The purpose of this privacy policy is to disclose to you what information we may collect, how we may collect it, with whom we may share it, and our use and disclosure to other parties of information we may have collected from you. When this privacy policy uses the term "personally identifiable information" or "personal information", we mean information that identifies a particular individual, such as your full name, street address, or email address.
Types of information that may be collected
Information You Provide Us: In the course of using the website, we may ask you to provide us with certain information, including contact information, such as your name, mailing address, email address or phone number, unique identifiers, such as your user ID or user password, financial information, such as your credit card number (only if you purchase an ad) or similar information.
Site Usage Information: We may receive and store certain types of internet usage information whenever you visit the Website, such as your IP address. See the "IP Addresses and Click Stream Data" section below.
Email Communications: When you open emails from us, we may receive a confirmation noting you opened the email, if your computer supports such capabilities. We also may keep track of what emails we send you and what emails you may be receiving from our subsidiaries and affiliates. Additionally, we keep a record of what communications you have opted to receive or not to receive.
How information may be collected
We may collect information from you in several different areas on the Website, including but not limited to those described below:
Registration: You may be asked to complete a registration form and provide personally identifiable information; you may also be asked to choose a user ID and password in order to take advantage of certain features the Website may choose to offer, such as newsletters or contests. Participation in registration is voluntary and you will have the opportunity to decide whether or not to disclose information to the Website.
Newsletters and Website Emails: We may offer free newsletters to share information with you about the Website, about us and our affiliates and subsidiaries, or about our marketing partners and advertisers, and sponsors. You may receive a newsletter either by registering for a particular newsletter or in conjunction with a special feature or membership for which you have registered on the Website. Participation is voluntary and you will have the opportunity to decide whether or not to disclose information to the Website. You may also cancel your free email subscription by following the instructions provided on the Website or in the newsletter.
Contests or Sweepstakes: We may periodically operate contests and sweepstakes through the Website that may require registration or the submission of personal information. Participation is voluntary and you will have the opportunity to decide whether or not to disclose information to the Website. Your personally identifiable information may be used to contact you for winner notification, prize delivery confirmation, or other related purposes, (see the rules of each contest for details about how your personal information will be used). We may also ask your permission to allow us to publicly post some of your information on the Website, such as on a winner's page, in the event you win a contest or sweepstakes. Except as required by applicable law, we will not post your information without your permission. All contests on the Website are run in-house and do not provide information to third parties.
Surveys or Voting: From time to time we may request personally identifiable information from you in conjunction with a survey or voting poll. Participation is voluntary and you will have the opportunity to decide whether or not to disclose information to the Website.
Cookies: As with most Websites, our Website uses a technology called "cookies". A cookie is a unique, random number that is stored in the browser on your computer. The cookie doesn't actually identify you, just the computer that is used to visit the site. Cookies automatically identify your browser to the Website whenever your computer is used to visit the Website. Cookies also let us know how many people visit our website and where visitors go on the site. In addition, cookies can let us know non-personally identifiable information, like what web browser is being used to access the website. For registered users, cookies can make using the Website easier for you by saving information such as your passwords or preferences. By tracking how and when you use the Website, cookies help us determine which areas are popular and which are not. Many improvements and updates to the Website are based on data obtained from cookies. Accepting cookies allows you, among other things, to personalize your experience on the Website. Cookies may also allow the Website to present to you advertising which may be of interest to you. If you do not want information collected through the use of cookies, your browser should contain an option that allows you to disable or delete cookie data at any time. Some areas of the Website, however, may not provide you with a personalized experience if you have disabled the use of cookies. Cookies collected by the Website are not tied to personally identifiable information. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to the Website. Google's use of the DoubleClick cookie enables it and its partners to serve ads to your users based on their visit to the Website and/or other websites on the Internet. Users may opt out of the use of the DoubleClick cookie for interest-based advertising by visiting Ads Settings.
IP Addresses and Click-Stream Data: We may collect IP addresses and/or click-stream data. An IP address is a number associated with the service through which you access the Internet, like your ISP (Internet service provider), your company, or your university. Standing alone, your IP address is not personally identifiable. At times, we also use IP addresses for purposes of system administration and to report aggregate information to our advertisers and sponsors, for example regarding the frequency with which our guests visit various parts of our sites. We may combine this information with personally identifiable information. Click-stream data is information collected by our computers when you request Web pages from the Website. Click-stream data may include such information as the page served, the time, the source of the request, the type of browser making the request, the preceding page view, and other such non-personal information. When analyzed, this data helps us analyze how visitors arrive at the Website, what type of content is most popular, what type of visitors in the aggregate are interested in particular kinds of content and advertising, and the like.
Transaction Information: If you conduct a financial transaction with our Website, such as the payment for placing an ad, we will ask you to complete an order form that will request certain information from you, including contact information, demographic information, and financial information. We will use this information to complete the transaction that you have requested, i.e., to deliver the information, products, or other services that you order, and to invoice you. For your protection, such information is collected and stored through encrypted means.
How we use the information collected
As applicable, the information you provide to us may be used to:
contact you about the Website;
contact you relating to your membership status;
confirm or fulfill an order you have made;
inform you of a prize you have won;
monitor or improve the use of the Website;
customize the advertising and content you see;
monitor compliance with our terms and conditions of use of the Website;
With whom the information may be shared
At times, we may share your personal information with others for various purposes. The following outlines the ways in which your information may be shared with others and the ways in which you may opt out of having your information shared:
Agents: We employ other businesses, certain services, and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. Examples include fulfilling orders, sending emails, removing repetitive information from customer lists, processing credit card payments, and providing customer service. They may have access to personally identifiable information needed to perform their functions, but may not use it for their own purposes, like sending you marketing offers about their products.
Aggregate Information: We may share aggregate information, such as demographics and Website usage statistics, with advertisers, sponsors, or other organizations. When this type of information is shared, the other parties do not have access to your personally identifiable information.
Other Promotional Offers: We may send offers to you on behalf of our marketing partners. When we do this, we do not give that partner your name and address. If you do not want to receive such offers, you may use the opt-out method detailed in the email.
Business Transfers: In the event that all or substantially all of our assets are sold or transferred to another party, or another transaction occurs in which your personally identifiable information is one of the business assets transferred, all personally identifiable information that has been collected and saved may be one of the business assets we transfer. See the "Your Acceptance of the privacy policy and notification of changes to the policy" section below.
Administrative or Legal Process: Your personal information may be transferred to third parties without notice to you in order to comply with applicable law, law enforcement agencies (only by court order), to protect our rights, or protect the rights of other users of this website.
We do not share, sell, rent, or trade your personal information with third parties for their promotional purposes.
Chat rooms, forums, and message boards
The Website may make chat rooms, forums, and message boards available to its users. You are not required to provide any personal information when using these areas but you may choose to do so. If you post personal information online, it will be publicly available and you may receive unsolicited messages from other parties. We cannot ensure the security of any information you choose to make public in a chat room, forum, or message board. Also, we cannot ensure that parties who have access to such publicly available information will respect your privacy. Please exercise caution when deciding to disclose personal information in these areas.
Security
This Website incorporates reasonable safeguards to protect the security, integrity, completeness, accuracy, and privacy of the personal information that we may collect and we have put into place reasonable precautions to protect such information from loss, misuse, and alteration. Your personally identifiable information is transferred to our computers utilizing encryption software. Only those employees who need access to your information in order to do their jobs are allowed access. Our security policies are reviewed periodically and revised as required.
The security of your personal information is important to us. When you enter sensitive information (such as credit card number and/or social security number) on our registration or order forms, we encrypt that information using secure socket layer technology (SSL).
Your acceptance of the privacy policy and notification of changes to the policy
By using this Website, you signify your agreement to the terms of our privacy policy. We may amend this privacy policy at any time. If we make a material change to the way in which we collect, use, and/or share your personal information, we will post a notice on our website and/or send an email to users who have provided an email address. We will assume that you have given your permission for your information to be used under the terms of the new privacy policy if you do not respond to our email within thirty days or continue to use the Website thirty days after a notice is posted. Please note that you should always update your personal information to provide us with a current email address.
Correcting/updating personal information
If your personally identifiable information changes (such as your email address or zip code), or if you no longer desire to access our Website, we will endeavor to provide a way to correct, update, or remove the personal data you have provided to us.
