The HTOC is committed to safeguarding your privacy online. Please read the following policy to understand how your personal information will be treated as you make full use of our many offerings. This policy may change from time to time so please check back periodically. This policy will let you know: What personally identifiable information is collected from you; What cookies are and how they are used; How your information is used; Who is collecting your information; With whom your information may be shared; What choices are available to you regarding collection, use, and distribution of your information; How you can access, update or delete your information; The kind of security precautions that are in place to protect the loss, misuse, or alteration of your information; How the HTOC protects children's privacy; and What else you should know about your online privacy. NOTICE: Click here for important information about safe surfing from the Federal Trade Commission. What personally identifiable information does the HTOC collect from me? The HTOC collects information in several ways from different parts of our site. Some personal information is gathered when you register. During registration, the HTOC asks for your name, email address, birth date, personal interests and HT setup. The more information you volunteer (and the more accurate it is), the better we are able to customize your experience. Once you register you are no longer anonymous to the HTOC - you are given a HTOC ID and are able to take full advantage of the HTOC's offerings and personal customization features. What are cookies and how does the HTOC use them? As part of offering and providing customizable and personalized services, The HTOC uses cookies to store and sometimes track information and preferences about you. A cookie is a small amount of data that is sent to your browser from a web server and stored on your computer's hard drive. All sites on the HTOC where you are prompted to log-in or that are customizable require that you accept cookies. (See "What are my choices regarding collection, use and distribution of my information?" for more information on cookies.) Generally, we use cookies to: Remind us of who you are and to access your account information (stored on our computers) in order to deliver to you a better and more personalized service. This cookie is set when you register or "Sign In" and is modified when you "Sign Out" of our services. Store your display preferences, particularly how the forums are configured for you. How does the HTOC use my information? The HTOC's primary goal in collecting personal information is to provide you, the user, with a customized experience on our site. This includes personalization services and interactive communications Who is collecting information? When you are on a the HTOC site and are asked for personal information, you are sharing that information with the HTOC alone, unless it is specifically stated otherwise. Please be aware that the web sites that have links on our site may collect personally identifiable information about you. The information practices of those Internet access partners, advertisers, and web sites linked to the HTOC are not covered by this privacy statement. With whom does the HTOC share my information? As a general rule, the HTOC will not disclose any of your personally identifiable information except when we have your permission or under special circumstances, such as when we believe in good faith that the law requires it or under the circumstances described below. Other: The HTOC may also disclose account information 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 violating the HTOC's Terms of Service or may be causing injury to or interference with (either intentionally or unintentionally) the HTOC's rights or property, other HTOC users, or anyone else that could be harmed by such activities. The HTOC may disclose or access account information when we believe in good faith that the law requires it and for administrative and other purposes that we deem necessary to maintain, service, and improve our products and services. What are my choices regarding collection, use, and distribution of my information? The HTOC may, from time to time, send you email regarding our website and/or services. Only HTOC administrators will send you these direct mailings. On some types of HTOC events, we will use your email address in order to update you on your score, entries, or status. When you participate in these types of events, you may automatically receive event-related email. You also have choices with respect to cookies. By modifying your browser preferences, you have the choice to accept all cookies, to be notified when a cookie is set, or to reject all cookies. If you choose to reject all cookies you will be unable to use those HTOC services that require cookies in order to participate. These services include (but are not limited to): HTOC forum customization and HTOC member-only voting. You can still use most of the features of the HTOC site even if you do not accept cookies. The HTOC does not sell or rent user information to anyone....period. What is the HTOC's policy on allowing me to update, correct, or delete my personally identifiable information? You may edit your HTOC Account Information and your HTOC Bio at any time by using your HTOC ID and password. For all other problems signing in to the HTOC, please contact the HTOC administrators. Your HTOC account can be deleted or deactivated, but doing so will result in not being able to access any members-only area of the HTOC site. Residual information will remain within our archive records. What security precautions are in place to protect the loss, misuse, or alteration of my information? Your HTOC Account Information and HTOC Profile are password-protected so that you and only you have access to this personal information. You may edit your You may edit your HTOC Account Information and your HTOC Bio at any time by using your HTOC ID and password. We recommend that you do not divulge your password to anyone. The HTOC will never ask you for your password in an unsolicited phone call or in an unsolicited email. Also remember to close your browser window when you have finished your work. This is to ensure that others cannot access your personal information and correspondence if you share a computer with someone else or are using a computer in a public place like a library or Internet cafe. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet or any wireless network can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, the HTOC cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us or from our online products or services, and you do so at your own risk. Once we receive your transmission, we make our best effort to ensure its security on our systems. What about children's privacy? The HTOC is a general audience web site. Children should always ask a parent for permission before sending personal information to anyone online, and parents, as the legal guardian of their children, must determine whether any of the Services and/or Content are inappropriate for their child. Remember, however, that the HTOC does not share, sell or rent personal information about our users of ANY age with third parties. What else should I know about my privacy? Please keep in mind that whenever you voluntarily disclose personal information online - for example on message boards, through email, or in chat areas - that information can be collected and used by others. In short, if you post personal information online that is accessible to the public, you may receive unsolicited messages from other parties in return. Ultimately, you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your passwords and/or any account information. Please be careful and responsible whenever you're online. Additional Information Questions regarding this statement should be directed to webmaster@htoc.net. Also see... Electronic Frontier Foundation - a civil liberties organization working to protect your rights online. Electronic Privacy Information Center - established to focus public attention on emerging civil liberties issues relating to the National Information Infrastructure. Privacy Issues Page - from the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT). The EPIC Cookies Page - definitions, links, and news. How to Protect Your Privacy - information from the Federal Trade Commission.