How
We Collect and Use Information
We collect the following types of information about you:
Information you provide us directly:
We ask for certain information such as your username, real
name, phone number and e-mail address when you register for an MD Coder
account, or if you correspond with us. We may also retain any messages you send
through the Service, and may collect information you provide in User Content you
post to the Service. We use this information to operate, maintain, and provide
to you the features and functionality of the Service. Your username and if you
choose to disclose it, your real name, will be published publicly. Once
published your username and / or real name may not be able to be removed.
Information we may receive from third parties:
We may receive information about you from third parties.
For example, if you access our websites or Service through a third-party
connection or log-in, for example, through MD Coder, linking your account to the
MD Coder Service, etc., that third party may pass certain information about
your use of its service to MD Coder. This information could include, but is
not limited to, the user ID associated with your account (for example, your MD
Coder login), an access token necessary to access that service, any information
that you have permitted the third party to share with us, and any information
you have made public in connection with that service. If you allow us access to
your friends list, your friends’ user IDs, and your connection to those friends,
may be used and stored to make your experience more social, and to allow you to
invite your friends to use our Service as well as provide you with updates if
and when your friends join MD Coder. You should always review, and if
necessary, adjust your privacy settings on third-party websites and services
before linking or connecting them to the MD Coder Service. You may also unlink
your third party account from the Service by adjusting your settings on the
third party service.
Inviting a friend to use MD Coder:
MD Coder may, in its sole discretion, develop a feature
that allows you to invite third parties to the Service. If you choose to use our
invitation service to invite a third party to the Service through our “Invite
friends” feature, you may directly choose a friend to invite through your mobile
device’s native contact list – but we do not require that you import your
contacts list to the Service, and we do not retain the information contained in
your contacts list. You understand that by inviting a friend to MD Coder
through the “Invite friends” feature, you are directly sending a text or email
from your personal accounts and that we are not storing your contact list. In
addition, you understand and agree that normal carrier charges apply to
communications sent from your phone. Since this invitation is coming directly
from your email or phone, we do not have access to or control this
communication.
Finding your friends on the Service:
MD Coder may, in its sole discretion, develop a feature
that allows you to locate your friends with MD Coder accounts through a “Find
friends” feature. The “Find friends” feature allows you to choose to locate
friends either through (i) your contact list, (ii) social media sites (such as
Twitter or Facebook) or (iii) through a search of names and usernames on MD
Coder. If you choose to find your friends through your contact list, then you
agree to provide MD Coder access to your contact list such that we can perform
the search necessary to determine whether or not someone associated with the
information you provide is using MD Coder. If you choose to find your friends
through social media sites, then you understand that the information these sites
provide to use to conduct this type of search is governed by their privacy
policies and your account settings on those sites. If you choose to find your
friends through a search of names or usernames, then simply type a name to
search and see if that name or username appears on our Service. Note that we do
not retain any information contained in your contacts list, or information from
social media sites about your contacts, and we do not use such information for
any purpose other than to help you find your friends on MD Coder.
Analytics information:
We may directly collect analytics data, or use third-party
analytics tools and services, to help us measure traffic and usage trends for
the Service. These tools collect information sent by your browser or mobile
device, including the pages you visit and other information that assists us in
improving the Service. We collect and use this analytics information in
aggregate form such that it cannot reasonably be manipulated to identify any
particular individual user.
Cookies information:
Full details can be found on our Cookie Policy. When you
visit the Service, we may send one or more cookies — a small text file
containing a string of alphanumeric characters — to your computer that uniquely
identifies your browser and lets MD Coder help you log in faster and enhance
your navigation through the site. A cookie may also convey information to us
about how you use the Service (e.g., the pages you view, the links you click and
other actions you take on the Service), and allow us or our business partners to
track your usage of the Service over time. A persistent cookie remains on your
hard drive after you close your browser. Persistent cookies may be used by your
browser on subsequent visits to the site. Persistent cookies can be removed by
following your web browser’s directions. A session cookie is temporary and
disappears after you close your browser. You can reset your web browser to
refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, some
features of the Service may not function properly if the ability to accept
cookies is disabled. Full details can be found on our Cookie Policy.
Log file information:
Log file information is automatically reported by your
browser or mobile device each time you access the Service. When you use our
Service, our servers automatically record certain log file information. These
server logs may include anonymous information such as your web request, Internet
Protocol (“IP”) address, browser type, referring / exit pages and URLs, number
of clicks and how you interact with links on the Service, domain names, landing
pages, pages viewed, and other such information.
Clear gifs/web beacons information:
When you use the Service, we may employ clear gifs (also
known as web beacons) which are used to anonymously track the online usage
patterns of our Users. In addition, we may also use clear gifs in HTML-based
emails sent to our users to track which emails are opened and which links are
clicked by recipients. The information is allows for more accurate reporting and
improvement of the Service.
Device identifiers:
When you access the Service by or through a mobile device
(including but not limited to smart-phones or tablets), we may access, collect,
monitor and/or remotely store one or more “device identifiers,” such as a
universally unique identifier (“UUID”). Device identifiers are small data files
or similar data structures stored on or associated with your mobile device,
which uniquely identify your mobile device. A device identifier may be data
stored in connection with the device hardware, data stored in connection with
the device’s operating system or other software, or data sent to the device by
MD Coder. A device identifier may convey information to us about how you
browse and use the Service. A device identifier may remain persistently on your
device, to help you log in faster and enhance your navigation through the
Service. Some features of the Service may not function properly if use or
availability of device identifiers is impaired or disabled.
Location data:
When you access the Service by or through a mobile device,
we may access, collect, monitor and/or remotely store “location data,” which may
include GPS coordinates (e.g. latitude and/or longitude) or similar information
regarding the location of your mobile device. Location data may convey to us
information about how you browse and use the Service. Some features of the
Service, particularly location-based services, may not function properly if use
or availability of location data is impaired or disabled.
Commercial and marketing communications:
We use the information we collect or receive, such as your
email address, to communicate directly with you. We may send you emails
containing newsletters, promotions, and special offers. If you do not want to
receive such email messages, you will be given the option to opt out or change
your preferences. We also use your information to send you Service-related
emails (e.g., account verification, purchase and billing confirmations and
reminders, changes/updates to features of the Service, technical and security
notices). You may not opt out of Service-related emails. You may also be able to
be “found” on MD Coder based on information that you provide (see “Find
friends on MD Coder”) above.
Use of certain service type information we collect about
you:
We use or may use cookies, log file, device identifiers,
location data and clear gifs information to: (a) remember information so that
you will not have to re-enter it during your visit or the next time you visit
the site; (b) provide custom, personalized content and information; (c) to
provide and monitor the effectiveness of our Service; (d) monitor aggregate
metrics such as total number of visitors, traffic, and demographic patterns; (e)
diagnose or fix technology problems; (f) help you efficiently access your
information after you sign in; (g) to provide advertising to your browser or
device, and (h) automatically update the MD Coder application on your mobile
devices.
Sharing of Your Information
We will not rent or sell your information into third
parties outside MD Coder and its group companies (including any parent,
subsidiaries and affiliates) without your consent, except as noted below:
●
Who we may share your information with: We may share
your information with third-party business partners and Trusted Users for the
purpose of providing the Service to you. Third party business partners will be
given limited access to your information as is reasonably necessary to deliver
the Service, and we will require that such third parties comply with this
Privacy Policy, or operate under a similar privacy policy.
●
Who can see User Content: Any User Content that you
voluntarily disclose for posting to the Service becomes available to the public
and cannot be removed, except by MD Coder in its sole discretion. Once posted
on MD Coder, User Content may not be removable from public view, as copies may
remain viewable in cached and archived pages of the Service, on other sites that
have republished us, or if other Users have copied or saved that information. If
you do not wish your User Content to be available to the public, please don’t
post it on MD Coder. Your username and if you choose to disclose it, your real
name, will be published publicly. Once published your username and / or real
name may not be able to be removed.
●
Who can see your IP address: If you post User Content on
the Service while not logged in, your IP address will be published with your
User Content in order to attribute your contribution to the Service. A selection
of Trusted Users with administrative powers on MD Coder have the ability to
review IP addresses of users to reduce abusive behavior. Any third party service
embedded on MD Coder such as an advertiser, video provider, social network or
other third party will also have access to your IP address.
●
Who can see your email address: If you enter an email
address, you will enable communication from MD Coder and other Users. If you
reply to users or participate in group MD Coder activities such as MD Coder,
your email address will be shared with these users. In addition, some email
addresses such as blocked@wikiHow.com forward to a group of Trusted Users, who
will use your email address to reply to the email.
What happens in the event of a change of control:
We may buy or sell/divest/transfer the company (including
any shares in the company), or any combination of its products, services, assets
and/or businesses. Your information such as customer names and email addresses,
User Content and other user information related to the Service may be among the
items sold or otherwise transferred in these types of transactions. We may also
sell, assign or otherwise transfer such information in the course of corporate
divestitures, mergers, acquisitions, bankruptcies, dissolutions,
reorganizations, liquidations, similar transactions or proceedings involving all
or a portion of the company.
Instances where we are required to share your
information:
MD Coder will disclose your information where required to
do so by law or subpoena or if we reasonably believe that such action is
necessary to (a) comply with the law and the reasonable requests of law
enforcement; (b) to enforce our Terms of Use or to protect the security, quality
or integrity of our Service; and/or (c) to exercise or protect the rights,
property, or personal safety of MD Coder, our Users, or others.
Sharing certain service type information we collect
about you:
We may share certain service type information, including
information obtained through tools such as cookies, log files, device
identifiers, location data and clear gifs (such as anonymous usage data,
referring/exit pages and URLs, platform types, number of clicks, etc.): (i) with
our third-party business partners for the purposes described in the section
above on “How We Collect and Use Information.” We may also aggregate or
otherwise strip data of all personally identifying characteristics and may share
that aggregated, anonymized data with third parties.
Ads on MD Coder:
We may also share certain information such as your
location, browser, and cookie data and other data relating to your use of our
Service with our business partners to deliver advertisements (“ads”) that may be
of interest to you. MD Coder may allow third-party ad servers or ad networks
to serve advertisements on the Service. These third-party ad servers or ad
networks use technology to send, directly to your browser or mobile device, the
ads and ad links that appear on the Service, and will automatically receive your
IP address when they do so. They may also use other technologies (such as
cookies, JavaScript, device identifiers, location data, and clear gifs, see
above) to compile information about your browser’s or device’s visits and usage
patterns on the Service and on other websites, and to measure the effectiveness
of their ads and to personalize the advertising content delivered to you.
For example, Google uses DART cookies in order to deliver
ads to you through the Service. Google's use of the DART cookie enables it and
its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to the Service and previous
websites that you may have visited. Other advertising networks also use similar
cookies, clear gifs, or other mechanisms to deliver targeted advertising to you
through the Service. You can delete these cookies by following the instructions
here: http://www.wikihow.com/Clear-Your-Browser%27s-Cookies . You may opt out of
use of Google’s DART cookie and cookies placed by Network Advertising Initiative
(NAI) certified ad networks here:
http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp . Opting out of these
cookies will be effective not only on the Service, but on all websites with NAI
certified advertising networks. However, these opt-outs will be ineffective on
networks that are not NAI certified.
Please note that an advertiser may ask MD Coder to show
an ad to a certain audience of Users (e.g., based on demographics or other
interests). In that situation, MD Coder or our Partners determines the target
audience and MD Coder serves the advertising to that audience and only
provides anonymous data to the advertiser. If you respond to such an ad, the
advertiser or ad server may conclude that you fit the description of the
audience they are trying to reach.
To enhance your user experience or help us improve and
measure our effectiveness, MD Coder may embed code from third parties on the
Service. Examples of such parties may include Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest,
Google, YouTube, Howcast, VideoJug, AOL, and others. These third parties may
collect information about you including IP address, cookies in ways MD Coder
does not control.
The MD Coder Privacy Policy does not apply to, and we
cannot control the activities of third-parties. Please consult the respective
privacy policies of such third parties or contact such third parties for more
information.
How
We Store and Protect Your Information
Storage and Processing:
Your information collected through the Service may be
stored and processed in the United States or any other country in which MD
Coder or its subsidiaries, affiliates, or service providers maintain
facilities. MD Coder may transfer information that we collect about you,
including personal information, to affiliated entities, or to other third
parties across borders and from your country or jurisdiction to other countries
or jurisdictions around the world. If you are located in the European Union or
other regions with laws governing data collection and use that may differ from
U.S. law, please note that we may transfer information, including personal
information, to a country and jurisdiction that does not have the same data
protection laws as your jurisdiction, and you consent to the transfer of
information to the U.S. or any other country in which MD Coder or its parent,
subsidiaries, affiliates, or service providers maintain facilities and the use
and disclosure of information about you as described in this Privacy Policy.
Keeping your information safe:
MD Coder cares about the security of your information,
and uses commercially reasonable safeguards to preserve the integrity and
security of all information collected through the Service. To protect your
privacy and security, we take reasonable steps (such as requesting a unique
password) to verify your identity before granting you access to your account.
You are responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your unique password and
account information, and for controlling access to your email communications
from MD Coder, at all times. However, MD Coder cannot ensure or warrant the
security of any information you transmit to MD Coder or guarantee that
information on the Service may not be accessed, disclosed, altered, or
destroyed. Your privacy settings may also be affected by changes to the
functionality of third party sites and services that you add to the MD Coder
Service, such as social networks. MD Coder is not responsible for the
functionality or security measures of any third party.
Compromise of information:
In the event that any information under our control is
compromised as a result of a breach of security, MD Coder will take reasonable
steps to investigate the situation and where appropriate, notify those
individuals whose information may have been compromised and take other steps, in
accordance with any applicable laws and regulations.
Your
Choices about Your Information
You control your account information and settings: You may
update your account information and email-communication preferences at any time
by logging in to your account and changing your profile settings. You can also
stop receiving promotional email communications from us by modifying your
preferences at http://www.wikihow.com/Special:Preferences.
We make every effort to promptly process all unsubscribe
requests. As noted above, you may not opt out of Service-related communications
(e.g., account verification, purchase and billing confirmations and reminders,
changes/updates to features of the Service, technical and security notices). If
you have any questions about reviewing or modifying your account information,
you can contact us directly at wiki@wikiHow.com.
Opting out of collection of your information for
Tracking / Advertising:
Please refer to your mobile device or browser’s technical
information for instructions on how to delete and disable cookies, and other
tracking/recording tools. Depending on your type of device, it may not be
possible to delete or disable tracking mechanisms on your mobile device. Note
that disabling cookies and/or other tracking tools prevents MD Coder or its
business partners from tracking your browser’s activities in relation to the
Service, and for use in targeted advertising activities by third parties.
However, doing so may disable many of the features available through the
Service. If you have any questions about opting out of the collection of cookies
and other tracking/recording tools, you can contact us directly at
support@mdtech.com.
How long we keep your private profile information:
Following termination of your User account, MD Coder may
retain your private profile information for a commercially reasonable time for
backup, archival, or audit purposes. For the avoidance of doubt, any information
that you choose to make public on the service may not be removable.
Children’s Privacy
MD Coder does not knowingly collect or solicit any
information from anyone under the age of 18 or knowingly allow such persons to
register as Users. The Service and its content are not directed at children
under the age of 18. In the event that we learn that we have collected personal
information from a child under age 18 without verification of parental consent,
we will delete that information as quickly as possible. If you believe that we
might have any information from or about a child under 18, please contact us at
support@mdtech.com.
Links
to Other Websites and Services
We are not responsible for the practices employed by
websites or services linked to or from the Service, including the information or
content contained therein. Please remember that when you use a link to go from
the Service to another website, our Privacy Policy does not apply to third-party
websites or services. Your browsing and interaction on any third-party website
or service, including those that have a link or advertisement on our website,
are subject to that third party’s own rules and policies. In addition, you agree
that we are not responsible and we do not control over any third-parties that
you authorize to access your User Content. If you are using a third-party
website or service (like Facebook, Google groups, or an IRC chatroom) and you
allow such a third-party access to you User Content you do so at your own risk.
This Privacy Policy does not apply to information we collect by other means
(including offline) or from other sources other than through the Service.