Privacy policy

Your privacy is very important to us.  We want to make your experience on the Internet as enjoyable and rewarding as possible, and we want you to use the Internet's vast array of information, tools, and opportunities with complete confidence.
 
We have created this privacy policy to demonstrate our firm commitment to privacy and security.  This privacy policy describes how our company collects information from:
1. All end-users of our Internet services (users);
2. Those who access some of our services but do not have accounts (visitors); and,
3. Those who may purchase products and/or pay a monthly service fee to subscribe to the service (members);
What we do with the information we collect, and the choice users, visitors and members have concerning the collection and use of such information. 

We request that you read this privacy policy carefully.

Personal information our company collects and how it is used.

Introduction.  Our company collects information in different ways from visitors and members who access to various parts of our services and the network of web sites accessible through our service.  We use this information primarily to provide a customized experience as you use our products and services, and generally do not share this information with third parties.  However, we may disclose personal information collected if we have received your permission before hand or in very special circumstances, such as when we believe that such disclosure is required by law or other special cases described below.
 
Registration.  Members may be asked to provide certain personal information when they sign up for products or services including name, address, telephone number, billing information (such as a credit card number), and the type of personal computer being used to access the services.  The personal information collected from members during the registration process is used to manage each members account (such as for billing purposes).  This information is not shared with third parties, unless specifically stated otherwise or in special circumstances.

However, in instances where our company and a partner jointly promote our services, we may provide the partner certain personal information, such as the name, address, and username of persons to subscribe to the services as a result of the joint promotion for the sole purpose of allowing us and the partner to assess the results of the promotion.

In this instance, personal information may not be used by the partner for any other purpose.  We may also generate nonidentifying and aggregate profiles from personal information members provide during registration (such as the total number, but not in names, of members).  As explained in more detail below, we may use this aggregated and nonidentifying information to sell advertisements that appear on the services.

Our company partners and sponsors.  Some products and services may be offered to visitors and members in conjunction with an affiliate, independent contractor seller or nonaffiliated partner.  To provide visitors and members some of these products and services, the partner may need to collect and maintain personal information.  In these instances, you will be notified before any such data is collected or transferred and may decide not to use that particular service or feature.

Additionally, our partners may have advertisements or co-branded web pages that are cosponsored by an affiliate, independent contractor seller, or nonaffiliated partner.  Our company may share non identifying and aggregate information (except as described above), but not personal information, with such partners in order to administer the co-branded products or services offered.

Online shopping.  At some web sites, you can purchase products and services or register to receive materials, such as a newsletter, catalogue or new product and service updates.  In many cases, you may be asked to provide contact information, such as your name, address, e-mail address, phone number, and credit/debit card information.

If you complete an order for someone else, such as an online gift order sent directly to a recipient, you may be asked to provide information about the recipient, such as the recipient's name, address and phone number.  Our company has no control over the third parties the use of any personal information you provide when placing such an order.  Please exercise care, when doing so.

If you order services or products directly from our company, we will use the personal information you provide only to process that order.  We do not share this information with outside parties except to the extent necessary to complete that order.

Online advertisements.  Our company may display are online advertisements.  In those cases, we share aggregated and nonidentifying information about our visitors and members collected through the registration process, as well as through online surveys and promotions with these advertisers.

Additionally, in some instances, we use this aggregated and non-identifying information to deliver tailored advertisements or joint ventures.  For instance, an advertiser or joint venture company tells us the audience they want to reach and provides us and advertisements tailored to the audience.  Based upon the aggregated and non-identifying information we have collected.  We may then display or send the advertisement to the intended audience.  Our company does not share personal information about its visitors or members with these advertisers or joint venture companies.

Responses to e-mail inquiries.  When visitors or members send e-mail inquiries to our company, the return e-mail address is used to answer the e-mail inquiry we receive.  Our company does not use the return e-mail address for any other purpose and does not share the return e-mail address with any third party.

Voluntary customer surveys.  We may periodically conduct both business and individual customer surveys.  We encourage our customers to participate in the surveys because they provide us with important information that helps us to improve the types of products and services we offer and how we provide them to you.  Your personal information and responses will remain strictly confidential, even if the surveys conducted by a third party.  Participation in our customer surveys is voluntary.

We may take the information we receive from individuals responding to our customer surveys and combine (or aggregate) it with the responses of other customers we may have, to create broader, generic responses to the survey questions (such as gender, age, residence, hobbies, education, employment, industry sector, or other demographic information).  We then use the aggregated information to improve the quality of our services to you, and to develop new services and products.  This aggregated, non-personally identifying information may be shared with third parties.

Special cases.  It is our company's policy not to use or share the personal information about visitors or members in ways unrelated to the ones described above without also providing you an opportunity to opt out or otherwise prohibit such unrelated uses.

However, we may disclose personal information about visitors or members, or information regarding your use of the services or web sites accessible through our services, for any reason if, in our sole discretion, we believe that it is reasonable to do so, including: credit agencies, collection agencies, merchant database agencies, law enforcement, or to satisfy laws, such as the Electronics Communications Privacy Act, the Child Online Privacy Act, regulations, or governmental our legal request for such information; to disclose information that is necessary to identify, contact, or bring legal action against someone who may be violating our acceptable use policy or terms of service, or other user policies; to operate the services properly; or to protect our company and our members.

"Cookies" and our company use of them.  A "cookie" is a small data file that can be placed on your hard drive when you visit certain web sites.  Our company may use cookies to collect, store and sometimes track information for statistical purposes or improve the products and services we provide and to manage our telecommunications networks.

If you are a visitor or member, we may use a cookie to save your settings and to provide customizable and personalized services.  These cookies do not enable third parties to access any of your customer information.  Additionally, be aware that if you visit other web sites where you are prompted to log in or that are customizable, you may be required to except cookies.

Advertisers and partners may also use their own cookies.  We do not control use of these cookies and expressly disclaim responsibility for information collected through them.

Our Company Commitment to Children's Privacy.  Protecting children's privacy is especially important to us.  It is our policy to comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 and all other applicable laws.  Therefore, we restrict our web site to persons 18 years or older.

You must be 18 years or older to access this web site.  If you are under 18 years of age, you are not permitted to access this web site for any reason.  Due to the age restrictions for use of this web site, no information obtained by this web site, falls within the Child Online Privacy Act (COPA) and is not monitored as doing so.

Public forums.  Please understand that any information you may disclose in any member directory, or other public areas of our web sites or the Internet, becomes public information.  You should exercise caution when deciding to disclose personal information and these public areas.

Our company's commitment to data security.  Services and web sites we sponsor have security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under our control.  While we make every effort to ensure the integrity and security of our network and systems, we cannot guarantee that our security measures will prevent third-party quote "Hackers" from illegally obtaining this information.

Where to direct questions about our privacy policy.  If you have any questions about this privacy policy or the practices described herein, you may contact us through the contact information provided on this web site.

Revisions to this policy.  Our Company reserves the right to revise, amend, or modify this policy, our Terms of Service agreement, and our other policies and agreements at any time and in any manner by updating this posting.

Last updated October 20, 2004.