Smithsonian Networks Community

This is the official Privacy Policy of SmithsonianChannelCommunity.com (“Site”), owned and operated by SNI/SI Networks L.L.C. (“SNI/SI Networks,” “we,” “our,” “us”). SNI/SI Networks is committed to protecting the privacy of its visitors and has prepared the following statement to inform users how personally identifying information (“Personal Information”) and non-Personal Information is gathered from our Site and used by SNI/SI Networks. We encourage users of the Site to be smart about choosing when, and to whom, to release information online. This policy may be updated from time to time, so please check back periodically. We will notify you of significant changes by prominently posting them at our Site, or by sending an e-mail to the primary address specified in your account. Please note that the Site is intended for use by residents of the United States, its territories and possessions ("U.S.") only and, therefore, this Privacy Policy is specifically directed only towards residents of the U.S. We make no representation that content on our Site is appropriate or available for use in locations outside of the U.S., and accessing it from territories where the content is illegal is prohibited. If you are located in the European Union or elsewhere outside of the U.S. and you participate in activities on this Site contrary to our policy that only U.S. residents are eligible to use the Site, you do so at your own risk and initiative, and are responsible for compliance with any applicable local and national laws. Please be aware that any Personal Information you transfer to us will be transferred to and processed in the U.S and subject to U.S. law. By using this Site, participating in any Site activities, and/or providing us with your Personal Information, you consent to this transfer and processing of Personal Information to the U.S., and waive any claims that may arise under your own local and national laws.
YOUR CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS
If you are a California resident that has an established business relationship with us and wish to receive information about how to exercise your third party disclosure choices, you must send a request to the following address with a preference as to how our response to your request should be sent (email or postal mail). You may contact us in two ways. You may send an email to our Privacy Administrator at privacy@SmithsonianChannelCommunity.com. Alternatively, you may contact SNI/SI Networks L.L.C. at:
SNI/SI Networks L.L.C.
1633 Broadway, 16th Floor
New York, NY
Attn: Your California Privacy Rights
c/o Privacy Administrator
For requests sent via email, you must put the statement "Your California Privacy Rights" in the subject field of your email. All requests sent via postal mail must be labeled "Your California Privacy Rights" on the accompanying envelope or post card and clearly stated on the actual request. For all requests, please include your name, street address, city, state, and zip code. (Your street address is optional if you wish to receive a response to your request via email. However, please include your zip code for our own recordkeeping.) We will not accept requests via the telephone or by facsimile. We are not responsible for requests that are not labeled or sent properly, or do not have complete information.
NON-PERSONAL INFORMATION
Certain non-Personal Information about our visitors is collected by the standard operation of the Site’s internet servers and through the use of "cookie" technology (as described below), such as the type of internet browser you are using and the domain name of your internet service provider, where you go within the site, how much time you spend in any particular area and what you buy. As described more fully below, we may share non-Personal Information with advertisers and other third parties in order to present users with targeted advertising, products and services.
COOKIES
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 pages on the Site where you are prompted to log-in or that are customizable by you require that you accept cookies. Generally, we use cookies to: 1. 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 "Log In" and is modified when you "Log Out" of our services. 2. Estimate our audience size. Each browser accessing the Site is given a unique cookie which is then used to determine the extent of repeat usage, usage by a registered user versus by an unregistered user, and to help target advertisements based on user interests and behavior. 3. Assist us in tracking visits to and business at our store, and to process the items in your shopping basket. This information collected by cookies is sometimes called "clickstream" or "click trail" and may also describe which pages you have seen in each part of the store. 4. Track your progress and number of entries in some of our promotions, sweepstakes and contests. When a SmithsonianNetworksCommunity.com -hosted promotion uses cookies, the information written to the cookie indicates the user's progress through the promotion, and may be used to track entries, submissions, and status in prize drawings. 5. Measure certain traffic patterns, which areas of the Site you have visited, and your visiting patterns in the aggregate. We use this research to understand how our users' habits are similar or different from one another so that we can make each new experience on the Site a better one. We may use this information to better personalize the content, banners, and promotions that you and other users will see on our Site. Advertisers that serve ads onto the Site may also use their own cookies.
You 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 Site services that require registration in order to participate. These services include (but are not limited to): posting content to the Site, and creating a personal profile and customizing your home page. Information collected by the standard operation of the Site’s internet servers and through the use of cookies is analyzed by SNI/SI Networks only in aggregate form and is used to improve the content of the Site, to tailor the content and/or layout to consumer trends and to notify users about updates to the Site. We reserve the right to disclose or otherwise utilize this information in aggregate form for any purpose in our sole judgment. Log data collected on web servers both within our control and under the confidential control of our third party ad service provider(s) supplies us with aggregate information about the number of visits to different pages on our site. This information is not Personal Information and is used by us to improve the content of our web site.
PERSONAL INFORMATION COLLECTION AND USE
We also collect Personal Information (such as your name, street address, telephone number and e-mail address) from voluntary submissions as part of Site registration, sweepstakes, contests, and other online promotions, when you register to become a member of the Site (a “Member”), place an order for merchandise, complete a survey that we use for research purposes, or when you report a problem with our Site or one of our services. We may also enable users to provide their mobile phone numbers and carriers so that they can sign up for wireless updates and other promotions. In addition, if you contact us, we may keep a record of that correspondence. To facilitate its social networking goal, SNI/SI Networks encourages the posting of certain information in general public viewing areas of the Site and/or areas accessible by Members. By submitting content to any public area of the Site (which includes, but is not limited to, your profile, message/bulletin boards, forums, contests and chat rooms), your content will be considered "Public Information" and will not be subject to privacy protections. Public Information may include, but is not limited to, any of the following listed separately or in combination: screen name, photo, gender, country, city and state, age, race and ethnicity, height, weight and body type, heritage, education, occupation, astrological sign, marital status and personal/family preferences and qualities. If a Member chooses NOT to post any of his or her Personal Information on the public areas of the Site available to all users of the Site and instead chooses to make this information available only to select persons, such information is still classified as Public Information, although it will only be available to select persons. Personal Information will be used by SNI/SI Networks (1) to process your requests (e.g., register you for a contest or sweepstakes or fulfill your merchandise order); (2) to communicate with you or personalize the Site based on your stated interests and preferences or make related offers to you; (3) to administer the Site or serve you when you have questions or problems; (4) in our sole judgment, as may be necessary to comply with any applicable laws, rules or regulations (such as U.S. Copyright Law) or the Terms of Service applicable to this Site and/or (5) in our sole judgment, as may be necessary to respond to a court order, subpoena, or search warrant. We will share Personal Information with third parties to further the purpose for which you provide SNI/SI Networks with such information (e.g., to process your merchandise order), or when we believe in good faith that the law requires it, or to protect the rights or property of SNI/SI Networks or its affiliates or the users of the Site (such as to enforce the Site’s Terms of Service), or to comply with legal or regulatory obligations, or to respond to subpoenas, court orders or legal process. We also may transfer information to a third party in the event of corporate restructuring (e.g., a sale, merger, or other transfer of assets or stock). Agents and contractors of SNI/SI Networks who are granted access to Personal Information by SNI/SI Networks are required to protect such information in a manner that is consistent with this Privacy Policy by, for example, not using the information for any purpose other than to carry out the services they are performing for us. Currently, we do not share your Personal Information with any other third parties for their own marketing purposes without first obtaining your prior permission.
YOUR CHOICES
We have developed a system that enables you to express your preferences regarding our newsletters and communications. To remove yourself from a mailing list, go to the edit profile section and log in with your email and Member password. You can view and change your email preferences. To unsubscribe from a certain newsletter, uncheck the appropriate box. If you'd like to add a new newsletter, simply check the corresponding box. Be sure to click the submit changes link at the bottom of the page to make sure your preferences get updated.
COLLECTION OF INFORMATION BY THIRD PARTY SITES AND SPONSORS
Please be aware that our advertisers or other third party web sites that have links on our Site may collect Personal Information about you. The information practices of those web sites linked to the Site are not covered by this Privacy Policy. We sometimes may offer content (e.g., contests, sweepstakes, or promotions) that is sponsored by or co-branded with identified third parties. By virtue of these relationships, the third parties may obtain Personal Information that visitors voluntarily submit to participate in the Site activity. We have no control over these third parties' use of this information. The Site will notify you at the time of requesting Personal Information if these third parties will obtain such information. We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our Site. These companies may use non-Personal Information about your visits to this and other web sites in order to provide advertisements on this Site and other web sites about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.
SHOPPING SERVICES
We strive to offer our visitors a secure and safe environment for credit card or debit card purchases. The shopping and fulfillment services offered on the Site are operated by SNI/SI Network's agent, who collects Personal Information necessary to accept, process and ship your ordered merchandise on behalf of SNI/SI Networks, to provide you with information you may request and updates on the status of your order, and to assist your purchasing experience. Your credit card or debit card number is collected via a secure transmission.
SECURITY
We conduct the collection, management, maintenance and storage of user information in a secure and commercially reasonable manner using acceptable industry standards of security technology and practices (such as electronic security systems and password protections) to protect against the loss, misuse or alteration of Personal Information. We also request that our operational service providers take such precautions. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your Personal Information, we 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 use reasonable efforts to ensure that collected Personal Information is secure and not readily accessible to unapproved individuals or third parties. SNI/SI Networks has limited the number of people who have physical access to our database servers and has implemented electronic security systems and password protections which help further guard against unauthorized access.
REVIEWING YOUR INFORMATION
To access the Personal Information that this Site has collected about you online, to correct factual errors in such information, or to update your interests, preferences or other portions of your Member profile, or to remove information from your Member profile, please log in and go to the edit profile section.
CHILDREN
We are sensitive to parents' concerns about the collection of Personal Information from children. As such, we will not knowingly collect Personal Information from children under the age of 13. Parents (including legal guardians) of children that registered on the Site in violation of the Terms of Service who wish to terminate their child's membership may use their child's user name and password to gain direct access to the account and select to terminate the child's membership. Alternatively, a parent of a membership-ineligible child may send an email to the Privacy Administrator that includes the parent's name, address, telephone and email address, in addition to the child's name and, if available, the child's email address as registered on the Site, plus the child's date of birth. We will then terminate the child's account but will notify the child of the termination request via email and will identify the name, address and email address of the person making the request.
CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions, comments or concerns regarding the Site's Privacy Policy and/or practices, please write us at: privacy@SmithsonianChannelCommunity.com
This Privacy Policy was last updated September 24, 2007 and is effective immediately.
Copyright © 2007 SNI/SI Networks L.L.C. All Rights Reserved.
Smithsonian Networks and related marks are trademarks of Smithsonian Institution. SNI/SI Networks L.L.C. is an authorized user.