Ultimate Resource Guides
Privacy Policy
PRIVACY POLICY
Ultimate Resource Guides, a brand of Mad Science Industries, Inc. is strongly committed to protecting your privacy and providing a safe online experience for all of its users and subscribers while offering the highest quality publications and services to them. Because we gather certain types of information about and from users and subscribers so that we can fulfill your requests and better serve your needs, we feel you should fully understand the terms and conditions surrounding the collection and use of this information.
OVERVIEW
The privacy practices of this statement apply to our services available under the domain and sub domains of www.ultimateresourceguides.com (the "Site") and apply generally to our subsidiaries or joint venture web sites whose specific privacy policies are available from on their respective home pages. By visiting this web site you agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree please do not use or access our Site.
This privacy policy, while it may seem long, is intended to be as complete and detailed possible for your benefit. This privacy policy contains an overview of the types of information that we collect from you, and what may or may not happen to that information.
CHILDREN'S PRIVACY
Children, any persons under the age of eighteen (18), are not eligible to use our Site(s) unsupervised and we ask that children do not submit any personal information to us. If you are under the age of 18, you may only use this Site in conjunction with and under the supervision of your parents or guardians.
We do not knowingly collect personal information online from children under 13 and have adopted techniques to age-screen users to ensure compliance with this Privacy Policy and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA). COPPA and its accompanying regulations establish United States federal law that protects the privacy of children using the Internet. We encourage all parents to talk to their kids about online safety and to monitor their children's use of the Internet.
WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU?
You can visit our web sites, read articles and other materials, and check on offerings without giving us any personally identifiable information. In order to provide our users and subscribers with the most efficient and enhanced, personalized service, we request information about you in certain circumstances. 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 beforehand or in very special circumstances, such as when we believe that such disclosure is required by law or other special cases described below.
REGISTRATION
Persons registering for services, (the "Members") may be asked to provide certain personal information when they sign up for our 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 Member's account (such as for billing purposes). This information is not shared with third parties, unless specifically stated otherwise or in special circumstances. Financial information is not held by our company, but instead by our payment processor. Therefore this information is not used by our company beyond the act of billing.
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 non-affiliated 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. It is our policy to never share personal information with third parties unless given your explicit permission, or unless required by law to do otherwise.
Additionally, our partners may have advertisements or co-branded Web Pages that are cosponsored by an affiliate, independent contractor seller, or non-affiliated 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, catalog or new product and service updates. In many cases, you may be asked to provide contact information, such as your name, address, email 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' 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 our online advertisements. In those cases we share aggregated and non-identifying 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 an advertisement 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 EMAIL INQUIRIES
When Visitors or Members send email inquiries to our company, the return email address is used to answer the email inquiry we receive. Our company does not use the return email address for any other purpose and does not share the return email address with any third party.
VOLUNTARY CUSTOMER SURVEYS & FEEDBACK
We may periodically conduct both business and individual customer surveys. We may also collect feedback in various ways. We encourage our customers to participate in these 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, unless your permission is requested and given, even if the survey is 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 of 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 Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the Child Online Privacy Act, regulations, or governmental or legal requests for such information; to disclose information that is necessary to identify, contact, or bring legal action against someone who may be violating our Terms Of Service, or other user policies; to operate the Services properly; or to protect our company and our Members.
"COOKIES" AND HOW WE USE THEM
Our company may use cookies to collect, store, and sometimes track information for statistical purposes to 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 accept 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.
PUBLIC FORUMS
Please remember 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 in 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 "hackers" from illegally obtaining this information.
CHANGES IN CORPORATE STRUCTURE
In developing our business, we might sell certain assets, or the company, or parts of it, may be sold, merged or otherwise transferred. In such transactions, user information, whether personally identifiable or otherwise, may be one of the transferred assets.
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 at the following e-mail address: privacy@ultimateresourceguides.com
REVISIONS TO THIS POLICY
We will occasionally update this Privacy Policy as necessary to protect our users and to comply with a changing environment. We recommend that you check the policy when you visit our site to be sure you are aware of and understand our current policy. We will not make material changes in how we handle previously collected personal information that have retroactive effect unless legally required to do so. We reserve the right to change this policy at any time for any reason without notice. Any changes will be posted to this page at the time of the change and will be effective seven (7) days after that posting.
Last Update February 2004.