I recently watched “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” for the hundredth time. One of my favorite scenes is where Charlie and Grandpa Joe go into Mr. Wonka’s office to inquire about the lifetime supply of chocolate. Mr. Wonka informs them there will be no chocolate because they violated the factory’s policy. Outraged, Grandpa Joe screams, “What policy?” In response, Mr. Wonka pulls out a long document and a half magnifying glass and starts to bark out the rules and regulations.
Unfortunately, I identify with Grandpa Joe – I rarely read any policies. And that got me thinking about the policies and legal disclaimers we have on ChemicalProcessing.com. I’m guessing that most of you haven’t read any of them. And that’s okay. It’s not like we’re going to withhold candy from you or send your email address to princes in far-off lands. But we outline exactly what we do with the information we gather from you — something important for you to understand.
Just over a year ago we implemented the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It's a regulation on data protection and privacy for all individual citizens of the European Union (EU). It also addresses the export of personal data outside the EU. While we aren’t in the EU, by implementing the rules to ensure compliance for those of you who do live there, it gave us an opportunity to scrutinize what we collect for everyone and why.
For the most part, the why is to fulfill your requests, such as to give you access to white papers and newsletters as well as information and materials regarding our products and services; and to allow you to participate in our Comical Processing cartoons, Ask The Experts forum, our webinars and our poll questions. In fact, you may have noticed the new language at the bottom of our polls: “I consent to having my information collected and stored.” It’s just a way for us to be transparent about our intent. We also collect data to send information regarding the site and changes to our terms, conditions and policies. We do all of this via the registration pages you fill out to gain access to all of the above.
Another way we gather information from you is via cookies. Cookies are small files of letters and numbers stored on your browser or device that enable the cookie owner to recognize the device when it visits websites or uses online services. Cookies allow pre-populating registration forms with your personal information, which makes it easier to log in to things like your Netflix account or email. You’ll notice our registration forms are pre-populated with your information to make it easier to gain access to all our offerings. The sites you visit may set cookies directly, known as first-party cookies, or may trigger cookies set by other domain names, known as third-party cookies. While we may automatically use some cookies that are strictly necessary to provide the services you request or enable communications, we require your consent for all of our other cookie uses. You will see a pop-up message on your computer alerting you to this not only on our site but every site you visit on the internet.
Cookies help us improve the content and functionality of the site to better understand our users; to protect against, identify or address wrongdoing; to enforce our terms and conditions; to manage your account and provide you with customer service; and to manage the site and our business generally.
Your privacy is important to us. If you have any questions, concerns or complaints regarding the way we collect and handle your information, please contact us by email at [email protected] and [email protected], or by mail at 1501 E. Woodfield Rd., Schaumburg, Illinois, ATTN: Webmaster.
You can access both our privacy policy (chemicalprocessing.com/privacy-policy) and our cookie policy (chemicalprocessing.com/cookie-policy) to read every last detail. I won’t lie. When I read the policies, I picture Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka racing through the language with purpose. And with that, I say good day!