Last Updated: March 15, 2012
Welcome to the web site and online services (the “Website”) operated by 23bits.com, LLC.
organization (“23bits”). 23bits values the privacy of our members and others who
visit and use the Website (individually, “You” or
collectively, “Users”). We take your privacy seriously and make it a priority to
protect personally identifiable information that we obtain from and about individuals
both online and off-line.
This Privacy Policy describes what information we gather from you, how we use that
information, and what we do to protect it. By using the Website (whether or not
you are a registered member), you expressly consent to the information handling
practices described in this policy. If you do not want information about you to
be used in the manner set forth in this Privacy Policy, please do not use the Website.
This Privacy Policy is incorporated into and is subject to the
Terms of Service. Your use of the Website and any personal
information you provide on the Website are subject to the terms of this Privacy
Policy and Terms of Service.
The Information 23bits Collects:
- User-provided Information: When you browse and use the Website,
you may provide to 23bits what is generally called “personally identifiable”
information (such as your name, password, gender, email address, postal mailing
address, home/mobile telephone number). You will also be able to add a picture of
yourself. From time to time, 23bits may also ask you optionally to provide
other information. If you choose to provide such information, during registration
or otherwise, you are giving 23bits the permission to use and store it consistent
with this policy. Therefore, please understand that when you sign in with 23bits,
you are not anonymous to us.
- “Cookies” Information: When you visit the Website, whether or not
you are a registered member, we may send one or more cookies – small text files
containing a string of alphanumeric characters – to your computer. Cookies remember
information about your activities on a website. 23bits may use both session
cookies and persistent cookies. A session cookie disappears after you close your
browser. A persistent cookie remains after you close your browser and may be used
by your browser on subsequent visits to the Website. Persistent cookies can be removed.
Please review your web browser “Help” file to learn the proper way to modify your
cookie settings. However, without cookies you will not have access to certain services
on the Website. Third party advertisements displayed in connection with the Website
may also contain cookies set by internet advertisers. We do not control these cookies
and users of the Website should check the privacy policy of the advertiser to see
whether and how it uses cookies.
- “Automatically Collected” Information: When you use the Website,
we may automatically record certain information from your browser by using different
types of technology, including standard log files, “clear gifs” or “web beacons.”
This “automatically collected” information may include your Internet Protocol (IP)
address, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring or exit pages,
click stream data, operating system and the dates and times that you visit the Website.
Additionally, we may record certain information regarding your use of features 23bits
may make available on the Website, such as how you use the system, what information you
choose to log, and the amount of time spent on the site.
- Third Party Web Beacons: We may also implement third party content,
such as advertising, on the Website that uses “clear gifs,” “web beacons,” or other
similar techniques, which allow the third party content provider to read and write
cookies to your browser, or implement similar tracking mechanisms, in connection
with your viewing of that third party content displayed on the Website. This information
is collected directly by the third party, and 23bits does not participate
in that data transmission. Information collected by third parties in this manner
is subject to that third party’s own data collection, use, and disclosure policies.
- Information from Other Sources: We may also obtain information,
including personally identifiable information, from third parties and sources other
than the Website. If we combine or associate information from other sources with
personally identifiable information that we collect through the Website, we will
treat the combined information as personally identifiable information in accordance
with this Privacy Policy.
The Way 23bits Uses Information:
- 23bits uses the information that you provide or that we collect in order to
establish and enhance our relationship with you. 23bits generally uses the
information you provide or that we collect to operate, maintain, enhance, and provide
all of the features and services found on the Website. If you have given 23bits
consent, we may use your personally identifiable information to provide you with
information about 23bits’s features, services and other offerings that may
be of interest to you. We may also send information or offers to groups of users
on behalf of other businesses. Under certain circumstances (for example if you win
a contest) we may post your personally identifiable information on the Website.
However, we will notify you of this possibility when collecting personally identifiable
information or we will obtain your consent. We may share your personally identifiable
information with certain other websites that we link to (and that you click upon)
in order to enhance your experience in connection with the Website.
- 23bits uses all of the information that you provide or that we collect from
Users to understand and analyze the usage trends and preferences of our Users, to
improve the way the Website works and looks, and to create new features and functionality.
- 23bits may use “cookies” information to: (a) remember your information so
that you will not have to re-enter it during your visit or the next time you visit
the Website; (b) provide customized third-party advertisements, content, and information;
(c) monitor the effectiveness of third-party marketing campaigns; (d) monitor aggregate
site usage metrics such as total number of visitors and pages viewed; and (e) track
your entries, submissions, and status in any promotions or other activities.
- If you have registered as a member and given 23bits consent, we may share
your personally identifiable information with advertisers, business partners, and
other entities that are not affiliated with 23bits who would like to send
you information about their products and services. We do not share personally identifiable
information with other third-party organizations for their marketing or promotional
use without your consent or except as part of a specific program or feature for
which you will have the ability to opt-in.
- 23bits’s employees, agents and contractors must have a legitimate business
reason to obtain access to the personally identifiable information you may provide
to register as a member of 23bits. We may share your personally identifiable
information with companies that provide services to us, including outside contractors
or agents who help us manage our information activities (for example, contest and
sweepstakes administration), but they may only use your personally identifiable
information to provide us with a specific service and not for any other purpose.
When 23bits Discloses Information:
- 23bits discloses automatically collected and other aggregate non-personally-identifiable
information with interested third parties to assist such parties in understanding
the usage, viewing, and demographic patterns for certain programs, content, services,
advertisements, promotions, and/or functionality on the Website.
- 23bits enables you to share your User Postings with other Users of the Website.
23bits may also permit you to share your User Postings publicly on the Website. If your User Postings are shared
with other Users, any personally identifiable information that you choose to include
in, or is associated with, such User Postings will be accessible by such Users.
Once you make your personally identifiable information available to others in any
of these ways, it may be collected and used by the recipients without restriction.
- 23bits may also disclose User information if required to do so by law or in
the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with state and federal
laws (such as U.S. Copyright law) or respond to a court order, judicial or other
government subpoena, or warrant. In some cases, we may make such disclosures without
first providing notice to Users.
- 23bits also reserves the right to disclose User information that we believe,
in good faith, is appropriate or necessary to take precautions against liability;
protect 23bits from fraudulent, abusive, or unlawful uses; to investigate
and defend ourselves against any third-party claims or allegations; to assist government
enforcement agencies; to protect the security or integrity of the Website; or to
protect the rights, property, or personal safety of 23bits, our Users, or
others.
- In the event that 23bits is acquired by or merged with a third-party entity,
we reserve the right, in any of these circumstances, to transfer or assign the information
that we have collected from Users as part of such merger, acquisition, sale, or
other change of control.
Your Choices:
You may, of course, decline to share your personally-identifiable information with
23bits, in which case 23bits will not be able to provide to you some
of the features and functionality found on the Website. If you register as a member
of 23bits, you may update, correct, or delete your profile information and
preferences at any time by going to your account settings page.
To protect your privacy and security, we take reasonable steps to verify your identity
before granting you account access or making corrections to your information. YOU
ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MAINTAINING THE SECRECY OF YOUR UNIQUE PASSWORD AND ACCOUNT
INFORMATION AT ALL TIMES.
Third-Party Advertisers, Links to Other Sites:
The Website may be linked to internet websites operated by other companies. Some
of these websites may be co-branded with our name or logo, even though they are
not operated or maintained by us. 23bits may also permit other companies,
called third-party ad servers or ad networks, to serve advertisements within the
Website. These third-party ad servers or ad networks may use technology to send,
directly to your browser, some of the advertisements and links that appear on the
Website. These advertisers may automatically receive your IP address if this happens.
These advertisers may also use other technologies (such as cookies, JavaScript,
or Web Beacons) to measure the effectiveness of their advertisements and to personalize
the advertising content.
You should consult the respective privacy policies of these third-party websites
and third party ad servers or ad networks. 23bits’s privacy policy does not
apply to, and we cannot control the activities of, such other third party advertisers
or web sites. Please be aware that 23bits does not warn you when you have
chosen to link through to another website from the Website.
Our Commitment to Children’s Privacy:
Protecting the privacy of young children is especially important. For that reason,
23bits does not knowingly collect or maintain personally identifiable information
on the Website from persons under 13 years-of-age unless 23bits reasonably
believes the child’s parent has consented to the use of the Website. If 23bits
learns that personally-identifiable information of persons less than 13-years-of-age
has been collected on the Website without parental consent, then 23bits will
take the appropriate steps to delete this information. If you are a parent or guardian
and discover that your child under the age of 13 has a registered account with the
Website, then you may alert 23bits at support@23bits.com
and request that 23bits delete that child’s personal information from its systems.
Our Commitment to Data Security:
23bits uses certain physical, managerial, and technical safeguards to preserve
the integrity and security of your personal information. We cannot, however, ensure
or warrant the security of any information you transmit to 23bits, and you
do so at your own risk. Once we receive your transmission of information, 23bits
makes commercially reasonable efforts to ensure the security of our systems. However,
please note that this is not a guarantee that such information may not be accessed,
disclosed, altered, or destroyed by breach of any of our physical, technical, or
managerial safeguards.
If 23bits learns of a security systems breach, then we may attempt to notify
you electronically so that you can take appropriate protective steps. 23bits
may post a notice on the Website if a security breach occurs. Depending on where
you live, you may have a legal right to receive notice of a security breach in writing.
International Visitors:
The Website is intended solely for visitors located within the United States. If
you nonetheless choose to use the Website from the European Union or other regions
of the world with laws governing data collection and use that may differ from U.S.
law, then please note that you are transferring your personally identifiable information
outside of those regions to the United States and by providing your personally identifiable
information on the Website you consent to that transfer.
Changes and Updates to this Privacy Policy:
This Privacy Policy may be revised periodically without further notice to you and
this will be reflected by a “Last Updated” date above. Please revisit this page
to stay aware of any changes. Your continued use of the Website constitutes your
agreement to this Privacy Policy and any future revisions.
Contact Information:
Please contact 23bits with any questions or comments about this Privacy Policy,
your personal information, our third-party disclosure practices, or your consent
choices by email at support@23bits.com.
