Privacy Policy

TOUCHSTONE ADVISORY PRIVACY POLICY – COMMITMENT TO YOUR PRIVACY

This site is owned and operated by Touchstone Advisory ("Touchstone Advisory", "we", "our", "us"). Your privacy on the Internet is of the utmost importance to us. At Touchstone Advisory, we want to make your experience online satisfying and safe.

Because we gather certain types of information about our users, we feel you should fully understand our policy and the terms and conditions surrounding the capture and use of that information. This privacy statement discloses what information we gather and how we use it.

INFORMATION TOUCHSTONE ADVISORY GATHERS AND TRACKS

Touchstone Advisory gathers two types of information about users:

• Information that users provide through optional, voluntary submissions. These include voluntary submissions to receive electronic newsletters, participate in message boards or forums, email a friend, or take part in polls and surveys.
• Aggregated tracking information. This is derived mainly by tallying page views throughout our sites. This information allows us to better tailor our content to readers' needs and help advertisers and sponsors understand audience demographics.

Because Touchstone Advisory derives revenue mainly from sponsorships and advertising, providing aggregated demographic data is essential to keeping our service free to users. Under no circumstances does Touchstone Advisory divulge information about an individual user to a third party.

HOW TOUCHSTONE ADVISORY GATHERS USER INFORMATION

We offer a free electronic newsletter to users. Touchstone Advisory gathers the email addresses of users who voluntarily subscribe. Users may remove themselves from the mailing list by following the unsubscribe link provided in every newsletter. Users can also subscribe at the time of registration.

Users of the site's message boards and forums must register separately (free of charge) to post messages. Registration requires a username, password, and email address.

Users may forward a link, page, or document by clicking "Email this to a friend." The sender must provide their email address and the recipient's email address. This information is used only in case of transmission errors and to notify the recipient of the sender. It is not used for any other purpose.

We may offer interactive polls so users can share opinions and view aggregated responses. Poll responses are not identifiable to any individual user. Touchstone Advisory may use a system to tag users after voting to prevent duplicate votes. This tag is not correlated with individual user information.

Touchstone Advisory may conduct occasional user surveys to better tailor content. Aggregated demographic data may be shared with sponsors, advertisers, and partners. We never share survey information about specific individuals with any third party.

CHILDREN'S PRIVACY

Consistent with the Federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), we will never knowingly request personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13 without parental consent.

USAGE TRACKING

Touchstone Advisory tracks overall user traffic patterns throughout our sites. We do not correlate this information with data about individual users.

We may break down usage statistics according to:

• Domain name
• Browser type
• MIME type

This information is read from the browser string. We may track search terms entered into our Search function, but this tracking is never associated with individual users. We do not track what individual users read — only overall page performance.

COOKIES

We may place a text file called a "cookie" in your browser. The cookie does not contain personal information but allows us to relate your site usage to information you have voluntarily provided.

Cookies:

• Cannot read data from your hard disk
• Cannot access cookies created by other sites

We use cookies to track traffic patterns and ad performance. You may refuse cookies in your browser settings. However, cookies are required to participate actively in forums, polling, and surveys.

USE OF INFORMATION

Touchstone Advisory uses voluntarily provided information to:

• Enhance user experience
• Provide interactive or personalised features
• Send newsletters
• Enable participation in polls, surveys, and forums
• Improve future content

We send newsletters regularly and occasionally send special editions when relevant. Touchstone Advisory never shares newsletter mailing lists with third parties.

We use aggregated tracking information to determine which areas of our sites perform well. We do not track individual reading behaviour. We create aggregate demographic reports for advertisers and partners. Advertisers will never know whether a specific user clicked their ad.

We will not disclose information about any individual user except:

• To comply with applicable law
• To respond to valid legal process
• To protect the personal safety of users or the public

SHARING OF INFORMATION

Touchstone Advisory will not share individual user information with any third party except:

• To comply with applicable law
• To respond to valid legal process
• To protect user or public safety

Aggregated demographic data may be shared for advertising purposes.

SECURITY

Touchstone Advisory operates secure data networks protected by industry-standard firewall and password protection systems. Security policies are reviewed periodically. Only authorised individuals have access to customer information.

OPT-OUT POLICY

Users may:

• Opt out of receiving newsletters
• Choose not to register
• Avoid participating in interactive areas

This eliminates the need to collect personally identifiable information.

YOUR CONSENT

By using this site, you consent to the collection and use of information by Touchstone Advisory. If we change our privacy policy, we will post updates on this page so you remain informed.