Hoststark (“HostStark Hosting”, “we”, “us” or “our”) respects the privacy of our visitors, customers, and, users (also occasionally referred to as “you” or “your”). This privacy policy (and as amended from time to time as posted on our website at www.hoststark.com/privacy-policy (“Privacy Policy”) describes the types of information we may collect from you or that you may provide when you visit or use our www.hoststark.com website (“Website”), login to our platform or use our application hosting services (“Services”), and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting and disclosing that information. By “visitors” we mean visitors to our Website who are not yet customers, those who become customers, as well as those who do not become customers; whether you upload information to our Website, download it, or are merely visiting our Website. By “customers” we mean the person or company which purchases our Services. By “users” we mean persons who are authorized by a customer to access the Services. This Privacy Policy applies to the data collected by us, or those working on our behalf, through information you enter or from the data imported from authorized and approved sources. It does not apply to data collected through other websites, products, or services not approved by us.
Our Privacy Policy describes:
If you are a resident of or subject to data privacy laws or regulations of a country outside of the United States, please see the additional provisions at the end of this Privacy Policy.
Below in this section are some of the highlights of the Privacy Policy. Please read this entire document for a full description of our policies.
The following presents highlights of our Privacy Policy. The details follow this section.
We collect Personal Information from you or your users for various purposes, such as, but not limited to, corresponding with you, informing you about your account, security updates and product information, processing your application, providing you with Services, processing your order, and other purposes.
We may combine the information we collect from you with information obtained from other sources to help us improve its overall accuracy and completeness, and to help us improve our business and better tailor our interactions with you.
We may also collect information relating to your use of our Website through the use of various technologies, including cookies.
When we collect information from you, you may tell us that you do not want it used for further marketing contact.
You may also turn off cookies in your browser.
You may withdraw your consent to us using your Personal Information at any time.
You may also opt out from receiving certain communications from us by unsubscribing in the email that you receive.
You may contact us using this link.
By using or accessing our Website or the Services in any manner, you acknowledge that you accept the practices and policies described in this Privacy Policy (and as updated from time to time), and you hereby consent that we may collect, use, and share your information as described herein. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use our Website or our Services. As a customer or user, your use of the Website and our Services is at all times subject to our Application Hosting Services Agreement you have entered into, and our Terms of Service (available here (the “Terms”), each of which incorporates this Privacy Policy. Any capitalized terms we use in this Privacy Policy without defining them have the definitions given to them in the Terms.
This Privacy Policy covers our treatment of personally identifiable information. This is information which may be connected to you specifically as the individual to whom the information relates. Such information may include name, mailing address, email address, telephone number, and any other information defined as personally identifiable information (or similar term) by applicable laws (“Personal Information”). If you are a European citizen or resident, this definition is different, so, please see the section toward the end of this Privacy Policy. Personal Information does not include your personally identifiable information that has been deidentified, pseudonymized, anonymized, aggregated and/or otherwise processed so as to be unidentifiable in such a way that the data can no longer be attributed to a specific individual (by reasonable means) without the use of additional information, and where such additional information is kept separate and under adequate security to prevent unauthorized re-identification of a specific individual such that one could not, using reasonable efforts, link such information back to a specific individual (the foregoing in this sentence being referred to as “De-Identified Personal Information”).
We may also collect Personal Information from you through means other than our Website or the Services. This may include offline collection, such as if you submit a paper application, make a payment by check, or call or visit our office. It may also include emails, text messages, or other electronic communications that you send to us separate from our Website or by way of our third party service providers. This Privacy Policy does not apply to Personal Information that you provide to us through means other than our Website or our Service. However, if we combine the Personal Information we collect from you outside of our Website with Personal Information that is collected through our Website or by another means as described above, the Privacy Policy will apply to the combined information, unless specifically disclosed otherwise.
As noted in the Terms, we do not knowingly collect, solicit or maintain Personal Information from anyone under the age of 18 or knowingly allow such persons to register for our Services. If you are under 18, please do not send any Personal Information about yourself (such as your name, address, telephone number, or email address) to us. No one under the age of 18 should provide any Personal Information to or on the Services. In the event that we learn that we have collected Personal Information from a child under the age of 19 without verification of parental consent, we will use commercially reasonable efforts to delete that information from our database. Please contact us if you have any concerns.
We are constantly working to improve our Services, and we may need to change this Privacy Policy from time to time as well. We will alert you to changes by placing a notice on our Website, or as part of communications involving or as part of the Services, by sending you an email, and/or by some other means.
Please note that if you have opted not to receive legal notice emails from us (or you haven’t provided us with your email address), those legal notices will still govern your use of the Services, and you are still responsible for reading and understanding them. If you use the Services after any changes to the Privacy Policy have been posted, that means you agree to the new Privacy Policy, including all of the changes. Use of information we collect now is subject to the Privacy Policy in effect at the time such information is collected.
We collect several types of information from and about you.
Information You Provide to Us. The information we collect on or through our Website may include:
Information We Store That Is Entered Into the Applications We Host. While we do not directly collect any Personal Information of customers’ users or customers, the data our customers enter into the applications we host is stored on our servers and may contain Personal Information.
Information We Collect Through Automatic Data Collection Technologies. As you navigate through and interact with our Website, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns, including:
The information we collect automatically is statistical data and may include Personal Information, but we may maintain it or associate it with Personal Information we collect in other ways or receive from third parties. It helps us to improve our Website and to deliver a better and more personalized service, including, but not limited to, by enabling us to: (a) estimate our audience/visitor size and usage patterns; (b) store information about your preferences, allowing us to customize and improve our Website; (c) speed up your searches; and/or, (d) recognize you when you return to our Website.
The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include cookies, flash cookies, web beacons, pixel tracking, GIF and/or IP address. Each of these is discussed below.
Cookies (or browser cookies): A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer or mobile device. It may contain certain data, including, but not limited to: the name of the server that has placed it there, an identifier in the form of a unique number, and, an expiration date (some cookies only). Cookies are managed by the web browser on your computer (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari or Google Chrome).
Different types of cookies which have different purposes are used on our Website.
Essential Cookies: These cookies are essential to allow you to browse our Website and use its functions. Without them, services such as shopping baskets and electronic invoicing would not be able to work.
Performance Cookies: These cookies collect information on the use of our Website, such as which pages are consulted most often. This information enables us to optimize our Website and simplify browsing. Performance cookies also enable our affiliates and partners to find out whether you have accessed one of our Websites from their site and whether your visit has led to the use or purchase of a product or Service from our Website, including the references for the product or Service purchased. These cookies do not collect any information which could be used to identify you. All the information collected is aggregated, and therefore anonymous.
Functionality Cookies: These cookies enable our Website to remember the choices you have made when browsing. For example, we can store your geographical location in a cookie so that the Website corresponding to your area is shown. We can also remember your preferences, such as the text size, font and other customizable aspects of the Website. Functionality cookies may also be able to keep track of the products or videos consulted to avoid repetition. The information collected by these cookies cannot be used to identify you and cannot monitor your browsing activity on sites which do not belong to us.
It is possible that you will come across third-party cookies on some pages of sites that are not under our control.
We also use cookies to implement tracking technology on our Website. This allows us to display advertising that is tailored to you on our Website which parts of our content interest you the most and which Service categories you request. This tracking uses De-Identified Personal Information data (i.e., data that cannot be identified as being specifically associated with you) and does not use your Personal Information. We will not combine this data with your other Personal Information without your express permission. Some of our contracted vendors and affinity partners are allowed to place cookies on our Website. Those companies may also provide you with the option of preventing the use of cookies in the future. For more information, contact the relevant third-party provider.
You may refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting in your browser. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our Website. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Website. However, if you do, your experience on our Website may be affected.
Flash Cookies: Certain features of our Website may use local stored objects (or Flash cookies) to collect and store information about your preferences and navigation to, from and on our Website. Flash cookies are not managed by the same browser settings as are used for browser cookies.
Web Beacons: Pages of our Website and our emails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags and single-pixel gifs) that permit us, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain website content and verifying system and server integrity).
Pixel Tracking: In addition to using Cookies, the Website may employ “pixel tracking”, a common process which may be used in connection with advertisements on other sites. Pixel tracking involves the use of pixel tags that are not visible to the user and consist of a few lines of computer code. Pixel tracking measures the effectiveness of advertisements and compiles aggregate and specific usage statistics. A “pixel tag” is an invisible tag placed on certain pages of websites that is used to track an individual user’s activity. We may access these pixel tags to identify activity and interests that may allow us to better match our goods, services, and other offers with your interests and needs. For example, if you visit our Website from an advertisement on another website, the pixel tag will allow the advertiser to track that its advertisement brought you to the Website. If you visit our Website, and we link you to another website, we may also be able to determine that you were sent to and/or transacted with a third-party website. This data is collected for use in our marketing and research.
GIF: We may use tiny images known as clear GIFs to track behavior of users, including statistics on who opens our emails.
IP Address: Our servers automatically record certain log file information reported from your browser when you access the Services. These server logs may include information such as which pages of the Service you visited, your internet protocol (“IP”) address, browser type, and other information on how you interact with the Services. These log files are generally deleted periodically.
Some content or applications, including advertisements, on the Website are served by third parties, including advertisers, ad networks and servers, content providers and application providers. First-party or third-party cookies may be used alone or in conjunction with web beacons or other tracking technologies to collect information about you when you use our Website. A first-party cookie is a cookie set by the domain name that appears in the browser address bar. A third-party cookie is a cookie set by (and on) a domain name that is not the domain name that appears in the browser address bar. It might be set as part of a side resource load (image, JS, iframe, etc. from a different hostname) or an AJAX HTTP request to a third-party server. The information that first-party and third-party cookies collect may be associated with your Personal Information or they may collect information, including Personal Information, about your online activities over time and across different websites and other online services (i.e., tracking such activities). They may use this information to provide you with interest-based (behavioral) advertising or other targeted content.
We do not control these third parties’ tracking technologies or how they may be used. If you have any questions about an advertisement or other targeted content, you should contact the responsible provider directly.
Google Analytics. We use, and some of our third-party service providers may use, Google Analytics (click for link to Google’s website) or other analytics service to help us understand use of our Services. Such service providers may place their own cookies in your browser. This Privacy Policy covers use of cookies by us only and not the use of cookies by third parties.
Google AdSense Advertising. We use Google AdSense Advertising (or other search engine or display network advertising) on our website. Google’s advertising requirements can be summed up by Google’s Advertising Principles (click for link to Google’s website). They are put in place to provide a positive experience for users. We have implemented the following: (a) Remarketing with Google AdSense and (b) Google Display Network Impression Reporting.
Google DART Cookie. Google, as a third-party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on our Website. Google’s use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to our users based on previous visits to our Website and other sites on the Internet. Users may opt-out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google Ad and Content Network privacy policy.
We, along with third-party vendors such as Google, use first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookies) and third-party cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) or other third-party identifiers together to compile data regarding user interactions with ad impressions and other ad service functions as they relate to our Website.
Google Maps/Google Earth. We also use Google Maps (including the Google Maps API(s)) and/or Google Earth, which may, among other things, request access to your geolocation, and both of which are subject to their own terms of us and privacy policy.
Users can set preferences for how Google advertises to you using the Google Ad Settings page. Alternatively, you can opt out by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative Opt Out page or by using the Google Analytics Opt Out Browser add-on.
We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any Personal Information, for one or more of the following purposes:
De-Identified Personal Information or non-Personal Information is aggregated for system administration and to monitor usage of the Website. It is utilized to measure the number of visits to our Website, average time spent, number of pages viewed and to monitor various other Website statistics. This monitoring helps us evaluate how visitors use and navigate our Website so we can improve the content.
We use cookies, clear gifs, and log file 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 Website; (b) provide custom, personalized content and information; (c) 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 reported by our users or engineers that are associated with certain IP addresses; and, (f) help you efficiently access your information after you sign in.
We may also use your Personal Information to contact you about our own and third-parties’ goods and services that may be of interest to you. If you do not want us to use your information in this way, please either check the relevant box located on the form on which we collect your data (the order form) or adjust your user preferences in your account profile).
Personal Information: We will never disclose, sell, or rent your identifiable Personal Information to third parties for commercial purposes. Broadly stated, we may disclose your Personal Information, in whole or in part, with third parties who perform services on our behalf for the purposes of providing or improving the Services to you. We disclose Personal Information to the following types of third parties, and for one or more the following purposes:
You consent to our disclosure of your Personal Information and other information to a potential or actual buyer or other successor for the purpose of considering a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or sale or transfer of some or all of our assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation or other proceeding, in which Personal Information held by us is among the assets transferred. You agree to and do hereby consent to (and shall not object to) our assignment, conveyance, transfer, and/or license (whether by contract, merger or operation of law) of any or all of our rights to your Personal Information and your consents, in whole or in part, and other information, with or without notice to you and without your further consent.
We have our headquarters in the United States. The Personal Information we collect may be stored and processed in servers within or outside of the United States and wherever we and our service providers have facilities around the globe. As such, we and our service providers may transfer your Personal Information to, or access it in, jurisdictions that may not provide equivalent levels of data protection as your home jurisdiction. No matter where you are located, you consent to the processing and transferring of your information in and to the United States, Canada and other countries.
We will take reasonable steps to ensure that your Personal Information receives an adequate level of protection in the jurisdictions in which we process it. If you are located in the European Economic Area (“EEA”) or Switzerland, we provide adequate protection for the transfer of Personal Information to countries outside of the EEA or Switzerland through a series of intercompany agreements based on the Standard Contractual Clauses. We may also need to transfer your information to other group companies or service providers in countries outside the EEA. This may happen if our servers or suppliers and service providers are based outside the EEA, or if you use our services and products while visiting countries outside this area.
If you are a resident of country other than the United States, you acknowledge and consent to our collecting, transmitting, and storing your Personal Information out of the country in which you reside.
We have implemented measures designed to secure your Personal Information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration and disclosure.
Account Security: The safety and security of your information also depends on you. You should maintain good internet security practices. Where you have password-protected access to certain parts of the Website or Services, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. You should not share your password with anyone. You must prevent unauthorized access to your account and Personal Information by selecting and protecting your password appropriately and limiting access to your computer or device and browser by signing off after you have finished accessing your account. If your email account or Facebook account is compromised this could allow access to your account with us if you have given us those details and/or permitted access through those accounts. If your email account is compromised it could be used to ask us to reset a password and gain access to your account with us. If you think that any of your accounts have been compromised you should change your account credentials with us, and in particular make sure any compromised account does not allow access to your account with us. The information you share in public areas may be viewed by other users. We’ll never email you to ask for your password or other account login information. If you receive such an email, please send it to us so we can investigate.
Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we do use security measures designed to protect your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee the security of your Personal Information transmitted to us or which we obtain. Any transmission of Personal Information is at your own risk. Unauthorized entry or use, hardware or software failure, and other factors, may compromise the security of user information at any time. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Website or used with our Services.
We will keep your Personal Information for as long as your account is active, or as long as you are a registered customer or user of our Services or for as long as we have another business purpose to do so and, thereafter, for no longer than is required or permitted by law, or our records retention policy, reasonably necessary for internal reporting and reconciliation purposes, or to provide you with feedback or information you might request. This period of retention is subject to our review and alteration.
Following termination or deactivation of your account, we may retain your profile information and all information posted to public areas of the Website. Following termination or deactivation of your account, we may retain your Personal Information and other data, but will maintain it as confidential according to the Terms, this Privacy Policy and as required by applicable law. We have the right to delete all of your Personal Information and other data after termination of your account without notice to you.
We may retain De-Identified Personal Information for as long as we choose.
Through your account settings, you may access and, in some cases, edit or delete certain information you’ve provided to us, such as name and password, email address, address, user profile information, etc. The information that you can view, update, and delete may change as the Services or our practices change. If you have any questions about viewing or updating information we have on file about you, please contact us.
By providing us with your email address (including by “following,” “liking,” linking your account to our Service or other services, etc., on a third party website or network), you consent to our using the email address to send you Service-related notices by email, including any notices required by law, in lieu of communication by postal mail. You also agree that we may send you notifications of activity on the Service to the email address you give us, in accordance with any applicable privacy settings. We may use your email address to send you other messages or content, such as, but not limited to, newsletters, additions or changes to features of the Service, or special offers. If you do not want to receive such email messages, you may opt out by emailing us your opt-out request or by clicking “unsubscribe” at the bottom of our e-newsletter. Opting out may prevent you from receiving email messages regarding updates, improvements, special features, announcements, or offers. You may not opt out of Service-related emails.
You can add, update, or delete information as explained above. When you update information, however, we may maintain a copy of the unrevised information in our records. You may request deletion of your account by emailing us. It is your responsibility to maintain your current email address with us.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, our privacy practices, or for any other purposes, please contact us at this link
If you are a European citizen or resident of the European Economic Area (“EEA”), or other regions with laws governing data collection and use that may differ from the laws in the United States, please note that we may transfer your information to a country or jurisdiction that does not have the same data protection laws as your jurisdiction. We may do so to process your information by staff operating outside the EEA who works for us or for one of our service providers.
The following provisions apply to you if you are a European citizen or resident. All processing of your Personal Information is performed in accordance with privacy rights and regulations, in particular, (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of Personal Information and on the free movement of such data, known as the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), and our processing will take place in accordance with the GDPR. For purposes of the GDPR, we will be the “data controller” of Personal Information (referred to in the GDPR as “personal data”, and which is defined differently than in this Privacy Policy) we collect through the Website, unless we collect such information on behalf of a “data controller” in which case we will be a “data processor.” This Privacy Policy does not apply to websites, applications or services that do not display or link to this Privacy Policy or that display or link to a different privacy policy. For EU residents and citizens only, to the extent any definition in this Privacy Policy conflicts with a definition under the GDPR, the GDPR definition shall control.
What is our legal basis for processing Personal Data (EEA and Swiss visitors only)?
If you are a visitor from the EEA or Switzerland, our legal basis for collecting and using the Personal Data described above will depend on the Personal Data concerned and the specific context in which we collect it. However, we will normally collect Personal Data from you only where we need the Personal Data to perform Services for you for which you have contracted with us, or where the processing is in our legitimate interests or rely upon your consent where we are legally required to do so and not overridden by your data protection interests or fundamental rights and freedoms. In some cases, we may also have a legal obligation to collect Personal Data from you or may otherwise need the Personal Data to protect your vital interests or those of another person.
Your Data Rights Under GDPR
Your rights under GDPR include the following:
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