can be accessed via our website at https://SolarisModalis.com [or through our mobile application], in which users can: view Solaris Modalis original content, send email to the Solaris Modalis “contact-us”, and interact with users via Twitter and subscribe to the Solaris Modalis monthly Newsletter.  The terms “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to the Company known as Solaris Modalis. “You” refers to you, as a user of Service.

By accepting our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use (please click: Solaris Modalis TERMS OF SERVICE), you consent to our collection, storage, use and disclosure of your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy.

INFORMATION WE COLLECT

We collect “Non-Personal Information” and “Personal Information.”  Non-Personal Information includes information that cannot be used to personally identify you, such as anonymous usage data, general demographic information we may collect, referring/exit pages and URLs, platform types, preferences you submit and preferences that are generated based on the data you submit and number of clicks.  Personal Information includes only your email, which you submit to us through the registration process when signing up to “follow us” and registering to use our online forum.

1.   Information collected via Technology

To activate the Service you do not need to submit any Personal Information other than your email address.  To use the Service thereafter, you do not need to submit further Personal Information.  However, in an effort to improve the quality of the Service, we track information provided to us by your browser or by our software application when you view or use the Service, such as the website you came from (known as the “referring URL”), the type of browser you use, the device from which you connected to the Service, the time and date of access, and other information that does not personally identify you.  We track this information using cookies, or small text files which include an anonymous unique identifier.

Cookies are sent to a user’s browser from our servers and are stored on the user’s computer hard drive.  Sending a cookie to a user’s browser enables us to collect Non-Personal information about that user and keep a record of the user’s preferences when utilizing our services, both on an individual and aggregate basis.  For example, the Company may use cookies to collect the following information: Demographic information about the user, including country of origin. Browser use, mobile applications, and pages viewed.

The Company may use both persistent and session cookies; persistent cookies remain on your computer after you close your session and until you delete them, while session cookies expire when you close your browser.

2.   Information you provide us by subscribing to a related Company service:

To use the Solaris Modalis website directly, information is provided automatically, via your browser application.  By clicking on the Solaris Modalis website or by registering to receive the Solaris Modalis Monthly Newsletter,  you are authorizing us to collect, store and use your email address in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

II.  HOW WE USE AND SHARE INFORMATION

Personal Information:

Except as otherwise stated in this Privacy Policy, we do not sell, trade, rent or otherwise share for marketing purposes your Personal Information with third parties without your consent. (We will never ask for this consent.) We do share Personal Information with vendors who are performing services for the Company, such as the servers for our email communications who are provided access to user’s email address for purposes of sending emails from us.  Those vendors use your Personal Information only at our direction and in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

In general, the Personal Information you provide to us is used to help us communicate with you.  For example, we use Personal Information to contact users in response to questions, solicit feedback from users, provide technical support, and inform users about promotional offers.

Non-Personal Information:

In general, we use Non-Personal Information to help us improve the Service and customize the user experience.  We also aggregate Non-Personal Information in order to track trends and analyze use patterns on the Site.  This Privacy Policy does not limit in any way our use or disclosure of Non-Personal Information and we reserve the right to use and disclose such Non-Personal Information to our partners, advertisers and other third parties at our discretion.

In the event we undergo a business transaction such as a merger, acquisition by another company, or sale of all or a portion of our assets, your Personal Information may be among the assets transferred.  You acknowledge and consent that such transfers may occur and are permitted by this Privacy Policy, and that any acquirer of our assets may continue to process your Personal Information as set forth in this Privacy Policy.

If our information practices change at any time in the future, we will post the policy changes to the Site so that you may opt out of the new information practices.  We suggest that you check the Site periodically if you are concerned about how your information is used.

III.  HOW WE PROTECT INFORMATION

We implement security measures designed to protect your information from unauthorized access.  We further protect your information from potential security breaches by implementing certain technological security measures including encryption, firewalls and secure socket layer technology that is provided by our server host.  However, these measures do not guarantee that your information will not be accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed by breach of such firewalls and secure server software.  By using our Service, you acknowledge that you understand and agree to assume these risks.

IV.  YOUR RIGHTS REGARDING THE USE OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

You have the right at any time to prevent us from contacting you for marketing purposes.  When we send a promotional communication to a user, the user can opt out of further promotional communications by following the unsubscribe instructions provided in each promotional e-mail. Please note that notwithstanding the promotional preferences you indicate by either unsubscribing or opting out in the Settings section of the newsletter, we may continue to send you administrative emails including, for example, periodic updates to our Privacy Policy.

V.   LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES

As part of the Service, we may provide links to or compatibility with other websites or applications.  However, we are not responsible for the privacy practices employed by those websites or the information or content they contain.  This Privacy Policy applies solely to information collected by us through the Site and the Service.

Therefore, this Privacy Policy does not apply to your use of a third party website accessed by selecting a link on our Site or via our Service.  To the extent that you access or use the Service through or on another website or application, then the privacy policy of that other website or application will apply to your access or use of that site or application.  We encourage our users to read the privacy statements of other websites before proceeding to use them.

VI.  CHANGES TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY

Solaris Modalis reserves the right to change this policy and our TERMS OF SERVICE at any time.  We will notify you of significant changes to our Privacy Policy by sending a notice to the primary email address specified in your Newsletter Subscription or by placing a prominent notice on our site. Significant changes will go into effect 30 days following such notification.  Non-material changes or clarifications will take effect immediately. You should periodically check the Site and this privacy page for updates.

California Online Privacy Protection Act

CalOPPA is the first state law in the nation to require commercial websites and online services to post a privacy policy. The law’s reach stretches well beyond California to require a person or company in the United States (and conceivably the world) that operates websites collecting personally identifiable information from California consumers to post a conspicuous privacy policy on its website stating exactly the information being collected and those individuals with whom it is being shared, and to comply with this policy. See more at: http://consumercal.org.

According to CalOPPA we agree to the following:

• Users can visit our site anonymously.
• Once this privacy policy is created, we will add a link to it on our home page or as a minimum on the first significant page after entering our website.
• Our Privacy Policy link includes the word ‘Privacy’ and can be easily be found on the page specified above.

Users will be notified of any privacy policy changes on our Privacy Policy Page. Users are able to change their personal information by logging in to their account.

How does our site handle do not track signals?

We honor do not track signals and do not track, plant cookies, or use advertising when a Do Not Track (DNT) browser mechanism is in place.

Does our site allow third-party behavioral tracking?

It’s also important to note that we may allow third-party behavioral tracking.

COPPA (Children Online Privacy Protection Act)

When it comes to the collection of personal information from children under 13, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) puts parents in control. The Federal Trade Commission, the nation’s consumer protection agency, enforces the COPPA Rule, which spells out what operators of websites and online services must do to protect children’s privacy and safety online.

The Website does not knowingly collect any personally identifiable information from, or market to, children under the age of 13. If a parent or guardian believes that the Website has personally identifiable information of a child under the age of 13 in its database, please contact us immediately at our main contact address and we will use our best efforts to promptly remove such information from our records.

Fair Information Practices

The Fair Information Practices Principles form the backbone of privacy law in the United States and the concepts they include have played a significant role in the development of data protection laws around the globe. Understanding the Fair Information Practice Principles and how they should be implemented is critical to comply with the various privacy laws that protect personal information.

In order to be in line with Fair Information Practices we will take the following responsive action, should a data breach occur:

We will notify the users via email within 7 business days.

We also agree to the Individual Redress Principle, which requires that individuals have a right to pursue legally enforceable rights against data collectors and processors who fail to adhere to the law. This principle requires not only that individuals have enforceable rights against data users, but also that individuals have recourse to courts or government agencies to investigate and/or prosecute non-compliance by data processors.

CAN SPAM Act

The CAN-SPAM Act is a law that sets the rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have emails stopped from being sent to them, and spells out tough penalties for violations.

We collect your email address in order to:

• Send information, respond to inquiries, and/or other requests or questions
• Process orders and to send information and updates pertaining to orders
• We may also send you additional information related to your product and/or service
• Market to our mailing list or continue to send emails to our clients after the original transaction has occurred

To be in accordance with CANSPAM we agree to the following:

• NOT to use false or misleading subjects or email addresses
• Identify the message as an advertisement in some reasonable way.
• Include the physical address of our business or site headquarters.
• Monitor third-party email marketing services for compliance, if one is used.
• Honor opt-out/unsubscribe requests quickly.
• Allow users to unsubscribe by using the link at the bottom of each email.

If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from receiving future emails, you can email us by following the instructions at the bottom of each email. We will promptly remove you from ALL correspondence.

European Union GDPR Compliant Privacy Policy

What personal data we collect and why we collect it

Cookies

Since Solaris Modalis does not accept comments or register users on the website at this time and only offers content for viewing, no specific personal data is collected from users that is stored on our data base. Some third party vendors and your individual web browser do collect data on users and we refer you to the Analytics Section of this page and their individual privacy policies for more information. You have the ability to accept or decline cookies by modifying the settings on your browser at any time.

If you are a registered administrator/editor/contributor/writer for Solaris Modalis and have an account and you log in to this site, 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 tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website. They may also maintain their own privacy policies which you can view on their website for more information.

Contact forms

When using our contact form to send email to Solaris Modalis, we utilize the WordPress plugin called Contact Form 7 to process the data. Those submitting contact forms will be given the opportunity to give permission for us to save their contact information so we may respond to the query directly. If you wish for your contact emails to be deleted from our inbox, which is held on our host server at HostGator, please send us a direct email at our contact address and we will respond to your request promptly.  For more information on the privacy policy of our server host, which stores our emails, please see the HostGator terms and policy page. Please see the Contact Form 7 privacy policy for more details.

Analytics

Currently Solaris Modalis uses Yoast SEO plugin and Google Analytics and Google Search Console to track activity on our website.

These tools use ‘cookies’, which are text files placed on your computer, to collect standard internet log information and visitor behavior information in an anonymous form. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) is transmitted to Google and sometimes other vendors. This information is then used to evaluate visitors use of the website and to compile statistical reports on website activity for solarismodalis.com.

For more information on cookies, what they are for, how long they are stored and how they are used by Google Analytics, please view this link.

We will never (and will not allow any third party) use the statistical analytics tool to track or to collect any personally identifiable information of visitors to our site. The Web Analytics vendors do not associate your IP address with any other data held by them. Neither we nor the web analytics Vendors will link, or seek to link, an IP address with the identity of a computer user. We will not associate any data gathered from this site with any personally identifying information from any source unless you explicitly submit that information via a fill-in form on our website.

For more information on the privacy policies set forth by our analytics partners, please click their linked names above. Additionally, if you wish to opt-out of Google Analytics Tracking you may do so via this link.

Who we share your data with

Solaris Modalis runs on a self-hosted WordPress platform that does not share personal data from our users with any one outside of this website platform. We also confirm that we will never sell your data, even if it is anonymous, to anyone. WordPress maintains a privacy policy, and if you are a website contributor/users you may be connected to your Gravatar via WordPress. Gravatar and WordPress are both owned by Automattic and you can view their privacy policy here.

Solaris Modalis also uses a third party plugin called Print Friendly, to allow users to create PDFs, print content from the website or email articles to their contacts. Print Friendly maintains their own privacy policy which you can view here, but they do not collect any user data when their plugin is activated for use.

How long we retain your data

For users that register on our website (administrators/editors/contributors/writers), 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.

What rights you have over your data

If you have an account on this site, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Your contact information

Only email contact information is stored for registered users or users utilizing our email contact form. Permission to store your email address and name are specifically requested on our contact form. For more information on the privacy policy of our contact form plug-in see the Contact Forms section of this document.

Additional information

How we protect your data

An SSL certificate serves as a digital “passport” that allows data to be transmitted over secure networks – protecting financial and credit card transactions, signups, web access to mail, sensitive information and intranets. It authenticates and encrypts the data transferred through the website to the server.

Solaris Modalis utilizes HTTPS:// encryption protocol to protect all transmitted data from our server space. Our SSL certificate is issued by Comodo that maintains a separate policy and legal repository here.

Solaris Modalis utilizes a third party plugin to resolve the SSL certificate to the home URL. Really Simple SSL and Really Simple SSL add-ons do not process any personal identifiable information, so the GDPR does not apply to these plugins or usage of these plugins on our website. You can find their privacy policy here.

We also store backups of our website data, which may or may not include anonymous data on users, utilizing the Updraftplus plug-in and Dropbox desktop storage. Please click their names for more information on their individual privacy policies and their data safeguard procedures.

What data breach procedures we have in place

Partnering with our web hosting services at HostGator provides us with a GDPR compliant server environment to protect our data and the anonymous data of our users. For more information on steps HostGator is taking to insure safety and compliance, please visit the HostGator GDPR compliance page.

What third parties we receive data from

Currently, Solaris Modalis utilizes the following third party vendors to enhance user experience. We maintain social media accounts with  YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. We also create a monthly newsletter through MailChimp. At no time does Solaris Modalis provide information to these vendors, as users opt-in to participate with them by following, liking or signing up for our newsletter or email content. For more information on the privacy policies of each of these providers and how they utilize and safeguard your submitted data, please click on their name links. Solaris Modalis does not take responsibility for the actions of these providers or their level of GDPR compliance.

If you have any additional questions about your privacy, how your data is handled or wish to submit a request to have your data downloaded or deleted, please submit an email to Solaris Modalis Contact. You may also send an email directly to solaris@solarismodalis.com.

I take your privacy very seriously and I hope you found this information helpful.

Love, Solaris.

This Privacy Policy was updated on May 25, 2018.