Privacy Policy
Kosmaz Technologies LLC (collectively referred to in this Privacy Statement as "we" or "Kosmaz Technologies") recognize the importance of respecting the personal nature of all information provided by users of our web sites, subscribers to our services, registrants for our events, recipients of our e-mail newsletters and all of our customers. We created this policy with a fundamental respect for our users' information and to guide our relationships with our users. This privacy statement discloses the privacy practices for all products and services owned by Kosmaz Technologies.
Information collection and use
Kosmaz Technologies collects information from our website users, subscribers and customers. In this section of our privacy policy, we will describe the type of information we collect and how we use it to provide better services to our customers.
Registration and Ordering
In order to use our websites and sign up for services (such as subscriptions), users must first register with us in accordance with our rules and regulations. During registration, users are required to give their contact information (such as name, e-mail address, mailing address and phone number). We also may collect demographic information (such as job title and purchasing responsibilities, company information and professional certification). For internal purposes, we use this information to communicate with users and provide requested services, and, for our website visitors, to provide a more personalized experience on our sites. We use aggregate demographic information about our audience to improve our service, for marketing purposes and/or industry reporting purposes. For our services that require payment (such as certain events, products and subscriptions), we also collect credit card information (such as account name, number and expiration date), which is used for billing purposes only, and is not otherwise shared.
E-mail Newsletters
If users wish to subscribe to our e-mail newsletters, we ask for contact information (such as name, e-mail address and, occasionally, demographic information). We use this information in the same manner as we use contact information in the registration and ordering process described above. Recipients of our newsletters can unsubscribe using the instructions listed at the end of the e-mail newsletter.
Surveys and Contests
From time to time we invite users to provide information via surveys or contests. Participation in these surveys or contests is completely voluntary and the user therefore has a choice whether to disclose requested contact information (such as name and mailing address) and demographic information (such as zip/postal code or job title). In addition to other uses set forth in this policy, contact information collected in connection with surveys and contests is used to notify the winners and award prizes, to monitor or improve the use and satisfaction of the site, and may be shared with sponsors of such surveys or contests, who may use such information for their purposes. Please note that all personal infomration sent or posted via such features becomes public infomration and we are not responsible for subsequent dissemination or use by third parties.
Interactive Features
At our site, we offer interactive and community features such as discussion boards, and user profiles. Note that all personal information sent or posted via such features becomes public information for which we are not responsible.
Tell-A-Friend
If users elect to use our referral service for informing a friend about our sites and services, we may ask them for the friend's name, job title and e-mail address. Kosmaz Technologies will store and use this information to send the friend an invitation. This information may also be used to provide information about our company and related products and services. The friend may contact us as specified in the tell-a-friend message to request that no further communications be sent.
Communications with Us: Service Updates, Special Offers
We have features where users can submit information to us (such as our feedback forms). Letters to the editor and similar submissions may be made public and we are not responsible for subsequent dissemination or use by third parties. Requests for service, support or information may be forwarded as needed to best respond to a specific request. We may retain e-mails and other information sent to us for our internal administrative purposes, and to help us to serve customers better. In order to best serve our customers, we may send updates that contain important information about our sites and services. For example, we send new members a welcoming message, and verify password and username for our password-protected sites. We may also communicate with a user to provide requested services and for account-related issues via e-mail, phone or regular mail. We offer our users the option to receive information about our company, related products, services and special offers. Users can choose not to receive these communications, as set forth in our Permission section below.
Automatic Data Collection
Our web sites have features that automatically collect information from users, to deliver content specific to users' interests and to honor their preferences. This information assists us in creating sites that will serve the needs of our users. We use "cookies," a piece of data stored on the user's hard drive containing information about the user. Cookies benefit the user by requiring login only once, thereby saving time while on our site. If users reject the cookies, they may be limited in the use of some areas of our site. For example, the user may not be able to participate in contests or drawings. Additionally, we may note some of the pages the user visits on our site through the use of pixel tags (also called clear gifs). The use of cookies and pixels enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our sites. Some of our business affiliates may use cookies on our sites in ads or promotions. However, we have no access to or control over these business affiliates' cookies; we urge users to read their privacy policies for information. Similarly, we have no responsibility for the placement of any business affiliates' cookies on your hardrive or for the use of any information obtained therefrom or for any other liabilities relating thereto. In particular, we may use a third-party advertising company to serve ads when you visit the Kosmaz Technologies Web Sites. Such company may use information (not including your name, address, email address or telephone number) about your visit to these Web Sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services that may be of interest to you. In the course of serving advertisements to these Web Sites, our third party advertiser may place or recognize a unique "cookie" on your browser. If you would like more information about use of infromation resulting from this practice by such a company, please {click here}. For our internal purposes, we gather date, time, browser type, navigation history and IP address of all visitors to our site. This information does not contain anything that can identify users personally. We use this information for our internal security audit log, trend analysis and system administration, and to gather broad demographic information about our user base for aggregate use. We may combine demographic information supplied by a subscriber at registration with site usage data to provide general profiles, in aggregate non-personally identifiable form, about our users and their preferences in the content of the site and advertising. We may share this composite information with our advertisers and business affiliates to help them better understand our services.
With whom your information is shared
When we have co-branded, customized, private label, powered by or sponsored products and services, or when we join with other parties to provide specific services, we may share (provide and receive) personal information with them. We do not share credit card information with such third parties. On occasion, we may provide targeted lists of names and offline and online contact information for marketing purposes to third parties, subject to our Permission policies. We give users the option of not having their name or contact information disclosed to third parties, as set forth in the Permission section. Other than as set forth above, we seek to prevent the sharing of personally identifiable information with other companies, apart from those acting as our agents in providing our product(s)/service(s). We require these agents to agree to use such personally identifiable information only for that purpose and to agree to keep the information secure and confidential. We ill seek to require compliance with these agreements but cannot be responsible for the acts of such parties. Also, our parent, subsidiary and affiliate companies, entities into which our company may be merged, or entities to which any of our assets, products, sites or operations may be transferred, will be able to use personal information. We will also disclose information we maintain when required to do so by law, for example, in response to a court order or a subpoena or other legal obligation, in response to a law enforcement agency's request, or in special cases when we have reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to or interference with (either intentionally or unintentionally) our rights or property. Users should also be aware that courts of equity, such as U.S. Bankruptcy Courts, have the authority under certain circumstances to permit personal information to be shared or transferred to third parties without permission. We may share aggregate information, which is not personally identifiable, with others. This information may include usage and demographic data, but it is not intended to include personal information.
Correction/updating personal information
If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as zip code), or if a user no longer desires our product(s)/service(s), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data. The user should contact Customer Support for the applicable product or service.
Permission
Our users are given the opportunity to choose whether to receive information from our affiliates and us not directly related to the registered services. Users also have the opportunity to choose whether to have personal information shared with third parties for marketing purposes. Instructions for how to exercise this choice are contained in e-mails sent by us, on our product websites and in each of our publications. In addition, users can login to their personal pages to change their options. Please note that we will endeavor to implement requests within a reasonable time, although for a time users may continue to receive mailings, etc., transmitted based on information released prior to the implementation of the request. Users will continue to receive information directly related to their registered services, so they always are kept informed.
Security
We use reasonable precautions to seek to protect and store our users' personal information. Sensitive information that is transmitted to us online (such as a credit card number) is encrypted and is designed to be transmitted to us in a secure fashion. In addition, access to all of our users' information is designed to be restricted. 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. Finally, the servers on which we store personally identifiable information are kept in an environment wich is designed to be secure. There is no guarantee, however, that third parties will not devise schemes or practices which could enable them to obtain such information and we have no liability unless such information is obtained through our gross negligence or willful misconduct.
Links
Our web sites contain links to other sites. Kosmaz Technologies is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each web site to which we may link that may collect personally identifiable information.
Notification and changes
If we change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on this page so our users are aware of what information we collect, how we intent to use it and under what circumstances, if any, that we intentionally disclose it. Users should check this policy frequently to keep abreast of any changes.
For questions about this privacy statement, the practices of this site or any dealings with Kosmaz Technologies LLC, contact us at:
Kosmaz Technologies LLC
Attention: Corporate Communications
80W Sierra Madre Blvd #130
Sierra Madre, CA 91024
USA
Last Updated: September 26, 2005