Version: 2.1 Issue date: 2021-08-06
Portforward, Inc. ("us", "we", or "our") operates https://portforward.com (the "site").
By using this website, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy.
Portforward, Inc. is not interested in and does not collect any personal identification information about you as you visit our website.
We use standard apache web server logs that get purged nightly and site cookies to aid in navigation and processing of our shopping cart.
You can block cookies by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our site.
First Party Cookies
We use cookies on our sites to make your visit flow better from page to page. We do not store private information in cookies. We store session identifiers so that we can keep track of the last application or router that you looked at, which in turn enables us to show you the correct information for forwarding a port. We do not use this information for advertising and we do not share this information with others.
We use the following types of cookies:
- Strictly Necessary Cookies - These are cookies that are necessary for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website, use a shopping cart or make use of the e-billing services.
- Analytical/Performance Cookies - These cookies allow us to recognize and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users find what they are looking for easily.
- Functionality Cookies - This type of cookie is used to recognize you when you return to our website. This enables us to personalize our content for you (for example, if you last looked at Halo we can remember that and show you the instructions for Halo).
Third Party Cookies
Our websites will set some third-party cookies, and we do not control the operation of any of them. The third-party cookies which may be set include:
- Google Analytics - We use Google Analytics to collect data about website usage. This data does not include personally identifiable information. You can view the Google Privacy Policy here: www.google.com/policies/privacy/.
Advertisers
We use third-party companies to serve ads when you visit Portforward.com. These companies may use information about your visit in order to provide advertisements on this or other websites and other forms of media about goods and services that may be of interest to you.
We use Google AdSense on some pages to display ads. These ads can be either targeted or not targeted based on your preferences with both Google and us. Google asks that all ad publishers link to their Privacy & Terms web page.
We have enabled a feature in AdSense where Google will show only non-personalized ads to users in the EEA.
External Site Links
We link to other websites on the internet but we never include your information in these links. Content and Privacy Policies are the responsibility of their respective owners.
IP Addresses and Logging
Our server logs information about visitors including IP addresses, date/time visited, referring website, length of stay, etc. This information is used for site statistics only. We don't sell it or share it and the data is purged nightly.
If you purchase a product from us we record your IP address at the time of purchase so that when the software runs for the first time our server can pass your purchase information on to the software thereby making it easier to register the software. We store that IP address indefinitely with your user registration for both a convenience to re-authorize your software in the future, to answer support-related questions about when a purchase was made, to process refunds, and as a fraud prevention method.
We also store your IP address if you post any questions on our support system. This helps to enable us to find your user registration information in case it was forgotten and track fraudulent use in case it was stolen.
We keep IP address logs of registered users indefinitely.
Router Screenshots
If you use our Router Screenshot tool to submit screenshots to us we save copies of those screenshots on our server. They get processed into screenshots that we can then publish at a later time on our website. We attempt to blur out or remove any private identifying information such as IP address or password in these screenshots. We also save the IP address that uploaded the screenshots for the same reasons outlined above.
Our screenshot software navigates a web browser to the IP address of your local router and attempts to capture only the region of your screen that includes your router's management interface. If you run the screenshot software and then navigate to other websites from within the screenshot capture software then screenshots of where you navigate to will be sent to our servers. These screenshots will eventually be validated by an employee and marked as not needed where they will then be deleted.
We keep router screenshots indefinitely.
Customer Information & Credit Card Transactions
In the event of a purchase we collect the following form submitted data:
- First and Last name
- Address
- Zipcode
- Email address
- Credit card number
- Name on credit card
- Credit card expiration date
- CCV or card code
The information that is provided to us in the event of a sale is stored in a local, secure database indefinitely. This includes your name, IP Address, mailing address, and the last 4 digits of your credit card number. We do not store your entire credit card number or your CCV code.
The first and last name, zip code, and address are used by the payment processor to prevent fraud. They are also available to our support staff to help customers find their registration information. We do not sell or share this information for any reason.
Remote Assistance
We have two forms of remote assistance that our support team offers to customers who have paid for software or support.
Remote Administration
In the case of difficult to support routers, we may set up a remote administration session with a customer. This involves the customer installing remote admin software and specifically giving us the remote admin password so that we can connect and setup their router for them.
Remote Assistance Software
We have remote assistance software that is intended to help our support team add support for customer routers. It must be enabled by the end-user after they generate a ticket number when a remote assistance prompt asks them if they want to enable this functionality. When the remote assistance software is running our support staff has the ability to launch our software, command and control our software, and take screenshots of the user's desktop. These screenshots are used solely for the purposes of support and are never available outside of our support system. As soon as our support team is done adding support for a customer we then remotely disable the remote assistance software until the customer turns it back on by generating another ticket number and accepting the remote assistance prompt.
Comments
If you leave a comment on one of our articles, then we log the IP address, submitted name, submitted email address, date, and the comment that you submit. We also set a cookie with the submitted name and email address, so that future comments are easier to submit. Comments are not displayed until a moderator approves them. Your email address is used to display your gravatar, if one is configured.
If you want to have a comment deleted, please submit the following information:
- Name as submitted
- The date the comment was submitted
- The email address that you submitted with the comment
- A copy of the comment text. You can request 'all', and we will remove all comments that match your email address.
If the information you provide matches a comment in our system, then it will be removed within 7 days. Please note that we do not display email addresses, and the only way to request removal of a comment is to know the corresponding email address.
Submit all comment removal requests to our Support System.
GDPR and Data Protection Officers
We believe that our site is fully compliant with the GDPR. We are not in the business of processing data on individuals and as such do not believe that we need a Data Protection Officer. We have made a good faith effort to update our site and make it fully compliant with GDPR. If you believe that our site is not compliant please do not hesitate to get ahold of us in our Support System and let us know. Simply create an account and post a message asking for Jason Bauer and someone will forward your request to me.
