Privacy Policy

Brain Gain Network Privacy Policy Highlights

This page summarizes the key highlights from our privacy policy. For more information, read our full privacy policy.

1. Personal information collected.

We collect information:

  • When you register an account to become a Brain Gain Network user (“User”), such as your name, e-mail, country, location, occupation and a password.
  • When you add to your profile with further information about yourself or your private contacts.
  • We use cookies and other technologies to recognize you, customize your experience and serve advertisements.
  • We automatically receive from your Internet use such information as your IP address, the URLs of sites form which you arrive or leave the Brain Gain Network website, your type of browser and your ISP.

2. Uses of personal information.

We use the information you provide to:

  • Administer your account with us and customize the service we provide to you.
  • To send your service or promotional communications through e-mail and notices on the Brain Gain Network website.
  • We do not sell, rent or otherwise provide your personal identifiable information to any third party for marketing purposes.
  • We provide you with the means to control whether or not your contact information is shared with another User.
  • In order to deliver our services, we may share information with third parties. For example, to process subscription payments made by you, we share some of your information with the credit card processing company we use.
  • Enable you to share your information and communicate with other Users, or provide (usually at your option) your personal details to third parties offering combined services with Brain Gain Network.

3. Your information choices.

You can:

  • Review, enhance or edit your personal information through your personal profile page.
  • Choose what information you make available through your public profile.
  • Control the messages you receive from Brain Gain Network and other Users and how these messages are sent.
  • Change your settings to control visibility and accessibility through our website.
  • Tell us to close your Brain Gain Network account.

4. Important information.

  • Brain Gain Network is a licensee of [note: provide accredited IT organization], an organization established to promote fair information practices. We have agreed to disclose our privacy practices and have these reviewed by [the organization]. If we cannot resolve your privacy queries you can raise your complaint with [the organization].
  • Notice of all changes that materially affect ways in which your personal information may be used or shared will be posted in updates to our Privacy Policy.

5. Security

  • Personal information you provide will be secured with industry standards and technology.

6. How to contact us

If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail us at [e-mail] or contact us at:

Brain Gain Network Ventures

ATTN: Privacy Policy Issues

Unit 105 Plaza B

Northgate Cyberzone

Muntinlupa City 1781

Philippines

Brain Gain Network Privacy Policy

Your privacy is our top concern. We work hard to earn and keep your trust, so we adhere to the following principles to protect your privacy:

  • We do not rent or sell your personally identifiable information to third parties for marketing purposes.
  • We do not share your contact information with another User without your consent.
  • Any personally identifiable information that you provide will be secured with industry standard protocols and technology.

We reserve the right to modify this privacy statement at any time, so please review it frequently. If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you here, by e-mail, or by means of a notice on our home page. By continuing to use the Brain Gain Network service after notice of changes have been sent to you or published on the Brain Gain Network website, you are consenting to the changes.

Please read this privacy policy to learn more about:

  1. What personally identifiable information of yours is collected by Brain Gain Network.
  2. How the information is used.
  3. With whom the information may be shared.
  4. How you can access and change your Account settings.
  5. What security procedures are in place to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of information collected by Brain Gain Network.
  6. How to contact us.

Personal information collected.

The purpose of the Brain Gain Network website is to permit Users to voluntarily provide information about themselves for the purposes of developing, maintaining and enhancing a network of professional contacts. You willingly provide us certain personal information, which we collect in order to allow you to benefit from the Brain Gain Network website. If you have any hesitation about providing such information to us and/or having such information displayed on the Brain Gain Network website or otherwise used in any manner permitted in this Privacy Policy and the User Agreement, you should not become a member of the Brain Gain Network community.

We collect your personal information in the following ways:

Registration

In order to become a User, you must first create an account in our website. To create an account you are required to provide the following contact information, which you recognize and expressly acknowledge is personal information allowing others, including Brain Gain Network, to identify you – name, e-mail, country, ZIP/postal code, a brief summary of your professional background and a password chosen by you.

Profile Information

Once you become a User, you may provide additional information in the Profile section describing your skills, professional experiences and networking objectives. Providing additional information beyond what is required at registration to become a User is entirely optional, but enables you to better identify yourself and find new opportunities in the Brain Gain Network system to build and leverage your professional network. Any information your provide at registration or in the Profile section that is not personally identifiable may be used in the same manner and extent to which other information that is not personally identifiable is permitted to be used hereunder, including for the purpose of serving advertisements through the service. If you opt out, you may lose the potential benefit of being a User, including receiving ads that are more targeted to your interests.

Contacts Information

In order to invite others to connect with you directly in Brain Gain Network, you may use the Brain Gain Network services to invite them if they are a User, or enter their names and e-mails. This information will be used by Brain Gain Network to send your invitation including a message that you write. The names and e-mails of people that you invite will be used only to send your invitation and reminders.

You may also choose to manually enter or upload data about your contacts into the private “My Contacts” section of the Brain Gain Network website. You may not invite anyone to connect with you whom you do not know. All information entered there will only be viewable by you and will not be searchable by others in the Brain Gain Network without your permission. All information that you enter or upload about your contacts will be covered by the same terms of this privacy policy as cover for your own information.

Customer Service

Brain Gain Network may collect information through the Brain Gain Network website or through the Customer Service website in order to – among other things – accurately categorize and respond to a customer’s inquiry and deliver appropriate service levels.

Cookies

Like most websites, Brain Gain Network uses cookies and web log files to track site usage. A cookie is a tiny data file which resides in your computer allowing Brain Gain Network to recognize you as a User when you return to the Brain Gain Network website using the same computer and web browser. If your browser settings do not allow cookies, you will not be able to use the Brain Gain Network website. Like the information entered during registration on in your Profile, cookie and log file data is used to customize your experience in our website.

One type of cookie, known as a “persistent” cookie, is set once you’ve logged in to your Brain Gain Network account. The next time you visit the Brain Gain Network website, the persistent cookie will allow us to recognize you as an existing User so you will not need to log in before using the service. In order to access or change any of your private information (like a credit card number) or to send a message to another User, you must log in securely again with your password even if your computer contains your persistent cookie.

Additionally, if you log out of the Brain Gain Network website you will need to reenter your password the next time you visit in order to access your account. Another type of cookie, call a “session” cookie, is used to identify a particular visit to the Brain Gain Network website. Session cookies expire after a short time or when you close your web browser.

We use cookies to improve the quality of our service by storing User preferences and tracking User trends. In the course of serving advertisements or optimizing services to our Users, we may allow authorized third parties to place or recognize a unique cookie on your browser. Any information provided to third parties through such cookies will not be personally be identifiable but may provide general segment information, e.g. your industry or geographic location, your occupation or information about your professional or educational background, for greater customization of your user experience. Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies, but you can reset your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. Unfortunately, if your browser settings do not allow cookies or you opt to refuse all cookies, you may not be able to use the Brain Gain Network website or services. Brain Gain Network does not store personally identifiable information in the cookies.

Web Beacons

We allow other companies, called ad networks, to serve advertisements to Users. Ad networks include third party ad servers, ad agencies, ad technology vendors and research firms. Brain Gain Network may “target” some ads to Users that fit a certain general profile – for example, “product managers in Manila.” Brain Gain Network does NOT use personally identifiable information to target ads.

To deliver these ads properly, Brain Gain Network may include a file, called a web beacon, from these ad networks within pages served by Brain Gain Network so the networks may provide anonymous, aggregated auditing, research and reporting for advertisers as well as to target ads to you while you visit other websites.

Because your web browser must request these advertisements and web beacons from the ad network’s servers, these companies can view, edit or set their own cookies just as if you had requested a web page from their site.

These general targets may also be used by ad networks to display targeted ads on other websites as a substitute for random, irrelevant ads. Brain Gain Network does not provide personally identifiable information to any advertiser or any other third party.

You may opt out the use of web beacons in Brain Gain Network pages that you view and of placement of a cookie by ad networks in your browser. To opt out, click [note: provide opt out link or function] and go to the “Advertising” section at the bottom and change the setting there to “No”. If you opt out you may lose the potential benefit of receiving ads that are more targeted to your interests which, in turn, may limit your ability to fully realize the benefits of the Brain Gain Network services to build and leverage your professional network.

Log files, IP addresses and information about your computer.

Due to the communications standards on the Internet, when you visit the Brain Gain Network web site we automatically receive the URL of the site from which you came and the site to which you are going when you leave Brain Gain Network. We also receive the Internet protocol (IP) address of your computer (or the proxy server you use to access the World Wide Web), your computer operating system and type of web browser you are using, e-mail patterns, as well as the name of your ISP. This information is used to analyze overall trends to help us improve the Brain Gain Network service. The information is used to analyze overall trends to help us improve the Brain Gain Network service. The linkage between your IP address and your personally identifiable information is not shared with third parties without your permission or except when required by law.

Consent to Brain Gain Network Processing Personal Information

Certain information you provide to Brain Gain Network may reveal, or allow others to identify your nationality, ethnic origin, religion or other aspects of your private life and more generally about you. Please be aware that in providing information to Brain Gain Network for the purposes of opening your user account, you are expressly and voluntarily accepting the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy and Brain Gain Network’s User Agreement. The supplying of all such information by you to Brain Gain Network, including all information deemed “sensitive” by applicable law, is entirely voluntary on your part. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time, in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy and the User Agreement but please note that your withdrawal of consent will not be retroactive.

Rights to Access, Correct and Eliminate Personal Information

You have a right to access, modify, correct and eliminate the data about you which has been collected pursuant to your decision to become a User. If you update any of your information, we may keep a copy of the information which you originally provided to us in our archives for uses documented herein.

We take your rights seriously and encourage you to use them if you deem this to be appropriate. You may exercise these rights by e-mailing us administrator@bgn.org or by contacting us at:

Brain Gain Network Ventures

ATTN: Privacy Policy Issues

Unit 105 Plaza B

Northgate Cyberzone

Muntinlupa City 1781

Philippines

2. Uses of personal information

Brain Gain Network is an online service dedicated to helping all types of professionals more effectively connect with one another. The personally identifiable information you choose to provide on our website is used to help you describe yourself to other Users. Other information, that does not personally identify you as an individual, is collected by Brain Gain Network from Users (such as, for example, patterns of utilization) and is exclusively owned by Brain Gain Network. This information can be utilized by Brain Gain Network in such manner as Brain Gain Network, in its sole discretion, deems appropriate.

Brain Gain Network Communications

Brain Gain Network will communicate with you through e-mail and notices posted on the Brain Gain Network website or through other means available through the service, including text and other forms of messaging. If we send any communication via the carrier service of which you have a mobile communication subscription or otherwise have access, you understand you will pay any service fees associated with any such access (including text messaging charges for messages to your mobile device). These include a series of up to five (5) welcome e-mails which help inform new Users about various features of the service. Please be aware that you will always receive certain e-mails from Brain Gain Network related to the proper functioning of your account, such as e-mail notices when another User in your network sends you an opportunity. Brain Gain Network may send you promotional information unless you have opted out of receiving such information. You can change your e-mail and contact preferences at any time by logging in to your “Accounts & Settings” and amending your e-mail notification choices. If you wish, you can also opt out of receiving promotional e-mails, by sending a request to [provide e-mail address].

Customized Content

Information provided to Brain Gain Network (or to third parties with whom it offers combined services) is also used to customize your experience on our website. For example, when you log in to your account we will display the screen names of new Users who have recently joined your network.

Sharing Information with Third Parties

Brain Gain Network takes the privacy of Users very seriously. We do not sell, rent or otherwise provide your personal identifiable information to third parties for marketing purposes. We will only share your information with third parties to carry out your instructions or to provide specific services or information. For instance, we use a credit card processing company to bill Users for subscription fees. These third parties do not retain, share or store any personal identifiable information except to provide these services and they are bound by confidentiality agreements which limit their use of such information.

Brain Gain Network offers a “public profile” feature which allows Users to publish portions of their Brain Gain Network profile, including their “name”, but not their “e-mail address” to the public Internet. Users may opt out of this feature by editing their account and settings, however Brain Gain Network does not warrant how often third party search engines will update their cache.

We may provide aggregated anonymous data about the usage of our services to third parties for such purposes as we deem, in our sole discretion, to be appropriate, including to prospective advertisers on Brain Gain Network. We may segment our Users by role (i.e. product managers, vice presidents), industry, geographic location or company. If you would like to be excluded from the aggregated research or products based upon aggregated data about our Users’ activities on the site, please e-mail administrator@bgn.org.

Teaming with Other Organizations to Offer Combined and Other Services

Brain Gain Network may offer our services in connection with other websites (including updates about the Brain Gain Network service) or may team with other online services to give you the combined results of both services or additional services and benefits. Platform Applications (as defined in the User Agreement) can be designed by Platform Developers (as defined in the User Agreement) or by a subset of Platform Developers with whom Brain Gain Network has more closely aligned (“Partners”).

In the case of Partners, we do some vetting and we only work with trusted Partners. For example, [indicate BGN partner] is a Partner which lets you use its services to [define BGN partner’s service/s] combined with the use of Brain Gain Network to [indicate service offered]. Because of Brain Gain Network’s trust in these Partners, Platform Applications or services designed by a Partner may be automatically granted permission to access account information to provide the combined services.

For Platform Applications designed by most Platform Developers, you will be asked to confirm acceptance of the Platform Developers’ respective privacy policies and user agreements, which have not necessarily been reviewed or approved by Brain Gain Network. In these cases, it will be your choice whether or not to make use of the services and whether to proceed under the Platform Developers’ terms.

Platform Developers are required to agree to restrictions on access, storage and usage of your information. However, while we typically enter into contractual agreements and take technical steps to restrict possible misuse of such information by such Platform Developers, we may not screen or approve Platform Developers, and we cannot and do not guarantee that all Platform Developers will abide by such restrictions and agreements. Certain actions you take through the Platform Applications will be displayed to your connections. You understand that your use of any Platform Applications is on an “as is” basis without any warranty as to the Platform Developers’ actions.

If you, your connections, members of your network, or others Users of Brain Gain Network use any Platform Application, or if you interact with a Platform Application being used by any of them, such Platform Application may access and share certain information about you with others. Because a Platform Application can make calls on behalf of the User interacting with it to access non-public information, the level of detail accessible by the Platform Application is constrained by the same settings that govern visibility of your data to that User in Brain Gain Network.

For example, assuming you have not already given a Platform Application permission to access your information, your non-public profile information should not be visible to someone using a Platform Application if it is not otherwise accessible to that person in Brain Gain Network.

To uninstall a Platform Application at any time, please click [provide link or function] or, if the relevant Platform Application is not listed there, go directly to the Application Details page for the Platform Application you wish to uninstall. Note however that even if you uninstall a Platform Application, your connections, other members of your network or other Users of Brain Gain Network may still be using the Platform Application, and so it may still have access to certain information about you, just as those Users do. To report any suspected misuse of information, contact [provide e-mail]. Brain Gain Network is not responsible for your use of or inability to use any Platform Applications, including the content, accuracy or reliability of such applications and the privacy practices or other policies of Platform Developers.

Surveys and Polls

As a User, you will receive requests to participate in market research including polls and surveys submitted by other Brain Gain Network members. If you participate in surveys and polls offered through our website, the information you provide may be visible to others using the Brain Gain Network website. You may opt not to participate by changing your Account & Settings to stop receiving these inquiries and requests.

Forums/ Chats/ Blogs

If you post on the Answers section of Brain Gain Network website, or use a bulletin board, import a blog, or participate in a chat room on Brain Gain Network, you should be aware that any personally identifiable information you choose to provide there can be read, collected, or used by other Users of these forums, as well as Platform Developers and other third parties, and could be used to send you unsolicited messages. Brain Gain Network is not responsible for the personally identifiable information you choose to submit in these forums.

Testimonials and Advertisements Placed through Brain Gain Network DirectAds Service

If you provide any testimonials about the Brain Gain Network service or place advertisements through the Brain Gain Network DirectAds services, we may post those testimonials and examples of advertisements you place in connection with Brain Gain Network’s promotion of its service to third parties, whose testimonials and advertisements may include your name and other personal information provided. Fore more information about DirectAds please see the DirectAds Terms of Use.

Communications to other Users

Many e-mails you initiate through the Brain Gain Network, e.g. an invitation sent to a non-User, will list your e-mail and name in the header of the message. Emails you initiate may also provide aggregate information about your network (for instance how many people are in your network), but will not list the people who are you are directly connected with. Other communications you initiate through the Brain Gain Network website, like a request to be a contact, will list your name as the initiator but will not include your personal contact information. Your contact information will only be shared with another User if both of you have indicated that you would like to establish contact with one another.

Legal Disclaimer

It is possible that we may need to disclose personal information when required by law, such as responses to civil or criminal subpoenas or other requests by law enforcement personnel. We will disclose such information wherein we have good faith or believe that it is necessary to comply with a court order, ongoing judicial proceeding, subpoena or other legal process or request to Brain Gain Network brought in any country throughout the world or to exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims.

Disclosures to others

We may also disclose your personal and other information provided to another third party as part of a reorganization or sale of the assets of Brain Gain Network Ventures division or company. Any third party to which we transfer or sell Brain Gain Network’s assets will have the right to continue to use personal and other information provided to us.

3. Your Information Choices

Accessing and Changing Your Account Information

You can review the personal information you provided and make any desired changes to the information published or to the settings of your Brain Gain Network account including your e-mail and contact preferences at any time by logging in to your account on the Brain Gain Network website. Please be aware that even after your request for a change is processed, Brain Gain Network may, for a time, retain residual information about you in its back-up and/or archival copies of its database.

Closing Your Account

You can also close your account through the Brain Gain Network website. If you close your Brain Gain Network account, we will remove your name and other personally identifiable information for our publicly viewable database. We may retain certain data contributed by you if we believe it may be necessary to prevent fraud or future abuse, or for legitimate business purposes, such as an analysis of aggregate, non-personally identifiable data, account recovery or if required by law. To request that we close your account and remove your information from the Brain Gain Network website, please send your request to administrator@bgn.org. Please send your request using an e-mail account which you have registered with Brain Gain Network under your name. You will receive a response to requests sent to [provide e-mail] within five business days of its receipt.

4. Your Obligations

As a User, you have certain obligations toward the other Users with whom you will be communicating. Certain of these obligations are imposed by applicable law and regulations, and other users have become commonplace in user-friendly communities of likeminded members, such as Brain Gain Network:

    • You must at all times respect the terms and conditions of the current Privacy Policy and the User Agreement. This includes respecting all intellectual property rights which may belong to third parties (such as photographs).
    • You must not download or otherwise disseminate any information which may be deemed be injurious, violent, offensive, racist or xenophobic, or which may otherwise violate the purpose and spirit of Brain Gain Network and its community of Users.
    • You must not provide information to Brain Gain Network and/ or users which you believe might be injurious or detrimental to your person, professional or social status.
    • Brain Gain Network has also self-certified its privacy practices as consistent with [Philippine Safe Harbor principles: Notice, Choice, Onward Transfer, Access and Accuracy, Security, Data Integrity and Enforcement]. More information about [Philippine Department of Trade and Industry Safe Harbor Program] can be found at [website].

Any violation of these guidelines may lead to the restriction, suspension or termination of your account by Brain Gain Network, as we take these principles seriously and consider these to be the basis on which our Users adhere to the Brain Gain Network website and the services it offers.

5. Important Information

Children

Children are not eligible to use our service and we ask that minors (under the age of 18) do not submit any personal information to us or use the service.

[TRUSTe and Safe Harbor Adherence]

Brain Gain Network is a licensee of the [TRUSTe] Privacy Program. [TRUSTe] is an independent organization whose mission is to enable individuals and organizations to establish trusting relationships based on respect for personal identity and information by promoting the use of fair information practices. Because we want to demonstrate our commitment to our Users’ privacy, we have agreed to disclose our privacy practices and have these reviewed for compliance by [TRUSTe].

If Users have questions or concerns regarding this statement, you should first contact Brain Gain Network by sending an e-mail at administrator@bgn.org. If you do not receive acknowledgment of your inquiry or it is not satisfactorily addressed, you should then contact [TRUSTe] through the [TRUSTe Watchdog Dispute Resolution Process] [provide website]. [TRUSTe] will serve as a liaison with Brain Gain Network to resolve Users’ concerns. However, please understand that the [TRUSTe] program only covers information collected through the site www2.bgn.org and does not cover information collected through software downloaded from the site.

We participate in the [EU Safe Harbor Privacy Framework] as set forth by the [Republic of the Philippines’ Department of Trade and Industry]. As part of our participation in the safe harbor, we have agreed to [TRUSTe] dispute resolution for disputes relating to our compliance with the Safe Harbor Privacy Framework. If you have any complaints regarding our compliance with the Safe Harbor you should first contact us.

By becoming a User, you have given us your expressed and informed consent to transfer the data provided to us to the Republic of the Philippines and to process it in the Republic of the Philippines as well.

If contacting us does not resolve your complaint, you may raise your complaint with [TRUSTe] through the Internet at [website], [fax number], or mail [address].

If you are faxing or mailing [TRUSTe] to lodge a complaint, you must include the following information: company name, the alleged privacy violation, your contact information and whether you would like the particulars of your complaint shared with the company. For information about [TRUSTe] or the operation of [TRUSTe’s] dispute resolution process, see [website] or request this information from [TRUSTe] at any of the addresses listed above. The [TRUSTe] dispute resolution process shall be conducted in English.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

Brain Gain Network may update this privacy policy at any time, with or without advance notice. In the event there are significant changes in the way we treat your personally identifiable information, we will display a notice on the Brain Gain Network website or send you an e-mail, as provided for above. Unless stated otherwise, our current Privacy Policy applies to all information we have about you and your account.

If you use the Brain Gain Network service after notice of changes have been sent to you or published on our site, you hereby provide your consent to the changed practices.

6. Security

In order to secure your personal information, access to your data on Brain Gain Network is password-protected and sensitive data (such as credit card information) is protected by SSL encryption when it is exchanged between your web browser and the Brain Gain Network website. To protect any data you store on our servers, we also regularly audit our system of possible vulnerabilities and attacks, and we use a tier-one secured access data center. It is your responsibility to protect the security of your log in information. Please note that e-mails, instant messaging and similar means of communication with other users of Brain Gain Network are not encrypted. We strongly request you not to communicate any confidential information through these means.



7. How to contact us

If you have questions or comments about this privacy policy, please e-mail us at administrator@bgn.org or contact us at:

Brain Gain Network Ventures

ATTN: Privacy Policy Issues

Unit 105 Plaza B

Northgate Cyberzone

Muntinlupa City 1781

Philippines