The (kind of) Quick Easy-To-Read Version
We are PB International and we operate many websites (listed below). Our websites use Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Google AdSense, and / or various lead generation widgets all of which set cookies and track users. You can read about Google’s privacy policies here and here. The widgets have their own privacy policy links embedded in the widget itself. Additionally, some of our websites use Ezoic to aggregate and deliver advertisements. Click to read the Ezoic Privacy Policy. In some cases we will anonymously record website visitors’ public IP addresses to manage traffic and prevent abuse. Finally, we use contact forms for the purpose of communication from our website users. Other than those listed uses we do not collect any personally identifiable information without your permission.
Typically our contact forms send email directly to our administrators and no record is retained outside of the email system. Some clearly-marked contact forms will share submitted information with partner companies. When this is the case, the contact form is clearly marked in this way, the user must positively opt-in to the information sharing, and the submitted information is also stored in a database for future retrieval.
Some of our websites sell downloadable products. If you purchase a product from us, our system records your name, email address, zip code, IP address, time & date, and a few other pieces of information about you. We do not have access to your credit card number although our payment processor retains credit card information in their systems for future use. We use Stripe (Stripe Privacy Policy) and PayPal (PayPal Privacy Policy) to process payments. All sales information including personally identifiable information is retained for a minimum of one year.
If you want to know what information we have or want us to delete any information we know about you, we will gladly do so. Simply find a contact form on any one of our sites and start a conversation with a site administrator. We will get back to you.
We are reasonable people just trying to eke out a living online. Like you, we don’t want to be tracked or have our private information cataloged and sold. If you have a concern or a problem, just talk to us. We’ll do everything we can to solve things quickly and in the right way.
The Much More Intense Version
Who we are
We are PB International, a company that specializes in entertainment, information, and no-cost online test and test preparation websites. Our tests are for entertainment purposes only. We are based and operate in the United States of America. This privacy policy covers all of our active web properties. That list is:
This list is comprehensive and accurate as of 06 February 2024. Any websites or online properties other than those listed above are not covered by this privacy policy.
What Personal Data We Collect And Why We Collect It
Comments
When visitors leave comments on our sites we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.
An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
Media
If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website. We do not scan, monitor, or police image metadata and are not responsible for the contents of uploaded items.
Testing Module Statistics
Our sites use various testing engines to provide a free testing service for our users. The test engines collect data on each test taken. That data includes the questions the user answered, the answer choice, the time taken to answer the question, the user’s total score, and the date / time the test was taken. These data points are collected to provide aggregated statistics on the tests. No single user can be identified within this data as every user is listed as “Anonymous.” This data is cleared from server memory every 60 days or fewer. Aggregate data of monthly tests taken is recorded and kept off of our servers. None of this aggregate data is personally identifiable.
Some tests may have a “Leaderboard” feature enabled which allows users to voluntarily submit their name and email address. The leaderboard will then display that information along with the user’s score on the test in a table to allow website visitors to view how others are performing on the same test. Submission of this information is entirely voluntary and refusal to submit this information does not alter the services available or provided to the user.
Contact Forms
Our sites contain contact forms to allow our site visitors to provide feedback to our site administrators. The contact forms generally require the user’s name, email address, and comments. In limited situations additional information is requested for clarification purposes. Depending upon the contact form system used, the date & time, user’s IP address, browser, and/or other information may be submitted in the background along with the user’s comments.
On most occasions, our contact forms send direct to email which is then delivered directly to our site administrators. When this happens, no information is stored or maintained outside of the email system. Rarely, some of our contact forms collect submitted information and store this in a database for future lookup. These contact forms also typically send the submitted information to selected partner companies for the purpose of lead generation. When this type of contact form is used, it will always be clearly indicated that the submitted information is being shared with a third party.
The emails collected are used primarily for the improvement of our services and to answer the questions of our site users. The information is never shared outside of our administration team (unless specifically indicated on the contact form). Any emails received are deleted on a randomized unscheduled basis. At any time, any user can request that we delete their contact information and / or emails previously sent and we will comply.
Cookies
If you leave a comment on our sites you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.
If you have an account and you log in to this site, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.
Many of our partners and providers also use cookies to identify users and assist in administering services. Please see our partner’s websites for their cookie and privacy policies.
Embedded Content From Other Websites
Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
Neither PB International nor any of our agents or systems has control of data that third-parties collect when using embedded content.
Analytics
Our sites use Google Analytics to provide statistical data on how users interact with our websites. This data is critical to our operation to provide us insights on the content that our users want to see and to assist us in managing server load. The Google Analytics service uses cookies and user tracking to collect the data they provide to our administration team.
This article explains Google’s use of cookies.
If you wish to opt-out of any analytics tracking, this Google-provided plugin with allow you to do that.
This is Google’s overarching privacy policy for their services.
In addition to Google Analytics, we occasionally run our own analytics an monitoring packages on the websites to ensure quality of service and prevent malicious use. These software packages collect visitors’ public IP addresses and store them in our database for later analysis. This information is used solely for quality assurance and is never shared outside the PB International I.T. Team.
Online Sales and eCommerce
Some of our websites sell digital downloads. By necessity we collect the customer’s name, email address, zip code, IP address, the data & time of purchase, and other sale-specific information. This information is retained on our servers in our secure data center for a minimum of one year from the date of transaction. PB International servers never store or retain any credit card information.
We use Stripe as our payment processor. Stripe is an independent company with independent privacy policy. Stripe collects the same information as PB International servers and additionally stores credit card information and other transaction details. If you wish to be completely “forgotten” by Stripe please contact us and start a conversation. We will need to verify your identity and collect some additional information so that we may work with Stripe to complete that process.
We use PayPal as our secondary payment processor. PayPal is an independent company with independent privacy policy. PayPal collects the same information as Stripe and as PB International servers and additionally stores credit card information and other transaction details. If you wish to be completely “forgotten” by PayPal please contact us and start a conversation. We will need to verify your identity and collect some additional information so that we may work with our vendor to complete that process.
Who We Share Your Data With
Our websites are funded by advertisements and the majority of our sites use the Google AdSense network to provide this service. PB International sites do not deliberately collect personal information through this ad platform however, Google does typically use cookies to offer more relevant advertising to users. Google’s Privacy and Terms document provides more detail on this.
Some of our sites use social sharing plugins, namely Shareaholic. We chose this specific social sharing system due to the company’s interest in protecting the end users. You can read Shareaholic’s privacy policy here.
Any online sales data is automatically shared with Stripe as described in the Online Sales & eCommerce section above.
On occasion, we partner with other companies to provide potential clients for their business. The only way a partner company can view any personally identifiable information is when a visitor to one of our websites willingly fills out a contact form and positively indicates that they wish to be contacted by our partner company. When these forms are available on our websites, we clearly indicate that that information entered into the contact form is being sent off our servers and delivered to a third party. These contact forms are entirely voluntary and the services we provide are not altered in any way regardless of whether or not a visitor submits one of these contact forms.
Any data to which we have access will be kept in strict confidence within our administrative team to the fullest extent of the law.
How Long We Retain Your Data
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
Anonymous testing data is retained for 60 days or fewer and then completely removed from the server.
Server logs containing IP addresses and user activity are cleared on a non-standard schedule.
Personally identifiable eCommerce data stored on our server(s) is held for a minimum of one year from the date of sale.
Information shared with third parties including online transaction information held by Stripe is subject to those parties’ data retention policies.
What Rights You Have Over Your Data
If you have an account on any of our sites, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
Where We Store Your Data
All data is retained on a server in a private and secure data center in the United States of America. Only our I.T. staff and data center personnel have full access to the data stores on our PB International server. In addition, packaged and compressed backups are maintained in a password-protected account on the Amazon AWS system.
Contact Information
We may be contacted through any of the contact forms on our sites or via mail at PB International, 333 Albert Ave., Suite 623, East Lansing, MI 48823
Last Updated: 06 February 2024
