Privacy Policy
TMI has created this
privacy policy to demonstrate our firm commitment to protecting your personal
information and informing you about how we handle it. This privacy policy only
applies to transactions and activities in which you engage, and data gathered,
on the TMI Website, TMI Messenger and double blind email
communications between TMI members (collectively, the
"Site") but does not apply to any other Website or offline point of
contact between TMI, or any other company, and consumers. Please
review this privacy policy periodically as we may modify it from time to time.
This privacy policy was last revised on May 21, 2005. Each time you visit the
Site or provide us with information, by doing so you are accepting the
practices described in this privacy policy at that time.
Your
IP Address
Like
most e-commerce Websites, each time you visit the Site, we automatically
collect your IP address and the web page from which you came. In order to
administer and optimize the Site for you and to diagnose problems with our
Site, we use your IP address to help identify you and to gather broad
demographic information about you.
Cookies
Like
most Websites, the Site uses cookies to keep track of your purchases and other
activity on the Site and enhance your experience on the Site. We also use
cookies to deliver content specific to your interests, to save your password,
and if you choose, to save other personal and financial information so you do
not have to reenter it each time you visit the Site. Third party advertisers on
the Site may also place or read cookies on your browser. If you wish to disable
these cookies, the "help" portion of the toolbar on most browsers
will tell you how. However, if you set your browser to disable cookies, you may
not be able to access certain areas on the Site.
Information
We Collect From You
In
order to operate the Site and to provide you with information about products or
services that may be of interest to you, we may collect "personal
information" (i.e., information that could be used to contact you directly
(without using the Site) such as full name, postal address, phone number or
email address), "financial information" (i.e., credit card numbers or
passwords) or "demographic information" (i.e., information that you
submit, or that we collect, that is neither personal information nor financial
information; this may include, but is not limited to, zip code, postal code,
hometown, gender, username, age/birth date, purchase history information,
browsing history information, searching history information, registration
history information, and the content of communications between you and other
members over the Site), subject to the rest of this paragraph. Demographic
information is divided into two categories: 1) "non-public
information," which consists of purchase history information and
one-on-one communications between you and other users of the Site; and 2)
"public information," which consists of all other demographic
information. We ask that you do not enter personal information or financial
information into your Profile (for example, do not use your email address or
password as your username, or include your name or address in your written
responses), because if you do then it may be posted publicly on the Site, and
the information will then be treated as "demographic information"
that is "public information." Please note that nowhere on the Site do
we knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 18, as
we require that all users represent to us that they are at least 18 years old.
Information
Other Websites Collect From You
On
the Site, we place links to other Websites operated by other parties. Some of
these other Websites contain our brand names and trademarks and other
intellectual property that we own; others do not. When you click on these links
and visit these other Websites, regardless of whether or not they contain our
brand names, trademarks and other intellectual property, you need to be aware
that we do not control these other Websites or these other WebsitesÕ business
practices, and that this privacy policy does not apply to these other Websites.
Consequently, the operators of these other Websites may collect different kinds
of information about you, and may use and disclose that information in
different ways than we would if it were collected on the Site. We encourage you
to review their privacy policies and remind you that we will not be responsible
for their actions.
How
We Use Personal Information
We
use your email address and your other personal information to help us
efficiently operate the Site, to contact you in connection with your
transactions and other activities on the Site (including, but not limited to,
confirmation emails or important news that could affect your relationship with
TMI), and to forward messages to you from other TMIusers. These types of communications are known as "Operational
Communications." In some cases, Operational Communications may also contain
commercial messages, such as banner ads and special offers.
We
also use personal information to send you newsletters, information, offers, and
other promotional materials for TMI or third-party goods and
services. We attempt to send you offers that are of value to you, such as
discounts, exclusive offers, and special event information. The Site provides
you with options to decline to receive communications from TMI(other than those contained in Operational Communications). Some of these
options may only be for a certain category of communications; others may be
more general. By posting a profile on the Site, you are opting in to receive
email from the TMI staff.
To
operate the Site, including processing your transactions and supporting your
activities on the Site, we may share your personal information with our agents,
representatives, contractors, and service providers so they can provide us with
support services such as authorization of credit card transactions, email origination,
receipt or support services, customer relationship management services, order
fulfillment, sweepstakes fulfillment, and other promotional fulfillments. We
require these entities not to use your information for any other purpose.
By
purchasing, registering or making reservations for products or services offered
or sponsored by third parties on the Site, or electing to receive
communications (such as emails or magazine subscriptions) or electing to
participate in contests, sweepstakes or other programs (such as discount or
rewards programs), offered or sponsored by third parties on the Site, you
consent to our providing your personal information to those third parties.
Those third parties may use your personal information in accordance with their own
privacy policies. You will need to contact those third parties to instruct them
directly regarding your preferences for the use of your personal information by
them. Additionally, you agree that we may use and disclose all such information
so submitted to such third parties in the same manner in which we are entitled
to use and disclose any other information you submit to us.
Any
third party with whom we are allowed to share your personal information is
authorized to use your personal information in accordance with our contractual
arrangements with such third parties and in accordance with their own privacy
policies, over which we have no control, and you agree that we are not
responsible or liable for any of their actions or omissions. Those who contact you
will need to be instructed directly by you regarding your preferences for the
use of your personal information by them.
Please
read the information below under the heading "Special Cases in which we
Share Personal and Financial Information" to learn more ways in which we
may share your personal information.
How
We Use Financial Information
We
use your financial information to check your qualifications, to bill you for
products and services and to enable you to participate in discount, rebate and
similar programs in which you may elect to participate. By making a purchase,
or engaging in any other kind of activity or transaction that uses financial
information, on the Site, you consent to our providing your financial
information to our service providers and to such third parties as we determine
are necessary to support and process your activities and transactions, as well
as to your credit card issuer for their purposes. These third parties may
include the credit card companies and banking institutions used to process and
support the transaction or activity. By purchasing, registering or making
reservations for products or services of third parties offered on the Site, or
by participating in programs offered on the Site that are administered by third
parties and that require you to submit financial information in order to use
them, you also consent to our providing your financial information to those
third parties. Additionally, if the page on which you submit information is a
Co-Branded Page, or was accessed by clicking on a link on a Co-Branded Page,
then we may share your financial information with the associated Co-Branded
Company. Any of these various third parties (including Co-Branded Companies)
may be authorized to use your financial information in accordance with our
contractual arrangements with such third parties and in accordance with their
own privacy policies, over which we have no control, and you agree that we are
not responsible or liable for any of their actions or omissions. Additionally,
you agree that we may use and disclose all such information so submitted to
such third parties in the same manner in which we are entitled to use and
disclose any other information that you submit to us. Please read the
information below under the heading "Special Cases in which we Share
Personal and Financial Information" to learn more ways in which we may
share your financial information.
Special
Cases in which we Share Personal and Financial Information
Your
personal information or financial information may be passed on to a third party
in the event of a transfer of ownership or assets, or a bankruptcy. We may also
disclose personal information or financial information when we determine that
such disclosure is necessary to comply with applicable law, to cooperate with
law enforcement or to protect the interests or safety of TMI or
other visitors to the Site. We also may disclose your personal information or
financial information to our subsidiary and parent companies and businesses,
and other affiliated legal entities and businesses with whom we are under
common corporate control. Whenever personal information or financial
information is disclosed under this paragraph, we may also disclose your
demographic information along with it, on a non-anonymous basis. All of our
parent, subsidiary and affiliated legal entities and businesses that receive
your personal information, financial information, or non-anonymous demographic
information from us will comply with the terms of this privacy policy with
respect to their use and disclosure of such information.
How
We Use Public Information and Other Demographic Information
We
may review all demographic information. We may use public information to enable
other users to find your profile, to determine whether they are a match for you
and to communicate with you. We may use demographic information to tailor the
Site and communications to your interests. We may also share demographic
information with advertisers on an anonymous and aggregated basis (i.e., without
telling the advertisers your identity). One of the reasons we may do this is to
increase the likelihood that our advertisersÕ goods and services will appeal to
TMI users, so that we may target specific ads at specific
demographic groups. Our sharing of demographic information with advertisers is
anonymous (i.e., we do not tell advertisers which particular TMIusers are members of which demographic groups), subject to the rest of this
privacy policy. When you respond to an advertisement, however, we ask you to
remember that if that ad that is targeted to a demographic group and you decide
to give the advertiser your personal information, then the advertiser may be
able to identify you as being a member of that demographic group. Please also
be aware that when we disclose your financial information or personal
information to a Co-Branded Company, as described above, we may also disclose
to that Co-Branded Company your demographic information, other than the content
of one-on-one communications between you and other members. Please also be
aware that we may disclose your demographic information on a non-anonymous
basis as described above in the paragraph titled "Special Cases in which
we Share Personal and Financial Information." Also, to read further
details about how we may use your public information, see our Terms of Use.
Our
Security Precautions
The
Site has security measures in place to protect against the loss, misuse, and
alteration of the information under our control. Our secure server software
(SSL) is the industry standard and among the best software available today for
secure commerce transactions. We encrypt all of your personal and financial
information as it travels over the Internet and we store your financial information
on our servers in encrypted form. Your information may be transferred to and
maintained on computer networks which may be located outside of the state,
province, country or other governmental jurisdiction in which you reside, and
the country or jurisdiction in which these computer networks are located may
not have privacy laws as protective as the laws in your country or
jurisdiction.
Changing
our Privacy Policy for Previously Gathered Information
If
at any point we decide to use particular 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 or by providing 30 days notice on the Site.
Please note that we will continue to have the right to change our privacy policy
and practices, and how we use your personally identifiable information, without
notice, as described in the first paragraph of this Privacy Policy, provided
that such changes shall only apply to information gathered on or after the date
of the change.
If
you have any questions or concerns about this privacy policy, the practices of
the Site, or your dealings with the Site, you can contact us at info@TMI.