What information we collect about you

1. Information you provide to us: We collect information about you when you input it into our Services or otherwise provide it directly to us.

2. 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 Services. For example, you have the option of adding a profile picture, bio, and other details to your profile information to be displayed in our Services. We keep track of your preferences when you select settings within the Services.

3.‍ Content you provide through our websites: The Services also include our websites owned or operated by us. We collect other content that you submit to these websites, which include social media or social networking websites operated by us. For example, you provide content to us when you provide feedback, submit inquiries, activate a free trial, or when you participate in any interactive features, surveys, contests, promotions, activities, or events.

4. ‍Information we collect automatically when you use the Services: We collect information about you when you use our Services, including browsing our websites and taking certain actions within the Services. This information is only used to optimise your usability experience and is never shared outside of Ak's Tech Blog.

5. Your use of the Services: We keep track of certain information about you when you visit and interact with any of our Services. This information includes the features you use; the type, size, and filenames of attachments you upload to the Services; frequently used search terms; and how you interact with others on the Services.

6. Legal bases for processing (for EEA users): If you are an individual in the European Economic Area (EEA), we collect and process information about you only where we have legal bases for doing so under applicable European Union laws. The legal bases depend on the Services you use and how you use them. This means we collect and use your information only where: We need it to provide you the Services, including to operate the Services, provide customer support and personalised features, and to protect the safety and security of the Services; It satisfies a legitimate interest (which is not overridden by your data protection interests), such as for research and development, to market and promote the Services and to protect our legal rights and interests; You give us consent to do so for a specific purpose; or We need to process your data to comply with a legal obligation. ‍ If you have consented to our use of information about you for a specific purpose, you have the right to change your mind at any time, but this will not affect any processing that has already taken place. Where we are using your information because we or a third party (e.g. your employer) have a legitimate interest to do so, you have the right to object to that use though, in some cases, this may mean no longer using the Services.

7. Community Forums: Our websites offer publicly accessible blogs. You should be aware that any information you provide in these websites – including profile information associated with the account you use to post the information – may be read, collected, and used by any member of the public who accesses websites. Your posts and certain profile information may remain even after you terminate your account. We urge you to consider the sensitivity of any information you input into these Services. To request removal of your information from publicly accessible websites operated by us, please contact us as provided below. In some cases, we may not be able to remove your information, in which case we will let you know if we are unable to and why.

8.‍ Service Providers: We work with third-party service providers to provide website and application development, hosting, maintenance, backup, storage, virtual infrastructure, payment processing, analysis, and other services for us, which may require them to access or use information about you. If a service provider needs to access information about you to perform services on our behalf, they do so under instruction from us, including abiding by policies and procedures designed to protect your information.

9. Links to Third-Party Sites: The Services may include links that direct you to other websites or services whose privacy practices may differ from ours. Your use of and any information you submit to any of those third-party sites is governed by their privacy policies, not this one.

10. With your consent: We share information about you with third parties when you give us consent to do so. For example, we often display personal testimonials of satisfied customers on our public websites. With your consent, we may post your name alongside the testimonial.

11. Compliance with Enforcement Requests and Applicable Laws; Enforcement of Our Rights: In exceptional circumstances, we may share information about you with a third party if we believe that sharing is reasonably necessary to (a) comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request, including to meet national security requirements, (b) enforce our agreements, policies, and terms of service, (c) protect the security or integrity of our products and services, (d) protect AK's Tech Blog, our customers or the public from harm or illegal activities, or (e) respond to an emergency which we believe in good faith requires us to disclose information to assist in preventing the death or serious bodily injury of any person.

12. Information storage and security: ‍We use data hosting service providers to host the information we collect, and we use technical measures to secure your data. While we implement safeguards designed to protect your information, no security system is impenetrable, and due to the inherent nature of the Internet, we cannot guarantee that data, during transmission through the Internet or while stored on our systems or otherwise in our care, is absolutely safe from intrusion by others, however all sensitive data is stored encrypted. We will respond to requests about this within a reasonable timeframe.

13. How long we keep information: ‍How long we keep information we collect about you depends on the type of information, as described in further detail below. After such time, we will either delete or anonymise your information or, if this is not possible (for example, because the information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your information and isolate it from any further use until deletion is possible.

14. ‍Account information: We retain your account information until you delete your account. We also retain some of your information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, to resolve disputes, to enforce our agreements, to support business operations, and to continue to develop and improve our Services. Where we retain information for Service improvement and development, we take steps to eliminate information that directly identifies you, and we only use the information to uncover collective insights about the use of our Services, not to specifically analyse personal characteristics about you.

15. We are committed to protecting your personal information: ‍We will at all times work to ensure that we are taking all the steps to protect your personal information. Despite our best efforts, the internet itself cannot be trusted as a secure environment. Consequently, we are unable to give an absolute promise that your information will always be safe. Sharing of personal information over the internet is to be done at your own risk. You should only give out your personal information to the website within a secure environment. If we become aware of any security breach relating to your personal information, we will advise you as soon as we can.

16. Your Choices: You have the right to request a copy of your information, to object to our use of your information (including for marketing purposes), to request the deletion or restriction of your information, or to request your information in a structured, electronic format. Below, we describe the tools and processes for making these requests. Your request and choices may be limited in certain cases: for example, if fulfilling your request would reveal information about another person, or if you ask to delete information which we or your administrator are permitted by law or have compelling legitimate interests to keep. If you have unresolved concerns, you may have the right to lodge a complaint to a data protection authority in the country where you live, where you work or where you feel your rights were infringed.

17. ‍Access and update your information: Our Services and related documentation give you the ability to access and update certain information about you from within the Service. For example, you can access your profile information from your account and search for content containing information about you using keyword searches in the Service. You can update your profile information within your account settings and modify content that contains information about you using the editing tools associated with that content.

18. Delete your information: Our Services and related documentation give you the ability to delete certain information about you from within the Service. For example, you can remove certain profile information within your profile settings. Please note, however, that we may need to retain certain information for record keeping purposes, to complete transactions or to comply with our legal obligations.

19. Request that we stop using your information: In some cases, you may ask us to stop accessing, storing, using, and otherwise processing your information where you believe we don’t have the appropriate rights to do so. For example, if you believe a Services account was created for you without your permission or you are no longer an active user, you can request that we delete your account as provided in this policy. Where you gave us consent to use your information for a limited purpose, you can contact us to withdraw that consent, but this will not affect any processing that has already taken place at the time. You can also opt-out of our use of your information for marketing purposes by contacting us, as provided below. When you make such requests, we may need time to investigate and facilitate your request. If there is a delay or dispute as to whether we have the right to continue using your information, we will restrict any further use of your information until the request is honoured or the dispute is resolved, provided your administrator does not object (where applicable).

20. Data portability: Data portability is the ability to obtain some of your information in a format you can move from one service provider to another (for instance, when you transfer your mobile phone number to another carrier). Depending on the context, this applies to some of your information, but not to all of your information. Should you request it, we will provide you with an electronic file of your basic account information.

21. International transfers of information we collect: ‍We collect information globally and may store that information outside of your country of residence, to wherever we, or our third-party service providers operate for the purpose of providing you the Services. Whenever we transfer your information, we take steps to protect it.

22. Notice to End Users: ‍Our products are intended for both personal use and use by organisations. Where the Services are made available to you through an organisation (e.g. your employer), that organisation is the administrator of the Services and is responsible for the end-users and/or Service sites over which it has control. If this is the case, please direct your data privacy questions to your administrator, as your use of the Services is subject to that organisation’s policies. We are not responsible for the privacy or security practices of an administrator’s organisation, which may be different to this policy. ‍ Even if the Services are not currently administered to you by an organisation, if you are a member of a team administered by an organisation, or if you use an email address provided by an organisation (such as your work email address) to access the Services, then the administrator of that team or the owner of the domain associated with your organisational email address (e.g. your employer) may assert administrative control over your account and use of the Services at a later date. You will be notified if this happens. In some cases, enterprise administrators can also: - Require you to reset your account password; - Restrict, suspend, or terminate your access to the Services or your account; - Control your ability to edit, restrict, modify, or delete account information; - Change your account information, including profile information or the email address associated with your account; - Access information in and about your account - Access or retain information stored as part of your account - Please contact your organisation or refer to your administrator’s organisational policies for more information.

23. Our policy towards children: The Services are not directed to individuals under 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16. If we become aware that a child under 16 has provided us with personal information, we will take steps to delete such information. If you become aware that a child has provided us with personal information, please contact our support services.

24. Changes to our Privacy Policy: We may change this privacy policy from time to time. We will post any privacy policy changes on this page and, if the changes are significant, we will provide a more prominent notice by adding a notice on the Services homepages, login screens, or by sending you an email notification. We will also keep prior versions of this Privacy Policy in an archive for your review. We encourage you to review our privacy policy whenever you use the Services to stay informed about our information practices and the ways you can help protect your privacy. ‍ If you disagree with any changes to this privacy policy, you will need to stop using the Services and deactivate your account(s), as outlined above. ‍