ECOCLUB S.A. Privacy & Cookie Policy
last updated 23 October 2023
We, ECOCLUB S.A. (proprietors of the Ecoclub.com website) are deeply committed to safeguarding your privacy online. Please read the following policy to understand how your personal information will be treated as you make full use of our website. The details of our policy are updated from time to time, so as to comply with the latest international regulations, so please check back periodically.
What personally identifiable information is collected from you
ECOCLUB S.A. collects information in several ways from different parts of our web sites. Personal information is collected with your explicit consent, during registration to receive free ecotourism-related news and announcements from us or by joining Ecoclub.com as a Member, or by contacting us through various forms hosted in our website. If you contact us by email, we may also keep a record of that correspondence for reference purposes, as well as transaction-related data for legal & tax purposes. Information is also collected indirectly when you make a posting or upload (for example by uploading your CV in our job-seekers forum, or by creating a Member profile) in the public or member areas of our website.
In addition:
1. We use Google Analytics 4 to understand how website visitors (anonymous) use our services.
2. We accept payments via PayPal. Their privacy policy is here.
Are cookies used?
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. They are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site. Website operators are required by law - specifically the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) - to provide clear and comprehensive information about the use of cookies, and ensure that users have consented to this use.
There are four types of cookie used at Ecoclub.com:
(1) Necessary - Technically essential, to enable page navigation and secure login to restricted areas.
(2) Statistics - To understand how users interact with the Ecoclub.com website by collecting and reporting information anonymously.
(3) Preferences/Functionality - To recording settings for future visits so as to save users having to repeat making the same choices.
(4) Marketing - These are used to track visitors across websites.
By clicking on the Cookie policy on the bottom left corner of the screen on every page you may review which cookies are being served in which category and choose which ones you wish to accept.
Cookies are used by us as follows: (1) Strictly necessary: to allow and monitor entrance at the ECOCLUB.com Member Sections (2) Performance: throughout the site for the purpose of finding out from which page surfers are referred to us and how many readers each page has, so as to improve our services. (3) Functionality: Cookies related to Member Profile and privacy preferences in our Community. (4) Advertising: Google may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to our and other websites in order "to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you", i.e. targeted advertising. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by Google, see here. You are free not to accept or block cookies using appropriate browser or other software and to delete cookies. If you delete all cookies you should still be able to access most webpages at our site, except the pages reserved for our Members. If you wish to control or prevent the use of these cookies, please edit the settings of your web browser.
How your information is used - communications from us
It is used by ECOCLUB S.A. to improve our service to you and for statistics relating to improving our service quality. You will receive communications from us if you have (1) registered at ECOCLUB.com (2) subscribed to our mailing list (3) if you have contacted us through our Help Desk and (4) if you have sent a Enquiry to a Business listed on our directory. You may chose not to receive further communications from us by contacting us through our online Help Desk or using the unsubscription links provided at the end of email communications.
Who is collecting your information
When you are asked for personal information on this website, you are sharing that information with ECOCLUB S.A. alone, unless it is specifically stated otherwise. However, some activities will, by their very nature, result in your personal information being revealed to other users. For example, when you enter personal information on a posting at the ECOCLUB.com Resources Forum or in a comment in the Blogs section, this information will generally be displayed to others. You are strongly advised to exercise caution at all times and not to reveal personal information on the Internet, especially contact details such as telephone numbers and home addresses, but also email addresses, which are harvested by spammers. When posting CVs in our Job-Seekers forum please exercise extra caution as it will be publicly available - it is best to state "other contact/personal data available upon request".
With whom your information may be shared
ECOCLUB S.A. will not disclose any of your personally identifiable information to anyone, except when you have explicitly requested it (e.g. when sending an Enquiry to a Business listed on our Directories, or requested to be introduced to another Member), or made a posting which includes such personally identifiable information, or when we have your explicit permission on a case by case basis. ECOCLUB S.A. may however disclose account information in special cases when we have reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be violating the Terms of Service of ECOCLUB S.A. or may be causing injury to or interference with (either intentionally or unintentionally) the rights or property of ECOCLUB S.A., other users of ECOCLUB S.A. websites, or anyone else that could be harmed by such activities, or as officially requested by legal authorities in conjunction with a users' illegal acts.
What choices are available to you regarding collection, use, and distribution of your information
If you choose not to provide personal information to us or on the ECOCLUB.com website, you can still use many areas within the ECOCLUB.com website. You are also welcome to use an Ad Blocking service.
How can you access, update or delete your information
You may contact us at any time through our online Help Desk to ask us to update or delete your information. We will then confirm to you that your information has been updated or deleted. It is your responsibility (i.e. the responsibility of our Members active or inactive), to inform us if and when they would like their information, profile or postings or CV deleted.
The kind of security precautions that are in place to protect the loss, misuse, or alteration of your information
Other than the administrator of ECOCLUB S.A., you are the only person who has access to your personal information, with the exception of information you have chosen to display at ECOCLUB.com, and at your profile displayed therein. We recommend that you do not divulge your login details or any other sensitive information online. ECOCLUB S.A. will never ask you for your password in an unsolicited phone call or in an unsolicited email.
Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, ECOCLUB S.A. cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us or from our online services and vice versa, and you do so at your own risk. Once we receive your transmission, we make our best effort to ensure its security on our systems. We use various security measures to protect our website from spammers and hackers and most importantly no credit card information is stored in our server as all transactions are carried via PayPal.
How do ECOCLUB S.A. protect children's privacy
ECOCLUB S.A. operate a general audience tourism & travel website and as such does not ask anyone about their age. Members have to pay a Membership fee with a credit card (unless they are accepted by writing an article - which is unlikely for a minor due to the high standards required), and as such, minors may only join with the consent of their parents or next of kin. Minors should always ask a parent for permission before sending personal information to anyone online.
What else you should know about your online privacy
Please keep in mind that whenever you voluntarily disclose personal information online - for example in comments and pictures that you post or through email - that information is collected and used by others, including search robots, marketers, data mining companies and security agencies. In short, if you post sensitive information online you may receive unsolicited messages from other parties and also be subject to many other dangers including identity theft.
Ultimately, you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your passwords (always use a strong password with capital letters, numbers and special characters) and/or any account information. NEVER send your sensitive information by email, in particular, credit card or bank account details, as these may be easily intercepted. Please be careful and responsible whenever you are online.