SMS Privacy Policy

You agree to this Privacy Policy, in its entirety, when you

Access or use our Site;
Register as an interactive member on the Site (“Commenter”);
Register for our services via co-registration on another website; and/or
Register as a content producer on the Site (“Contributor”).

If you do not agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy in its entirety, you are not authorized to become a Commenter, Contributor and/or use the Site or any other offerings in any manner or form whatsoever. Please note, if you are a resident of a European Union Member State, you are not permitted to use the Site, become a Commenter and/or Contributor, and/or otherwise use any other offerings.

Below are links to key sections of our Privacy Policy:

Personally Identifiable Information Collected

Non-Personally Identifiable Information Collected

Behavioral Tracking

Use and Sharing of PII

Security of Your Personal Information

Children’s Privacy

Changes to this Privacy Policy

Deleting, Modifying and Updating Your Information

Opting-Out/Unsubscribe

Personally Identifiable Information Collected:

We collect PII when you register or sign up to be a Commenter, Contributor and/or for this company’s offerings. PII includes any information that can be used to identify or locate a particular person or entity. The PII that we request in connection with the registration process may include, but is not limited to, your: (a) full name; (b) e-mail address; (c) mailing address; (c) daytime and/or cellular telephone numbers; (d) date of birth; and/or (e) any other information requested on the applicable form. We may also collect your PII when you otherwise agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy, but do not complete the applicable registration process in full.

Non-Personally Identifiable Information Collected:

We may collect certain Non-Personally Identifiable Information (“Non-PII”) about you when you visit any of the Site’s pages, such as the type of browser you are using (e.g., Internet Explorer, Google Chrome), the type of operating system you are using, (e.g., Windows, IOS) and the domain name of your Internet service provider (e.g., Verizon, Time Warner). We use the Non-PII that we collect to improve the design and content of the Site and to enable us to personalize your Internet experience. We also may use this information in the aggregate to analyze Site usage.

Cookies:

When a user visits the Site, we may send one (1) or more cookies and/or gif files (collectively, “Cookies”) to assign an anonymous, unique identifier to the applicable user’s computer or other device. A Cookie is a piece of data stored on your hard drive containing non-personally identifiable information about you. Cookies have many benefits to enhance your experience at the Site. To find out more about Cookies, please visit www.cookiecentral.com. We use Cookies to improve the quality of the Site, including for storing user preferences, improving ad selection and tracking Site-user trends (such as pages opened and length of stay at the Site). Most Internet browsers are initially set up to accept Cookies, but you can reset your browser to refuse all Cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. To disable and reject certain Cookies, follow the instructions associated with your Internet browser. Even in the case where a user rejects a Cookie, he or she may still use the Site; provided, however, that certain functions of the Site and/or offerings may be impaired or rendered inoperable if the use of Cookies is disabled. We reserve the right to retain Cookie data indefinitely.

Behavioral Tracking:

We allow third-party companies to collect certain information when users visit our Site. These third party entities may utilize cookies, pixels or other tracking technologies to collect non-personally identifiable information (e.g., click stream information, browser type, time and date, subject of advertisements clicked or scrolled over) during your visits to the Site and other websites in order to serve you with advertisements about goods and services likely to be of greater interest to you. In general, users may be able to disable some, but not all, of this tracking activity by utilizing the “Do Not Track” setting or similar options within most major Internet browsers. To learn more about these behavioral advertising practices, and/or to opt-out of this type of advertising where available, you can visit the websites of the Digital Advertising Alliance at www.aboutads.info or Networking Advertising Initiative at www.networkadvertising.org/choices.

Cross Device Tracking:

We track your use of our offerings across various devices, including your personal computer and mobile device, in order to optimize and personalize your experience. We may collect certain of your PII across various devices.

Use and Sharing of PII:

We use the PII that you supply to personalize your experience with the Site. The PII that you submit to us remains your property, but by submitting that PII you grant us the right, subject to applicable state and federal law, to use that PII for marketing purposes. We will never share, rent, and/or sell your data for marketing purposes. No mobile information will be shared with third parties/affiliates for marketing/promotional purposes. All the above categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties. Your approval to receive text messages from us does not transfer to any of our partners. You will have to give them approval to send you any messages via SMS.

You also agree that we may contact you at any time with updates and/or any other information that we may deem appropriate for you to receive in connection with your continued use of the Site and/or our offerings.

We will also use your PII for customer service, to provide you with information that you may request, to customize your experience with the presented offerings and/or to contact you when necessary in connection with your use of the offerings. We may also use your PII for internal business purposes, such as analyzing and managing our service offerings including, without limitation, the offerings. We may also combine the information we have gathered about you with information from other sources.

By submitting your PII by and through the offerings, you agree that such act constitutes an inquiry and/or application for purposes of the Amended Telemarketing Sales Rule (16 CFR §310 et seq.), as amended from time to time (the “Rule”) and applicable state do-not-call regulations. As such, notwithstanding that your telephone number may be listed on the Federal Trade Commission’s Do-Not-Call List, and/or on applicable state do-not-call lists, we retain the right to contact you via SMS in accordance with the Rule and applicable state do-not-call regulations.

Where you provide “prior express consent” within the meaning of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (47 USC § 227), and its implementing regulations adopted by the Federal Communications Commission (47 CFR § 64.1200), as amended from time-to-time (“TCPA”), you consent to receive SMS text messages from us, delivered via automated technology, to the telephone number(s) that you provided. Furthermore, where you provide prior express consent, you understand and agree that we may use a third party vendor to record and store your registration and consent for compliance purposes. Please note that you are not required to provide this consent in order to obtain access to the offerings, and your consent simply allows us to contact you via these means.

Please be advised that by agreeing to this Privacy Policy, you are obligated to immediately inform us if and when the telephone number that you have previously provided to us changes. Without limiting the foregoing, if you: (i) have your telephone number reassigned to another person or entity; (ii) give up your telephone number so that it is no longer used by you; (iii) port your telephone number to a landline or vice versa; or (iv) otherwise stop using that telephone number for any reason (collectively “Phone Number Change”), you agree that you shall promptly notify us of the Phone Number Change via e-mail at the email address provided below.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Privacy Policy, We reserve the right to release current or past PII: (A) in the event that we believe that the Site is being or has been used in violation of our Terms and Conditions, or to otherwise commit unlawful acts; (B) if the information is subpoenaed; provided, however, that, where permitted by applicable law, we shall provide you with e-mail notice, and opportunity to challenge the subpoena, prior to disclosure of any PII pursuant to a subpoena; or (C) if this company is sold, merged, acquired or the subject of bankruptcy proceedings; provided, however, if it is involved in a bankruptcy proceeding, merger, acquisition or sale of all or a portion of its assets, you will be notified via email and/or a prominent notice on the Site of any change in ownership or uses of your PII, as well as any choices that you may have regarding your PII.

You hereby consent to the disclosure of any record or communication to any third-party when we, in our sole discretion, determine the disclosure to be appropriate including, without limitation, sharing your e-mail address with third-parties for suppression purposes in compliance with applicable law, including the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, as amended from time-to-time. Users should also be aware that courts of equity, such as U.S. Bankruptcy Courts, might have the authority under certain circumstances to permit PII to be shared or transferred to third-parties without permission.

External Links:

The Site may contain links to external websites (“External Websites”). Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of External Websites. We encourage you to be aware when you leave the Site and to read the privacy policies of each and every website that collects PII. This Privacy Policy applies solely to information collected by the Site.

Security of Your Personal Information:

All collected information is stored in a technically and physically secure environment. We take precautions to protect PII both online and off-line. Where our registration/application process prompts Users to enter sensitive data (such as credit card information and/or Social Security Number), and when we store and transmit such sensitive data, that information is encrypted with advanced TLS (Transport Layer Security). Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your PII, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information that you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk. Once we receive your transmission, we make reasonable efforts to ensure its security on our systems. All of our users’ information, not just PII, is restricted in our offices. Only employees who need the information to perform a specific job are granted access to PII. Furthermore, access to this information is strictly limited, and not accessible to the public. Our employees are dedicated to ensuring the security and privacy of all user information. Employees not adhering to our firm policies are subject to disciplinary action. Please note that any attempt to breach the security of the network, our servers, databases or other hardware or software supporting the Site or other websites under our control constitutes a crime punishable by law. We will turn over to authorities, any and all evidence relating to a potential breach of security or other abuse against our network, servers, databases or other such supporting equipment or software. In compliance with applicable federal and state laws, we shall notify you in the event that we learn of an information security breach with respect to your PII. You will be notified via e-mail in the event of such a breach. Please be advised that notice may be delayed in order to address the needs of law enforcement, determine the scope of network damage, and to engage in remedial measures.

Children’s Privacy:

We encourage parents and guardians to spend time online with their children and to participate and monitor the interactive activities of their children. We will never knowingly collect any personal information from individuals under eighteen (18) years of age. If we obtain actual knowledge that it has collected personal information of a minor, that information will be immediately deleted from our database.

Deleting, Modifying and Updating Your Information:

At your request, we will inform you of what PII we have on file for you. In addition, at your request, we will modify and/or remove PII that you have provided to us, or that we have collected. You may do so by sending your request via certified mail to our address or email address provided below. We ask individual users to identify themselves and the information requested to be accessed, corrected or removed before processing such requests, and we may decline to process requests that are unreasonably repetitive or systematic, require disproportionate technical effort, jeopardize the privacy of others or would be extremely impractical (for instance, requests concerning information residing on backup tapes). Please be advised that, after you delete your PII, residual copies may take a period of time before they are deleted from our active servers and may remain in our backup systems.

Changes to this Privacy Policy:

We reserve the right to change or update this Privacy Policy at any timein order to maintain compliance with applicable state and federal laws. All Privacy Policy changes will take effect immediately upon their posting on the Site; provided, however, that if the manner in which we use PII changes, we will notify users by: (a) sending the modified policy to our users via email; and/or (b) by any other reasonable means acceptable under applicable state and federal law. You will have a choice as to whether or not we use your PII in this different manner and we will only use your information in this different manner where you opt-in to such use.

Opting-Out/Unsubscribe:

To opt-out of receiving SMS text-based marketing (where and to the extent permitted by applicable law), you can follow the instructions at the end of the applicable marketing message or contact us at the email address provided below. Notwithstanding the foregoing, we may continue to contact you for the purpose of communicating information relating to your use of the Site, as well as to respond to any inquiry or request made by you. To opt-out of receiving Site-related and/or inquiry response-related messages from us, you must cease using the Site and cease submitting inquiries, as applicable.

Transfer of Personal Information Internationally:

If you are visiting the Site from a country other than the country in which our servers are located, your communications with us may result in the transfer of information across international boundaries. By visiting the Site and/or otherwise communicating electronically with us, you consent to such transfers. Even if your jurisdiction does not have the same privacy laws as the jurisdiction where our servers are located, we will treat your information as subject to the protections described in this Privacy Policy.

Contact Us:

If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Policy, or would like more information regarding our privacy practices, please contact us by using one of the contact methods provided below.