PRIVACY POLICY
SUMMARY
We want you, our users, to understand how we collect and use data about your Site visit, specifically the portions of the Site that require you to register and/or log in to gain access. The privacy policy below identifies what information the Site collects, and what it is used for. We use cookies, which gather certain forms of information from your computer to help us monitor and improve site usage and performance. Certain web pages may allow you to voluntarily submit personal information about yourself, your residence, or your business so that we can contact you for services in which you express an interest. The Site collects “personally identifiable information”, which is information that identifies you. This may include your name, address, email address, business address, business website, telephone or fax number, IP address, and certain other information, which we explain in more detail below. You can choose not to provide us with this information, but certain portions of the Site may not be available to you.
We do not disclose this information to third parties for their marketing purposes without your prior consent, but we do use third party software and services to assist us with collecting and analyzing information regarding use of the Site. However, your business contact information may be shared on our website if you choose this option. We may also disclose your information to others for other purposes, particularly if required to do so by law. The privacy policy for the Site is set forth below and you should contact us if you have questions or concerns about this policy or the use of your information.
INFORMATION COLLECTION
User Service Correspondence. We and our third-party service providers may also collect personal information related to user service correspondence. This information may include e-mails, internet chats, faxes, or telephone calls directed to our user service centers. We process this information to provide you with user services, handle your complaints or disputes, measure and improve our user services, and to detect and prevent fraud or violations of our legal obligations. We will only retain user service information as long as is reasonably required to carry out our business purposes or to comply with applicable legal obligations.
Surveys, Membership Events, and Contests. We may occasionally request information from you via surveys, membership events, or contests. Your participation in these surveys, membership events or contests is completely voluntary. The information that we request typically includes your contact details. If you choose to participate, the information that you provide will be shared with the contest/survey sponsors. Survey information may also be used to monitor and improve the content and performance of the Site.
ONLINE ACTIVITY AND TRACKING
Use of Cookies. Cookies refer to small bits of data that are based on your internet activity and stored as text files by your internet browser on your computer’s hard drive. Through the use of cookies, we may collect information about your location and your online activity on the Site, such as the specific web pages that you visit, the links you click, and the serves you perform on the Site. When you visit other websites where we advertise, we or a third party may use data collected on the Site to show you interest-based advertisements. Although most internet browsers are initially set to accept cookies, you can generally find a “help” section on the browser toolbar that will inform you how to stop accepting cookies, to be notified when you receive a browser cookie, and to disable existing browser cookies. However, without browser cookies you will be unable to take advantage of all the features that the Site has to offer.
Use of Web Beacons. Web beacons are tiny graphics embedded on a website that allow the website to transfer or collect information through a graphic image request. We may use web beacons to collect information about your web browsing activities to help us determine if a particular webpage on the Site has been visited, and, if so, how many times. This information permits us or third parties to deliver interest-based advertisements, measure the overall effectiveness of our online advertising, and to customize the services offered to the Site’s users. We do not tie the information gathered by web beacons to our users’ personally identifiable information. Certain pages on our site contain “web beacons” (also known as Internet tags, pixel tags and clear GIFs). These web beacons allow third parties to obtain information such as the IP address of the computer that downloaded the page on which the beacon appears, the URL of the page on which the beacon appears, the time the page containing the beacon was viewed, the type of browser used to view the page, and the information in cookies set by the third party. We use log files to store the data that is collected through web beacons. M4F also uses third party web beacons to help manage online advertising. These web beacons are provided by our ad management partners, Google Analytics, and Adobe. These files enable Google Analytics and Adobe to recognize a unique cookie on your web browser, which in turn enables us to learn which advertisements bring users to our web site. The cookie on your web browser was placed by M4F, or by another advertiser who works with Google Analytics. With both cookies and web beacon technology, the information that we collect and share is anonymous and not personally identifiable. It does not contain your name, address, telephone number, or email address. For more information about Google Analytics, including information about how to opt out of these technologies, go to www.google-analytics.com. For more information about Adobe, including how to opt out of these technologies, go to www.adobe.com.
Third Parties. As noted above, we have relationships with third party service providers to place advertisements on our behalf on other websites, to perform tracking and other similar functions for the Site and our advertisements, and to assist us in providing you with user services. While we do not share your personal information with these companies, they may automatically collect information about your visit to the Site, other Sites, your IP address, your browser and your network by using cookies and web beacons. Such information may be used to present you with advertisements tailored to your interests, to provide you with user service, and to better understand how the Site is used, among other things. Any information collected by such third parties via cookies or web beacons is not linked to any personal information that we collect from you. The use of cookies and web beacons by third parties is governed by their privacy policies, not this Web Privacy Policy. Visit the Digital Advertising Alliance’s Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising to opt out of interest-based advertising from participating companies.
USE AND DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION
On certain of our Site pages where you have submitted detailed information concerning potential products or services, we will use this information only for the purposes of contacting you and determining which product or services may be most relevant to you. We will not share this information with any third party for their own marketing purposes without your prior consent.
We may also disclose personally identifiable information in order to respond to a subpoena, court order or other such request. We may also provide such personally identifiable information in response to a law enforcement agency’s request or as otherwise required by law. We may provide your personally identifiable information to a third party if we file for bankruptcy, or there is a transfer of the assets or ownership in connection with proposed or consummated corporate reorganizations, such as mergers, acquisitions, or sales of business units.
Uses by Third-Parties. We may also provide your personally identifiable information to third party service providers that help us to provide you with products and services. These third-party service providers have access to such information on a confidential basis and only to the extent necessary to perform their requested functions.
We do not provide your personally identifiable information to any third party for their own marketing purposes without your prior request or consent. You should know in advance that each of these companies has its own policies with respect to the collection and use of personal information and that we are not responsible for their use of your information.
OTHER WEBSITES
The information practices of those websites linked to our Site are not covered by this Policy. We are not responsible for the privacy policies of websites to which the Site links. If you provide any information to such third parties, different rules regarding the collection and use of your PII may apply. We strongly suggest you review such third party’s privacy policies before providing any data to them. These other sites may send their own cookies or web beacons to users, collect data or solicit personally identifiable information. We cannot control this collection of information. You should contact these entities directly if you have any questions about their use of the information that they collect.