Privacy Statement

High Performance Web Sites (HPWS) 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:
1. What personally identifiable information is collected from you;
2. What cookies are and how they are used;
3. How your information is used;
4. Who is collecting your information;
5. With whom your information may be shared;
6. What choices are available to you regarding collection, use, and distribution of your information;
7. The kind of security precautions that are in place to protect the loss, misuse, or alteration of your information;
8. How HPWS protects children's privacy; and
9. What else you should know about your online privacy.

NOTICE: Click here for important information about safe surfing from the US Federal Trade Commission.


What personally identifiable information does HPWS collect from me?

HPWS collects information in several ways from different parts of our network of web sites.

Some personal information is gathered when you register. During member registration, HPWS asks for your name, Postal Address and Phone number as well as an email address.

In addition to registration we may ask you for personal information at other times, including (but not limited to) when you enter a contest or promotion sponsored by HPWS; when you submit a listing for a web site; and when you report a problem with one of our sites or services. If you contact HPWS we may keep a record of that correspondence. HPWS also occasionally asks users to complete surveys that we use for research purposes. Wherever HPWS collects personal information we make an effort to include a link to this Privacy Policy on that page.


What are cookies and how does HPWS use them?

As part of offering and providing customizable and personalized services, HPWS uses cookies to store and sometimes track information 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 HPWS 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:

(1) Remind us of who you are and to enable us 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.

(2) Estimate our audience size. Each browser accessing HPWS 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 merchants in HPWS Virtual Stores to track visits to and business at their stores, 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 merchant's store.

(4) Track your progress and number of entries in some of our promotions, sweepstakes and contests. When a HPWS-hosted promotion uses cookies, the information written to the cookie indicates the player'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 HPWS's network of web sites 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 HPWS 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 sites.

Advertising networks that serve ads onto HPWS may also use their own cookies.

HPWS also collects IP addresses for system administration and to report aggregate information to our advertisers. In addition, HPWS Mail includes IP addresses in outgoing mail message headers.


How does HPWS use my information?

HPWS's primary goal in collecting personal information is to provide you, the user, with a customized experience on our network of sites. This includes personalization services, interactive communications, online shopping and many other types of services, most of which are completely free to you. In order to provide services free of charge, we display advertisements. By knowing a little about you, HPWS is able to deliver more relevant advertisements and content, and hence better service, to you.

In our role of delivering targeted advertisements, HPWS plays the middleman. Advertisers give us an advertisement and tell us the type of audience they want to reach (for example, males over 35 years old). HPWS takes the advertisement and displays it to users meeting that criteria. In this process, the advertiser never has access to individual account information. Only HPWS has access to individuals' accounts. This kind of advertisement targeting is done with banner ads as well as promotional email through HPWS Delivers. You will only receive special offers via email from HPWS if you have indicated in your account preferences that you would like to receive them. You can change your account preferences at any time.

HPWS does research on our users' demographics, interests, and behavior based on the information provided to us upon registration, during a promotion, from our server log files or from surveys. We do this to better understand and serve our users. This research is compiled and analyzed on an aggregated basis. HPWS may share this aggregated data with advertisers or business partners.


Who is collecting information?

When you are on a HPWS site and are asked for personal information, you are sharing that information with HPWS alone, unless it is specifically stated otherwise. For example, some HPWS services, like HPWS Travel, are offered in conjunction with a partner company. In order to provide this co-branded service to you, it is necessary for us to share your personal information with our partner company. If data is being collected and/or maintained by any company other than HPWS, you will be notified prior to the time of the data collection or transfer. If you do not want your data to be shared, you can choose not to allow the transfer by not using that particular service.

Promotions that run on HPWS may be sponsored by companies other than HPWS or may be cosponsored by HPWS and another company. Some or all data collected during a promotion may be shared with the sponsor. If data will be shared, you will be notified prior to the time of data collection or transfer. You can decide not to participate in the promotion if you don't want your data to be shared. Currently, most HPWS promotions are limited to US or North American residents.

Please be aware that HPWS advertisers or web sites that have links on our site may collect personally identifiable information about you. The information practices of those web sites linked to HPWS are not covered by this privacy statement.


With whom does HPWS share my information?

As a general rule, HPWS 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. Please see the Terms of Service or Use Agreements for each of our products and services for more detailed information about how your personal information may be shared. The following describes some of the ways that your information may be disclosed.

Business Partners & Sponsors: HPWS may disclose your personal information to business partners or sponsors, but this is specifically described to you prior to data collection or prior to transferring the data. Details of shared use can be found in specific Terms of Service or Use Agreements, and sweepstakes and promotions rules. Some or all data collected during a HPWS promotion may be shared with a sponsor. If personally identifying data about you will be shared, we will tell you before we collect or transfer the data.

Many promotions offer opportunities to request additional information from sponsors. By requesting more information, you give HPWS permission to transfer your personal information to the sponsor so they can fulfill your request. In many instances, only your email address will be shared. If more information will be shared with the sponsor, you will be notified prior to the transfer.

HPWS Stores & Shopping: If you make a purchase from a store hosted by HPWS Store, or a merchant in HPWS Shopping, the information obtained during your visit to those stores, and the information you give such as your credit card number and contact information, is provided to the merchants. This is to enable transactions to take place.

Merchants listed in HPWS Shopping or site or in HPWS Stores have separate privacy and data collection practices. HPWS has no responsibility or liability for these independent policies. For more information regarding the merchant, their store, and their privacy policies, return to that store's home page and click on their Information link.

From time to time, you may be offered the opportunity to receive materials or special offers from third parties. If you opt-in to receive information from these third parties, HPWS will (with your permission) share your name and email address with them. .

Third Party Data & Data in the Aggregate: Under confidentiality agreements, HPWS may match user information with third party data. Also, HPWS discloses aggregated user statistics (for example, 45% of our users are female) in order to describe our services to prospective partners, advertisers, and other third parties, and for other lawful purposes.

Other: HPWS 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 HPWS's Terms of Service or may be causing injury to or interference with (either intentionally or unintentionally) HPWS's rights or property, other HPWS users, or anyone else that could be harmed by such activities. HPWS 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?

HPWS may, from time to time, send you email regarding our products and services. In addition, if you indicated upon registration that you are interested in receiving offers or information from HPWS and our partners, we may occasionally send you direct mail about products and services that we feel may be of interest to you. Only HPWS (or agents working on behalf of HPWS and under confidentiality agreements) will send you these direct mailings and only if you indicated that you do not object to these offers. If you do not want to receive such mailings, simply tell us when you give us your personal information.

On some types of HPWS promotions, we will ask for your email address in order to update you on your score, entries, and status in prize drawings. When you participate in these types of promotions, you automatically receive promotion-related email, unless you choose the no-email option that some promotions offer. Occasionally these promotion-related email messages may include targeted advertisements.

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 HPWS services that require registration in order to participate. These services include (but are not limited to): Chat and Message Boards. You can still use HPWS Shopping and many other HPWS sites even if you do not accept cookies.

HPWS does not sell or rent user information to anyone. We will notify you at the time of data collection or transfer if your data will be shared with a third party and you will always have the option of not permitting the transfer. If you do not wish to allow your data to be shared, you can choose not to use a particular service or not to participate in certain promotions or contests.

Your HPWS member account can be deleted or deactivated, but doing so will result in not being able to access any members-only area of the HPWS network. If you saved the confirmation email you received when you first created your HPWS account, you can use the email address provided in that message to delete your account at any time. Otherwise please contact us for further instructions about deleting or deactivating your HPWS Membership account.

If you are participating in a HPWS promotion and you wish to update your email address on the promotions mailing list or to quit a promotion and cease receiving promotion-related email, please contact us.


What security precautions are in place to protect the loss, misuse, or alteration of my information?

We recommend that you do not divulge your password to anyone. HPWS will never ask you for your password in an unsolicited phone call or in an unsolicited email. Also remember to sign out of your HPWS account and close your application 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.

When you give HPWS personal information, that information may be sent electronically to servers outside of the country where you originally entered the information, such as to the United States or other countries. In addition, that information may be used, stored and processed outside of the country where you entered that information. Whenever HPWS handles personal information as described above, regardless of where this occurs, HPWS takes steps to ensure that your information is treated securely and in accordance with the relevant Terms of Service and this Privacy Policy.

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, HPWS 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?

Children should always ask a parent for permission before sending personal information to anyone online. HPWS does not share personal information about users under the age of 13 with third parties and we do not sell or rent personal information about any of our users, regardless of age. In addition, HPWS will not send any direct email offers to users who indicate they are under the age of 13.


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 contact us.

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