Privacy Policy

Last updated:
September 2005

Overview

This Privacy Policy describes the policies of the ("DGS" or "we"), a Government of India Organization regarding the collection, use, disclosure and protection of the following types of information:

• Information obtained when you and other users ("you" or "Users") visit the www.dgshipping.com web site (the "Site").
• Information obtained through email communications / online form submissions related to the Site.

This privacy policy does not apply to information that we may collect from you by other means (including offline) or from other sources, nor does it apply with respect to information you provide to other DGS publications or web sites. Your use of this Site constitutes your acceptance of all of the terms and conditions contained in this Privacy Policy and your consent to any action we take with respect to your information that is in compliance with this Privacy Policy.

We may change the terms of this Privacy Policy and so Users are encouraged to review this page from time to time. Your continued use of this Site following the posting of changes to the Privacy Policy means that you accept the changes.

If you do not agree to this Privacy Policy, as modified from time to time, please do not visit this Site.

Information We Collect and How We Collect It

General

We require you to provide us with certain information about yourself when you register with this Site and when you request products and services. We also collect information from you when you participate in polls and surveys, when you respond to requests for feedback and when you submit postings to public / protected areas of this Site, such as moderated discussions and bulletin boards.

The information we collect may include information from which you may be personally identified ("Personally Identifiable Information"), such as name, postal address, telephone number, fax number and email address, and also may include certain business information, such as employer name, occupation, job function, job title and other information (e.g., preferences or history). We also will collect credit card and related information when you request a product or service (including registering for the Site) for which there may be a charge. This Site only collects Personally Identifiable Information with your knowledge.

Automatic Data Collection

When you visit this Site, we may collect the IP address of your computer.

We also automatically record other information that identifies your computer to this Site and tracks your behavior on the Site. For example, we may record how many times you visit this Site and your navigation within the Site. We do not collect Personally Identifiable Information in this manner; however, if you provide us with Personally Identifiable Information, we may associate that information with the information that is collected automatically.

Methods used to collect this information may include "cookies" and "clear GIFs" (also known as "pixel tags" or "beacons"). A cookie is a small amount of data that is sent to your browser from a server and stored on your computer's hard drive. Most browsers allow Users to block the receipt of cookies, but doing so may compromise your ability to use certain features of this Site. A clear GIF is a small graphic image, typically used in connection with cookies, that is placed on a web site or in an email message. A clear GIF can monitor certain user behavior, such as your usage of the web site, whether you opened an email message or whether you clicked on a URL in an email message.

Some of the materials included on this Site, including private / public postings or advertising, may be served by third parties. These third parties, in the course of serving such materials, may collect information regarding your use of this Site and how you respond to email communications, using methods that may include those described in the preceding paragraph. Collection, use, disclosure and security of information collected by third parties are subject to the privacy policies of those third parties.

How We Use Your Information

General

We use Personally Identifiable Information that we collect on this Site for the following purposes:

• To provide you with this Site and other products and services, such as electronic and print publications and newsletters.
• To respond to your inquiries and contact you about changes regarding the Site.
• To provide you with email, fax and other notices (such as expiration and renewal notices) and inquiries regarding your account and the products or services that you are receiving, and for billing and collection purposes.
• For any other purpose disclosed at the time the information is collected or to which you consent.
• As otherwise specifically described in this Privacy Policy.

We also may use your information to better understand the needs of our Users and to improve our Site. For example, we may use this information to determine what portions of the Site are most popular and the demographics of our Users generally. Cookies and other User information also enable us to customize your experience on the Site.

We may use IP addresses to help diagnose problems with our servers or to administer our Site. We may also use IP addresses to help identify a User during a particular session and to gather data regarding use of the Site.

Newsletters and Offers

We may use the information you provide us to send you email, fax and other communications on behalf of DGS or other Allied Offices. These communications may include email newsletters that are relevant to this Site, as well as offers for other DGS and Allied Offices. All of these communications will include instructions explaining how you can request that we not send you ("opt out" of) future communications of the same type.

We may use your information to send you email, fax and other communications on behalf of unaffiliated third parties, but only if you opt in to receiving such offers when you register. Each of these communications will include instructions for opting out of receiving future third party offers from us. You also may change your preference with regard to receiving third party offers from this Web Site at any time on the registration page of this Site.

Our Disclosure of Your Information

We will not disclose your information to anyone outside of DGS or other Allied Offices, except as described in this section.

We may disclose aggregated anonymous statistics about many Users to advertisers, content and service providers and other affiliated and unaffiliated companies.

We sometimes engage third parties to perform services for us, including in connection with this Site, that require us to disclose Users' Personally Identifiable Information to them. If we make any such disclosure, we will require such parties to keep the information confidential and to use it only to perform the services.

We may from time to time wish to disclose your information to third parties that wish to market, or provide information about, their products and services to you. We will only do so after obtaining your permission. The only other times we may disclose your Personally Identifiable Information collected on this Site are as follows:

• In the event of an asset sale, merger, consolidation, restructuring, reorganization, liquidation or other similar transaction involving DGS or this Site, we may transfer some or all User information, including Personally Identifiable Information, to the successor company.
• We will disclose your Personally Identifiable Information when we believe such disclosure is required by law or for the protection of persons or property.
• We may disclose your Personally Identifiable Information with your consent, as well as when disclosure is necessary to accomplish the purpose for which you provide it. For example, when you request information from advertisers in the "Reader Services" section of our publications, we will disclose your Personally Identifiable Information to the advertisers you specify.

Security

We use reasonable security safeguards to protect Personally Identifiable Information we collect on this Site from unauthorized access, use, modification or disclosure. However, due to the design of the Internet and other factors outside our control, we cannot guarantee that communications between you and our servers will be free from unauthorized access by third parties.

Right to Access and Change Information

You may view and update information that you previously submitted to this Site by visiting the registration page for this Site However, a request to change information may not be accommodated if the request would conflict with legal requirements or result in incorrect information. Requests to view or change personal information may take a few days to process.

Links

This Site may contain content, services, advertising and other materials that link to Web sites operated by third parties. We have no control over those other sites, and this Privacy Policy does not apply to them. We encourage you to refer to the privacy policies, if any, of those sites.