Disclosure Policy

HowToCook.Recipes is a blog written by Megan Miller.

We are completely independent and ensure that the compensation that we receive will not in any way influence the blog topics or content made. For this reason we choose to be completely transparent about the compensation we receive in this Disclosure Policy.

We accept different forms of compensation: cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.

Those advertisements on the blog will always be identified as paid advertisements. All advertising on the blog are advertisements generated by a third party ad network.

We also participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. This is an affiliate advertising program. Via this program we can earn by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

HowToCook.Recipes has financial relationships with some of the merchants mentioned on the blog. If visitors of the blog choose to utilize the links located throughout the content on this site and purchase products or services from the said merchant, we may be compensated.

From time to time, we may receive compensation for providing an opinion on products, services, websites or other topics. Despite this fact, we make sure to always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on such services, websites or other topics.

Everything that is expressed on this blog is purely the bloggers’ own view. Nothing that might lead to a conflict of interest is represented on this blog.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, we recommend you to always verify any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation made in this blog bout a product or service with the relevant manufacturer or provider.

Privacy Policy

HowToCook.Recipes (“HowToCook.Recipes”, “us”, “we”, or “our”), legally based in The United States, is responsible for this privacy policy.

We understand your privacy is of critical importance. In this privacy policy you will find information about your rights with regard to your data and how you can make use of those rights. We also inform you on how cookies are collected, processed and stored and for what purposes this is done.

The privacy policy may at times be edited, because of legislative changes for example. It is therefore advised to consult this privacy policy periodically. This privacy policy has lastly been updated on 25 July 2020.

Personal data that we process

When you contact us, for example by registering on our website, we collect the information you provide us. This includes personally identifiable information, like your name and email address (“Personal Data”). The following personal data is processed by HowToCook.Recipes:

  • First and last name;
  • Birthday;
  • E-mail address;
  • Postal code;
  • Screenname and password if applicable;
  • Card and transaction details relating to transactions, including purchases of goods and services, that you enter into with us and/or through our website;
  • Any other personal data that you actively provide, for example, by submitting information through our contact form.

We also use a software tool, Google Analytics, to measure and collect session information, like the length of your visit to our website, page response times, page interaction information and methods used to browse away from the page.

In addition, we may collect the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer or mobile device to the Internet; as well as other connection information, like information about your (mobile) operating system, the type of Internet browser you use, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

For what purpose and on what basis we process personal data

We may use the Personal Data we collect from you in the following ways:

  • to create and maintain a (thorough) profile of you;
  • to personalize your experience and to allow us to deliver the type of content and product offerings in which you are most interested;
  • to improve our website and create a better user experience in order to serve your wishes and needs better;
  • to diagnose and troubleshoot malfunctions on the website;
  • to supply you with goods and/or services you purchased and keep proper records of such transactions;
  • we use your email address to add you to our mailing list or send you information regarding our blog or other products or services that we believe may be of interest to you;
  • to administer a promotion, (research) survey or other site feature;
  • to allow us to respond to your questions, inquiries or requests in the most effective way;
  • to follow up after we have communicated with you (through email, chat or phone inquiries).

We may use your email address for (external) marketing purposes. If we do so we will not use false or misleading subjects or email addresses. We will provide you with a link to unsubscribe from such emails at the bottom of the email. We will identify the message as an advertisement and include our physical address. We will use your Personal Data for marketing purposes only if you have previously indicated that you wish to receive such messages. If you no longer wish or to receive such messages from us, you can contact us using the contact details provided at the end of this privacy policy. We will make sure you will be unsubscribed of such emails as soon as possible.

We do not process your Personal Data for other purposes and only with your explicit consent or for the implementation of the agreement that we have entered into with you.

Sharing of personal data with third parties

Only if this is necessary for the delivery of the services you have requested, will we share the information you provided to us with third parties.

We share Personal Data with the shopping software service Shopify for selling, shipping and managing your orders. You can find information about Shopify’s privacy policies and practices at Shopify.

We share Personal Data with the payment service provider PayPal in order to collect payments, make refunds and deal with queries and complaints regarding this. Information about the payment services providers’ privacy policies and practices can be found at PayPal.com.

We also make use of a third party that takes care of the hosting of the website.

We may make use of the advertising platforms like AdThrive for the aforementioned advertising purposes. We do not share your name, contact information, or any other sensitive personal information with such third parties.

AdThrive uses standard tools for the personalized ads it places on our website. To help understand your interests, such advertising partners will track your behavior on our website and other websites using cookies.

We also make use of the affiliate advertising program of Amazon Services LLC Associates Programs whereby cookies are used to track visits in order to earn commissions. Please see Amazon’s privacy policy for more information.

We may also share data with companies like Google and Facebook for improving and getting insight in such ads. We will monitor such third-party advertising providers for compliance with this privacy policy.

We make use ourselves of an analytics platforms Google Analytics that compiles aggregate data about site traffic and site interactions in order to offer better site experiences and tools for future use. We further explain the cookies that are used for these purposes under ‘Cookies’ below.

We also make use of the marketing platform and email marketing service MailChimp for sending e-mails and newsletters. MailChimp also makes use of sub-processors to assist in preventing abuse and providing support. You can find information about Mail Chimp’s privacy policies and practices at MailChimp.

We may use survey provider Survey Monkey to enable you to participate in polls and surveys. Please see Survey Monkey’s privacy policy for more information.

We use the web push notifications platform VWO Engage to send you notifications through your browser, if you have indicated that you wish to receive those. You can find information about VWO Engage’s privacy policies and practices at VWO Engage.

Lastly, we may use the avatar service Gravatar, for your profile picture and the spam service Akismet for protection against spam. Please see Automattic’s privacy policy for more information about both services.

Other than that, we will not provide the information you provide to us to other parties, unless this is required by law.

Third-party and social media links

Our website contains links to third-party websites and our social media accounts. If you click on a link to any other website or social media icon, you will be directed to a third-party site. We have no control over, do not review, and are not responsible or liable for these outside websites or their content. Please be aware that that the terms of this privacy policy do not apply to these third-party websites. The links we provide to third party and social media websites or locations are for your convenience and do not signify our endorsement of such third parties and social media or their products, content or websites. We have no control over, and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any social media or third-party site or service. You access such other websites at your own risk. Nonetheless, we seek to protect the integrity of our site and welcome any feedback about these sites.

How long we keep Personal Data

Your data will be stored by us for a longer period of time, but never longer than necessary for realizing the goal(s) for which the data was collected, unless we are required by law to keep your data longer than that.

Cookies

HowToCook.Recipes uses cookies and similar technologies (“cookies”) to track the activity on our website, to help us analyze the use of the website, to improve our services or for marketing purposes.

A cookie is a small text file that is stored on your computer, tablet or smartphone when you first visit our website. The cookies we use are necessary for the technical operation of the website and for your ease of use. They ensure that the website works properly, identify you and, for example, remember your preferences. We also use cookies to aid in security measures used to protect user accounts. Cookies are used for advertising purposes as well, to help us to display such advertisements that are relevant for your wishes and needs. We may also use cookies to optimize our website.

Below is described which cookies are used.

Functional cookies

Functional cookies are necessary for the functioning of the website. Certain components of the website cannot be used without these cookies. These cookies are used anonymously and therefore have little impact on your privacy.

Session cookies

With the help of a session cookie we can see which parts of the website you have viewed during your visit. We can therefore adjust our website as much as possible to the surfing behavior of our visitors. These cookies are automatically deleted as soon as you close your web browser.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics collects (anonymous) data on visitor behavior on the website. This way we can see how visitors navigate through the website. We use this information to optimize the operation and design of our website.

Google may provide this information to third parties if Google is legally required to do so, or insofar as third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. We have no influence on this. We have not allowed Google to use the analytics information obtained for other Google services.

The information that Google collects is made anonymous as much as possible. Your IP address is explicitly not given. The information is transferred to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google adheres to the Privacy Shield principles and is affiliated with the Privacy Shield program of the US Department of Commerce. This means that there is an appropriate level of protection for the processing of any personal data.

Cookies of advertising partners

Cookies are used by our advertising partners as described under ‘Sharing of personal data with third parties’. You can view, delete or add interest categories associated with your browser by visiting: https://adssettings.google.com. You can also opt out of the network cookie using those settings or using the Network Advertising Initiative’s multi-cookie opt-out mechanism at: http://optout.networkadvertising.org. However, these opt-out mechanisms themselves use cookies, and if you clear the cookies from your browser your opt-out will not be maintained.

Prevent use of cookies

You can opt out of cookies by setting your internet browser so that it no longer stores cookies. In addition, you can also delete all information that were previously saved via the settings of your browser. It is possible that in that case you will not be able to use all functions of our website anymore.

If you do not want your visitor behavior to be recorded, you can download a plugin from Google that prevents this. For Microsoft Internet Explorer 11, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari and Opera this plugin is available via: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=nl.  This setting then applies to all websites that you visit, not just this website.

Children under 16

We do not intend to collect data about visitors of the services and/or website who are younger than 16 years of age, unless they have permission from parents or guardians. Since we cannot check whether a visitor is older than 16, we advise parents and guardians to be involved in the online activities of their children, to prevent that data about children is being collected without parental consent. In the event that you are under the impression that we have collected personal information about a minor without parental permission, please contact us via our contact details at the bottom of this page. We will then remove this information.

How we protect Personal Data

HowToCook.Recipes takes the protection of your data seriously and takes suitable and appropriate security measures to prevent abuse, loss, unauthorized access, unwanted disclosure and unauthorized changes.

If you feel that your data is not properly protected or there are indications of abuse, please contact us via our contact details as stated at the bottom of this page.

View, modify or delete data

You have the right to access, correct and delete your Personal Data. In addition, you have the right to withdraw your possible consent for data processing or to object to the processing of your Personal Data by HowToCook.Recipes. You also have the right to data transferability. This means that you can submit a request to us to send the Personal Data that we hold about you in a computer file to you or another organization mentioned by you.

You can address such requests to the address at the bottom of this page. To ensure that the request has been made by you, we request that you send a copy of your proof of identity with the request, in which the passport photo, the numbers at the bottom of the passport, the identification number and social security number are made unreadable.

We will respond to your request as quickly as possible, in any case no later than within four weeks.

CCPA and GDPR

If you reside in California, then under the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2019 (“CCPA”) and applicable data protection laws, you have the rights with respect to your personal information as defined in the CCPA. For further information on CCPA, click here. Your rights under CCPA as well as under the European data protection regulation General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) are described in this privacy policy.

Sale of Business or Assets

In the event that HowToCook.Recipes or its assets are sold or disposed of in any other way, by a merger, sale or otherwise, or in case of an insolvency, bankruptcy or receivership, the Personal Data we have collected about you may be one of the assets sold or merged in connection with that transaction.

Advertising

This Site is affiliated with CMI Marketing, Inc., d/b/a CafeMedia (“CafeMedia”) for the purposes of placing advertising on the Site, and CafeMedia will collect and use certain data for advertising purposes. To learn more about CafeMedia’s data usage, click here https://www.cafemedia.com/publisher-advertising-privacy-policy

Questions and contact

For questions or remarks about the processing of your personal data or this privacy policy you can contact us via the following contact information / email address: [email protected]