Privacy on the MKS Website

MKS Instruments, Inc. (together with its subsidiaries, referred to herein as "MKS," "we" or "us"), recognizes the importance of data privacy to our customers, suppliers and other individuals visiting our website or providing us with personal data in connection with our products and services (collectively referred to herein as "you"). This Privacy Statement describes our policy regarding the privacy of your personal data when visiting our website, purchasing or supplying products and services, and otherwise providing personal information to us at events, trade shows, or in connection with product or service inquiries.

MKS Instruments reserves the right to withdraw permission to reproduce our copyrighted material whenever it deems that reproducing its material is being used in any way detrimental to its best interest.

 

What type of personal data do we collect?

The information that we learn from customers and other individuals helps us to continually improve your experience with our website, products and services. Below are the types of personal data that we gather:

  1. Information that you give to us.
    • You might provide us with personal data that you enter on our website, disclose by email or over the phone, or provide at events and trade shows.
    • Examples of information that we collect and use in this regard might include personal data provided when searching for a product, placing an order, creating an account, applying for payment terms, requesting service or product support, subscribing to our newsletter, communicating with us by phone or email or in person at a trade show event, completing a survey, providing reviews, and signing up for alerts and other communications.
    • You might provide us with such information as your name, e-mail address, account log-in information, shipping address, phone number, credit card information, financial information relating to orders or email address, or other data regarding your preferences and feedback on our business.
  2. Automatic Information.
    • We receive certain types of information whenever you interact with us. Like many websites, we use "cookies" and we obtain certain data when your web browser accesses our website. For more information on "cookies" click here.
    • Examples of the information we collect and analyze in this regard might include the IP address used to connect your computer to the internet, computer and connection information, purchase or browsing history on our websites, and products you viewed or searched for.
    • In some cases, we may use software tools to measure and collect session information, including page response, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (e.g., scrolls, clicks, mouse-overs) and country-level location data.
    • We may use information about your country location to customize our website, products or services offered and features related thereto.
  3. Information From Others.
    • In some case, we may obtain information about you from third parties, such as marketers, partners, and researchers.
 

How and why do we use Cookies?

A "cookie" is a small data file that our site transfers to your device through your web browser that enables the site systems to recognize your browser and subsequently capture and remember certain information. We use both session cookies, which are erased upon closing your web browser, and persistent cookies, which may be stored for a certain period of time.

We use cookies to help us to improve your overall web experience when on our site. Cookies may enable us to remember and process the items in your shopping cart, to understand and save your preferences for future visits, to compile aggregated and anonymized data about site traffic and site interaction, and to reflect geographically accurate information regarding pricing. In some cases, we may contract with third party service providers to assist us in better understanding our site visitors. However, those service providers are not permitted to use any personal data collected on our behalf except to help us conduct and improve our business. In limit cases, we may allow such service providers to utilize aggregated, anonymized data for analytical purposes. We do not engage in "cookie swapping" or the sale of cookies to third parties.

You can configure most browsers to prevent them from accepting new cookies or to disable cookies altogether. We recommend that you leave cookies enabled as they allow you to take advantage of some of our essential website functionality. For example, if you block cookies, you may not be able to shop for products on our site or chat with our representatives online.

 

How do we use the personal data that we receive?

We limit the use of the data that we collect from you. We might use your data in connection with the following business purposes to:

  1. Improve user experience on our websites;
  2. Accept and fulfill orders and to meet our contractual obligations relating to such orders;
  3. Enable individuals to explore and compare the functionality and features of our products;
  4. Respond to customer inquiries and requests related to our products and services;
  5. Market and provide additional information regarding our products and services;
  6. Provide sales and service support;
  7. Analyze product pages and other parts of the website that are attracting more traffic; and
  8. Comply with certain legal or regulatory obligations applicable to our business.

In some cases, we may store the data that you provide to us so that we can continue to (i) provide you with products and services for future orders; (ii) correspond with you regarding previous orders and service or warranty issues related thereto; and (iii) provide you with marketing and new product information and promotions. In addition, we may be required to store certain personal data due to legal and regulatory obligations (e.g., order data to comply with financial regulations and export laws).

 

Do we share the personal data that we receive?

We are not in the business of selling your data. We may in some cases have a need to share your data in connection with our business operations. Examples of this might include:

  1. Sharing data with employees that have a need to know that data in connection with a legitimate business purpose specified in the section above, such as fulfilling an order or answering a customer inquiry.
  2. Sharing data with our organizational subsidiaries and affiliated entities, including new businesses acquired through acquisition. Alternatively, in the event that we divest or transfer a technology, business unit or entity, we might be required to share or transfer that data to the acquiring entity.
  3. Providing data to third parties that are providing products or performing services on our behalf in connection with our business operations. We do not enable our service providers to use that data except as required to provide the product or service requested by MKS. Such services may include analysis on website hits, trends and traffic, hosting and IT storage services in which we might store customer contact information submitted (e.g., CRM or ERP systems), marketing vendors that help us to provide you with promotional offers, newsletters and product information, and suppliers of component materials or related services or logistics providers that help us deliver product to you.
  4. Disclosing data where we believe it is required in order to comply with the law or to protect users and customers. For example, this may include exchanging information with companies for fraud protection, credit risk reduction, or compliance with export control laws.
 

How are we securing your personal data?

To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data integrity and ensure that your information is used only in connection with legitimate purposes, we have established certain technical, management and operational security controls to safeguard and secure the personal data that we process. We also take steps to safeguard information according to established industry practices and periodically evaluate our current practices against new technologies for and methods of protecting information. Some of the specific technical and administrative safeguards that we employ include the following:

  1. Personal data that is transmitted to us via our website is stored behind our secure firewalls, which we maintain and update regularly;
  2. We provide access to systems containing personal data on a "need-to-know" basis and only after appropriate authorizations are obtained to ensure that the individual requires access in connection with his or her role;
  3. We deploy technologies that scan for potential viruses and malware for inbound and outbound communications to avoid unauthorized access to our networks and databases;
  4. We evaluate our external vendors from a security perspective and require certain technical thresholds be maintained to the extent that such vendors will have access to or otherwise manage a system or network containing personal data;
  5. We provide privacy training to individuals within different facets of our organization that access or use personal data in connection with their role.
 

How can you access your personal data?

  1. When you register online on our website, you can access your profile information at any time via your secure account by logging in and viewing your account. In most cases, you also have access to your last six months of order history for any orders you placed, either on the website or by phone.
  2. If you have a question regarding access to data that you've submitted other than through your online account, please contact us at privacy@mksinst.com or via our website contact form. For your security, online inquiries must be submitted using the email address associated with your account.
 

What choices do you have?

  1. As mentioned, you can always choose not to provide data to us. For example, you may elect not to create an online account or submit an inquiry through our website. You can also disable cookies as mentioned above. If you do not agree to provide certain data, we may not be able to provide you with certain website functionality or otherwise deliver products or services to you. For example, if we do not have an individual contact name and address at a company, we cannot ship product to that company.
  2. If you do not want to receive email or marketing communications, you can adjust your communication preferences via the link provided in any email you have received from us or otherwise, by contacting us to opt out of those communications. For questions relating to this, please contact privacy@mksinst.com.
 

Children's Privacy

We do not sell products or services for purchase by children. Our website is only intended to provide products and services and information related thereto for adults over the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under the age of 18 and we require that any child under the age of 18 solely access our website with the consent and supervision of a parent or guardian.

 

Conditions of Use and Notices

If you choose to visit our website or otherwise provide us with your personal data, any dispute related to data privacy is subject to the terms of this Privacy Statement and any terms and conditions of use posted on our website. If you have a concern about privacy of your personal data using the website or otherwise, please contact us at privacy@mksinst.com. We reserve the right to change this Privacy Statement and the conditions of use at any time. In such a case, we may provide you with a periodic reminder of any changes, but you should check the website to see any recent changes. We will not make material changes to this Privacy Statement that directly result in less protections for your personal data without notifying you and providing you with the ability to opt-out, as applicable. This Privacy Statement applies to all information that we collect or store about you and your account.

MKS Privacy Statement, Rev. 2.0, 5.22.18