SMEX’s Website Privacy Policy

DISCLAIMER 

Thank you for visiting smex.org

This disclaimer (“Disclaimer”) is a legally binding agreement between you (“user,” “visitor,” “you” or “your”) and this website (“we,” “SMEX,” or “our organization”). It sets forth the general guidelines, disclosures, and terms of your use of this website operated by SMEX. 

Please read this disclaimer carefully before continuing to use this website. Do not access and use the site if you do not agree to the terms of this disclaimer. By proceeding to use this website, you hereby acknowledge that you have read this disclaimer in its entirety, consent to this disclaimer and agree to all of its terms.

External Links 

Through our website, you can follow links to visit external websites or content originating from third-party websites that are not in any way affiliated with smex.org. While we try to provide only quality links to relevant and ethical websites, we have no control over the nature, content, accuracy, reliability, validity, and availability of these sites. Accordingly, the inclusion of such links to other websites does not in any way imply a recommendation or endorsement for the services or products contained on those sites. Also, site owners and content may change without notice and this may occur before we have the opportunity to remove broken or harmful links.

Contact us

If you require any information or have questions about this site’s disclaimer, please feel free to contact us by email at policy@smex.org. 

PRIVACY POLICY

As an advocate for digital rights, SMEX respects your right to privacy and is committed to protecting it through our compliance with the practices described in this privacy policy when you visit our websites and engage with us, both online and offline.

For further information, please also read Bread&Net’s Privacy Policy and the Digital Safety Helpdesk’s Privacy Policy. 

1. Data we collect about the user: 

If we combine or connect non-personal, technical, or demographic data with personal data so that it directly or indirectly identifies an individual, we treat the combined information as personal data.

SMEX strives to collect as little personal data as possible to fulfill its mission. We do collect and use different types of data from and about you when you visit our website and/or subscribe to our mailing lists: 

• Your name and email address if you subscribe to our newsletter
• Your IP and Browser Type as we are using, WordPress, Greenhost, and Wordfence 
• We collect logs only concerning the website’s functionality, like error logs, for debugging purposes. 

The only personal data we collect on this website is through newsletter subscriptions. Mailchimp is used to store contact emails and send newsletters.

2. Age of Majority

We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from any person under the age of 16.  

3. How we collect data: 

We collect data through: 

• Direct interactions: when you subscribe to the newsletter (through MailChimp), sign a petition, enter a competition, or apply for vacancies, grants, and fellowships. 
• Cookies: Please see below for the cookies policy. 

4. How we use your personal information 

We use this information to communicate with you and improve your experiences when using our website. We use the information provided by you for the following: 

• To provide you with information about our work through our newsletter: we will only contact you by email if you have given us your consent along with your email address. You can opt out at any time by clicking on the ‘unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of our emails.
• To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.
• To analyze the performance of our campaigns and editorial work, including petitions.

5. Legal Basis for Using Your Information

The legal basis for collecting data is your consent, which must be freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous. 

6. Disclosure of your personal data 

We reserve the right to share your personal data if ordered to do so by a court of law if we are of the opinion that it is absolutely necessary for the interests of justice, and in accordance with international human rights standards. We do not take this duty lightly: we will only accede to requests for your personal data in stringent circumstances and will inform you of such a request in a timely manner.

7. Security 

We take industry-standard security measures to protect personal information under our control from loss, misuse, and breach. However, there are risks associated with uploading your information online. We use SSL/TLS from LetsEncrypt to ensure the security of our website.

Our security also depends on our hosting provider for the website Greenhost. We collect logs only concerning the functionality of the website like error logs for debugging purposes. 

Greenhost is a shared hosting service where SMEX maintains complete control over the databases and files hosted on the server. It’s important to note that the primary responsibility for security lies with Greenhost, rather than SMEX. 

Nevertheless, SMEX does hold a duty to ensure the security of the data stored within the MySQL databases.

8. Data retention 

We will only retain the personal data that you provided when you subscribed to the newsletter until you unsubscribe from the mailing list (you can unsubscribe at any time via the link integrated into our newsletter). 

9. Transfer of your personal data

We store your personal data on our hosting provider on the website database, hosted in the Netherlands.  

10. Your rights 

You have a number of rights concerning your personal data: 

• The right to request information regarding the data concerning you
• The right to access your personal data: You have the right to request SMEX for copies of your personal data. We may charge you a small fee for this service.
• The right to rectification: You have the right to request that SMEX correct any information you believe is inaccurate. You also have the right to request SMEX to complete the information you believe is incomplete.
• The right to erasure: You have the right to request that SMEX erases your personal data, under certain conditions.
• The right to restrict processing: You have the right to request that SMEX restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
• The right to object to processing: You have the right to object to SMEX’s processing of your personal data, under certain conditions. 
• The right to portability:  You have the right to request that SMEX transfers the data that we have collected to another organization, or directly to you, under certain conditions.
• Right to object: You have the right to object to SMEX’s processing of your personal data, under certain conditions and rights relating to automated decision-making
• The right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority (Data Protection Authority) in your country

Please note that we will ask you to verify your identity before responding to such requests. Because we rely on your consent to process your personal data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time, but this will not affect any processing of your data that has already taken place.

To exercise any of the aforementioned rights, please contact us at policy@smex.org.

11. Changes to this privacy policy 

It may be necessary for us to update or modify this Privacy Policy at any time, and we reserve the right to do so without prior notice. In order to continue using this website and its services, you will be asked to give your consent.  However, we advise you to frequently visit this page to ensure that you are up-to-date with the latest changes.

This Privacy Policy was last updated on 09/10/2024. 

COOKIES POLICY 

Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect standard internet log information and visitor behavior information. When you visit our websites, we may collect information from you automatically through cookies or similar technology.

SMEX uses cookies in a range of ways to improve your experience on our website, including:

• Keeping you signed in.
• Understanding how you use our website.

Types of cookies we use

• Functional – SMEX uses these cookies so that we recognize you on our website and remember your previously selected preferences. These could include what language you prefer and the location you are in. A mix of first-party and third-party cookies is used.

• Analytics – SMEX uses these cookies to collect information about your visit to our website, the content you viewed, the links you followed, and information about your browser, device, and IP address. 

You can set your browser not to accept cookies, and the above website tells you how to remove cookies from your browser. However, in a few cases, some of our website features may not function as a result.

Cookies on our website