Privacy Policy
DATE OF LAST REVISION: APRIL 1, 2009
OVERVIEW
At inDegree™, (“INDEGREE™”), protecting our users' privacy and security is a top
priority. For this reason, we have adopted the following policy to advise you of
your choices regarding the use of your personal information online. This policy
describes what types of information we gather about you, how we use it, under what
circumstances we disclose it to third-parties, and your rights to update or correct
it.
INDEGREE™” is committed to providing the utmost in privacy security. We do not sell
nor trade any personal information obtained from the site.
All e-mail correspondence is kept in strict privacy and will not be disclosed to
parties other than INDEGREE™.
By using INDEGREE™, you are accepting the practices described in this policy and
are also aware that our policies are subject to change at any time.
SCOPE OF POLICY
This Policy applies to INDEGREE™. It does not apply to other companies' or organizations'
web sites to which we link. Please review the privacy policies of those web sites
in order to determine how they treat your personal information.
INFORMATION ABOUT YOU
Information Gathered From All Visitors
When you visit INDEGREE™ you provide us with two types of information: personal
information you knowingly choose to disclose that is collected by us and Web Site
use information collected by us as you interact with our Web Site such as aggregate
data, cookies and IP address information.
When you register with INDEGREE™, you provide us with certain personal information,
such as your name, your email address, your address, your telephone number, educational
information, employer information and any other personal or preference information
that you provide to us.
When you use INDEGREE™, you may set up your profile and start using the INDEGREE™
functionalities. You post User Content on the Site at your own risk. Please be aware
that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable. We cannot control the actions
of other Users with whom you may choose to share your pages and information. Therefore,
we cannot and do not guarantee that User Content you post on the Site will not be
viewed by unauthorized persons. We are not responsible for circumvention of any
privacy settings or security measures contained on the Site. You understand and
acknowledge that, even after removal, copies of User Content may remain viewable
in cached and archived pages or if other Users have copied or stored your User Content.
Any improper collection or misuse of information provided on INDEGREE™ is a violation
of the INDEGREE™ Terms of Use.
Aggregate Data
We gather certain generic information with respect to customers' use of our web
site, such as the number of unique visitors, the frequency with which they visit,
and the areas on the web site that they favor. These statistics are very much like
television ratings that tell the networks how many people tuned in to a program.
We only use this type of data in aggregate-that is, we look at the data on a collective
basis, in summary form, rather than on an individual basis. This data helps us determine
the extent to which our customers use certain parts of our web site, which, in turn,
enables us to make it as appealing as possible. We may also provide statistical
"ratings" about how our customers collectively use our web site to advertisers,
sponsors, and other companies with which we do business ("Participating Corporations").
We do this so they, too, can understand how often people use their areas of the
site in order for them to provide you with the best possible experience. These statistical
ratings do not contain any personally identifiable information about you or any
of our users.
Cookies
We use a technology nicknamed "cookies" on our web site. Cookies are pieces
of information or data sent to your browser from a web server and stored on your
computer's hard drive for record-keeping purposes. We use cookies to make your visit
to our web site easier. For example, cookies allow us to recognize you when you
re-enter our web site so that you will not have to sign-in each time you visit.
Cookies also allow us to count the number of unique and return visitors who use
our site. Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies. If you prefer, you
can reset your browser to notify you when you've received a cookie or, alternatively,
to refuse to accept cookies. It is important to note that you may not be able to
use certain features on our web site if you choose not to accept cookies. Cookies
can also enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance their
experience on our site.
IP Addresses
We collect and analyze traffic on our web site by keeping track of the IP addresses
of our visitors. IP addresses are unique numeric identifiers that are assigned to
each computer browser accessing the Internet. An IP address, by itself, cannot identify
you personally. However, when combined with other information provided by your Internet
Service Provider (ISP), your IP address can be used to identify the computer originating
a message. INDEGREE™ reserves the right to communicate with you from time to time
about important administrative, policy, legal, credit card, and billing matters,
which will affect your use of our web site, including without limitation any alleged
violations of our Terms of Use. These communications are mandatory.
USE OF INFORMATION OBTAINED BY INDEGREE™
When you register with INDEGREE™, you create a profile, link with other users and
join networks. Your information and the content you generate is displayed to all
people in which you are connected to (including all of your education networks)
as well as all employers. We may occasionally use your name and email address to
send you notifications regarding new services offered by INDEGREE™ that we think
you may find valuable.
INDEGREE™ may send you service-related announcements from time to time through the
general operation of the service. For instance, if someone wants to connect with
you, you would receive an email.
INDEGREE™ may use information in your profile without identifying you as an individual
to third parties. We do this for purposes such as determining how many people are
in certain networks for advertisements and promotions.
SHARING YOUR INFORMATION WITH THIRD PARTIES
INDEGREE™ is about sharing information with your connections and the members of
your networks. We reserve the right to do the following:
- We may provide information to service providers to help us bring you the services
we offer. Specifically, we may use third parties to facilitate our business, such
as to host the service at a co-location facility for servers, to send out email
updates about INDEGREE™ , to remove repetitive information from our user lists,
to process payments for products or services, to offer an online job application
process, or to provide search results or links (including sponsored links). In connection
with these offerings and business operations, our service providers may have access
to your personal information for use for a limited time in connection with these
business activities. Where we utilize third parties for the processing of any personal
information, we implement reasonable contractual and technical protections limiting
the use of that information to the INDEGREE™ specified purposes.
- We may be required to disclose user information pursuant to lawful requests, such
as subpoenas or court orders, or in compliance with applicable laws. We do not reveal
information until we have a good faith belief that an information request by law
enforcement or private litigants meets applicable legal standards. Additionally,
we may share account or other information when we believe it is necessary to comply
with law, to protect our interests or property, to prevent fraud or other illegal
activity perpetrated through the INDEGREE™ service or using the INDEGREE™ name,
or to prevent imminent bodily harm. This may include sharing information with other
companies, lawyers, agents or government agencies.
- We may offer services jointly with other companies on INDEGREE™ . You can tell when
another company is involved in any service provided on INDEGREE™ , and we may share
customer information with that company in connection with your use of that service.
- If the ownership of all or substantially all of the INDEGREE™ business, or individual
business units owned by INDEGREE™ Inc., were to change, your user information may
be transferred to the new owner so the service can continue operations. In any such
transfer of information, your user information would remain subject to the promises
made in any pre-existing Privacy Policy.
LINKS
INDEGREE™ may contain links to other websites. We are of course not responsible
for the privacy practices of other web sites. We encourage our users to be aware
when they leave our site to read the privacy statements of each and every web site
that collects personally identifiable information. This Privacy Policy applies solely
to information collected by INDEGREE™.
THIRD PARTY ADVERTISING
Advertisements that appear on INDEGREE™ are sometimes delivered (or "served")
directly to users by third party advertisers. They automatically receive your IP
address when this happens. These third party advertisers may also download cookies
to your computer, or use other technologies such as JavaScript and "web beacons"
(also known as "1x1 gifs") to measure the effectiveness of their ads and
to personalize advertising content. Doing this allows the advertising network to
recognize your computer each time they send you an advertisement in order to measure
the effectiveness of their ads and to personalize advertising content. In this way,
they may compile information about where individuals using your computer or browser
saw their advertisements and determine which advertisements are clicked. INDEGREE™
does not have access to or control of the cookies that may be placed by the third
party advertisers. Third party advertisers have no access to your contact information
stored on INDEGREE™ unless you choose to share it with them.
This privacy policy covers the use of cookies by INDEGREE™ and does not cover the
use of cookies or other tracking technologies by any of its advertisers.
SECURITY
INDEGREE™ takes appropriate precautions to protect our users' information. Your
account information is located on a secured server behind a firewall. When you enter
sensitive information (such as credit card numbers or bank account information or
your password), we encrypt that information using secure socket layer technology
(SSL). (To learn more about SSL, go to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Sockets_Layer). Because email is not
recognized as secure communications, we request that you not send private information
to us by email.
TERMS OF USE, NOTICES AND REVISIONS
Your use of INDEGREE™ , and any disputes arising from it, is subject to this Privacy
Policy as well as our Terms of Use and all of its dispute resolution provisions
including arbitration, limitation on damages and choice of law. We reserve the right
to change our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use at any time. Non-material changes
and clarifications will take effect immediately, and material changes will take
effect within 30 days of their posting on this site. If we make changes, we will
post them and will indicate at the top of this page the policy's new effective date.
If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you here, by email, or
through notice on our home page. We encourage you to refer to this policy on an
ongoing basis so that you understand our current privacy policy. Unless stated otherwise,
our current privacy policy applies to all information that we have about you and
your account.