BIZ Online NGLCC

BIZ and your personal information

• You can visit BIZ on the Internet without telling us who you are or giving us any personal information. Yet there are times we may ask you to provide personal information, for example, to sign you up for the BIZ e-alerts or other information from the NGLCC.
• The NGLCC does keep track of your interactions with BIZ and the NGLCC sites to offer a more personalized experience.

Your Privacy Choices

• You may direct us not to send you promotional materials from BIZ and/or the NGLCC, our partners and our licensees.
• You may subscribe or unsubscribe to e-mail newsletters or other announcements by going to editor@nglcc.org.
• You may direct us not to share your personal information with selected other organizations to inform you of news and events or for offers of their products and services.

How we use your information

• We collect information to provide services and information you request.
• We send you information on other events, opportunities and services offered by NGLCC, our affiliates, and our licensees.
• We may share information about you with selected other organizations for offers of their products and services.
• We do not share your e-mail address with other organizations for offers of their products and services unless you allow us to do so.

For more information, we encourage you to read our full Privacy Policy below.

PRIVACY POLICY – YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS

1. Scope of the Privacy Policy

The Website is published by OmniStudio, Inc. for the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. This Privacy Policy applies to personally identifiable information collected on the Website where this Privacy Policy is posted. For purposes of this Privacy Policy, "personally identifiable information" means information that identifies a particular individual, such as name, postal address, e-mail address and phone number. When other information, such as e-mail newsletter choices or product purchases, is directly associated with personally identifiable information, this other information also becomes personally identifiable information.

2. Information Collection

2.1 Personally Identifiable Information

There are many features on this Web site for which no registration is required. However, if you are interested in obtaining information, products or services from BIZ Magazine or the NGLCC, or in participating in certain activities on this Web site (such as participating in a Webcast or accessing video or audio podcasts), you may need to provide us with information about yourself. For example, if you log on and would like to participate in a Webcast, we ask your name, postal address, e-mail address, telephone number and your credit card number. If you participate in an activity such as a survey, we may also ask you to provide other types of information such as gender and personal interests, which we may associate with personally identifiable information.

The decision to provide this information is purely optional, however if you elect not to provide such information, you may not be able to access certain content or features or participate in various areas of the Website. When you register or provide information in any other manner, you agree to provide only true, accurate, current and complete information on all registration pages. Using a name other than your own legal name is prohibited (except in those specific areas of the Website that specifically ask for unique, fictitious names, e.g., message boards and chat rooms). You agree that the NGLCC may use the information you provide to us according to the Privacy Policy on our Website.

If you register in any area of the Website, you agree to accept responsibility for all activities that occur under your account or password, and agree you will not sell, transfer or assign your membership or any membership rights. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and for restricting access to your computer so that others may not access the Website using your name in whole or in part. The NGLCC reserves the right to terminate membership and deny access to the Website to any person who violates the Terms and Conditions.

2.2 Other Information Collected Through Technology

In addition to information you choose to provide to us, we also collect non-personally identifiable information through technology to make our site more interesting and useful to you. For instance, when you come to our site, we collect your Internet Protocol ("IP") address. An IP address is often associated with the portal through which you enter the Internet, like your ISP (Internet service provider). Standing alone, your IP address is not personally identifiable. At times, we also use IP addresses to collect information regarding the frequency with which our visitors visit various parts of our sites. We may combine this information with personally identifiable information that you have provided to us and/or with other information that is publicly available or that we receive from other reputable sources in order to make our Web site and communications more targeted to your interests.

Our Web site also uses cookies. Cookies are small text files that are stored on a user's computer and allow web sites to remember information about users. We use cookies for a variety of purposes in order to enhance the quality of our Web site. We use transient (also called "session ID") cookies to provide continuity from page to page. A session ID cookie expires when you close your browser. We also use persistent cookies. Persistent cookies allow our online store and other parts of our Web site to recognize your browser when you return after your first visit to that part of our Web site. Cookies allow us to personalize your return visits to our site and to save you time during certain activities, such as checking out from our online store. You can choose to remove persistent cookies through your browser options. However, if you do so, your ability to use some areas of our site will be limited, such as our shopping cart feature or online games.

Finally, our Web site uses a variety of technical methods for tracking purposes. We use these technical methods to tell us what parts of our Web site you have visited or to measure the effectiveness of any searches you may do on our site. These technical methods may involve the transmission of information directly to us or to a service provider authorized by us to collect information on our behalf. We also use these technical methods in HTML e-mails that we send our visitors who have agreed to receive e-mail from us, to determine whether our visitors have opened those e-mails and/or clicked on links in those e-mails. The information from use of these technical methods may be combined with information that is personally identifiable so that we can make our Web site, and any e-mails you have agreed to receive, more interesting to you.

3. Third-Party Advertisements

Advertisements that appear on this Web site are delivered to you by our Web advertising partner(s). Information about your visits to this site, such as the number of times you have viewed an ad (but not your name, address or other personally identifiable information) is used to serve ads to you. In addition, we share Web site usage information about visitors to our sites with our Web advertising partners for the purpose of managing and targeting advertisements and for market research analysis on our site and other sites. None of this information is personally identifiable information. These partners and third-party advertisers who place advertisements on our Web site may also use cookies and Web beacons to collect non-personally identifiable information when you click on or move your cursor over one of their banner advertisements.

4. Information Use

BIZ Magazine may use your personally identifiable information to deliver the products and services that you request, enhance your experience on our site, provide you with informational and/or promotional materials that you might find interesting, and for internal business analysis and other business purposes consistent with this policy. These uses may generally be categorized as relationship maintenance uses and promotional uses. We describe these uses in more detail below.

4.1 Relationship Maintenance Uses

BIZ Magazine uses your personally identifiable information to maintain and manage your account, deliver services that you have requested, and generally enhance your experience on our Web site. Collectively, we refer to these types of uses as "Relationship Maintenance Uses," and they include all of the ways in which we use your personally identifiable information to maintain and manage our relationship with you that do not involve sending promotional materials. Examples of Relationship Maintenance Uses include, but are not limited to:

• Processing and tracking your NGLCC membership
• Processing and tracking your product orders
• Processing and tracking your online donations to BIZ Magazine
• Providing the services you request
• Sending you renewal notifications
• Sending you other administrative communications
• Sending you surveys
• Sending you updates to our privacy policy
• Making changes to Web-based features

4.2 Promotional Uses

BIZ Magazine may also use your personally identifiable information to provide you with promotional information about activities, services and products offered by us or selected third parties, including promotional material that you have requested. We strive to select trustworthy, reputable companies who offer high quality products or services of interest to you. (However, you may opt out of receiving promotional communications from us by mail, e-mail, or telephone, as explained below and in the section entitled "Your Choices." And, we will not share your e-mail address with third parties for promotional purposes unless you consent to such sharing by affirmatively agreeing to it). Examples of promotional uses include, but are not limited to:

• Providing you with information about educational opportunities
• Providing you with promotional materials about BIZ Magazine products and services
• Providing you with e-mail newsletters

BIZ Magazine may provide you with promotional materials by postal mail, e-mail, telephone or other means. You may opt out of receiving promotional communications from us by mail, e-mail and/or telephone as provided in the "Your Choices" section below, and in the case of e-mail, you can always opt out of receiving subsequent promotional e-mails by clicking on the unsubscribe link that we provide in every such promotional e-mail message. Please keep in mind, however, that when you purchase or request products or services from BIZ Magazine or our licensees, promotional materials may accompany delivery of that product or service. Any opt-outs that you may make will therefore not apply to these materials because they accompany products or services that you have requested.

4.3 Information Sharing and Disclosure

We take very seriously our responsibility to maintain your privacy with respect to your personally identifiable information. We will therefore share that information only with the following entities, and only in the manner described below.

4.4 Service Providers

BIZ Magazine contracts with other companies to provide certain services on our behalf, including credit card processing, shipping, e-mail distribution, and promotions management. We provide these companies only with the information they need to perform their services, and they are permitted to use the information only for that specific purpose or as required by law, unless any additional use or sharing of the information is separately permitted under another provision of this Privacy Policy.

4.5 Co-Branded Partners

BIZ Magazine may share your information with our partners when you engage in certain activities on our sites that they co-sponsor, such as purchasing products or services offered by our partners, electing to receive information or communications from our partners, or electing to participate in contests, sweepstakes, games or other programs sponsored in whole or in part by our partners. BIZ Magazine may also share your personally identifiable information when you respond to promotional materials from BIZ Magazine that authorize our partners to use your personally identifiable information for purposes such as sending you additional promotional materials, providing you a product or service, or entering you in a contest, sweepstakes or game. We refer to all these activities and requests as "Co-Branded Activities." When you participate in Co-Branded Activities, you will either be required or asked to agree that the sponsor or partner may use your personally identifiable information in accordance with the sponsor or partner's privacy practices.

4.6 Other Third Parties for Promotional Purposes

BIZ Magazine may share your personally identifiable information with other selected third parties so that they may send you promotional materials about goods and services that they offer. When we share your information for promotional purposes, we attempt to select only reputable companies that offer high-quality products and services. You have the opportunity to opt out of our sharing your personally identifiable information with these selected third parties for promotional purposes, as described below in the section entitled "Your Choices." And we will not share your e-mail address with third parties for promotional purposes unless you consent to such sharing by affirmatively agreeing to it on our e-mail newsletter registration page or elsewhere.

4.7 Legal Purposes; Business Transactions

BIZ Magazine may disclose any user or customer information, including personally identifiable information, when we believe that doing so is required by law; may be necessary to protect the property, rights, or safety of ourselves, visitors to our Web sites, or other persons; or will help to enforce any terms of use or contest, sweepstakes, promotions, games or other rules. It may also be necessary to disclose our customers' personally identifiable information to third parties, such as credit card companies, to help resolve disputes that arise in the ordinary course of business. BIZ Magazine may also transfer user or customer information, including personally identifiable information, in connection with a corporate transaction, such as a divestiture, merger, consolidation, or asset sale.

4.8 Aggregate Information (non-personally identifiable)

BIZ Magazine may share with third parties aggregated information about you and other visitors to our Web site. When we do this, however, we make any personally identifiable information non-personally identifiable by combining it with information about other individuals or by removing characteristics that make the information personally identifiable to you. We share this information in order to improve our Web site and develop content and services that we hope will be of interest to you.

5. Your Choices

We understand the importance of protecting our customers' privacy, and we therefore provide you with the opportunity to opt-out of having your personally identifiable information used or disclosed for certain purposes. Receiving promotional communications from BIZ Magazine, including our Affiliates and our licensees, is optional. If you do not wish to receive promotional communications from BIZ Magazine or the NGLCC, please call or write to us at the address below.

As described elsewhere in this Privacy Policy, it is also optional to allow us to share your personally identifiable information with selected reputable third parties so that they can provide you with promotional communications. If you do not wish us to do so, please call or write to us at the address below.

You may also use this address and phone number to request us to update or change any of your personally identifiable information, or to request additional information regarding our disclosure of your personally identifiable information to certain third parties for promotional purposes.

• E-mail us at: editor@nglcc.org
• Call us at (202) 419-0440
• Write to us at: BIZ Magazine, 2000 P Street NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20036

If you have previously agreed to receive e-mail and/or e-mail newsletters from us, you may use the address and phone number above to notify us that you no longer wish to receive such e-mail and/or e-mail newsletters.

As noted earlier in this Privacy Policy, BIZ Magazine will not share your e-mail address with third parties for them to send you promotional communications unless you have opted in to such use. If you have previously opted in to such use, you may use contact information above to notify us that you no longer wish to have us share your e-mail address with selected third parties for promotional purposes.

Because we plan our communications in advance, it may take several weeks for your request to become effective. If, due to human error, you continue to receive our communications, please contact us again and we will make every effort to correct the situation.

6. Privacy of Minors

Minors under 18: Do not send any information about yourself to us—including information such as your name, address, or e-mail address. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from minors under the age of 18. In the event that we learn we have collected any personal information from a minor under the age of 18 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information from our database as quickly as possible.

7. Links to Other Sites

We may provide links on our Web site to other sites we think you will enjoy. These sites operate independently of BIZ Magazine and have established their own privacy and security policies. We encourage you to be aware when you leave our site and to read these policies at any site you visit.

8. Information Security

The security and confidentiality of your information is extremely important to us, and we take a number of steps to safeguard any personally identifiable information or credit card information that you provide to us. We use data encryption technology to help protect against loss, misuse or alteration of your credit card information. Secure Socket Layers (SSLs) encrypt the credit card information sent between your computer and our database. However, no method of transmitting or storing electronic data is ever completely secure, and therefore we cannot warrant or guarantee that such information will never be accessed, used or released in a manner that is inconsistent with this policy.

9. Personally Identifiable Information Contained in User Content

Some sections of our Web site may allow users to post or transmit messages, comments, screen names, computer files and other materials. BIZ Magazine does not monitor such transmissions, and therefore cannot be responsible for any personally identifiable information or other information that may be contained in such transmissions.

10. Changes in this Privacy Policy

We may amend this Privacy Policy at any time, so please check back periodically. If we make any material changes in the way we collect, use, and/or share your personally identifiable information, we will notify affected users by sending an e-mail at the last e-mail address provided to us and/or by prominently posting notice of the changes on the Web sites covered by this Privacy Policy. In any event, changes to this Privacy Policy may affect our use of personally identifiable information that you provided us prior to our notification to you of the changes.