Members Area
PRIVACY POLICY
Last Updated: April 2006
Accro.org
strives to offer its visitors the many advantages of Internet technology and to
provide an interactive and personalized experience. We may use Personally
Identifiable Information (your name, e-mail address, street address, telephone
number) subject to the terms of this privacy policy.
Please note this policy applies only to information collected by Accro.org
online and does not impact information collected or used by Accro.org or its
affiliates through other means.
How we gather information from users
How we collect and store information depends on the page you are visiting, the
activities in which you elect to participate and the services provided. You can
visit many pages on our site without providing any information. Other pages may
prompt you to provide information, such as when you register for access to
portions of our site, sign up for membership, request certain features (e.g.,
newsletters, news updates and other products), sign up for a magazine subscription
or make a purchase. You may also provide information when you participate in
sweepstakes and contests, voting and polling activities, and other interactive
areas of our site.
Like most Web sites, Accro.org also collects information automatically and
through the use of electronic tools that may be transparent to our visitors.
For example, we may log the name of your Internet Service Provider or use
"cookie" technology. Among other things, the cookie may store your
user name and password, sparing you from having to re-enter that information
each time you visit, or may control the number of times you encounter a
particular advertisement while visiting our site. As we adopt additional
technology, we may also gather information through other means. In certain
cases, you can choose not to provide us with information, for example by
setting your browser to refuse to accept cookies, but doing so may limit your
ability to access certain portions of the site or may require you to re-enter
your user name and password. Additionally we may not be able to customize the
site's features according to your preferences.
What we do with the information we collect
We will use your information only as permitted by law. Aggregated Information
(information that does not personally identify you) may be used in many ways.
As one example, we may combine information about your usage patterns with
similar information obtained from other users to learn which pages are visited
most or what features are most attractive. Aggregated Information may
occasionally be shared with our advertisers and business partners, but cannot
be used to contact you individually.
We also collect information to enhance your visit and deliver more
individualized content and advertising. For example, we may use Personally
Identifiable Information collected on Accro.org to communicate with you
regarding our Terms of Service and privacy policy, products and services
offered by Accro.org and other ACCRO affiliates and partners, administration of
sweepstakes and contests, processing e-commerce transactions and other topics
we think you might find of interest. We reserve the right to share this
information with other ACCRO business units and affiliates, including for
example our affiliated magazines and entities in which Baxter Publications has
an ownership interest (collectively, "Affiliates"). This policy does
not apply to any Affiliate's use of such information.
Personally Identifiable Information collected by Accro.org may also be used for
other purposes including but not limited to site administration and
troubleshooting. Certain divisions and/or third parties who provide
technical support for the operation of our site (our Web hosting service and
our newsletter provider, for example) may access such information.
As we continue to develop our business, we may sell, buy, merge or partner with
other companies or businesses. In such transactions, user information may be
among the transferred assets. We may also disclose your information in response
to a court order, at other times when we believe we are reasonably required to
do so by law, in connection with the collection of amounts you may owe to us,
and/or whenever we deem it appropriate or necessary to give such information to
law enforcement authorities. Please note we may not provide you with notice
prior to disclosure in such cases.
Your choice to opt out
The quality news and information on Accro.org is supported by advertising
revenue and a controlled program of e-mail marketing is an important element of
our online publishing business. Like other Web publishers, we sometimes permit
our advertising and promotional partners to e-mail you about services,
features, products, special offers and unique content we believe might interest
you. If you prefer not to receive e-mail communications sent directly from our
advertisers or promotional partners, you will be given an opportunity to
decline before you provide us information we might use for this purpose. If you
decline at the time you provide us such information, we will not share the
Personally Identifiable Information you provide with non-Affiliated advertisers
for such purposes, though we may on occasion send you information on their
behalf.
Affiliated sites, linked sites and advertisements
Accro.org expects its partners, advertisers and third-party affiliates to
respect the privacy of our users. However, third parties, including our
partners, advertisers, affiliates and other content providers accessible
through our site, may have their own privacy and data collection policies and
practices. For example, during your visit to our site you may link to, or view
as part of a frame on a Accro.org page, certain content that is actually
created or hosted by a third party. Also, through Accro.org you may be
introduced to, or be able to access, information, Web sites, advertisements,
features, contests or sweepstakes offered by other parties. Accro.org is not
responsible for the actions or policies of such third parties. You should check
the applicable privacy policies of those third parties when providing
information on a feature or page operated by a third party.
While on our site, our advertisers, promotional partners or other third parties
may use cookies or other technology to attempt to identify some of your
preferences or retrieve information about you. For example, some of our
advertising is served by third parties and may include cookies that enable the
advertiser to determine whether you have seen a particular advertisement
before. Through features available on our site, third parties may use cookies
or other technology to gather information. Accro.org does not control the use
of this technology or the resulting information and is not responsible for any
actions or policies of such third parties.
Please be careful and responsible whenever you are online. Should you choose to
voluntarily disclose Personally Identifiable Information on our site, such as
in message boards, chat areas or in advertising or notices you post, that
information can be viewed publicly and can be collected and used by third
parties without our knowledge and may result in unsolicited messages from other
individuals or third parties. Such activities are beyond the control of
Accro.org and this policy.
Children
Accro.org does not knowingly collect or solicit Personally Identifiable
Information from or about children under 13 except as permitted by law. If we
discover we have received any information from a child under 13 in violation of
this policy, we will delete that information immediately.
Privacy Officer
Can be reached by contacting:
ACCRO Services, Attention Privacy Officer
500 Industrial Drive
Milton, On L5R 1V9
Email: billmcneice@accro.org
Changes to this policy.
Accro.org reserves the right to change this policy at any time. Please check
this page periodically for changes. Your continued use of our site following
the posting of changes to these terms will mean you accept those changes.
Information collected prior to the time any change is posted will be used
according to the rules and laws that applied at the time the information was
collected.