1. Introduction
By accepting this Privacy
Policy and our Statement of Terms and Conditions of Use (ÒTerms of UseÓ), you
expressly consent to our use and disclosure of your personal information in the
manner described in this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy is incorporated
into and subject to the Terms of Use.
Atama Group LLC, (ÒweÓ,
ÒusÓ), which owns and operates the Atama Group website (our ÒSiteÓ), has
created this privacy policy (the ÒPrivacy PolicyÓ) as part of our commitment to
helping our users better understand what information we collect about them and
what we may do with that information. The following discloses our information
gathering and dissemination practices for our Site.
We understand the
concerns that you may have about your privacy and respect your right to protect
your personal information while online. Our Site provides a fun way for adults
to get the general publicÕs opinion of how they look, a way for adults to meet
each other, and the opportunity to view and rate how others look and various
other services (our Site and such services, collectively, our ÒServiceÓ). As
part of the normal operation of our Service we, therefore, collect and, in some
cases, may disclose information about you. Accordingly, by submitting your
photograph and/or any personal information, you thereby waive any privacy
expectations you have with respect to our use of your likeness or personal
information provided to us in connection with the Service and the Site. If you
do not wish to have your picture or information about yourself that you provided
viewed by or disclosed to other users, do not use our Service.
2. A
Special Note Concerning Children
Children are not eligible
to use our Service. We ask that minors (under the age of 18) not submit any
personal information to us. We do not knowingly collect any personal
information from children under the age of 13.
3. Information We Collect
Our primary goal in
collecting personal information is to provide you with a smooth, efficient and
customized experience. This allows us to provide services and features and to
customize our Service to make your experience better.
We collect two types of
information: personally identifiable information (PII) and non-personally
identifiable information (Non-PII), which is also referred to as aggregate and
anonymous data. We collect this information in a variety of ways through the features
provided on our Sites, such as registration, when you communicate or otherwise
interact with us, contests or promotions, or when you
purchase a product or service through our Site. Providing us with PII is your
choice, and you can always choose not to provide certain information, but then
you may not be able to take advantage of some of the SiteÕs features.
(a) Personally
Identifiable Information
PII is data used to
identify, contact or locate a person, including name, address, telephone number
or email address.
(b) Non-Personally
Identifiable Information
Non-PII is information
that is anonymous or not linked to a particular person such as your Internet
Protocol (ÒIPÓ) address.
(c) User Profiles
You agree that we may
feature your public profile information, in, among other places, editorials and
newsletters that we may periodically send out to our users. Your non-public
profile information including real name, email address, postal address and
telephone number are confidential and will not be posted by us in your profile
or used in any editorial or newsletter feature. The Terms of Use prohibit you
from including such information in your profile. Your profile is available for
view on our Site, by both registered users and anonymous visitors who view our Site.
UsersÕ profiles include a description, photos, likes and dislikes, individual
essays, and other information helpful in rating and communicating with that
user. Your viewable profile does not include any identifying information about
you, except the photo(s) you choose to submit and the username you chose upon
registering.
(d) Use of Cookies
We use data collection
and persistence devices such as ÒcookiesÓ on certain pages of our Site for
practical purposes. ÒCookiesÓ are small files placed in memory and/or disk on
your computer that assist us in providing customized services and better
functionality as you move from page to page within our Site. Cookies make the
personalization of your Internet experiences possible. For example, without the
use of cookie files, it would be virtually impossible for us to remember your
username and password as you click from page to page and you would need to
log-in over and over again as you interact with pages of site that need to know
who you are what actions you have taken in previous pages of a session. We also
offer certain features that are only available through the use of a Òcookie.
You are always free to decline our cookies if your browser permits; however,
many aspects of our Service may not work properly without them.
4. Information You
Provide About Yourself While Using our Service
We provide areas on our
Site where you can post information about yourself and others and communicate
with others or upload content such as photographs. Such postings are governed
by our Terms of Use. In addition, such postings may appear on other websites or
when searches are executed on the subject of your posting. Also, whenever you
voluntarily disclose personal information on publicly viewable web pages, that
information will be publicly available and can be collected and used by others.
For example, if you post your email address, you may receive unsolicited
messages. We cannot control who reads your posting or what other users may do
with the information you voluntarily post, so we encourage you to exercise
discretion and caution with respect to your personal information.
5.
Web Beacons and Web Bugs
Generally, a Web beacon
consists of a small string of software code that represents a graphic image
request on a Web page in an email message. There may or may not be a visible
graphic image associated with the Web beacon and often the image is designed to
blend into the background of a Web page or email. Web beacons can be used for
many purposes – including site traffic reporting, unique visitor counts,
advertising auditing and reporting, and personalization. The Web beacons on our
Site collect only Non-PII or anonymous data. We may use Web beacons to do the
following: count users who have visited specific pages or access certain
cookies; monitor traffic and conversion patterns through our various product
and other offerings on our Site; personalize your experience when you visit our
Site, including the advertising content you see; and determine whether or not
messages were opened, links were clicked or notifications/offers were acted
upon.
6. Our Use of Your
Information
We use information in the
files we maintain about you, and the other information we obtain from your
current and past activities on the Site, to resolve disputes, troubleshoot
problems and enforce our Terms of Use. At times, we may review the data of
multiple users to identify problems or resolve disputes.
You agree that we may use
PII to improve our marketing and promotional efforts, to analyze Site usage,
improve our content and product offerings, and customize our SiteÕs content,
layout, and services. These uses improve our Site and may better tailor it to
meet your needs.
You agree that we may use
your information to contact you and to deliver information to you regarding
your account, administrative notices, newsletters and/or alerts for which you
have opted-in and may cancel at any time, product offerings and communications
relevant to your use of the Site. We collect all email addresses that you
provide to us, and communicate with you via email in accordance with your
preferences. When creating a user profile, you select the notifications that
you wish to receive from us. For users that pay for our subscription service,
we occasionally notify those users by email about account renewal dates,
cancellations, changes in service or other operational concerns fundamental to
the delivery of a high quality paid experience. We do not share your email
address with any other users of our Site, including paid subscribers. While we
may maintain a copy of your email address if you send us an unsolicited email
inquiry, we will not alter the email notifications that you have selected.
If you do not wish to
receive all of these communications, you may opt out of the receipt of certain
communications when creating or editing your user profile or by clicking
ÒunsubscribeÓ in any email communications from us. By accepting this Privacy
Policy and not changing your notification preferences, you expressly agree to
receive this information. To edit this information you can, at any time, log-in to your account and go to the ÒEdit Account SettingsÓ
section of the profile where each key type of personal information and opt-in
is clearly displayed and easy to change. You can also learn more about opting
out of these communications by reading the Frequently Asked Questions section
of our online Help area.
7.
Our Disclosure of Your Information
Due to the regulatory
environment in which we operate, we cannot ensure that all of your private
communications and other PII will never be disclosed in ways not otherwise
described in this Privacy Policy. By way of example (without limiting any of
the foregoing), we may be required to disclose information to the government,
law enforcement agencies or third parties. Under certain circumstances, third
parties may unlawfully intercept or access transmissions or private
communications, or users may abuse or misuse your information that they collect
from our Site. Accordingly, although we use industry standard practices to
protect your privacy, we do not guarantee, and you should not expect, that your
PII or private communications will always remain
private.
As a matter of policy, we
do not sell or rent any PII about you to any third party. However, the following
describes some of the ways that your PII may be used or disclosed.
8. Advertisers
We may aggregate (gather
up data across multiple usersÕ accounts) PII and disclose such information in a
non-personally identifiable manner to advertisers and other third parties for
marketing and promotional purposes. However, in these situations, we would not
disclose to these entities any information that could be used to identify you
personally. We do not disclose PII, such as your name, email address, password,
credit card number and bank account number, are never disclosed to marketing
advertisers.
We may use third-party
advertising companies to serve ads on our behalf. These companies may employ
cookies and action tags (also known as single pixel gifs or web beacons) to
measure advertising effectiveness and to better manage the advertising on our Site.
For example, the companies typically gather data about consumers who view their
ads. That data is anonymous – linked only to a numbered cookie on a
userÕs computer. Networks collect and analyze this data to make a variety of
inferences about each consumerÕs interests and preferences. The result is a
profile that attempts to predict the individual consumerÕs tastes, needs, and
purchasing habits. That profile enables the advertising companiesÕ computers to
make split-second decisions about how to deliver ads directly targeted to the
consumerÕs specific interests. This is called online preference marketing.
Some advertisers also
track and analyze anonymous usage and browsing patterns of the visitors to our
Site. All data collected by these third parties on behalf of our Site is owned
and used by us, but is licensed to the third party for the purposes of creating
behavioral information segments. We use this information to help provide our
advertisers with more targeted advertising opportunities, which means that
users see advertising that is most likely to interest them and advertisers send
their messages to people who are most likely to be receptive, improving both
the viewerÕs experience and the effectiveness of the ads. In addition, the
third parties can sell the behavioral information segments to other third
parties for use in ads on other web sites.
9.
Financial Information
Under some circumstances
we may require certain additional information, including but not limited to
your credit card billing information. We use this financial information,
including your name, address, and other information to bill you for use of our
subscription services and products. By purchasing a subscription, making a
purchase, or engaging in any other kind of activity or transaction that uses
financial information on the Site, you consent to our providing of your
financial information to our service providers and to such third parties as we
determine necessary to support and process your activities and transactions, as
well as to your credit card issuer for their purposes. These third parties may
include the credit card companies and banking institutions used to process and
support your transaction or activity. By purchasing, or registering for, or
making reservations for products or services of third parties offered on the
Site, or by participating in programs offered on the Site that are administered
by third parties and that require you to submit financial information in order
to use them, you also consent to our providing your financial information to
those third parties. Any of these various third parties may be authorized to
use your financial information in accordance with our contractual arrangements
with such third parties and in accordance with their own privacy policies, over
which we have no control, and you agree that we are not responsible or liable
for any of their actions or omissions. Additionally, you agree that we may use
and disclose all information submitted to such third parties in the same manner
in which we are entitled to use and disclose any other information that you
submit to us.
10.
Other Corporate Entities
We may share much of our
data, including PII about you, with our parent, subsidiary and other affiliated
companies (each an ÒAffiliateÓ) that are committed to serving your online needs
and related services, throughout the world. To the extent that these entities
have access to your information, they will treat it at least as protectively as
they treat information they obtain from their other users. Our Affiliates will
follow privacy practices no less protective of all users than our practices
described in this document, to the extent allowed by applicable law. It is
possible that we or one or more of our Affiliates, or any combination of such, could
merge with or be acquired by another business entity. In connection with the
due diligence review involving such a potential transaction, we may share some
or all of your PII with potential acquirers, merger partners or investors, and
their agents (including professionals). We would require that these third
parties sign non-disclosure agreements and would endeavor to disclose as little
PII as possible. Should such a combination then in fact occur, you should
expect that we would share some or all of your information in order to continue
to provide the Service.
11. Legal Requests
We cooperate with law
enforcement inquiries, as well as other third parties to enforce laws, such as:
intellectual property rights, fraud and other rights. We can (and you authorize
us to) disclose any information about you to law enforcement and other
government officials as we, in our sole discretion, believe necessary or
appropriate, in connection with any investigation of fraud, potential threats
to the physical safety of any person, violations of our Terms of Use,
intellectual property infringements, or other activity that is illegal or may
expose us or you to legal liability or is necessary to exercise our legal
rights or defend against legal claims. We can (and you authorize us to)
disclose any information about you in response to subpoenas, court orders,
legal process, governmental investigative demands or where we believe, in our
sole discretion, disclosure is necessary to comply with the law.
12. Your Use of Other Users
Information
Our Service may also
include access to instant messaging and chat rooms. As a user you have access
to usersÕ user names, and you might gain access to other contact information of
other users through the regular use of the Service. By accepting this Privacy
Policy, you agree that, with respect to other usersÕ PII that you obtain
through the Service, we hereby grant to you a license to use such information
only for: (a) communications related to the Site that are not unsolicited
commercial messages, and (b) any other purpose to which such user expressly
agrees after complete disclosure of the purpose. In all cases, you must give
users an opportunity to remove themselves from your database. In addition,
under no circumstances, except as defined in this Privacy Policy, may you
disclose PII about another user to any third party without our consent and the
consent of such other user after adequate disclosure. We and
our users do not tolerate spam. Therefore, without limiting the
foregoing, you are not licensed to add a Site user to your mail list (email or
physical mail) without their express consent after adequate disclosure of your
intentions.
13. Accessing, Reviewing
and Changing Your Profile
Following registration,
you can review and update the information you submitted during registration by
logging-in and going to the ÒEdit Account SettingsÓ section of your profile
(this section is clearly labeled in the left-hand navigation bar that is part
of all profile pages). You are always free to change your password and email
address, name, address, city, state, zip code, country, phone number, profile,
likes and dislikes (keywords), desired date profile, personal
descriptions/essays, and saved search criteria. If you change you password
and/or email address, we will retain a record of your old password and email
address.
Upon your notification,
we will remove your profile from our active databases as soon as reasonably
possible in accordance with our policy and applicable law. To hide or remove
your profile so that others cannot view it, log-in to your profile and go to
the ÒEdit Account SettingsÓ section of your profile (this section is clearly
labeled in the left-hand navigation bar that is part of all profile pages).
We will retain in our
files information you have requested be removed from our active databases for
certain purposes, such as to resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems and
enforce our terms and conditions. Further, such prior information may never be
completely removed from our databases due to technical and legal constraints,
including stored Ôback upÕ systems. Therefore, you should not expect that all
of your PII will be completely removed from our databases in response to any
request you may submit.
14. Control of Your
Password
You are responsible for
all actions taken with your login information and password, including fees.
Therefore we do not recommend that you disclose your Site password or login
information to any third party. If you choose to share this information with any
third party, you are responsible for all actions taken with your login
information and password. If you lose control of your password, you may lose
substantial control over your PII and may be subject to legally binding actions
taken on your behalf. Therefore, if your password has been compromised in any
way, you should immediately change your password.
15. Other Information
Collectors
Except as otherwise
expressly described in this Privacy Policy, this document only addresses the
use and disclosure of information we collect from you. To the extent that you
disclose your information to other parties, whether they are on our Site or on
other sites throughout the Internet, different rules may apply to their use or
disclosure of the information you disclose to them. To the extent that we use
third party advertisers or have third party e-commerce partners, they adhere to
their own privacy policies. Since we do not control the privacy policies of any
third parties, you should investigate their policies before you disclose your
personal information to them.
16. Security
We treat data as an asset
that must be protected against loss and unauthorized access. To safeguard the
confidentiality and security of your PII, we use industry standard practices
and technologies including but not limited to ÒfirewallsÓ, encrypted
transmission via SSL (Secure Socket Layer) and strong data encryption of
sensitive personal and/or financial information when it is stored to disk.
17. Notice
We may change this
Privacy Policy from time to time based on changes in the law, your comments, or
our need to accurately reflect our data collection and disclosure practices. We
will notify you about significant changes in the way we treat personal
information by sending you a notice via email or by placing a prominent notice
on our Site.
18. How to Contact Us
If you have any questions about this
Privacy Policy or our information-handling practices, please contact us by
email with subject line ÔprivacyÕ the the following address:
PRIVACY A-T ATAMAGROUP D-O-T COM