Because we gather certain types of information about our users, we feel you should fully understand our policy and the terms and conditions surrounding the capture and use of that information. This privacy statement discloses what information we gather and how we use it.

Information That Is Gathered And Tracked

• Information that users provide through optional, voluntary submissions. These are voluntary submissions to receive the electronic update/newsletter, to participate in the Brew Cabin message board, to email a friend, and from participation in polls and surveys:

• Information Pavingexpert.com gathers through aggregated tracking information derived mainly by tallying page views throughout the site (which means the web statistics, in plain English). This information allows us to better tailor our content to readers' needs and to help our advertisers and sponsors better understand the demographics of our audience. Because Pavingexpert.com derives a portion of its revenue from sponsorships and advertising, providing such aggregated demographic data is essential to keeping our service free to users.

Pavingexpert.com Gathers User Information In The Following Processes:

Optional Voluntary Information

• Electronic newsletter policy (Updates)
  • We offer a free electronic update newsletter to users. Pavingexpert.com gathers the email addresses of users who voluntarily subscribe. Users may remove themselves from this mailing list by following the link provided in every newsletter that points users to the subscription management page.

• Message boards/forums policy
  • Users of the Brew Cabin Message Board must register separately for this service (which is completely free of charge) in order to post messages, although they needn't register to visit the site or to read messages posted by members. During registration the user is required to supply a username, password, and email address.

• "E-mail this to a friend" policy
  • Our site users can choose to electronically forward a link, page, or documents to someone else by clicking "e-mail this to a friend" or similar links and buttons throughout the site. The user must provide their email address, as well as that of the recipient. This information is used only in the case of transmission errors and, of course, to let the recipient know who sent the email. The information is not used for any other purpose.

• Polling
  • We occasionally offer interactive polls to users so they can easily share their opinions with other users and see what our audience thinks about important issues. Opinions or other responses to polls are aggregated and are not identifiable to any particular user. Pavingexpert.com normally uses a cookie to "tag" users after they have voted, so they can vote only once on a particular question. This tag is not correlated with information about individual users.

• Surveys
  • Pavingexpert.com may occasionally conduct user surveys to better target our content to our audience. We sometimes share the aggregated demographic information in these surveys with our sponsors, advertisers and partners. We never share any of this information about specific individuals with any third party.

Children

Usage tracking

Pavingexpert.com tracks and records the search terms which users enter in our SEARCH function, but this tracking is never associated with individual users. We use tracking information to determine which areas of our sites users like and don't like based on traffic to those areas. We do not track what individual users read, but rather how well each page performs overall. This helps us continue to build a better service for you.

Cookies

Google Ad-Sense Cookies

• Third-party vendors, notably Google's Ad-Sense Programme, use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to the website.
• Google's use of cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to users based on their visit to this sites and/or other sites on the Internet.
• Users may opt out of the use of the Google cookie by visiting the advertising opt-out page on Google's site.

Use of Information

As stated above, we use information that users voluntarily provide in order to send out electronic newsletter updates and to enable users to participate in polls, surveys, message boards, and forums. We send out newsletter updates to subscribers on a fairly irregular schedule (depending on the content), and occasionally send out special editions when we think subscribers might be particularly interested in something we are doing. Pavingexpert.com never shares the mailing lists with any third parties, including advertisers, sponsors or partners.

We use tracking information to determine which areas of our sites users like and don't like based on traffic to those areas. However, we do not track what individual users read, but rather how well each page performs overall. This helps us continue to build a better service for you. We track search terms entered in Search function as one of many measures of what interests our users. We do NOT track which terms any particular user enters.

Pavingexpert.com creates aggregate reports on user demographics and traffic patterns for advertisers, sponsors and partners. This allows our advertisers to advertise more effectively, and allows our users to receive advertisements that are (allegedly) pertinent to their so-called needs. Because we don't track the usage patterns of individual users, an advertiser or sponsor will never know that a specific user clicked their ad. We will not disclose any information about any individual user except to comply with applicable law or valid legal process or to protect the personal safety of our users or the public.

Sharing of Information

Security

Opt-Out Policy

• Opting not to register to receive our electronic newsletters.

• Opting not to participate in certain interactive areas, which completely alleviates the need to gather any personally identifiable information from our users

Your Consent

Final Words

The site is owned and operated by me, Tony McCormack. It is largely funded from my own pocket, although as the site has grown in size, this is now supplemented by the fees paid by advertisers and sponsors. Where sponsors have paid for inclusion on the site, or to have specific content published on the site, this is made clear. Advertising is sub-contracted to Google's Ad-Sense program and those adverts are always boxed off and visually distinct from the main content.

I personally regard advertising as a necessary evil, and so I strive to keep the ads to the bare minimum necessary to cover the running costs of the site. If you see an advertisement which annoys or offends you, and I'll see if it can be blocked.