Last Updated: March 23, 2012
DMS Network Inc. (“DMS”) respects the privacy of its users and has developed this Privacy Policy to demonstrate its commitment to protecting your privacy. DMS pays attention to the privacy of users as a core element of its value proposition and tries to set the highest standards compared to other social networking or dating websites. We distinguish ourselves by paying attention to privacy in every element of what we do and that commitment goes beyond the words of this agreement.
This Privacy Policy describes the information we collect, how that information may be used, with whom it may be shared, and your choices about such uses and disclosures. We encourage you to read this Privacy Policy carefully when using our website or services or transacting business with us. By using our website, you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy Policy.
If you have any questions about our privacy practices, please refer to the end of this Privacy Policy for information on how to contact us.
Information we collect about you
In General. We may collect personal information that can identify you such as your name and email address, university currently attending or graduated from and other information that does not identify you. When you provide personal information through our website, the information may be sent to servers located in the United States and other countries around the world.
Information you provide. We may collect and store any personal information you enter on our website or provide to us in some other manner. This includes among others identifying information, such as your name, address, email address, university currently attending or graduated from and telephone number, and, if you transact business with us, financial information such as your payment method (valid credit card number, type, expiration date or other financial information). We also request information including but not necessarily limited to about your interests and activities, your gender and age, and other demographic information such as your hometown or your username.
Information about others. We may collect and store personal information about other people that you provide to us, such as their name, address and email address. If you use our website to send others (friends, relatives, colleagues, etc.) a product as a gift, we may store your personal information, and the personal information of each such recipient in order to process those requests or facilitate future activities.
Use of cookies and other technologies to collect information. We use various technologies to collect information from your computer and about your activities on our site.
Information collected automatically. We automatically collect information from your browser when you visit our website. This information includes your IP address, your browser type and language, access times, the content of any undeleted cookies that your browser previously accepted from us (see "Cookies" below), and the referring website address.
Cookies and Use of Cookie Data. When you visit our website, we may assign your computer one or more cookies, to facilitate access to our site and to personalize your online experience. Through the use of a cookie, we also may automatically collect information about your online activity on our site, such as the web pages you visit, the time and date of your visits, the links you click, and the searches you conduct on our site. Most browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies. If you choose to decline cookies, please note that you may not be able to sign in automatically or use some of the interactive features offered on our website.
Other Technologies. We may use standard Internet technology, such as web beacons and other similar technologies, to track your use of our site. We also may include web beacons in advertisements or email messages to determine whether messages have been opened and acted upon. The information we obtain in this manner enables us to customize the services we offer our website visitors and to measure the overall effectiveness of our content, programming or other activities.
Information collected by third-parties. We may allow third-parties to display advertisements on our site. These companies may use tracking technologies, such as cookies, to collect information about users who view or interact with their advertisements. Our website does not provide any personal information to these third parties. This information allows them to deliver targeted advertisements and gauge their effectiveness. In addition, we may allow non-advertising third-party companies to collect certain information when you visit our web site. These companies may utilize cookies, pixels or other technologies to collect and use non-personally identifiable information (e.g., hashed data, click stream information, browser type, time and date, subject of advertisements clicked or scrolled over) during your visits to this and other web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services likely to be of greater interest to you. To learn more about this behavioral advertising practice or to opt-out of this type of advertising, you can visit the websites of the Digital Advertising Alliance at www.aboutads.info and Networking Advertising Initiative at www.networkadvertising.org/choices/.
How we use the information we collect
In General. We may use information that we collect about you to:
deliver the products and services that you have requested;
manage your account and provide you with customer support;
perform research and analysis about your use of, or interest in, our products, services, or content, or products, services or content offered by others;
communicate with you by email, postal mail, telephone and/or mobile devices about products or services that may be of interest to you either from us or other third parties;
develop and display content and advertising tailored to your interests on our site and other sites;
verify your eligibility and deliver prizes in connection with contests and sweepstakes;
enforce or exercise any rights in our terms and conditions;
manage our business;
provide DMS advertisements to you when you visit other sites; and
perform functions as otherwise described to you at the time of collection.
Financial information. We may use financial information or payment method to process payment for any purchases made on our website, enroll you in the discount, rebate, and other programs in which you elect to participate, to protect against or identify possible fraudulent transactions, and otherwise as needed to manage our business.
Job applicants. If your personal information is submitted through our website when applying for a position with our company, the information will be used solely in connection with considering and acting upon your application. We may retain your personal information for a period of time, but only for the purpose of considering your application for current or future available positions. This information may include your name and contact information, prior education and experience, and other information you provided to us.
With whom we share your information
Personal information. We do not share your personal information with others except as indicated below or when we inform you and give you an opportunity to opt out of having your personal information shared. We may share personal information with:
Service providers: We may share your personal information, which may include your name and contact information (including email address) with third parties that perform certain services on our behalf. These services may include verifying present or past enrollment at a university, fulfilling orders, providing customer service and marketing assistance, performing business and sales analysis, member screenings, supporting our website functionality, and supporting contests, sweepstakes, surveys and other features offered through our website. We may also share your name, contact information and credit card information with our authorized service providers who process credit card payments. These service providers may have access to personal information needed to perform their functions but are not permitted to share or use such information for any other purposes.
Business partners: When you make purchases on our website or click-through our advertisements offered on third party websites, we may share personal information with the businesses with which we partner to offer you the applicable products, services or advertisements. When you elect to engage in a particular merchant's offer or program, you authorize us to provide your email address and other information to that merchant.
Other Situations. We also may disclose your information, including personal information:
In response to a subpoena or similar investigative demand, a court order, or a request for cooperation from a law enforcement or other government agency; to establish or exercise our legal rights; to defend against legal claims; or as otherwise required by law. In such cases, we may raise or waive any legal objection or right available to us.
When we believe disclosure is appropriate in connection with efforts to investigate, prevent, or take other action regarding illegal activity, suspected fraud or other wrongdoing; to protect and defend the rights, property or safety of our company, our users, our employees, or others; to comply with applicable law or cooperate with law enforcement; or to enforce our website terms and conditions or other agreements or policies.
In connection with a substantial corporate transaction, such as the sale of our business, a divestiture, merger, consolidation, or asset sale, or in the unlikely event of bankruptcy.
Aggregated and non-personal information. We may share non-personal information we collect under any of the above circumstances. We may also share it with third parties to develop and deliver targeted advertising and to analyze and report on advertising you see. We may combine non-personal information we collect with additional non-personal information collected from other sources. We also may share aggregated, non-personal information with third parties, including advisors, advertisers and investors, for the purpose of conducting general business analysis.
Third-party websites
There may be places on our website where you may click on a link to access other websites that do not operate under this Privacy Policy. For example, if you click on a link shared by another user on the message board, you may be taken to a website that we do not control. These third-party websites may independently solicit and collect information, including personal information, from you. We recommend that you consult the privacy statements of all third-party websites you visit by clicking on the "privacy" link typically located at the bottom of the webpage you are visiting.
How you can access your information
If you have an online account with us, you have the ability to review and update your personal information online by logging into your account and clicking on your privacy and account settings. More information about how to contact us is provided below. If you have an online account with us, you also may close or suspend your account at any time by visiting privacy and account settings pages for your account. After you close your account, you will not be able to sign in to our website or access any of your personal information. However, you can open a new, separate account 3 months following the deletion of your account or re-activate your previous account at any time after suspending it (“deactivation”). If you close your account, we may still retain certain information associated with your account for analytical purposes and recordkeeping integrity, as well as to prevent fraud, collect any fees owed, enforce our terms and conditions, take actions we deem necessary to protect the integrity of our website or our users, or take other actions otherwise permitted by law. In addition, if certain information has already been provided to third parties as described in this Privacy Policy, retention of that information will be subject to those third parties' policies.
Your choices about collection and use of your information
At any time you can choose the type of notification e-mails you wish to receive from us by visiting the account and privacy settings pages associated with your account. You also will be given the opportunity, in any email that we send to you, to opt out of receiving such messages in the future. We may send you transactional and relationship email communications, such as service announcements, administrative notices, and surveys.
How we protect your personal information
We take appropriate security measures (including physical, electronic and procedural measures) to help safeguard your personal information from unauthorized access and disclosure. We want you to feel confident using our website to transact business. However, no system can be completely secure. Therefore, although we take steps to secure your information, we do not promise, and you should not expect, that your personal information, searches, or other communications will always remain secure. Users should also take care with how they handle and disclose their personal information and should avoid sending personal information through insecure email. Please refer to the Federal Trade Commission's website at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/menus/consumer/data.shtm for information about how to protect yourself against identity theft.
Information you provide about yourself while using our service
We provide areas on our websites where you can post information about yourself and others and communicate with others or upload content such as photographs. Such postings are governed by our Terms of Use. Also, whenever you voluntarily disclose personal information on publicly-viewable web pages, that information will be publicly available and can be collected and used by others. For example, if you post your email address, you may receive unsolicited messages. We cannot control who reads your posting or what other users may do with the information you voluntarily post, so we encourage you to exercise discretion and caution with respect to your personal information.
Children's privacy
Although our website is a general audience site, we restrict the use of our service to individuals age 18 and above. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13.
Visiting our websites from outside the United States
If you are visiting our website from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States where our servers are located and our central database is operated. By using our services, you understand that your information may be transferred to our facilities and those third parties with whom we share it as described in this privacy policy.
No Rights of Third Parties
This Privacy Policy does not create rights enforceable by third parties or require disclosure of any personal information relating to users of the website.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We will occasionally update this Privacy Policy. When we post changes to this Privacy Policy, we will revise the "last updated" date at the top of this Privacy Policy. We recommend that you check our website from time to time to inform yourself of any changes in this Privacy Policy or any of our other policies.
How to contact us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our information-handling practices, or if you would like to request information about our disclosure of personal information to third parties, please contact us by email or postal mail as follows:
DMS
Network Inc.
55 Broad Street
Suite 13F
New
York, NY 10004
privacy@datemyschool.com
Linked information:
A cookie is a small text file that is stored on a user's computer for record keeping purposes. Cookies can be either session cookies or persistent cookies. A session cookie expires when you close your browser and is used to make it easier for you to navigate our website. A persistent cookie remains on your hard drive for an extended period of time. Cookies on our website do not link to or store your personal information.
For example, when you sign in to our website, we will record your user or member ID and the name associated with your user or member ID in the cookie file on your computer. We also may record your password in this cookie file, if you indicated that you would like your password saved for automatic sign-in. For security purposes, we will encrypt any usernames, passwords, and other user or member account-related data that we store in such cookies. In the case of sites and services that do not use a user or member ID, the cookie will contain a unique identifier. We may allow our authorized service providers to serve cookies from our website to allow them to assist us in various activities, such as doing analysis and research on the effectiveness of our site, content and advertising.
You may delete or decline cookies by changing your browser settings. (Click "Help" in the toolbar of most browsers for instructions.) If you do so, some of the features and services of our website may not function properly.
We may allow third-parties to display advertisements on our site. These companies may use tracking technologies, such as cookies, to collect information about users who view or interact with their advertisements. Our website does not provide any personal information to these third parties, but they may collect information about where you, or others who are using your computer, saw and/or clicked on the advertisements they deliver (such as click stream information, browser type, time and date, subject of advertisements clicked or scrolled over, etc.), and possibly associate this information with your subsequent visits to the advertised websites. They also may combine this information with personal information they collect from you to provide advertisements about goods and services likely to be of greater interest to you. The collection and use of that information is subject to the third-party's privacy policy. This information allows them to deliver targeted advertisements and gauge their effectiveness.
Opting-Out of Advertising Cookies. If we will allow data collection for third party companies in the future, You will be able to opt out of data collection in your account’s privacy and account settings pages. Cookies are unique to each computer. Therefore, you will need to opt out separately on all computers you use. If you delete all of your cookies (specifically, the "Opt-Out" cookie), you will have to go through the opt-out process again to reactivate your opted-out status.
Web beacons (also known as clear gifs, pixel tags or web bugs) are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies, and are used to track the online movements of web users or to access cookies. Unlike cookies which are stored on the user's computer hard drive, web beacons are embedded invisibly on the web pages (or in email) and are about the size of the period at the end of this sentence.
Web beacons may be used to deliver or communicate with cookies, to count users who have visited certain pages and to understand usage patterns. We also may receive an anonymous identification number if you come to our site from an online advertisement displayed on a third-party website. Third parties may use anonymous information about your visits to our site and other websites in order to improve its products and services and provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you.