Tag: Privacy

 

ValuePickr.com Privacy Statement

ValuePickr.com is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This Privacy Statement sets out our privacy policy and explains what we do with the personal information that we collect from you. Please read the following to understand our practices regarding personal information and how they affect you as you use our features and services.

This statement discloses our current privacy practices; if we make material changes to these practices, we will post a notice on this website.

This Privacy Statement answers the following questions:

• What information does ValuePickr.com gather about you?
• How does ValuePickr.com use your personal information?
• How do we use “IP addresses” and “cookies”?
• Will ValuePickr.com disclose any of your personal information?
• What kind of security measures do we take to protect your information from accidental loss or disclosure?
• Will ValuePickr.com use your information for direct mailings?
• What else should you know about your privacy?
• How will you know whether ValuePickr.com’s privacy policy has changed?

What Information Does ValuePickr.com Gather About You?

ValuePickr.com collects information about our readers so that we can provide a more interesting and useful service. We ask for your name, email address, and other personal information when you register to use certain features of our Web site, or if you sign up for special or personalized services, such as our stock screener, or discussion boards. We also may ask for this information at other times, such as when you enter contests or other promotions sponsored by ValuePickr.com and/or our partners. We sometimes conduct surveys as well, although you do not have to respond to them.

If you use our recommendation service to email one of our articles to a friend, you will need to provide us with your friend’s email address and your email address as a return address. We will automatically send this person a one-time email, with the recommended article attached, as well as invite your friend to visit and register with our site. We will not use these email addresses for any other purpose.

We collect IP addresses for site security and to help us understand how people use our site so that we can improve our site and our users’ respective experiences. For similar quality reasons, we use a feature known as a “cookie.” Cookies contain bits of information that websites transfer to your computer’s hard drive for record-keeping purposes. Cookies can make the Web more convenient by storing information about your preferences on a site. Although we may assign your browser a cookie, the cookie does not tell us who you are. Only you can tell us that. We discuss cookies later in this Privacy Statement.

We may also collect your email address when you submit content to our sites (for example, a contest entry, or a review of a product). Unless we get your approval, we will not display your address with your submission.

Besides cookies, we may also use tiny electronic images (called “single-pixel GIFs” or “Web beacons”), which allow us to count users who have visited specific pages or access certain cookies. We may use single-pixel GIFs in the following ways:

• To count and recognize users.
• To conduct research on behalf of some partners on their websites, and for auditing purposes.
• To determine aggregate information about users, including demographic and usage information.
• To determine which email messages were opened and/or acted upon when we send HTML-formatted email messages (messages resembling Web pages that include graphics).

Advertising networks that serve ads on our site may also use single-pixel GIFs in their advertisements. In general, any electronic image viewed as part of a Web page, including an ad banner, can act as a Web beacon.

How Does ValuePickr.com Use Your Personal Information?

ValuePickr.com collects personal information to provide you, the user, with the best and most personalized experience possible. In short, by knowing a little about you, ValuePickr.com can deliver more relevant content to you.

We conduct research on our users’ demographics, interests, and behavior based upon the information you provide us when you register or participate in contests or other promotions on our site, or based upon the information on our server log files. This research is compiled and analyzed on an aggregated basis.

Sometimes we ask for personal information when providing special features and services. You do not have to give us that information, but without it, you may not be able to take advantage of those products or services. For example, you may not be able to gain access to certain areas of our site unless you register and/or subscribe.

How Do We Use “IP Addresses” and “Cookies”?

IP Addresses

Your Web browser or email application automatically provides your Internet Protocol address (“IP address”) to other computers with which you communicate over the Internet, so that they know where to send you information.

We receive an IP address each time you view one of our Web pages, because the browser automatically reports it to us. We also may store the IP address when you register with ValuePickr.com, create a stock screen, or post a message.

We may use IP addresses for various purposes, including:

• Diagnosing service or technology problems.
• Assessing and maintaining system security.
• Displaying the most appropriate content.
• Studying how people use our site and how we can improve it.
• Reporting to potential advertisers about aggregate, but not individual, information derived from IP addresses.

Cookies

Cookies are used on our sites in the following ways:

• We use cookies to access your stored account information automatically when you log on to our site, in order to deliver a better and more personalized service.
• We use cookies to estimate our audience size and usage patterns. The unique cookie that is given to each browser accessing ValuePickr.com is then used to determine usage patterns and help us target content based upon user interests.
• We use cookies to allow you to access your account information automatically, as well as make changes to your personal information.
• Our search engines may use cookies to expedite your search for content or products.

Most browsers are set up to accept cookies, but you can configure yours to refuse cookies or notify you when you’ve received one. Browsers differ, so check your “Help” menu to learn how to change your cookie preferences. If you reject cookies on our sites, though, you will not be able to access all areas of them or use many of their features, including our discussion boards and stock screener. When you accept our cookies, we cannot use them to find out who you really are, unless you tell us.

Will ValuePickr.com Disclose Any of Your Personal Information?

ValuePickr.com will not disclose any personally identifiable information about individual users, except as described in this Privacy Statement. With the few exceptions that we explain here, we do not give, rent, lend, or sell individual information to anyone, although we do reserve the right to provide aggregate information. We may also disclose aggregate information in order to describe our services to prospective partners, advertisers, and other third parties, and for other lawful purposes.

As for individually identifiable information, we may disclose it only under the following circumstances:

• We may disclose information to others when we have your consent.
• If you sign up for a service that relies upon third parties for important elements, we will provide your personal information to the third parties so that they can provide you with their services, and those companies will treat the data under their own policies. We will tell you about these service providers at the time you sign up for the service.
• We may disclose information to selected partners, under nondisclosure agreements, only for the purpose of marketing ValuePickr.com co-branded offerings (such as a ValuePickr.com newsletter published by another company).Those partners will be able to use the personal information they receive from us only for marketing the co-branded offerings, not for marketing anything else.
• If you use our recommendation service to email one of our articles to a friend, ValuePickr.com will automatically send this person a one-time email, with the recommended article attached. The email address you give us will appear on the “From” line of the email, thereby disclosing this information to whoever opens and reads the email. Similarly, if you send email from our site, by using “Reply to Author” or “Email this Post,” your address may appear as the return address of that email.
• We may disclose your personal information as required by applicable law, or in response to legal process, to protect the rights or property of ValuePickr.com, or to protect the safety of ValuePickr.com, our users, or others.
• We may disclose personal information in some other limited circumstances, but we will specifically describe them to you when we collect the information, such as in the rules of a contest or a new service. For example, if we are going to give personal information to a contest’s sponsor, we will disclose it when you sign up for the contest, so that you can decide whether to enter.
• We may employ contractors or other third parties to help with our operations. We may give them access to databases of user information, so that they can perform their services for us, including performing system maintenance, displaying personalized content (such as your stock screens), performing list analysis or management, or sending mailings for us. These parties are all subject to confidentiality agreements that restrict their use and disclosure of information they obtain through their relationship with ValuePickr.com.

What Kind of Security Measures Do We Take to Protect Your Information From Accidental Loss or Disclosure?

ValuePickr.com is committed to protecting your personal information. We store information you provide us on our secure servers.

Personalized areas of our sites, such as My Folder, are password-protected. Only you have access to these password-protected areas. Do not share your passwords with anyone. ValuePickr.com will never ask you for your password in an unsolicited phone call or email. If you are using a computer to which others have access, such as one in a computer lab, Internet cafe, or public library, always remember to log out and close your browser window when leaving our site.

Will ValuePickr.com Use Your Information for Direct Mailings?

If you register with ValuePickr.com or sign up for any of our products or services, we will send you information about our various products and services, or other products and services that we believe may interest you. Our partners in co-branded products (for example, our ValuePickr.com-Newsletter) may also send you information, but only for those ValuePickr.com-branded products.

Please note: If you register for an account with us, we may contact you to confirm your  registration or subscription, or to provide you with information about its terms or features. You may wish to keep these transactional or relationship emails, to help you use our products and services.

What Else Should You Know About Your Privacy?

When you post information on discussion boards, and in such features as your Personal Profile or your ValuePickr Interview, that information, along with your screen name, is visible to the public. Please remember that whenever you disclose personal information publicly that information can be collected and used by others. In short, if you post personal information online where people can see it, people will know that information and you may receive unsolicited messages from other parties in return. If you do not want strangers to have your email address, you should not post your email address on a discussion board.

While we do our best to protect your personal information, ValuePickr.com cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk. What does all of this mean? Just as in the investing world, you must protect yourself. You are responsible for maintaining the secrecy of any password and/or account information. Please be careful and responsible whenever you are online, especially when using a computer that other people can also use.

How Will You Know Whether ValuePickr.com’s Privacy Policy Has Changed?

We may change this Privacy Statement at any time, but we will give notice of any material change (or any notices that we are required to give you) on our websites and/or in email messages.

Last Updated: December 07, 2009