Privacy Policy
Your right to privacy is very important. We recognize that when you choose to provide us with information about yourself, you trust us to act in a responsible manner. We believe this information should only be used to help us provide you with a better service. That's why we have put a policy in place to protect your personal information. Below is a summary of our policy.
What personal information do we collect?
In general, when you visit the public areas of our website (those that do not require you to sign-in to access) or access information contained in those areas, you remain anonymous. Our servers may collect and log information in the course of their normal operation about the requests that you are making -- such as IP address and browser details -- however this information is never publicly displayed and cannot generally be used to identify individuals.
Aside from the public areas, some areas of our website require registration to access. Under these circumstances we may need to collect some personal information from you such as your e-mail address and/or name in order to provide you with the access you have requested. Almost all additional personal information that we may request outside of the most basic user details is entirely optional and will not affect your ability to use the site or access content.
During the purchasing process, we may request certain necessary payment details such as your credit card number, expiration date and card security code. This information is never retained by Game Institute directly, but subscription purchasers may have some of their purchasing data encrypted and maintained on secure servers for automatic billings by a third-party service like Chargify or Stripe who offer payment gateways and subscription management services for businesses.
There may be rare occasions where we will ask you for additional information. We do this to be able to better understand your needs, and provide you with services that we believe may be valuable to you. Again, such information is generally optional and completely protected.
Protecting Your Privacy
Whenever you provide sensitive information, we will always take appropriate steps to protect it -- be that through encryption of critical pieces of information in transit, or in storage -- in addition to taking steps to ensure that it does not fall into the wrong hands.
Other than in the cases outlined within this privacy policy, we will never provide any of the personal information that you supply to other companies or individuals without your permission, unless required to do so to deliver the services that you have requested (such as subscription management services or learning management systems), or in cases where it is necessary for us to comply with legal process, or a lawful request by law enforcement officials.
Our website may provide links to third party websites. Since we do not control those websites, you are responsible for reviewing and abiding by the privacy policies of these third party sites.
Children's Online Privacy Protection Act
By registering on our website you agree that you are 13 years of age, or older. For more information about the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act please visit the official website at http://www.coppa.org/
Any child under the age of 13 must provide proof of consent of a parent or other person acting as official guardian before registering or providing any details to us through our automated registration and enrollment system. If this applies to you, please ask your parent or guardian to contact us by clicking the 'Support' button found in the top right hand corner of the main navigation bar.
Analytics and Advertising
This website uses third party traffic and visitor analysis services such as Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. ("Google"). As with most traffic analysis services, Google Analytics uses cookies to help the website understand how users utilize and navigate the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google's behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above.
In addition to analytics services, this website sometimes uses the Google AdWords remarketing service to advertise on third party websites (including Google) to previous visitors to our site. It could mean that we advertise to previous visitors who haven't completed a task on our site, for example signing up for a trial of our products. This could be in the form of an advertisement on the Google search results page, or a site in the Google Display Network. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on someone's past visits to the Game Institute website. Of course, any data collected will be used in accordance with our own privacy policy and Google's privacy policy.
You can set preferences for how Google advertises to you using the Google Ad Preferences page, and if you want to you can opt out of interest-based advertising entirely, by cookie settings, or permanently using a browser plugin.
Use of First-party Cookies
Our website uses first-party cookies (separate from the third-party cookies used for analytics and advertising as outlined above) for various functional reasons. Cookies enable us to provide you with a better experience by allowing us to automate certain processes -- such as automatically logging you in to the website when the 'Remember Me' option is enabled -- to provide easier site navigation, or to improve the user experience in cases where choices you've made should persist. These first-party cookies are not used to track or report individual's personal information or viewing habits. Cookies from our website can only be read by our website, and the data contained within them are generally heavily encrypted. By using this website, you consent to the use of first-party cookies where appropriate, and that should you disable these cookies through your browser's configuration, or using a browser plugin, your website experience may be diminished.
Data Storage
Most areas of the website that collect information will store and process that information in a secured database. You can help us to maintain the accuracy of your information by notifying us of any changes to your details either through the 'My Account' section of the website, or by contacting us directly.
Comments and Questions
We welcome comments and questions on this policy. We are dedicated to protecting your personal information, and we will make every reasonable effort to keep that information secure. Due to the rapidly evolving technologies on the Internet, we may occasionally update this policy so it is recommended that you check this page periodically.
If you feel your privacy has been breached, you can contact us here.