Consumer & Website Privacy Policy
EFFECTIVE DATE MARCH 20, 2020
Overview & Clear Skies Meadery’s Commitment to Privacy
Clear Skies Meadery and its affiliates are committed to respecting your privacy. We believe in a culture of choice for our customers and visitors to this website. We want you to have control over your data and information, and to feel that your right to privacy is being respected.
We will collect information – as detailed below – that we feel we need to provide you with the best possible Clear Skies Meadery experience. We promise to simultaneously remain transparent about our collection practices, and to provide conspicuous and easy-to-use opt-out processes wherever feasible. We also promise to use industry standard practices to protect your information from loss, misuse and unauthorized access.
The Privacy Policy detailed below comprehensively explains how we collect, use, disclose, store and otherwise process information through Clear Skies Meadery’s website in the United States. In addition, this policy states how you can control the collection, correction and/or deletion of information. We commit to not using or sharing your information with anyone except as described in this Privacy Policy.
We urge you to read this Privacy Statement so that you understand our commitment to you and your privacy, and how you can participate in that commitment.
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Definition of Personal Information. The types of personal information that Clear Skies Meadery may process (which may vary by jurisdiction based on applicable law) include the following, depending on what you submit to us:
- your name, gender, personal and work contact details, business title, date and place of birth, image, nationality, and passport and visa information[GJP1] ;
- your credit card details, and your account details and credentials should you opt to share them with Clear Skies Meadery;
- any information necessary to fulfill special requests (e.g. stays at the Inn, VIP tours at the tasting room, etc.);
- information, feedback or content you provide regarding your marketing preferences, in surveys, sweepstakes, contests, or promotional offers, or to our websites or apps and those of third parties (collectively, “Personal Information”).
Definition of Non-Personal Information. We may also collect information that is related to you but that does not personally identify you (“non-personal information”). Non-personal Information also includes information that could personally identify you in its original form, but that we have modified (for instance, by aggregating, anonymizing or de-identifying such information) in order to remove or hide any Personal Information.
Scope and Consent.
This Privacy Statement applies to Personal Information and other information collected by Clear Skies Meadery or its service providers from or about: (i) visitors to, or users of, its websites; (ii) prospective and current customers using Clear Skies Meadery hosting and information technology services, such as WiFi service; (iii) users of any mobile-device applications that we offer (such as its iOS and Android applications); (iv) job applicants; and (v) other third-parties that we interact with.
By providing your Personal Information to Clear Skies Meadery in the ways described in this Privacy Statement, you agree that you are authorized to provide that information and are accepting this Privacy Statement and any supplementary privacy statement that may be relevant to you. If you do not agree to our practices, we have to respectfully ask you not to register, subscribe, create an account, or otherwise interact with our services, Clear Skies Meadery’s websites, or mobile-device applications.
Information Voluntarily Provided By You. Clear Skies Meadery collects Personal Information about you in connection with many of our services, with the goal of improving our service to you and providing you with the best possible Clear Skies Meadery experience. When using our webstore or website, you may be prompted to make an account which may hold personal information such as name, mailing address, email address, or credit card information. When contacting our Company, you may be required to submit contact information. When communicating with Clear Skies Meadery, all communications will be transmitted and stored by us. To be clear, you may be providing personal information when: i) communicating with Clear Skies Meadery via phone calls, chats, emails, web forms, social media, and other methods of communication; ii) subscribing to Clear Skies Meadery’s marketing materials; or iii) applying for a job.
Information Collected Automatically. Clear Skies Meadery may also collect Technical Information about you when you visit our websites, which your web browser automatically sends whenever you visit a website on the Internet. “Technical Information” is information that does not, by itself, identify a specific individual but which could be used to indirectly identify you. Our servers automatically record this information, which may include your Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, browser type, browser language, and the date and time of your request. Gathering your information helps us ensure our websites and other services work correctly and support our customer analytic efforts.
Email communication. We use pixel tags and cookies in our marketing emails so that we can track your interaction with those messages, such as when you open the email or click a URL link that’s embedded within them. When recipients click on one of those URLs, they pass through a separate web server before arriving at the destination page on a company website. We use tools like pixel tags and cookies so that we can determine interest in particular topics and measure and improve the effectiveness of our communications.
Mobile communication. When you download or use our mobile-device applications, or access one of our mobile-optimized websites, we may receive information about your mobile device, including a unique identifier for your device.
Cookies and Similar Technologies. We may collect information about your use of our websites through cookies and similar technology. A “cookie” is a unique numeric code that we transfer to your computer so that we can keep track of your interests and/or preferences and recognize you as a return visitor to the websites. For example, we may use these technologies to collect information about the ways you use our websites, to support the features and functionality of our websites, and to personalize your experience when you use our websites. Clear Skies Meadery uses cookies to operate and improve our website as well as to simplify our interactions with you. When you visit our websites, our servers send a cookie to your computer or mobile device to help personalize your experience. Cookies only stand to recognize your web browser but information collected from cookies is not personally identifiable. Clear Skies Meadery may also use web beacons or other technologies in conjunction with cookies to gather information about your visit to our websites. Web beacons may be imbedded through our website or electronic communications and can allow servers to collect information related to your visit. Web beacons are primarily used to provide content that is more relevant to you. Please note if you disable your web browser’s cookies and other technologies, certain features of our website and services will be disabled and you will limit the functionality we can provide when you visit our site.
Information Collected about Friends/Family. Clear Skies Meadery may also collect information about your friends and family through your interactions on websites or with our services. Referring friends to our services requires you to send their personal information to Clear Skies Meadery. Other instances, such as sharing content, may also require you to send their personal information to us.
Information Collected from Third Parties. Our websites include social media features, such as the Facebook Like button and other widgets that run on our site. These features may collect your IP address and which page you are visiting on our site, and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. Social media features and widgets are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on our site. Your interactions with these features are governed by the privacy policy of the organization providing it. For example, if you create or log into your account through a third-party social networking site, we may have access to certain information from that site, such as your name, account information and friends, in accordance with the authorization procedures determined by such third-party social networking site. Clear Skies Meadery may also collect information about you from other sources to help us correct or supplement our records, improve the quality or personalization of our services to you, and prevent or detect fraud. We work closely with third parties (for example, business partners, service providers, sub-contractors, advertising networks, analytics providers, search information providers, fraud protection services) in an effort to constantly improve our products and services, and may receive information about you from them.
Co-branding. Some of our websites or services may be co-branded and offered in conjunction with another company. If you use such websites or services, both Clear Skies Meadery and the other company may receive the Personal Information that’s collected via that co-branded website or service. Our use of Personal Information collected through such websites or services shall be subject to the Privacy Policy appearing on or in connection with such websites or services.
Public Forums, Blogs and the Customer Reference Program. Our websites may feature bulletin boards, blogs or forums. Any Personal Information that you choose to submit via such a forum may be read, collected, or used by others who visit these forums, and may be used to send you unsolicited messages.
Flash LSOs. We use Local Storage Objects (LSOs), including HTML5, to store content information and preferences. We partner with third parties to provide certain features on our site or to display advertising based upon your browsing activity. Various browsers may offer their own management tools for removing HTML5 LSOs.
Log Files. Log files record website activity on our services and enable us to gather statistics about our users’ browsing habits. These entries help Clear Skies Meadery determine (among other things) how many and how often users have accessed or used our services, which pages they’ve visited, and other similar data.
Clear GIFs. Clear GIFs, sometimes called “web bugs” or “web beacons,” are small electronic images that are placed on a web page or in an email message. We use clear GIFs to monitor user behavior, deliver cookies, collect information, count visits, understand usage and campaign effectiveness, and to tell if a recipient has opened and acted upon an email.
How Clear Skies Meadery Uses Your Personal Information
Clear Skies Meadery uses your personal information to provide you tip-of-the-tip products and services, including fulfilling your merchandise orders or personalizing our offerings to you. We also use your personal information to support our business functions, such as fraud prevention, marketing, and legal functions. To do this, we combine personal and non-personal information, collected online and offline, including information from third party sources.
Clear Skies Meadery may also use your information to benefit you in the following ways:
- To fulfill your requests for products and services and to communicate with you about those requests;
- To better understand customer behavior so that we may improve our marketing and advertising efforts and to improve the distribution of our products and services;
- To help us personalize our service offerings, websites, mobile services, and advertising;
- To protect the security and integrity of our websites, mobile services, and our business;
- To comply with legal and/or regulatory requirements;
- To respond to reviews, comments, or other feedback you provide us;
- To conduct industry benchmarking and analysis consistent with legitimate business purposes.
Credit card information may be used to collect payment from customers regarding orders of products and services.
Employment Applications. We love when people apply to join the Clear Skies Meadery team! In connection with any job application or inquiry, you may provide us with data about yourself, including your educational background or resume and other information. We may use this information throughout Clear Skies Meadery for the purpose of employment consideration. We will keep the information for future consideration unless you direct us not to do so.
Promotional Messaging or Advertising. Clear Skies Meadery uses your contact information to recommend products and services that might be of interest to you, to send you marketing and advertising messages such as newsletters, announcements, or special offers or to notify you about our upcoming events. We also use your contact information to contact you about any sweepstakes or contest you may have entered.
Ability to Opt-Out of Promotional Messaging or Advertising
Because we value your privacy and choice in how your information is handled, Clear Skies Meadery is happy to help you opt out of receiving advertisements based on your interests, called targeted advertising. Unfortunately, due to the nature of websites, even if you optout of Internet-based advertising, you will still receive advertisements but we will make sure they not be targeted advertisements.
Clear Skies Meadery also allows you to opt-out of receiving communications, such as mailings or text message marketing. Text message notifications or messages from Clear Skies Meadery also contain an “unsubscribe” feature that you can use to prevent future marketing text messages from us. We will, however, use your information for the limited purpose of alerting you should you win a contest or sweepstakes.
Disclosure of Personal Information to Third Parties
Disclosure for Business Purposes. Clear Skies Meadery will never give your Personal Information to others except as set forth in this Privacy Policy. We may disclose Personal Information to third-party vendors and service providers that work with Clear Skies Meadery, but only where necessary to help us provide a product or service to you. Examples of third parties we work with are call center operators, shippers, servicers, information processors, and financial institutions. These third parties only have access to personal information necessary for them to complete their service. We may also disclose and transfer your Personal Information in the event of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer, or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets, or stock (including without limitation in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings).
Disclosure of Personal Information for Legal and Safety Reasons. Clear Skies Meadery may be required to disclose personal information to the authorities, including law enforcement agencies, government agencies, or legal entities. We may also disclose information where required by law, litigation, or as a matter of national security to:
- comply with valid legal process including subpoenas, court orders or search warrants, and as otherwise authorized by law;
- in the event of an emergency that threatens an individual’s life, health, or security; or
- to the extent permitted by applicable law in special cases in which we believe it is reasonably necessary to investigate, identify, or take preventive measures or bring legal action against someone who may commit or cause harm, fraud, abuse, or illegal conduct, such as a threat of harm to you or anyone else, interference with our rights or property, or interference with U.S. homeland or national security or public safety anywhere in the world.
Disclosure by Third Party Websites. Using our website or services may link you to third party web websites, services, and applications. Clear Skies Meadery is not responsible for any Personal Information collected through these means. Information collected is governed through the third party’s website’s Privacy Policy because any interactions you have with these web websites, services, or applications are beyond the control of Clear Skies Meadery. When you post information to or through such services, those websites’ privacy policies and cookie usage policies apply directly. We urge you to read the privacy and security policies of any external websites before providing any Personal Information while accessing those websites so that you can make an informed decision regarding the use of your Personal Information.
Ability to Disable Technologies. Some web browsers (including some mobile web browsers) provide settings that allow you to control or reject cookies or to alert you when a cookie is placed on your computer, tablet or mobile device. Although you are not required to accept cookies, if you block or reject them, you may not have access to all features available through our services. For more information, visit the help page for your web browser or see http://www.allaboutcookies.org. Please note that if you disable your web browser’s cookies and other technologies, certain features of our website and services will be disabled and you will limit the functionality we can provide when you visit our site.
Security Measures
Taken to Protect Personal Information by Company. Security of all information is of the utmost importance for Clear Skies Meadery. We use technical and physical safeguards to protect the security of your personal information from unauthorized disclosure. We use SSL encryption methods to keep all information secure. We also make all attempts to ensure that only necessary people and third parties have access to Personal Information. Nevertheless, such security measures cannot prevent all loss, misuse or alteration of Personal Information and we are not responsible for any damages or liabilities relating to any such incidents to the fullest extent permitted by law. Where required under law, we will notify you of any such loss, misuse or alteration of Personal Information that may affect you so that you can take the appropriate actions for the due protection of your rights. Clear Skies Meadery also reviews its security procedures periodically to consider appropriate new technology and updated methods.
To Protect Personal Information by Third Parties. We require that our third party service providers and channel partners agree to keep all confidential information we share with them and to use the information only to perform their obligations in the agreements we have in place with them. These third party service providers and channel partners are expected to maintain privacy and security protections that are consistent with Clear Skies Meadery’s privacy and information security policies. While we provide these third parties with no more information than is necessary to perform the function for which we engaged them, any information that you provide to these third parties independently is subject to their respective privacy policies and practices.
Data Retention and Storage
Clear Skies Meadery retains your information for business purposes, for as long as your account is active, and/or as long as is reasonably necessary to provide you with our products and services. Clear Skies Meadery will also retain your information as reasonably necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes and enforce our agreements. We may also retain cached or archived copies of your information for a reasonable period of time.
Unfortunately, however, no system or online transmission of data is completely secure. We cannot guarantee the security of information transmitted to our services. To that end, Clear Skies Meadery will notify users of a data breach when Clear Skies Meadery determines that is reasonably necessary in accordance with applicable law. Any transmission is at your own risk and Clear Skies Meadery expects that you will use appropriate security measures to protect your information.
Choice: Your Privacy Rights
Clear Skies Meadery gives you choices about the ways we collect, use, and share your Personal Information. You can choose what contact and financial information will be stored in your account and preferences. However, if you choose not to provide certain details, some of your experiences with us may be affected.
If you would like to know what Personal Information we hold about you, you may submit a request to us by email. We will supply Personal Information about you that we hold in our own files within the reasonable timeframes stipulated by law.
Promotional Offers from Clear Skies Meadery.If you do not wish to have your e-mail address/contact information used by the company to promote our own or third parties’ products or services, you can opt-out by using one of the methods described above in ‘Use of Collected Personal Information: Ability to Opt-Out’.
Targeted Advertising. If you do not want us to use information that we collect or that you provide to us to deliver advertisements according to our advertisers’ target-audience preferences, you can opt-out by using one of the methods described above in ‘Use of Collected Personal Information: Ability to Opt-Out’.
Mobile services. Some of our mobile services use your device’s location information. You can adjust the settings of your mobile device at any time to control whether your device communicates this location information. We may also offer additional controls on our use of your mobile location information.
Access to and Correction of Personal Information.
Clear Skies Meadery provides you many opportunities to access and update your personal information. You can ensure that any account, contact, or financial information is up-to-date and can correct, update or delete inaccuracies to the information. If you are having trouble updating this information, you may also email [email protected] for help.
Clear Skies Meadery will attempt to answer all requests that we correct the data if it is inaccurate or delete it as long as Clear Skies Meadery is not required to retain it by law or for legitimate business purposes. In some jurisdictions, in addition to you agreeing to this Privacy Policy, data privacy laws may require us to obtain a separate consent before we send you information that you have not specifically requested. In certain circumstances, your consent may be implied (e.g. where communications are required in order to fulfil your requests and/or where you have volunteered information for use by us). In other cases, we may seek your consent expressly in accordance with applicable laws.
In addition, to protect your privacy, we will require you to prove your identity before granting access to, or agreeing to update, correct or delete your Personal Information and we will only implement requests with respect to Personal Information about you (not anyone else).
Collection of Information from Children.
Clear Skies Meadery doesn’t sell or advertise to minors or children, and recognizes the importance of protecting the privacy and safety of children. Therefore, our website and services are directed towards the general audience and are not directed towards children. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under the age of 21 or minors otherwise defined in local law or regulation without verifiable parental consent. If we learn that someone under 21 has provided Personal Information through one of our websites, we will use reasonable efforts to remove that information from our databases.
Questions/Updates to Policy
Inquiry, Complaint, and Dispute Process. Customers may contact Clear Skies Meadery with any questions, concerns, or inquiries about this Privacy Policy or company data. If you would like to make a formal complaint, please contact [email protected]. All complaints will be evaluated and a reply will be sent as soon as appropriate. Please be aware that in some instances, Clear Skies Meadery may have to cease services to you if necessary to satisfy your request. We can also be reached at the following address: 15201 Display Ct, Rockville, MD 20850, USA.
Changes to the Data Privacy Policy. Clear Skies Meadery may review and update this Privacy Policy periodically without any prior notice. Clear Skies Meadery will post a notice to its website to inform you of any changes to our Privacy Policy and indicate when it was most recently updated. In the case of material changes that may adversely affect you, the Clear Skies Meadery may provide a more direct way of notifying you of changes to this Privacy Policy. In addition, those material changes may be described below: [Material Changes since Effective Date: None]
California Privacy Rights. California Civil Code Section 1798.83 permits users of our website that are California residents to request certain information regarding our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please send an e-mail to [email protected] or write us at Clear Skies Meadery, Attn: California Privacy Inquiry, 15201 Display Ct, Rockville, MD 20850, USA.