What does MSO do with the information it collects?
The personal information you supplied to MSO to register for the non-commercial, or "Viewer" access of the Site will not be disclosed outside of MSO, except when we have your permission, when you voluntarily post information for other parties to view, or under special circumstances, such as when we believe in good faith that disclosure is reasonably necessary to (i) comply with legal process, (ii) enforce the Terms and Conditions of Use, (iii) respond to claims that any content on metalsuppliersonline.com violates the rights of third parties, or (iv) protect the rights, property or personal safety of MSO, its users or the public.
The information, both personal and other supplied by commercial users of the Site may be shared with a counter-party that is involved with a specific product inquiry, quote, negotiation or transaction in order to facilitate the commercial activity between those parties. In an instance where more than one Supplier is involved in an inquiry by a Buyer, no personal, Supplier contact or other identifying Supplier information is ever disclosed to other Suppliers involved in the process of negotiating with the Buyer. Only information regarding unit cost, total cost, shipping location and shipping terms is available for review for that specific RFQ by other Suppliers.
Suppliers who are not a direct party to a particular product inquiry, quote, negotiation or transaction are capable of viewing, on a delayed basis the Buyer product search activity but they cannot access any of the information pertaining to a specific or negotiation or transaction. The buyer organization and product search activity is made available on a delayed basis to suppliers so that the suppliers can improve their sales and service efforts to better serve the metal buying community. Suppliers are only capable of seeing this information on a delayed basis and only as it pertains to the actual products they manufacture or distribute.
Certain other non-personal information of visitors is also recorded by the standard operation of MSO's Internet servers. This information is primarily used to provide visitors to Metalsuppliersonline.com with an enhanced online experience. Information tracked includes, but is not limited to, the type of browser being used by the visitor, the type of operating system, and the domain name of the visitor's Internet service provider. MSO may disclose aggregated user statistics in order to describe the service to prospective partners, advertisers, and other third parties, and for other lawful purposes. Aggregated data does not include personal information such as an individual's name, phone number, or email address.
MSO may use customer contact information from the registration form to send the User information about our company. Users may opt-out of receiving future mailings; see the choice/opt-out section below. MSO may use personal information to determine the demographics of our Users and to distribute statistics and general marketplace information about MSO. These demographics will always represent aggregate information and will never identify a specific user.
Also, please be aware that advertisers or Web sites that are linked to Metalsuppliersonline.com may collect personally identifiable information about you. This Privacy Policy does not cover the information practices of those Web sites linked to Metalsuppliersonline.com.
MSO contains links to other sites. MSO is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such Web sites. MSO makes or has future plans to make chat rooms, forums, message boards, and/or news groups available on the Site. Please remember that any information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information and you should exercise caution when deciding to disclose your personal information.