Privacy Policy

Lisa Stone — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 17:19:45 -0600

BlogHer Network Privacy Statement
[Updated: 8 February 2008]
Version: 2.0
Terms of Service

We want the BlogHer Network community to be built on trust. This online privacy statement (the "Privacy Statement") tells you about the information BlogHer collects through its website (the "Site") and how we use that information. By using our services and accessing the BlogHer Network, you are consenting to the information collection and use practices described in the Privacy Statement, as modified from time to time by us.

Information We Collect. Except as disclosed in this Privacy Statement, we do not sell or disclose information that identifies our users of the BlogHer Network personally or makes it possible for other parties to contact them directly ("Personal Information"). We also collect non-personal information ("Anonymous Information"), such as pages visited, on the BlogHer Network. We may also collect or develop aggregated information, which may include Anonymous Information and Personal Information, provided that such information does not personally identify you or any of our other users ("Aggregated Information").
1. A Note About Children. We do not intentionally gather Personal Information about users who are under the age of 13.
2. Voluntarily Provided Information. When you register to list your blog on the BlogHer Network, order goods or services from our Site, or apply to join the BlogHer Ad Network, we will collect and retain information about you, some of which is Personal Information. For example, registration requires you to provide a valid email address, username, and password. This email address and the information provided by you in the "Private Information" area of the registration form will only be used and disclosed in accordance with this Privacy Statement. The rest of the information you provide in your user profile will be visible to others, including anonymous visitors to the Site. If you provide us feedback or contact us via email, we will collect your name and email address, as well as any other content included in the email, in order to send you a reply. When you participate in one of our surveys, we may collect additional profile information. When you post messages on the message boards of our Site, the information contained in your posting will be stored on our servers and other users will be able to see it. We may also collect Personal Information, such as demographic information, from you at other points on our Site that state that Personal Information is being collected.
3. Cookies. We collect Anonymous Information about you and your use of the BlogHer Network whenever you visit us online. This includes use of cookies to store your user session IDs. BlogHer uses session ID cookies to make it easier for you to navigate our Site. A session ID cookie expires when you close you browser. A persistent cookie remains on your hard drive for an extended period of time. You can remove persistent cookies by following directions provided in your Internet browser's "help" file. BlogHer does not use cookies to track your web browsing on other websites.
4. Click Tracking. As is true of most websites, BlogHer gathers certain information automatically and stores it in log files. This information includes internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, and clickstream data. We use this information to analyze trends, administer the Site, track users' movements around the Site and gather demographic information about our user base as a whole. Except as noted herein, we do not link this automatically-collected data to Personal Information.
5. IP Addresses. Each user's IP address is logged with each visit and each action performed on the Site. This information is never provided to the third parties, except as otherwise stated in this Privacy Statement, and is logged only for a temporary period of time. IP address information is linked to Personal Information and may be used in an effort to block a "banned" user from accessing the Site.
6. Advertising. If there is advertising on the Site, such advertising may employ the use of cookies or other methods to track hits and click-throughs. We are not responsible for advertiser cookies or how the information gathered through their use might be used.
7. Participation on a Public Website. You should be aware that any Personal Information you submit on the Site in blogs, comments, other posts and your user profile can be read, collected, or used by other users of this Site, including anonymous visitors, and could be used to send you unsolicited messages. We are not responsible for the Personal Information you choose to submit on this Site.
8. Aggregated Information. We may collect, compile, store, publish, promote, report, sell, or otherwise disclose or use any and all Aggregated Information. When we share such information with other companies, it is not traceable to any particular user, and will not be used to contact you.
Use of Your Information.
1. Use of Personal Information. In general, Personal Information you submit to us is used either to respond to requests that you make, or to aid us in serving you better. BlogHer uses your Personal Information in the following ways: to facilitate the creation of and secure your account on our network; to identify you as a user in our system; to provide improved administration of our Site and services; to improve the quality of experience when you interact with our Site; to send you a welcome e-mail to verify ownership of the e-mail address provided when your account was created; to send you administrative e-mail notifications, such as security or support and maintenance advisories; to respond to your inquiries related to employment opportunities or other requests; to send promotional communications; to provide you with hardcopy or electronic newsletters, or surveys; to send and facilitate upgrades and special offers related to our services and for other marketing purposes, should you request to receive such communications from us; to make telephone calls to you, from time to time, as a part of secondary fraud protection or to solicit your feedback. When you receive newsletters or promotional communications from us, you may indicate a preference to stop receiving further communications from us and you will have the opportunity to "opt-out" by following the unsubscribe instructions provided in the e-mail you receive or by contacting us directly. Should you decide to opt-out of receiving future mailings, we may share your e-mail address with third parties to ensure that you do not receive further communications from third parties. Despite your indicated e-mail preferences, we may send you notices of any updates to our Privacy Statement.
2. Use of Anonymous and Aggregated Information. We may create Anonymous Information and Aggregated Information from Personal Information by excluding information (such as your name) that make the data personally identifiable to you. We use this Anonymous Information and Aggregated Information so that we may enhance the quality of our Site and services and improve Site navigation. BlogHer reserves the right to use and disclose Anonymous Information and Aggregated Information to third parties in its discretion.
3. Use of Feedback. If you provide feedback on our Site or any of our services to us, we may use such feedback for any purpose, provided we will not associate such feedback with your Personal Information. BlogHer will collect any information contained in such communication and will treat the Personal Information in such communication in accordance with this Privacy Statement.
Disclosure of your Information.
1. Co-branded Service Offerings. At some point, we may share Anonymous or Aggregated Information with certain businesses with which BlogHer has formed a strategic alliance. You may be able to identify these businesses because BlogHer has authorized them to display clearly identified and branded images on the BlogHer Network and in its communications. These strategic partners are requested to clearly state their own privacy policies on their own websites or promotional materials, and if you provide them with your Personal Information, it may become subject to the policies of the respective company. BlogHer may receive information from these strategic partners and may add such information to information already collected from you. No Personal Information identifiable to a specific user is collected or shared with these strategic partners from the BlogHer Network.
2. Third Party Services. The BlogHer Network reserves the right to offer third party services and products to you on the Site, such as via the conference sponsorship area and via newsletters or special offers, based on the preferences that you identify during the registration process and based on your subsequent preferences. We may share Aggregated Information about our user base with other entities, such as advertisers. This information does not identify individual users, except where you have given us prior, specific permission to do so. We do not link Aggregated Information with Personal Information. We may share Personal Information with third-party vendors and partners only in those situations where you have given us prior, specific permission to do so.
3. Third Party Contractors. We may share your Personal Information with third party contractors or service providers to provide you with the services that we offer you though our Site; to conduct quality assurance testing; to facilitate creation of accounts; to provide technical support; or to provide specific services in accordance with your instructions. These third parties are required not to use your Personal Information other than to provide the services requested by BlogHer. You expressly consent to the sharing of your Personal Information with our contractors and third party service providers for the sole purpose of providing services to you.
4. Affiliates. Although BlogHer does not currently have a any subsidiaries, joint ventures, parent company, or other companies under a common control (collectively, "Affiliates"), we may in the future. We may share some or all of your Personal Information with these Affiliates, in which case we will require our Affiliates to honor this Privacy Statement. If another company acquires our company or our assets, that company will possess the Personal Information collected by it and BlogHer and will assume the rights and obligations regarding your Personal Information as described in this Privacy Statement.
5. Legal Requirements. We reserve the right to disclose your Personal Information as required by law and when we believe that disclosure is necessary to protect or defend our rights, property, or users and/or to comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process served on BlogHer.
Links to Other Sites. BlogHer contains links to other sites that are not owned or controlled by BlogHer. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage you to be aware when you leave our Site and to read the privacy statements of each and every website that collects Personal Information. This Privacy Statement applies only to information collected by this Site.
United States Law. Much of BlogHer's membership, our servers and databases are primarily located in the United States. As a result, the Personal Information you provide us will be processed in and is subject to the laws and regulations of the United States, which may be less stringent than the laws regarding Personal Information in your country. If you are a visitor from outside the United States and you provide us with your contact or other Personal Information, you will be asked to consent to the collection and/or processing in the United States of your Personal Information, which includes the use of cookies as described above.
Security. BlogHer is committed to protecting the security of your Personal Information. We use a variety of industry-standard security technologies and procedures to help protect your Personal Information from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. Despite these measures, you should know that BlogHer cannot fully eliminate security risks associated with Personal Information and mistakes may happen.
Dispute Resolution. If you believe that BlogHer has not adhered to the Privacy Statement, please contact BlogHer by e-mail at privacy@blogher.com. We will do our best to address your concerns. If you feel that your complaint has been addressed incompletely, we invite you to let us know for further investigation. If you and BlogHer are unable to reach a resolution to the dispute, you and BlogHer will settle the dispute exclusively under the rules of the American Arbitration Association (www.adr.org).
Changes to Your Personal Information. You may change any of your Personal Information by editing your profile or by sending an e-mail to BlogHer at help@blogher.com. You may request deletion of your Personal Information by BlogHer, but please note that we may be required (by law or otherwise) to keep this information and not delete it (or to keep this information for a certain time, in which case we will comply with your deletion request only after we have fulfilled such requirements). When we delete the account information, it will be deleted from the active database, but may remain in our archives.
Privacy Statement Updates. If we decide to make material changes to our Privacy Statement, we will notify you by sending you an e-mail to the last e-mail address you provided to us and/or by prominently posting notice of the changes on the Site and updating the date at the top of the Privacy Statement. Therefore, we encourage you to check the date of our Privacy Statement whenever you visit the BlogHer Network for any updates or changes. Any material changes to this Privacy Statement will be effective upon the earlier of thirty (30) calendar days following our dispatch of an e-mail notice to you or thirty (30) calendar days following our posting of notice of the changes on the Site. Please note that at all times you are responsible for updating your Personal Information (defined below) to provide us with your most current e-mail address. In the event that the last e-mail address that you have provided us is not valid, or for any reason is not capable of delivering to you the notice described above, our dispatch of the e-mail containing such notice will nonetheless constitute effective notice of the changes described in the notice. In any event, changes to this Privacy Statement may affect our use or disclosure of Personal Information that you provided us prior to our notification to you of the changes. If you do not wish to permit changes in our use or disclosure of your Personal Information, you must notify us prior to the effective date of the changes that you wish to deactivate your account with us. Continued use of our services and access to the BlogHer Network, following notice of such changes, shall indicate your acknowledgement of such changes and agreement to be bound by the terms and conditions of such changes.

If you have any questions or concerns about BlogHer's Privacy Statement, please contact us.

BlogHer - Privacy Policy - Comments

Privacy Policy