Legal
Privacy Policy & Terms of Use
How CowNect Media handles personal data, and the terms that apply when you use this website.
This page has two parts. Part A explains how CowNect Media B.V. collects and uses personal data. Part B sets out the terms on which this website is made available. Both apply to everyone who uses cownectmedia.com.
Our titles publish their own privacy policy and terms of use. When you read, subscribe to, or advertise on FluidHandlingPro.com or TextilesInside.com, the document on that website applies to your use of it.
Part A
Privacy policy
What personal data we collect on this website, why we collect it, how long we keep it, and what you can ask us to do with it.
A1.Who we are
This website is published by CowNect Media B.V., a private limited company registered in the Netherlands under Chamber of Commerce number 42072469, with its office at Bestevaerstraat 67-D, 1812 PC Alkmaar, the Netherlands.
CowNect Media B.V. is the data controller. We decide why and how personal data is processed on this website.
For privacy matters, write to privacy@cownectmedia.com.
This policy follows European data protection law and the Dutch implementing legislation. It covers cownectmedia.com only.
A2.How we approach personal data
- We collect personal data only where there is a purpose and a legal basis for it.
- We never sell, rent, or trade personal data.
- We do not send commercial email to individuals who did not ask for it and are not an existing business contact.
- Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time and it takes effect immediately.
A3.Who this website is for
CowNect Media is a business to business media company. This website is the corporate site of the publisher: it is aimed at advertisers, partners, contributors, and people looking for a job with us, acting in a professional capacity. It is not directed at anyone under 16.
If you are under 16, please do not submit a form. If you know that a child has given us personal data, tell us and we will delete it.
A4.What we collect, why, and on what basis
Article references are to the General Data Protection Regulation.
| What we collect | When | Purpose | Legal basis | Retention |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name, email address, company, message | Contact form or email to us | Answer your question and keep a record of the exchange | Legitimate interest, Art. 6(1)(f), or steps before a contract, Art. 6(1)(b) | Up to 24 months after the last contact, longer where an ongoing commercial relationship or the law requires it |
| Company details, contact person, campaign requirements, logo and product information | Advertising, listing, or partnership inquiry | Prepare a quotation or media kit, set up and run the service, invoice it | Contract performance, Art. 6(1)(b), and legal obligation, Art. 6(1)(c) | Term of the agreement plus the statutory retention period for administration, seven years |
| Name, contact details, CV, work history, motivation, anything else you send | Application for a vacancy or an open application | Assess your application and communicate with you about it | Steps before a contract, Art. 6(1)(b), and consent for a longer hold, Art. 6(1)(a) | Four weeks after the procedure ends, or up to one year if you agree to it |
| Email address and the details you submit | Subscription to a CowNect Media update or newsletter | Send the update and keep a record of the subscription | Consent, Art. 6(1)(a), or legitimate interest for existing customers, Art. 6(1)(f) | Until you unsubscribe, plus the period needed to show the subscription was lawful |
| IP address, device and browser data, pages viewed, referral source | Website visit, only if statistics cookies are accepted | Understand how the site is used and how it performs | Consent, Art. 6(1)(a), through the cookie banner | The retention period set in the analytics tool |
| IP address and server logs | Every visit | Keep the site available and detect and stop abuse | Legitimate interest, Art. 6(1)(f) | Up to 12 months |
| Cookie preferences | Response to the cookie banner | Apply your choice and show what you selected | Legal obligation and legitimate interest, Art. 6(1)(c) and (f) | As long as the consent remains valid |
| Professional contact details | Public sources, events, employer information | Reach the right person about editorial and commercial opportunities | Legitimate interest, Art. 6(1)(f) | While the contact remains relevant to the sector |
Scroll the table sideways to see every column.
Where we rely on legitimate interest, we have weighed our interest against your rights and concluded that the processing is proportionate and in line with what you would expect from a professional publisher. You can ask us to explain that assessment, and you can object under section A12.
You are never obliged to give us personal data. The only consequence of not giving it is that we cannot deliver the service it was needed for.
Aggregated and anonymized information
We compile audience statistics about readership numbers, industries, job functions, regions, and content performance. Once aggregated, this information no longer identifies anyone and is not personal data. We use it freely, including in media kits and advertiser reports, and it falls outside this policy.
A5.What we do not do with your data
- We do not sell, rent, or trade personal data.
- We do not make automated decisions that have a legal or similarly significant effect on you.
- We do not build individual advertising profiles.
- We do not use personal data for purposes that are incompatible with the ones set out above.
A6.Cookies and similar technologies
Cookies are small files placed on your device. This website also uses comparable technologies such as local storage. Cookies that are not strictly necessary are placed only after you accept them in the banner.
| Category | What it does | Consent needed |
|---|---|---|
| Functional | Delivers pages, secures the site, remembers your cookie choice, keeps you logged in | No, strictly necessary |
| Preferences | Remembers settings you selected yourself | Yes |
| Statistics | Measures how the site is used and where visitors come from | Yes |
| Marketing | Measures the performance of campaigns and advertising | Yes |
Scroll the table sideways to see every column.
At the date of this version, cownectmedia.com places functional cookies only. It runs no advertising cookies. Our titles do use statistics and marketing cookies, and each explains this in its own policy.
You can change or withdraw your cookie choice at any time through the cookie settings link in the footer. Withdrawing does not affect what happened before. You can also block or delete cookies in your browser, but blocking functional cookies disables parts of the site.
A7.Analytics and third party content
If statistics cookies are accepted, analytics software records which pages are read and where visitors come from, with IP addresses shortened before they are stored.
Pages on this website can contain third party content such as fonts, avatars, embedded video, and social media elements. Our contact form runs on Gravity Forms, fonts are served by Google Fonts, and profile images can be served by Gravatar. These parties may set their own cookies and receive your IP address when the content loads. We place such content only in the cookie categories you agreed to, but what those parties then do with the data follows their policies, not ours.
A8.Who else is involved
Service providers run this website and our mailings on our instructions, under data processing agreements. They may not use your data for their own purposes. They include providers of:
- Hosting and technical infrastructure
- Form handling
- Email delivery and mailing software
- Website analytics and consent management
- Customer relationship management and business software
- Professional advisers, such as accountants and lawyers
Beyond these categories we disclose personal data only where the law requires it, or where it is necessary to establish, exercise, or defend a legal claim.
If CowNect Media or one of its titles transfers through a merger, an acquisition, or a sale of assets, personal data may transfer with it. We will note such a change on this page.
You can ask which specific providers we use in any category. Write to the address in section A1.
A9.Transfers outside Europe
Some service providers process data in the United States. When personal data leaves the European Economic Area, we apply a safeguard recognized by European law: either certification under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, or the standard contractual clauses of the European Commission. You can ask us which safeguard applies to a specific transfer.
A10.Security
This website runs over HTTPS. Access to the systems behind it is limited to the people who need it, protected by individual accounts and two factor authentication where the system supports it. Our hosting provider keeps backups and monitors the servers.
We take security measures appropriate to the risk, as the law requires. That is an obligation to put appropriate measures in place, not a guarantee of perfect security, because no system connected to the internet is perfectly secure.
Email deserves a separate word. Messages travel through servers we do not control. Treat email as insecure and do not send confidential information that way.
A11.Data breaches
If a personal data breach occurs, we assess the risk. Where the breach is likely to pose a risk to your rights and freedoms, we notify the Dutch Data Protection Authority within 72 hours of becoming aware of it. Where there is a high risk to you, we inform you directly and without undue delay, telling you what happened, what it means, and what we are doing about it.
A12.Your rights
You have the right to ask for access to the personal data we hold about you, correction of data that is wrong or incomplete, and erasure where there is no longer a ground to keep it. You can ask us to restrict processing while a dispute about accuracy or grounds is resolved, and you can ask us to send the data you provided to another controller in a machine readable format, where that is technically feasible.
You can object to processing based on legitimate interest. If you object to direct marketing, we stop immediately and do not ask why. For other processing based on legitimate interest, we stop unless we have compelling grounds that override your interests, or we need the data for a legal claim.
Where processing is based on consent, you can withdraw it at any time. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of what happened before.
Send requests to privacy@cownectmedia.com. We confirm your identity before acting, so that we do not hand data to the wrong person. We respond within one month. A complex request, or several requests at once, can extend that by two further months, and we tell you within the first month if that happens.
Requests are free. A request that is manifestly unfounded or excessive, in particular a repetitive one, may carry a reasonable administrative fee or be refused, as Article 12(5) of the General Data Protection Regulation permits.
Some rights have limits. We may keep data where a legal obligation requires it, where an editorial archive has to be maintained, or where we need it to establish, exercise, or defend a legal claim.
Unsubscribing
Every mailing contains an unsubscribe link. One click is enough and it takes effect immediately.
A13.Complaints
If you are not satisfied with how we handle your data or your request, tell us first at privacy@cownectmedia.com. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. Ours is the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, Postbus 93374, 2509 AJ Den Haag, the Netherlands. If you live or work in another country in the European Economic Area, you can complain to the authority there.
A14.Changes to this policy
We update this policy when our processing or the law changes. The version number and date at the top of the page tell you which version applies. Ordinary changes are made by updating the page. If a change materially affects you, we tell you by email or in a mailing before it takes effect.
Part B
Terms of use
The terms on which cownectmedia.com is made available, what you may do with the content, and where our responsibility ends.
B1.These terms
These terms govern the use of cownectmedia.com, operated by CowNect Media B.V., referred to here as CowNect, we, and us. By using this website you accept them. If you do not accept them, stop using the site.
We may amend these terms at any time. The version published on this page is the one that applies. If you keep using the website after a change, you accept the amended version.
Advertising, listings, and other commercial services are governed by a separate written agreement. Where such an agreement conflicts with these terms, the agreement prevails for the services it covers, and these terms apply to everything else.
We expressly reject the general terms and conditions of users. They do not apply, however they are presented and whatever a document of yours states to the contrary.
B2.Who this website is for
This is the corporate website of a business to business media company. It is intended for businesses and professionals acting in a professional capacity, aged 16 or over. It is not intended for consumer use and is made available on that basis.
B3.Information about our titles
This website describes our titles, our audiences, our advertising options, and our vacancies. Audience figures, reach, rates, and schedules are indicative and can change. Nothing on this website is an offer. An advertising campaign, a listing, or any other service exists once we have confirmed it in writing.
Editorial decisions on our titles are ours alone. Advertisers, listed companies, and contributors do not decide what gets published, and we are never obliged to publish, continue, or keep any piece of content. Content that is supplied or paid for by a third party is identified as such where it appears on the title concerned.
B4.Accuracy and availability
We compile this website with care, but we give no warranty that its content is accurate, complete, current, or fit for any purpose. Rates, audience figures, company details, and vacancies change, and information supplied by third parties reaches us as supplied.
We give no warranty that the website is available without interruption or free of errors. We may change, suspend, restrict, or discontinue any part of it, including individual pages and services, at any time, without notice and without liability.
B5.Careers and applications
A vacancy on this website is an invitation to apply, not an offer of employment. We may change or withdraw a vacancy at any time, and we are not obliged to explain a decision on an application.
You warrant that the information in your application is accurate and that you are entitled to work in the country concerned. We do not accept unsolicited candidate submissions from recruitment agencies. A CV sent to us without a written agreement in place is treated as sent free of charge and creates no fee, no exclusivity, and no other obligation of any kind.
B6.Permitted and prohibited use
You may read, print, and share individual pages for professional use, as long as you credit the source and link to the page.
The following is not allowed without our prior written permission:
- Systematically copying, republishing, syndicating, or redistributing a substantial part of the content, whether or not for commercial purposes
- Automated access, scraping, harvesting, indexing, or copying by any means other than a search engine crawler that respects robots.txt
- Using the content for text and data mining, or for the development, training, fine tuning, evaluation, or grounding of machine learning or generative AI systems. This is an express reservation of rights under Article 4(3) of Directive (EU) 2019/790, for this entire website and all of its content
- Extracting or re-using the whole or a substantial part of any database on this website, or repeatedly extracting insubstantial parts of it
- Removing, obscuring, or altering any notice of authorship, source, or ownership
- Interfering with the operation or the security of the website, or attempting to gain unauthorized access to systems or data
- Submitting content that is unlawful, defamatory, misleading, infringing, or malicious
- Using our contact forms or published contact details for advertising or unsolicited commercial messages
If you breach these rules we may block your access without notice.
B7.Material you send us
This section covers everything you send us: text, images, video, logos, company and product information, advertising material, and anything else, by whatever route it reaches us. It does not cover a job application, which is dealt with in section B5.
You keep ownership of your material. By sending it you grant CowNect a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty free, perpetual, irrevocable, transferable, and sub-licensable license to use, reproduce, edit, adapt, translate, publish, distribute, display, and archive the material, in whole or in part, on this website, on our titles, in our newsletters, on social media, and in promotion of our own publications, in any medium now known or developed later.
As far as the law allows, you waive the right to be identified as the author on each use and modification, and the right to object to modification, on the understanding that contributors are normally credited and that we edit only for length, clarity, accuracy, and house style.
You warrant that:
- The material is yours, or you hold every right and permission needed
- It infringes no intellectual property, confidentiality, or privacy right
- Anyone appearing in an image or a video has consented to publication
- Factual and technical statements in it are accurate and not misleading
- Your employer has authorized you to send it
You indemnify us against every claim, damage, cost, and expense, including reasonable legal costs, arising from a breach of these warranties.
We decide what gets published. We may decline material without giving a reason, edit it, publish it alongside other material, or remove it at any time. Contributors are not paid unless we agree otherwise in writing. We consider a request to remove published material in good faith, but we are not obliged to alter an editorial archive.
B8.Our intellectual property
The design, structure, and compilation of this website, its databases, and its editorial content are owned by CowNect Media B.V. or licensed to us, and are protected by copyright and, for directories and guides, by database rights. CowNect Media, FluidHandlingPro, and TextilesInside, and their logos, are our trademarks. Nothing here grants a license to use them.
Third party trademarks, product names, and logos belong to their owners and appear here for identification only.
B9.Links to other websites
This website links to our titles, to advertisers, associations, and other third parties. We do not control or monitor third party websites and we accept no responsibility for their content, their products, their services, or the way they handle personal data. Once you leave cownectmedia.com, the terms and the privacy policy of that website apply.
B10.Liability
To the fullest extent the law allows, we exclude liability for:
- Loss or damage arising from reliance on anything published on this website
- Indirect and consequential loss, including loss of profit, turnover, production, savings, goodwill, or contracts, business interruption, and loss or corruption of data
- Unavailability of the website, interruptions, and errors
- Acts, omissions, products, services, or content of third parties, including advertisers, listed companies, contributors, and linked websites
Where liability nevertheless arises, our total liability for all events with a single cause, and for any period of twelve months, is limited to the amount you paid us in the preceding twelve months. Where nothing was paid, it is limited to EUR 500. Where a loss is covered by insurance, liability is limited to what the insurer pays out.
A claim lapses unless you notify us in writing, with reasons, within three months of becoming aware of it and in any case within twelve months of the event itself.
Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability for deliberate intent or recklessness, for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for any other liability that Dutch law does not permit us to exclude.
B11.Indemnity
If you use this website in breach of these terms, or material you sent us gives rise to a claim, you indemnify us against every claim, damage, fine, cost, and expense, including reasonable legal costs, that we incur as a result.
B12.Force majeure
We are not liable for a failure or a delay in making this website available that results from circumstances beyond our reasonable control, including hosting failures, connectivity or power problems, cyber attacks, defects in third party software or services, government measures, and industrial action.
B13.Notice and takedown
If you believe something on this website infringes your rights or is unlawful, email privacy@cownectmedia.com with the exact URL, a description of the problem, and the basis for your claim. We assess every properly substantiated notice and act where that is justified. Assessing a notice is not an admission of liability.
B14.Governing law and jurisdiction
Dutch law governs these terms and any dispute arising from them or from the use of this website, excluding the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.
Disputes are submitted exclusively to the competent court in the district of Noord-Holland, the Netherlands, unless mandatory law allows a claim to be brought elsewhere.
If a provision is invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions stay in force, and the invalid provision is replaced by a valid one that comes as close as possible to the intended commercial effect.
We may transfer our rights and obligations under these terms to another party. You may not, without our written consent.
Where a translation of these terms is provided, the English version prevails.
Contact
B15. Contact for privacy and legal notices
CowNect Media B.V.
Bestevaerstraat 67-D
1812 PC Alkmaar
The Netherlands
Chamber of Commerce: 42072469
VAT number: NL869580930B01
Email: privacy@cownectmedia.com
Telephone: +31 6 54 33 12 08