Privacy
Statement for CompuMatch.org Internet Personals
This
confirms that CompuMatch.org Internet Personals is a licensee of the TRUSTe
Privacy Program.
TRUSTe
certification covers only the privacy practices of this site, not any services
offered by CompuMatch. The following privacy statement discloses the privacy
practices of http://www.compumatch.biz/privacy.asp
TRUSTe
is an independent, non-profit organization whose mission is to build users’
trust and confidence in the Internet by promoting the use of fair information
practices. Because this web site wants to demonstrate its commitment to your
privacy, it has agreed to disclose its information practices and have its
privacy practices reviewed and audited for compliance by TRUSTe. By displaying
the TRUSTe trustmark, this web
site
has agreed to notify you of:
What
information this site collects/tracks.
How
this site uses the information it collects/tracks.
With
whom this site shares the information it collects/tracks.
How
this policy applies to links in this site.
Use
of cookies on the site.
This
site's policy on correcting, updating or removing personal information.
Changes
in our privacy policy.
Security
of your personal information.
E-mail
Choice/Opt-out policy.
Methods
of contacting the Site.
Please
contact CompuMatch with questions regarding this statement.
About CompuMatch.com and the
Information We Collect
CompuMatch
is an online matchmaking service designed to provide an easy way for students
to meet each other on the Web. To accomplish this, our members create their own
unique profiles and our matching technology provides them matches based on
their pre-selected criteria (need to be a student at the time of registration).
In order to do this, we must ask for certain personal information. None of the
information we gather can be used by the public (visitors, other members, or
anyone not employed by CompuMatch or the financial institutions used to process
membership charges) to identify specific individuals.
We
are a membership-based service. We collect credit card, address, or bank
information only from those who choose to join. All visitors to our site may
browse the site, search the ads and view any articles or features our site has
to offer without entering any personal information.
Information
Collected/Tracked by CompuMatch
CompuMatch
gathers two types of information:
Information
users submit to us and information not directly submitted by users.
Information
submitted to CompuMatch
There
are two types of user-submitted information we collect: Public and Private. We
define Public information as personal information that may be displayed on the
site, such as gender, age and height, but cannot be linked to a particular
user. Private information is defined as any information that allows others to
contact a user other than through CompuMatch or allows the collection of
information about the user other than what is displayed on the site.
Public: To accomplish our goal of bringing
compatible people together, we must gather personal information, which may or
may not include:
customer-specified
CompuMatch username, gender, age, ethnic background, appearance, religion,
academic establishment presently registered, program of study,
preference/lifestyle information and general geographic location. Much of this
information is optional, and meant to be seen by members and visitors to the
site but cannot be used to identify a specific member by name, address, etc.
Private:
This information is gathered from members and guests who apply for the various
services our site offers. This information includes, but is not limited to:
email address, first name, last name, birthdate, credit card number or checking
account information for payment, a user-specified password, mailing address,
zip code and telephone number.
CompuMatch
Affiliate Partners: The Affiliate Partner program is a vehicle for other
relationship-based sites to link to the CompuMatch site. No personal member
information is exchanged with the Affiliate Partner.
Information not Directly Submitted by Users
to CompuMatch Aggregate: This is information we collect that is not personally
identifiable, such as browser type and IP address. This information is gathered
for all users to the site.
Use
of Information Obtained by CompuMatch
Information
users submit to CompuMatch
Public: Public information supplied by the
user is
intended to be viewed by visitors to the
site. This information is used by visitors for searching and matching purposes.
Public information cannot be used to identify a specific member by name,
address, etc.
Private: We primarily use Email addresses
submitted by members to verify enrollment and when forwarding anonymous e-mails
from ad responders. Respondees' email addresses are not disclosed to the
responder. We may also use a user's email address to send news regarding our
site, but the user may choose not to receive email of this type by contacting
us. Email addresses may also be used in private correspondence with the user
for customer service issues. Financial information that is collected is used to
bill the user for products and services. All other private information
submitted by the user is confidential and will not be disclosed except as
required by law or to protect members of CompuMatch. All private information
can be updated or deleted by the user at any time.
Sharing
of the Information this Site Gathers/Tracks
Except where you are expressly informed
otherwise or as described immediately
below, we do not sell, rent, share, trade or give away any of your
personal information except to the financial institution
that processes your credit card or check
transaction unless required by law or for the protection of your membership.
Links
This
site contains links to other websites. Please be aware that CompuMatch is not
responsible for the privacy practices of other Web sites. We encourage our
users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements
of each and every web site that collects personally identifiable information.
This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this Web site.
Use
of Cookies
A
cookie is a piece of data stored on the user's hard drive containing
information about the user. Usage of a cookie is in no way linked to any
personally identifiable information while on our site.
Once
the user closes their browser, the cookie simply terminates. For instance, by
setting a cookie on our site, the user
would not have to log in a password more than once, thereby saving time while on our site. If a user rejects a
cookie, they may still use our site. The only drawback to this is that the user
will be limited in some areas on our site. We occasionally use cookies to
anonymously track and target the interests of our
users to enhance the experience on our site
or for advertising tracking purposes.
In addition, cookies may be used on our site to allow enhanced capabilities
such as chat. We do not and will not use cookies to collect private information
from any user!
Correcting/Updating
or Removing Information
CompuMatch
gives users several options for modifying or removing their information from
our database please visit the My Account page or contact us.
Changes
in Our Privacy Policy
If
we change our privacy policy, we will prominently post a link to those changes
on our Homepage so our users are always aware of what information we collect,
how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it. If at any
point we decide to use personally identifiable information in a manner
different from that stated at the time it was collected, we will notify users
by way of an email. Users will have a choice as to whether or not we use their
information in this different manner, and we will then use information in
accordance with the privacy policy under which the information was collected.
Security
CompuMatch
takes every precaution to protect our users' information. When users submit
sensitive information via the website, your information is protected both
online and off-line. When our registration/order process asks users to enter
sensitive information (such as a credit card number), that information is
encrypted and is protected with the best encryption software in the industry - SSL.]
While
we use SSL encryption to protect sensitive information online, we also do
everything in our power to protect user information off-line. All of our users'
information, not just the sensitive information mentioned above, is restricted
in our offices. Only employees who need the information to perform a specific
job (for example a billing clerk or a customer service representative) are granted access to
personally identifiable information.
If
you have any questions about the security at our website, please contact us at
help@compumatch.org
Email
Choice/Opt-out
Our
users are given the opportunity to 'opt-out' of having information used for
purposes not directly related to our site at the point where we ask for the
information. Users who no longer wish to receive our newsletter or promotional
materials from our partners may opt-out of receiving these communications by
following the instructions contained in the
email
or by logging-in and changing their email options in the My Account section of
the site.
Contacting
the Web Site
If
you have any questions about this privacy statement, the practices of this
site, or your dealings with this Web site, please contact us at
help@compumatch.org