Privacy Statement for Send2PressNewswire.com
The following privacy statement applies to all Neotrope® online properties, and this site (www.Send2PressNewswire.com) you are now visiting and viewing. Send2Pres® is a service of Neotrope, and not an independent company. Neotrope® is proud to be a U.S.-based company, established January of 1983, and located in Redondo Beach / Torrance, California (Los Angeles County), USA. All staff are based in the U.S., and our secure Web servers are based in Texas, USA.
Neotrope and Send2Press (Send2Press.com / Send2PressNewswire.com) have created this privacy statement to explain our commitment to your privacy. We seek to protect your private information so that you have an enjoyable shopping and viewing experience on our Web site. We will not sell, rent, trade, or disclose your personally identifiable information to anyone except as explained in this policy.
This policy is believed to meet all local, state and Federal privacy laws and guidelines of the U.S.A. currently in place as of its writing, and is believed to meet the minimum requirements for the European Union, and Canada, but may not meet the requirements for other countries.
You may wish to review this policy annually, as it may be updated each January, or as industry and/or legal standards require it.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: during Fall/Winter 2010, we are migrating much of our news content from the Send2Press.com site to the Send2PressNewswire.com site. This will allow the former to be our “service” portal, with the latter (this site) being the news portal. This differentiation will be more clear for 2011, but will temporarily cause some confusion. This privacy policy applies to BOTH of our sites, if not all of them.
2010 Privacy Statement
Personally Identifiable Information
Definition of Personally Identifiable Information
“Personally identifiable information” is any information about you, which includes your name, company, mailing address, e-mail address, phone number(s) and credit card information.
Where We Collect Personally Identifiable Information
Neotrope.com collects personally identifiable information when you (1) register or make a purchase through our secure server located on Neotrope.com (and/or Neotrope.net, and Send2Press.com), (2) subscribe to our e-newsletter(s) on Send2PressNewswire.com/Send2Press.com (and/or Neotrope.com), (3) enter contests, (4) submit feedback, or other inquiries through either site.
How We Use Personally Identifiable Information
Send2Press.com and Neotrope.com use your personally identifiable information to bill your credit card for purchases, to confirm your orders, to prevent fraud against you, and to contact you. For example, when you place an order on Send2Press.com (and/or Neotrope.com or Neotrope.net), we need to know your name, company, e-mail address, address, and credit card information. This allows us to fulfill your order for our services and notify you of your order status.
Neotrope and Send2Press also compile aggregate data from all of our customers to prepare internal reports about which pages are popular, how many total unique users visit our site, and different traffic patterns. Neotrope.com and Send2Press.com does not combine your personally identifiable information with information about pages visited, purchases made, or any other clickstream data.
Who We Disclose Personally Identifiable Information To
Neotrope and Send2Press will not sell, rent, trade or disclose your personally identifiable information to anyone except as explained in this policy. Neotrope.com and Send2Press.com may disclose some personal information to outside companies who help Neotrope with the administration and delivery of purchases, newsletters, contests, alliances and partnerships (as applicable).
For example, to complete a purchase through our secure payment gateway (powered by Authorize.net), or the optional PayPal® system, we must transmit secure data in order to verify and complete payment. We have made reasonable effort to ensure these partners safeguard and protect personal information at the highest possible levels of current technology, including the 2009 PCI DSS standards for credit card data. However, in the case of PayPal, you should review their privacy statement on the payment screen when transfered to their system, if applicable.
Aggregate statistical data gathered from customers, but NOT personally identifiable information, may be shared with our Affiliate Program members in order to calculate sales information.
Neotrope.com and Send2Press.com may also disclose your personal information to law enforcement personnel, government officials, or others when we, in our sole discretion, believe that disclosure is necessary to prevent violations of the law, injury to person or property, or any harm to Neotrope/Send2Press or others.
Customers who violate our Terms of Service (TOS), fail to pay for services, and who are considered in breach of contract with Neotrope, have no right under this privacy policy whatsoever. Non-financial (ie., credit card or other data) personal information (such as name, company name, e-mail, phone) in these cases may be shared with other companies with whom we partner in order to advise them of legal matters such as a collection agency, law firm, financial agent; and/or in issues where financial matters may adversely impact a partner if the party in breach of contract with Neotrope may attempt direct and possibly fraudulent business dealings with our partner(s).
NOTICE: Regarding Abusive and Threatening E-mail, Phone Calls or Voicemail
As it clearly states on our contact page, and the press releases found in our newsroom area, you must contact the company in question issuing a news release (the “news source”) regarding their practices, problems with a product or service you may have had, or other related queries. DO NOT contact us regarding such matters, as we are not a representative of a company for whom we have issued a press release (news announcement). Any threatening, libelous, or abusive e-mail sent to us regarding a client will be forwarded to the appropriate company and if you have made actionable and libelous statements in said message to us, your e-mail can be introduced as part of any legal action. Similarly, voicemail or phone recordings we make of all customer in-bound calls may be provided to our client in the same fashion.
Security
We use reasonable security practices to keep any personally identifiable information about you secure. We operate our own Linux-based Web servers and subscription data is stored outside of public server areas. Our secure server and checkout system can be verified as holding a valid SSL certificate, signed by Thawte (a unit of Verisign).
No credit card data (card number, expiration, security code) provided during checkout is retained on our servers in either public or private areas, and our payment gateway provider (Authorize.net) has been certified as Visa CISP compliant — and, our shopping cart has been confirmed by Authorize.net for compliance with their system security requirements. We also participate in the BBB Identity Theft awareness campaign.
Our server and secure domain hosting our order system has been certified by a third-party, Security Metrics, as being PCI DSS compliant, as of Nov. 2008, and is re-tested and re-certified periodically to ensure our systems meet all current and updated security methods. This certification is provided to American Express, VISA and MasterCard, along with our merchant provider.
Cookies and Privacy
What A Cookie Is
A “cookie” is a small piece of data that is sent to your browser from a Web server and stored on your computer’s hard drive. Cookies store information about your use of a particular Web site or service and are typically used to make services more convenient and personalized. Most cookies are “session cookies,” which are automatically deleted whenever you leave a Web site (and end the “session”). Some cookies remain on your computer until you remove them.
You are able to view and control all stored cookies by using tools built-in to modern Web browsers such as Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer 8.
How We Use Cookies
We use cookies (1) to estimate the number of visitors to our Web site, (2) to measure general traffic patterns, (3) to remember if you’ve participated in our home page reader poll, and (4) to help us determine which of our Affiliate Program affiliates and partners make customer referrals to our Web site.
Companies that have social bookmark tools on the Send2PressNewswire.com and Send2Press.com Web site (such as Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Propeller, Google Buzz, Technorati, AddThis, Yahoo Buzz, etc.) may also use their own cookies to help identify a user to facilitate easier “bookmarking” by remembering your account log-in with such online tools — these cookies are not set by us, but are set in relation to an account you may have with a site like Technorati or other social bookmarking site.
Your browser controls how cookies are used and can be set to not allow them. However, it is likely that our shopping cart system may not function properly for you if your browser refuses “all” cookies. Most Web browsers have sufficient security settings to allow a self-referential shopping cart session-based cookie to track cart contents, and which is deleted once the checkout process has been completed.
We expressly do not use any “spyware,” “adware,” or other “stealth” tracking mechanisms. If you come to our Web site from an affiliate partner, a tracking cookie is set to identify that our affiliate partner has “referred” you to us, so that they get credit on your purchase during checkout. The cookie then expires, or will expire in 14 days if no purchase is made after clicking an affiliate link.
Children and Privacy
Our Policy For Guests Under Age 18
Neotrope.com and Send2PressNewswire.com/Send2Press.com are committed to protecting the privacy of children. We encourage parents and guardians to explore the Web with their children or students. Visitors under age 18 may NOT submit any personally identifiable information to Neotrope.com or Send2Press.com, and our related sites (including Neotrope.net, etc.).
How You Can Change Your Information and Preferences
Accessing, Updating, Correcting, Or Deleting Your Information
Because your shopping account information is stored offline for added security, there is no provision for you to manually edit your account information via the Web browser (except an e-mail list, as noted below).
All customers are sent a confirmation e-mail to “double opt-in,” to receive a monthly newsletter — we never send you a newsletter you have not “double opted-in” to receive. Each mailing has a “one click” removal link, to help prevent unwanted subscriptions. We also use a “bounce removal” service to automatically update subscriptions to e-mail accounts which are no longer valid.
All subscribers to our Weekly News Alert are sent a confirmation e-mail to “double opt-in,” and each mailing has a “one click” removal link, to help prevent unwanted subscriptions.
Weekly News Alert
Any opt-in subscriber to the Send2Press Weekly News Alert, may unsubscribe themselves here:
www.send2press.com/alerts/index.shtml
Daily News Alert via Google’s Feedburner
You manage your own subscriptions with your Google and/or Feedburner account. We cannot change/remove any subscription you set-up using these free tools from Google.
Journalists on our Media Lists
Journalists may specify that they do not wish to receive further communication from us, here:
www.send2press.com/journalists/
— or, contact the privacy manager under contact information, found at bottom of this page.
Customer Newsletter
Current or past customers who have double opted-in to the customer-only monthly newsletter, and who are unable or unwilling to use the one-click opt-out tools found in each e-mail, may contact the privacy manager and request removal, using the contact information found at bottom of this page.
RSS Feeds
If you have subscribed to one of our RSS (real simple syndication) news feeds, we have no control over how, where, or when you chose to self-subscribe yourself. You must change or remove any subscription in your appropriate news reader, ISP start page, branded home page, iPhone app, offline browser, Web broswer, or similar application. Only you have control over how you receive RSS content.
Use Of Your Information
Neotrope and Send2Press will NOT contact you about our services and/or products, unless you subscribe to our e-newsletter, or place a purchase from our site. If you request it, you may also receive updates on our services and special offers from us. Your information will NOT be given to any other party for promotional purposes.
Cookie Notification and Disabling
Most browsers permit you to set the browser to accept, reject, or notify you of cookie use. However, some parts of the Send2Press.com Web site may not function properly if your browser is set to reject all cookies. Our shopping cart will remember your cart contents for up to 14 days, for the convenience of our returning customers.
Links to Other Web Sites
Many pages on our site contain links to other Web sites, including those of our clients. We have no control over whether a client has a valid and legally required privacy policy on any other site, and you assume all risk for following hyperlinks to any other site. It is advisable to check the posted privacy policy for any site on which you plan to enter any data, including name, e-mail, or more detailed personal data, to ensure you understand how that information may be used, protected, shared, and your rights under the laws of the U.S. and other countries.
Updates to This Privacy Policy
This privacy policy is updated periodically and should be reviewed prior to placing an order with Send2Press/Neotrope. There is currently no provision for you to be automatically updated when our privacy policy changes because we don’t require our customers to create an “account” in order to use our service. A link to the most current privacy statement will always be found in our Order Center and on any form located on this site. (Also see “effective date” below.)
Effective Date
This privacy policy was originally posted in 1997 on our Mindset Communications Web site where the Mindset Media service originated as a spin-off of our corporate brand identity and public relations services (and became Send2Press in 1999). The policy was revised in 1999, again in 2002, in July 2004, and 2009. This current privacy policy’s effective date will be considered July 1, 2010 for purposes of California’s 2004 privacy provisions, or any other government entity’s privacy provisions.
Privacy Statement Contact Information
Please direct questions, comments and suggestions regarding this statement to the Privacy Manager, Neotrope/Send2Press, PMB 822 PO Box 7000, Redondo Beach, CA 90277-8710. You can also e-mail the Privacy Manager at “support2\ @ \send2press.com” (remove the “\”) and state specifically you are inquiring about our privacy statement.
Important Copyright notice: this privacy policy is unique to Neotrope/Send2Press and contains original and specific sections, and may not be copied, cloned, used as a basis for another site’s privacy policy, or mis-represented as part of Neotrope in any way. Copr. © 1997 – 2010 by Neotrope® – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.