vgreets.com
 Bookmark Us For Holidays Bookmark Us For The Holidays Bookmark This Page In del.icio.us del.icio.us | Digg This Page Digg it | Bookmark This Page In Google | Bookmark This Page In Simpy Simpy| Bookmark This Page In Yahoo
VGreets.com Privacy Policy

GENERAL MATTERS

Overview
At VGreets.com ("VGreets"), protecting our users' privacy and security is a top priority. For this reason, we have adopted the following policy to advise you of your choices regarding the use of your personal information online. This policy describes what types of information we gather about you, how we use it, and under what circumstances we disclose it to third-parties.

Scope of Policy
This Policy applies to all VGreets-branded sites, including the organic site as well as our co-branded VGreets-USAgreets sites. This Policy does not apply to other companies' or organizations' web sites to which we link. You should carefully review the privacy policies of those web sites in order to determine how they treat your personal information.
INFORMATION ABOUT YOU
Information Gathered From All Visitors

Aggregate Data
We gather certain generic information with respect to customers' use of our web site, such as the number of unique visitors, the frequency with which they visit, and the areas on the web site that they favor. These statistics are very much like television ratings that tell the networks how many people tuned in to a program. We only use this type of data in aggregate-that is, we look at the data on a collective basis, in summary form, rather than on an individual basis. This data helps us determine the extent to which our customers use certain parts of our web site, which, in turn, enables us to make it as appealing as possible. We may also provide statistical "ratings" about how our customers collectively use our web site to advertisers, sponsors, and other companies with which we do business ("Business Partners"). We do this so they, too, can understand how often people use their areas of the site in order for them to provide you with the best possible experience. These statistical ratings do not contain any personally identifiable information about you or any of our users.

Cookies
We use a technology nicknamed "cookies" on our web site. Cookies are pieces of information or data sent to your browser from a web server and stored on your computer's hard drive for record-keeping purposes. We use cookies to make your visit to our web site easier. For example, cookies allow us to recognize you when you re-enter our web site so that you will not have to sign-in each time you visit. Cookies also allow us to count the number of unique and return visitors who use our site.
Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies. If you prefer, you can reset your browser to notify you when you've received a cookie or, alternatively, to refuse to accept cookies. It is important to note that you may not be able to use certain features on our web site if you choose not to accept cookies. In addition, you will not be able to participate in any of our sweepstakes, contests or drawings. Cookies can also enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance their experience on our site.

Third Party Advertiser Cookies
We use third-party advertising companies to serve our ads on the Internet. These third-party advertising companies employ cookie and Clear Gif technology (aka 1x1 Pixel .gifs, Web bugs) to measure and improve the effectiveness of ads for their clients. To do so, these companies may use anonymous information about your visits to our Web site and other Web sites. This information can include: date/time of banner ad shown, the banner ad that was shown, their cookie, the IP address. This information can also be used for online preference marketing purposes. VGreets does not use or have access to this information.

If you want to prevent a third-party advertiser from setting and/or reading cookies on your computer, currently you may either visit each ad network's web site individually and opt out or visit the web site of the National Advertising Initiative ("NAI") to opt-out of all network advertising cookies. Click here for the NAI gateway opt-out site. This site will also allow you to review the third-party advertising companies' privacy policies.

IP Addresses
We collect and analyze traffic on our web site by keeping track of the IP addresses of our visitors. IP addresses are unique numeric identifiers that are assigned to each computer browser accessing the Internet. An IP address, by itself, cannot identify you personally. However, when combined with other information provided by your Internet Service Provider (ISP), your IP address can be used to identify the computer originating a message.

VGreets INCLUDES THE SENDER IP ADDRESS IN THE HEADER INFORMATION OF EACH GREETINGS NOTIFICATION E-MAIL IT SENDS. IT IS AVAILABLE TO THE GREETINGS RECIPIENT AND ANYONE ELSE WHO IS FORWARDED THE NOTIFICATION E-MAIL. THIS LIMITS YOUR ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE ANONYMOUSLY USING ELECTRONIC GREETINGS. ELECTRONIC GREETINGS ARE NEITHER INTENDED NOR APPROPRIATE FOR ANONYMOUS COMMUNICATIONS, AND SUCH ACTIVITY IS EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED BY THE ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY IN OUR TERMS OF SERVICE.

When You Send A Greeting
If you use our web site to send an online greeting or any other content, we collect your e-mail address and your recipient's e-mail address. This information is necessary to send the content and provide confirmation that it has been received. We may also use your e-mail address to contact you if you have chosen to receive communications from VGreets or its Partners.


Personalizing Your Experience on the Web Site
We try to personalize your experience on our web sites by tracking greetings and other content you have sent in order to shape our recommendations about the greetings, cards and products that might be of interest to you. We also examine customer traffic patterns and web site usage to help us enhance the design and layout of the site and make it easier to navigate.
From time to time, we may send you surveys or solicit your feedback. We use surveys to gage user interest in new products and premiums we may offer. We will ask for your feedback on greetings and other site features. We will use the information we gather to improve our sites and provide a more meaningful experience for our users. We may also use the information to alert you to offers and products in which you have expressed an interest.

Subscribing to a Newsletter
We send to interested users an exclusive VGreets Newsletter, which alerts you to new features, content, and services, premiums available on our web sites, as well as offers from artists, record labels and our other Business Partners. From time to time, we will also send you invitations to enhance your VGreets membership. These communications are sent to you directly by VGreets. We do not share your personally identifiable information with any third parties in connection with the Newsletter.
You can always decline the Newsletter by un-checking the opt-out box on the "Personalize Your Greeting" pages or registration pages on our site. If you are already receiving the Newsletter and you want to unsubscribe, you can simply follow the "unsubscribe" links at the bottom of each edition. For other ways to unsubscribe, see Opt-Out/Changing Your Status, below.


VGreets' USES OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
If you have provided us your consent, we will use the information we have collected about you in five ways:
  • To send personalized, targeted information that we think our users will find relevant, either from VGreets or directly from its Business Partners;
  • To include targeted advertising within such messages;
  • To send promotions and coupons based on the user's interests;
  • To contact the user for feedback and surveys; and
  • To send the user other information about VGreets.
These communications may come via e-mail, postal mail, or telephone.

On-Site Advertising
VGreets may also use information about you to target advertising while you are visiting our site. For example, we may serve ads for certain music genres depending on the artist you may be viewing at that time. We may also use geographic or other information we have collected from you to make sure that the ads you see are for goods and services that are actually of interest to you or are available in your area. We may use cookie files to assure that you will not be served the same ads repeatedly.

Order Fulfillment
From time to time, you may be given the opportunity to order products and services directly on the VGreets site, the newsletters, or in other communications you may receive from VGreets. These orders are typically fulfilled by VGreets' Business Partners directly. To process your order, VGreets may provide these Partners with your name, street address, e-mail address, phone number, and credit card information. VGreets will limit the types of information shared to the minimum necessary to efficiently process your order. However, in accepting these offers, you become a customer of the Business Partner and therefore subject to its privacy policy. VGreets will alert users whenever a Business Partner will be fulfilling an order for products or services ordered on our site. We encourage you to review these companies' privacy policies and only do business with those who adhere to personal information practices with which you are comfortable.

Privacy of Greeting Card Information
We treat all of our greetings products as private correspondence between the sender and the recipient and will not disclose the contents of any greeting other than to the intended recipient, except under the specific situations outlined in Disclosure Exceptions, below.
Under normal circumstances, we will not monitor or edit the contents of the online greetings you send. On occasion, however, we may need to view your message in connection with the technical processing of your greeting or the maintenance of our network. Also, if you ask one of our customer service representatives to help you send a greeting or to verify that a greeting was sent, that representative will be able to access all information about the card, including the recipient's e-mail address and the message.

Disclosure Exceptions

Notwithstanding the above policies, we reserve the right to disclose your personal information to appropriate third-parties if we are required to do so by law or we believe that such action is necessary:
  • To comply with legal process such as a search warrant, subpoena or court order;
  • To protect the company's rights and property;
  • To investigate reports of users sending material using a false e-mail address or users sending harassing, threatening, or abusive messages;
  • To protect against misuse or unauthorized use of our web site and/or the VGreets service; or
  • During emergencies, such as wartime or when we believe someone's physical safety is at risk.
Your IP address can be accessed by greetings recipients in the header of the notification e-mail. Under certain circumstances, recipients, their legal representatives, and/or law enforcement authorities may be able to combine this with information disclosed by ISPs to determine the source of a particular communication. By using this service, you knowingly and voluntarily assume any risks associated with such disclosure.

YOUR CONTROL OVER YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Opt-Out/Changing Your Status

At any time, you can change choices you have previously made as to the use of your personal information. Every communication VGreets sends you will contain a clearly worded "Opt-Out" or "Unsubscribe" link allowing you to withdraw your permission for future mailings. Alternatively, you can send a blank e-mail to mailto:info@vgreets.com and type "Remove" in the subject field. This system is automated and must be contacted from the email address you wish to have removed. Permission changes will be honored as soon as technically feasible, usually about 7-14 days after receipt.

OTHER MATTERS

Protection For Children - COPPA Compliance
The VGreets Sites are neither directed towards nor appropriate for children under the age of thirteen.

Contests and Promotions

Occasionally, VGreets may sponsor contests and/or promotions on our sites or in our e-mail products. Participation in such contests is purely voluntary. In order to enter a contest or promotion, you may be asked to provide personally identifiable information. By entering, you agree to all of its terms and conditions, which will be clearly outlined in the rules. Where a contest or promotion is not sponsored by VGreets, the identity of the sponsor will be clearly disclosed in the rules. VGreets cannot be responsible for actions or policies of third-party contest sponsors. Users are encouraged to review the relevant privacy policy of the sponsor before entering.

Sale of Assets
In the event that VGreets and/or its units or subsidiaries are ever sold, acquired, merged, liquidated, reorganized, or otherwise transferred, we reserve the right to transfer our user databases together with any personally identifiable information contained therein, to a third-party acquiring VGreets' assets. In the event we do so, we will place a prominent notice of the sale on the homepage of our site, with links to information as to how you can change your privacy preferences.

Data Security
We take steps to protect your personal data online and offline. All of your information is restricted to use in our offices. Employees are granted access on a need-to-know basis (for example, our billing clerk or a customer service representative). Furthermore, ALL employees are kept up-to-date on our security and privacy practices. Finally, the servers on which we store personally identifiable information are kept in a secure environment, behind a locked cage.
VGreets' main servers are operated from a dedicated Internet hosting facility with state-of-the-art physical security features, including smoke detection and fire suppression systems, motion sensors, and 24x7 secured access, as well as video camera surveillance and security breach alarms.

If you have any questions about the security at our website, you can contact us by following the "Help" links on the bottom of every page on the VGreets Site.

Changes to the Privacy Policy
VGreets will occasionally update this Privacy Policy in response to changing business circumstances and legal developments. When VGreets posts changes to this Policy, you will see the word "updated" next to the Privacy Policy link on the front page of VGreets Sites. If there are material changes to this Policy or in how VGreets uses your personally identifiable information, VGreets will prominently post such changes prior to implementing the change. VGreets encourages you to periodically review this Policy to be informed of how we are protecting your information.

USE COMMON SENSE IN ALL YOUR ONLINE ACTIVITIES
Even the best policy can't protect your online privacy and security in all circumstances. Unscrupulous advertisers, hackers, and scam artists are constantly searching the Internet looking for new targets. Your best protection is to understand the limits to privacy on the Internet and use common sense in all of your on-line activities.

Be aware that e-mail is an inherently insecure form of communication. Remember that third parties are sometimes able to illegally intercept your unencrypted messages, including online greetings.

Anytime you visit a chat room or post a message to an on-line bulletin board, your e-mail address can be accessed by advertisers looking to compile lists for unsolicited commercial e-mail (also known as spam). Be sure that you only disclose your e-mail address in circumstances in which it is safe to do so.

Beware of scams in which persons unknown to you request your screen name, password, or credit card information. Make sure you verify the identity of anyone asking for personal information.

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us by following the "Help" links on the bottom of every page on the VGreets Site.

Contact Us  | Help | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service| Links | Advertise With Us

Copyright © 2004 - 2006 VGreets.com Inc. All Rights Reserved.