Privacy Policy

CTE Publications, Inc., doing business as Cutting Tool Engineering (“CTE,” “we,” “our” or “us”), is a U.S. trade publisher. This notice explains how we collect, use, disclose and retain personal information when you use ctemag.com, CTE subscription and account services, email publications, digital editions, videos, podcasts, events, advertising services and related offerings (the “Services”).

This notice describes current practices; it is not a certification that every privacy law applies to CTE. Rights and duties depend on the person, location, processing activity and law involved. Where a law applies, CTE intends to honor the rights it provides.

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1. Information We Collect

• Contact and professional information: name, email address, telephone number, company, job title, mailing address and industry or job-function details you provide.
• Subscription and preference information: publication choices, consent and confirmation records, subscription source, manage/unsubscribe choices, delivery status, bounces, complaints and suppression status.
• Account and submission information: login/account details, author or profile information, comments, forms, story or product submissions, correspondence and feedback.
• Advertising and business records: advertiser, agency and contact details; proposals, orders, creative, proofs, schedules, invoices, payment status, campaign reporting and customer-service communications.
• Device and activity information: IP address, approximate location derived from IP, browser and device type, operating system, referring page, pages or media requested, timestamps, cookie or consent state, security events, and available interaction data.
• Email activity: attempted delivery, delivery status, opens or image loads, link activity, bounces, complaints, preferences and unsubscribes. Email measurements are imperfect and may be affected by image blocking, privacy protection and automated security systems.

CTE does not intentionally collect government identifiers, financial-account credentials, health information, genetic data or biometric identifiers through its ordinary reader Services. Please do not submit sensitive personal information unless CTE specifically requests it for a legitimate purpose.

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2. Sources of Information

We collect information directly from you; automatically from browsers, devices, email systems and security tools; from your employer or agency when it arranges advertising or access; from service providers working for CTE; and from public or professional sources when reasonably needed for editorial, business or account administration.

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3. How We Use Information

• Provide, confirm and manage subscriptions, accounts, publications, digital editions, videos and other requested Services.
• Send editorial publications, service notices, confirmations, requested files and commercial messages consistent with your choices and applicable law.
• Operate advertising, sponsored-content, video and campaign services; prepare proofs; schedule placements; report available measurements; bill and collect amounts due.
• Personalize practical site features, remember settings, measure aggregate use, improve content and troubleshoot performance.
• Detect bots, abuse, fraud, security threats, duplicate records and non-human interactions; protect readers, advertisers, CTE and its systems.
• Maintain records, enforce terms, respond to lawful requests, resolve disputes and meet legal, accounting and operational obligations.

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4. Subscription Confirmation and Audience Hygiene

New online subscription requests use a bot check, rate limiting and validation. A request remains pending and non-sendable until the address owner uses the signed, expiring confirmation link sent to that email address. Invalid, expired, replaced or reused confirmation links are rejected. This confirmation process helps keep fabricated, mistyped and automated signups out of the active audience.

CTE’s current audience-hygiene procedure may remove or suppress an eNews or digital-magazine address after no activity across five consecutive sends. We also suppress unsubscribes, repeated hard bounces, complaints and other addresses that should not be mailed. These controls mean audience totals and eligible send counts naturally change over time.

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5. Email Measurement and Non-Human Activity

CTE may measure delivery, opens, image loads and links to understand publication and advertising performance. Mail-security scanners and other automated systems sometimes load an image or visit a link without a person choosing to engage. CTE may use timing, request patterns, user-agent and security signals, repetition and related technical evidence to classify or filter likely non-human activity. No filter is perfect, and CTE or advertiser analytics may differ.

Every commercial CTE email includes the required sender information, physical address and an unsubscribe or preference path. You may stop marketing email at any time; CTE may retain a limited suppression record so the request continues to be honored.

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6. Cookies, Analytics and Advertising

CTE uses necessary browser storage for core site and consent functions. Our Silktide Consent Manager provides optional Analytics and Marketing choices. The footer’s Your Privacy Choices link reopens those settings at any time.

CTE currently uses Google Analytics 4 with IP anonymization, Google Signals disabled and ad-personalization signals disabled. Analytics storage defaults to denied for GDPR-region or unresolved locations and may default to granted elsewhere; your saved choice controls later updates. Advertising storage, ad-user-data and ad-personalization consent default to denied. CTE uses Google Ad Manager to serve and measure direct advertising. Ads may still appear when optional marketing storage is denied, but they should not rely on that optional consent state for personalization.

If your browser sends an enabled Global Privacy Control signal, CTE treats that signal as a request to deny optional analytics and marketing categories for that browser. Browser settings, content blockers and privacy tools can also limit cookies and measurement, though some site features may work differently.

Your Privacy Choices

Open Your Privacy Choices to review or change optional Analytics and Marketing settings. This does not stop necessary storage or all advertising; it changes the optional categories available to the site and connected tools.

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7. When We Disclose Information

• Service providers: hosting, content delivery, security, subscription, email delivery, analytics, ad serving, media storage, customer relationship, accounting, payment, professional and support providers that process information for CTE.
• Partners you choose to engage: information may be shared with a named event, webinar, research, download or lead-generation partner when the form or offer tells you that will happen and you submit it.
• Business administration: an employer, agency, advertiser or other account owner may receive information reasonably connected to the services it arranged.
• Legal, safety and continuity: regulators, courts, law enforcement, advisers, insurers, successor organizations or others when reasonably necessary for law, safety, rights, continuity, a transaction or a dispute.

CTE does not rent or sell its subscriber list to advertisers. Advertisers receive campaign reporting and do not receive subscriber identities unless a person separately submits a clearly disclosed partner or lead form.

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8. California Privacy Notice

During the preceding 12 months, CTE may have collected the categories described above: identifiers and contact details; professional or employment information; commercial and subscription records; internet or electronic-network activity; approximate location from IP; and inferences limited to publication, account, security or campaign administration. CTE may disclose those categories to the service-provider, business-administration, partner and legal/safety recipients described in this notice.

CTE does not exchange personal information for money and does not sell or rent its subscriber list. Some disclosures involving analytics or advertising technology may be treated as “sharing” under California law even when no money changes hands. Use Your Privacy Choices to deny optional marketing and analytics storage.

If the California Consumer Privacy Act applies to a request, a California resident may have rights to know/access, delete, correct, opt out of sale or sharing, limit certain uses of sensitive personal information, and receive equal service without unlawful discrimination. CTE does not ordinarily use sensitive personal information for purposes that require a separate limitation right. Requests may be submitted through the CTE contact page, by email or by telephone using the details below. CTE may verify identity and authority before completing a request, and legal exceptions may apply.

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9. International Visitors and GDPR

CTE is based in the United States, and information may be processed in the United States or other countries where CTE and its providers operate. Privacy protections and government-access rules may differ from those in your country.

The GDPR or UK GDPR may apply to some interactions even though CTE is a U.S. publisher. Where one of those laws applies, CTE’s processing may rely on consent, performance of a requested service or contract, legitimate interests balanced against individual rights, or a legal obligation. Applicable rights may include access, correction, deletion, restriction, objection, portability and withdrawal of consent. Exercising those rights does not affect processing already lawfully completed. The territorial scope, lawful basis, transfer mechanism and available rights depend on the specific processing; contact CTE for an individual assessment.

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10. Retention

CTE retains information for the period reasonably needed for the purpose collected, including to provide a requested publication or service, maintain consent and suppression evidence, administer an advertising or business relationship, protect security, resolve disputes and meet legal, tax, accounting and archival duties. Retention varies by record. Unsubscribing stops future marketing but does not necessarily erase a limited suppression record or information CTE must keep for another lawful reason.

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11. Security

CTE uses administrative, technical and physical safeguards appropriate to the nature of the information, including access controls, bot and abuse checks, confirmation links, suppression controls, secure transport and service monitoring. No system or transmission can be guaranteed completely secure. If you believe information or an account has been compromised, contact us promptly.

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12. Children

CTE’s Services are directed to industry professionals and are not intended for children under 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from a child through the Services for advertising or sale. A parent or guardian who believes a child submitted personal information may contact us for review and appropriate action.

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13. Changes to This Notice

We may update this notice when our Services, technology or legal obligations change. The effective date identifies the current version. We may provide additional notice when a change is material and the circumstances require it.

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14. Contact and Privacy Requests

Describe the request, the Service involved, and how we can safely respond. Please do not email sensitive identity documents unless CTE specifically requests a secure verification method.