In brief terms, we don't like spam or
excessive or abusive e-mail or the misuse of information any more than you do. Your privacy and any personal information we collect in the course of doing business is secure with us. You may opt out of any subscription or unsubscribe from any e-mail list at any time by contacting the Company or by using the link at the end of any e-mail. In addition, if The Gay Publishing Company ever changes owners or management, you will be notified in advance and given the opportunity to have your records purged.
Last Revised: July 31, 2009
Now, in not-so-brief terms,
we are required to post this additional information, which includes informing you that your use of this Web site, or "network," which is operated and administered by The Gay Publishing Company (hereafter known as the "Company" or "we" or "our"), constitutes your acceptance of this Privacy Statement (hereafter known as the "statement"), as well as the terms and conditions contained in our Terms of Use Agreement and our Community Content Policy. You are responsible for reviewing and becoming familiar with the terms on all three of these pages and for acting in accordance with the guidelines and rules in them.
Note that, unless a more specific statement exists for a part of this network, this comprehensive statement applies to the Company's network as a whole but not necessarily to any third-party or contracted companies we do business with (though these companies likely have their own privacy policies) or to people that the Company does not employ or manage. Because the Company's network is global, information about you that we collect or that you submit may be transferred to, processed in, and held by countries other than the United States or the country in which you reside. By using the network, you explicitly consent to such use of your information. This statement complies with the International Safe Harbor Privacy Principles of the European Commission Directive on Data Protection.
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Information Collection and Use
The Company may collect information of a personal nature when you visit our primary Web site or a page of certain affiliated sites, when you register as a member, when you use one of our products or services, and when you enter contests. Such information may include your name, your e-mail address, your birth date, your gender, your ZIP code, your occupation and industry affiliation, and some personal interests.
As you use our network, we may continue to collect additional information that is automatically recorded on our server logs. This information may include your computer type and browser information, your IP address, cookie* information, the page or pages you visit, and the time and duration of your visit. Such information is used (i) to assist in research that helps us understand how you use the network so that we may explore and develop improvements in usability and site configuration, (ii) to customize some of the advertising and content you see and better fulfill your requests for products and services, and (iii) to provide anonymous reporting for internal and external clients.
When you register as a member or subscriber or when you participate in certain network activities (such as entering a contest or completing a survey), we may ask that you provide us with demographic information (for example, your gender, age, and ZIP code) and with information through which you could be contacted (for example, your full name, postal or e-mail address, or phone number). Except for aggregate demographic information that we may share with third parties in a manner that does not link such information to any individual, we will not share this personal information with third parties unless you have given us permission to do so.
In addition, when you order products or services through the network, we may ask that you provide us with information (including, your full name, credit card number, and security codes, as well as your mailing address, billing address, and shipping address) we need to enable us to provide you with the requested product or service. We will share such information only with the appropriate third party vendors and only to the extent necessary for placing and fulfilling your order or for completing the activity.
We take all reasonable precautions through the use of physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with federal regulations to protect your personal information from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. We also take reasonable steps to ensure that any personal information we collect is relevant to the purposes for which it is to be used and that such information is handled only by employees who need to come into contact with that information to provide products or services to you or to do their jobs. Any distinct and identifiable personal information we collect is intended exclusively for our own purposes—unless you have granted specific permission for us to share that information with third parties, as required by law—and is highly protected. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE WILL WE EVER RENT OR SELL ANY COLLECTED INFORMATION—NOT EVEN YOUR NAME. If private information is shared with third parties, we do so only in the aggregate and not in a manner that will enable the recipient to personally identify any individual.
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* Cookies and Tracking
Cookie information and "tracking pixels" and "Web beacons" are technologies that allow research into your experience on the network. Examples of information gathered by these technologies include remembering existing purchases as you "wander" through virtual stores, highlighting links to pages you have already visited, and recalling information you have previously entered; cookies also, if directed to do so, enable your user name and password to be saved so you do not have to re-enter the information each time you visit the network or each time you access an area of the network that requires you to log in. In addition, cookies may be used to deliver content that is specific to your interests as well as advertisements that are related to previous searches—as based on links you have selected, areas of the Network you have visited, and products, features, and services you have responded to in the past. Finally, we may use cookies or tracking pixels to follow your searching and browsing patterns in member and author profiles. Doing so enables us to offer you suggestions based on which profiles you browse or respond to, search parameters of searches you conduct, the number of results returned by your searches, how you review, rank, and respond to search results, and how often and by whom your profile is searched or browsed. Such information is stored and used to improve the functionality of the network and to offer additional relevant services.
Cookies and other tracking technologies may be used by third parties who place advertisements on the network to collect information and ensure that their advertising systems and technologies are working properly and to allow them to track responses to their advertisements. Cookies or other tracking technologies that are set by these third parties are governed by the privacy policies established by those third parties. In addition, other third-parties and other Web sites that are provided to you as links throughout our network and its content also probably have their own established privacy policies which supercede and replace this statement. We recommend that you read the privacy policy or statement at each Web site to find out how your personal information is gathered, used, and protected.
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Legally Mandated/Authorized Disclosures and Third-Party Assumptions
As stated elsewhere, we will never rent, sell, or share personal information about you unless we have your specific permission to do so or unless circumstances arise that lead to the following legally mandated and/or authorized disclosures:
- We have to respond to subpoenas, court orders, or other legal process; or we have to establish or exercise our legal rights; or we have to defend the Company against legal claims or demands;
- We believe it necessary in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person;
- We believe it necessary in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding situations the might involve abuse of our network infrastructure or the Internet in general (such as voluminous spamming, denial of service attacks, or attempts to compromise security) or violations of our Terms of Use Agreement or our Community Content Statement;
- We believe such action is necessary as otherwise required by law; or
- We are acquired by or merged with another company. In this event, we will notify you before information about you is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy statement or policy.
Note that third-party advertisers, including ad-serving companies, may assume that users who view targeted ads on our network and click through to the advertiser's site meet predefined targeting criteria—for example, lesbian women of a certain age range from a particular geographic area—even though the advertiser has collected no information from our network. Such an event may support the appearance that we have revealed personal information to the advertiser; however, you, by interacting with the ad, are providing the advertiser information based on the fact you have been tracked from an ad on our network. In interacting with the ad, you are thereby playing to the advertiser's assumption that you meet the targeting criteria used to display the ad.
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Deletion of Information
Personal information may be deactivated and deleted from public access at any time. To do so, send your request in writing by surface mail to the Company. Note that (1) we will retain one copy of your personal information in back-up storage after deactivation for a period of three years, and (2) we are not responsible for removing personal information about you from the records of any third parties with whom you interacted directly or to whom you previously authorized us to share your personal information.
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Information from Minors
The Company does not solicit or accept personal information from minors under the age of eighteen and discourages such minors from voluntarily surrendering or mentioning any personal information, including their names and names of direct friends and family members, their physical descriptions and descriptions of direct friends and family members, their phone numbers, their e-mail addresses, and even descriptions of schools, workplaces, and landmarks near their physical address.
If you are under the age of thirteen, you may be involved in our community only with the accompanying involvement of a parent or guardian. If you are between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, we invite you to participate with the knowledge and approval of a parent or guardian. If you are between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, you will not be solicited for subscriptions; your request for a subscription will be honored only with the knowledge and approval of a parent or guardian. The Company reserves the right to refuse service, terminate accounts, remove or edit content, or cancel orders for members under the age of eighteen at any time without notice.
In any case in which the user identifies himself or herself as a minor or in which we suspect the user is in actuality a minor, we will observe the following rules and guidelines in addition to those stated elsewhere in this statement:
- We will require written consent from a parent or guardian before any level of participation is granted to the minor applicant.
- Parents and/or guardians will be allowed to review, edit, and delete information relating to the minor's account.
- If we discover that we have collected any personal information from a minor without the knowledge and approval of a parent or guardian, we will remove the information from our database as soon as possible after a written request is submitted to the Company.
In addition, we agree not to knowingly contact minors about special offers or for marketing purposes without a parent's or guardian's permission and we will not not ask a minor for more personal information than is reasonably necessary to register as a member or participate in a given activity or promotion.
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Modifications to Statement
Due to changes in legislation, best practices, or enhancements in functionality and content, we may make occasional modifications to our privacy statement. Those changes will be reflected on this page, and you will be responsible for its periodic review. If we make any significant changes to the way in which we treat your personal information, we will inform you of such changes via e-mail to the primary address on record or by posting a prominent notice in relevant areas of the network. If no such notification is made within a one-year period, an e-mail announcement or posted notice will provide an annual reminder to review this statement, as well as the Terms of Use Agreement and the Community Content Policy. If you have any questions about this statement, please feel free to contact the Company.
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