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Our Commitment to
Privacy
Our Privacy Policy was developed as an
extension of our commitment to combine the highest quality services
with the highest level of integrity in dealing with our members and
guests. The Policy is designed to assist you in understanding how we
collect, use and safeguard the personal information you provide to
us and to assist you in making informed decisions when using our
site and services. This statement will be continuously assessed
against new technologies, business practices and our members' needs.
What Information Do We Collect?
When
you visit our Web site you may provide us with two types of
information: personal information you knowingly choose to disclose
that is collected on an individual basis and Web site use
information collected on an aggregate basis as you and others browse
our Web site.
1. Personal Information You Choose to
Provide
Email Information
If
you choose to correspond further with us through email, we may
retain the content of your email messages together with your email
address and our responses. We provide the same protections for these
electronic communications that we employ in the maintenance of
information received by mail and telephone.
2. Web
Site Use Information
Similar to other commercial
Web sites, our Web site utilizes a standard technology called
“cookies” (see explanation below, “What Are Cookies?”) and Web
server logs to collect information about how our Web site is used.
Information gathered through cookies and Web server logs may include
the date and time of visits, the pages viewed, time spent at our Web
site, and the Web sites visited just before and just after our Web
site. This information is collected on an aggregate basis. None of
this information is associated with you as an individual.
How Do We Use the Information That You Provide to
Us?
Broadly speaking, we use personal information for
purposes of administering our business activities, providing
customer service and making available other products and services to
our customers and prospective customers. Occasionally, we may also
use the information we collect to notify you about important changes
to our Web site, new services and special offers we think you will
find valuable. The lists used to send you product and service offers
are developed and managed under our traditional corporate standards
designed to safeguard the security and privacy of our customers’
personal information. As a customer, you will be given the
opportunity, at least once annually, to notify us of your desire not
to receive these offers.
What Are Cookies?
Cookies are a feature of Web browser software that allows Web
servers to recognize the computer used to access a Web site. Cookies
are small pieces of data that are stored by a user’s Web browser on
the user’s hard drive. Cookies can remember what information a user
accesses on one Web page to simplify subsequent interactions with
that Web site by the same user or to use the information to
streamline the user’s transactions on related Web pages. This makes
it easier for a user to move from Web page to Web page and to
complete commercial transactions over the Internet. Cookies should
make your online experience easier and more personalized.
How Do We Use Information We Collect from
Cookies?
We use Web site browser software tools such as
cookies and Web server logs to gather information about our Web site
users’ browsing activities, in order to constantly improve our Web
site and better serve our customers. This information assists us to
design and arrange our Web pages in the most user-friendly manner
and to continually improve our Web site to better meet the needs of
our customers and prospective customers.
Cookies help us
collect important business and technical statistics. The information
in the cookies lets us trace the paths followed by users to our Web
site as they move from one page to another. Web server logs allow us
to count how many people visit our Web site and evaluate our Web
site’s visitor capacity.
How Do We Secure
Information Transmissions?
When you send confidential
personal credit card information to us on our Web site, a secure
server software which we have licensed encrypts all information you
input before it is sent to us. The information is encoded from your
web browser and decoded once it reaches our Web site.
Other
email that you may send to us may not be secure unless we advise you
that security measures will be in place prior to your transmitting
the information. For that reason, we ask that you do not send
confidential information such as Social Security or account numbers
to us through an unsecured email.
How Do We
Protect Your Information?
Information
Security. We utilize encryption/security software to
safeguard the confidentiality of personal information we collect
from unauthorized access or disclosure and accidental loss,
alteration or destruction.
Evaluation of Information
Protection Practices. Periodically, our operations and
business practices are reviewed for compliance with corporate
policies and procedures governing the security, confidentiality and
quality of our information.
Employee Access,
Training and Expectations. Our corporate values, ethical
standards, policies and practices are committed to the protection of
customer information. In general, our business practices limit
employee access to confidential information, and limit the use and
disclosure of such information to authorized persons, processes and
transactions.
What About Legally Compelled
Disclosure of Information?
We may disclose information
when legally compelled to do so, in other words, when we, in good
faith, believe that the law requires it or for the protection of our
legal rights.
What About Other Web Sites Linked to
Our Web Site?
We are not responsible for the practices
employed by Web sites linked to or from our Web site nor the
information or content contained therein. Often links to other Web
sites are provided solely as pointers to information on topics that
may be useful to the users of our Web site.
Please remember
that when you use a link to go from our Web site to another Web
site, our Privacy Policy is no longer in effect. Your browsing and
interaction on any other Web site, including Web sites which have a
link on our Web site, is subject to that Web site’s own rules and
policies. Please read over those rules and policies before
proceeding.
Your Consent
By using our
Web site you consent to our collection and use of your personal
information as described in this Privacy Policy. If we change our
privacy policies and procedures, we will post those changes on our
Web site to keep you aware of what information we collect, how we
use it and under what circumstances we may disclose
it. |
