PRIVACY POLICY
Last updated February, 2008.
PLEASE NOTE: OUR PRIVACY POLICY CHANGES FROM TIME TO TIME. PLEASE CHECK BACK FREQUENTLY FOR UPDATES.
The information collection, use, and dissemination practices of
Operation Dropship (the "Company") are discussed in this policy.
This policy applies to Company's information collection (a) on
Company's websites, (b) on various third party websites, and (c) to
Company's other information collection, including the purchase of
customer lists from third parties.
1. Collection of Information.
1.1 Survey Information. The Company collects information from
individuals when an individual voluntarily completes a Company survey,
order form, or a registration page either online or offline, or by
means of online or offline surveys, order forms, or registration pages
operated by third parties (collectively, a "Survey"). (As used herein,
"online" means using the Internet, including the Websites, and related
technologies, and "offline" means by methods other than online,
including in person, in the postal mail, using telephones and cell
phones, and other similar means.) In the Surveys, the Company or a
third party (a "Third Party") may ask an individual to provide various
information to the Company, which may include his or her name, email
address, street address, zip code, telephone numbers (including cell
phone numbers and carriers), birth date, gender, salary range,
education and marital status, occupation, employment information,
personal and online interests, and such other information as may
requested from time to time (together, "Survey Information"). Company
or third party may also collect information such as what browser you
are using and your Internet Protocol ("IP") address. Completing the
Surveys is completely voluntary, and individuals are under no
obligation to provide Survey Information to the Company or Third Party,
but an individual may receive incentives from the Company or a Third
Party in exchange for providing Survey Information to the Company.
1.2 Third Party List Information. The Company collects information from
individuals when an individual provides information to a third party,
and the Company subsequently purchases, licenses, or otherwise acquires
the information from the third party (the "Seller"). Such purchased
information may include, but is not limited to, an individual's name,
email address, street address, zip code, telephone numbers (including
cell phone numbers and carriers), birth date, gender, salary range,
education and marital status, occupation, industry of employment,
personal and online interests, and such other information as the
individual may have provided to the Seller (together, "Third Party List
Information"). When acquiring Third Party List Information, the Company
seeks assurances from the Seller that the Seller has a right to
transfer the Third Party List Information to the Company and that the
Seller has a right to provide offers from advertisers to the
individuals whose personal information is included on the Seller's
list.
1.3 Other Information. Other occasions when the Company obtains
information from individuals include (1) when an individual is making a
claim for a prize or seeking to redeem an incentive offered by the
Company or by a third party, (2) when an individual requests assistance
through Company's customer service department, and (3) when an
individual voluntarily subscribes to a Company service or newsletter
(together, "Other Information").
1.4 Cookies, Web bugs, and Other Information Collected Using
Technology. The Company currently uses cookie and web beacon technology
to associate certain Internet-related information about an individual
with information about the individual in our database. Additionally,
the Company may use other new and evolving sources of information in
the future (together, "Technology Information").
(a) Cookies. A cookie is a small amount of data stored on the hard
drive of the individual's computer that allows Company to identify the
individual with his or her corresponding data that resides in Company's
database. You may read more about cookies at www.cookiecentral.com.
Individuals who use the Websites need to accept cookies in order to use
all of the features and functionality of the Websites.
(b) Web bugs. A web beacon is programming code that can be used to
display an image on a web page (by using an programming function -- see
www.w3.org for more information), but can also be used to transfer an
individual's unique user identification (often in the form of a cookie)
to a database and associate the individual with previously acquired
information about an individual in a database. This allows Company to
track certain web sites an individual visits online. Web bugs are used
to determine products or services an individual may be interested in,
and to track online behavioral habits for marketing purposes. For
example, Company might place, with the consent of a third party
website, a web beacon on the third party's website where fishing
products are sold. When Joe, an individual listed in Company's
database, visits the fishing website, Company receives notice by means
of the web beacon that Joe visited the fishing site, and Company would
then update Joe's profile with the information that Joe is interested
in fishing. Company may thereafter present offers of fishing related
products and services to Joe. In addition to using web bugs on web
pages, Company also uses web bugs in email messages sent to individuals
listed in Company's database. If you wish more information about web
bugs, you may wish to visit
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/Web_beacon.html
(c) New Technology. The use of technology on the Internet, including
cookies and web bugs, is rapidly evolving, as is Company's use of new
and evolving technology. As a result, Company strongly encourages
individuals to revisit this policy for any updates regarding its use of
technology.
1.5 Outside Information. The Company may receive information about
individuals from third parties or from other sources of information
outside of the Company including information located in public
databases ("Outside Information").
1.6 Individual Information. As used herein, Individual Information
means Survey Information, Third Party List Information, Other
Information, Technology Information, and Outside Information, and any
other information the Company gathers or receives about individuals.
1.7 No Information Collected from Children. The Company will never
knowingly collect any personal information about children under the age
of 13. If the Company obtains actual knowledge that it has collected
personal information about a child under the age of 13, that
information will be immediately deleted from our database. Because it
does not collect such information, the Company has no such information
to use or to disclose to third parties. The Company has designed this
policy in order to comply with the Children's Online Protection Act
("COPA").
1.8 Credit Card Information. The Company may in certain cases collect
credit card numbers and related information, such as the expiration
date of the card ("Credit Card Information") when an individual places
an order from Company. When the Credit Card Information is submitted to
Company, such information is encrypted and is protected with SSL
encryption software. The Company will use the Credit Card Information
for purposes processing and completing the purchase transaction, and
the Credit Card Information will be disclosed to third parties only as
necessary to complete the purchase transaction.
2. Use of Individual Information.
2.1 Discretion to Use Information. THE COMPANY MAY USE INDIVIDUAL
INFORMATION FOR ANY LEGALLY PERMISSIBLE PURPOSE IN COMPANY'S SOLE
DISCRETION. The following paragraphs in Section 2 describe how the
Company currently uses Individual Information, but the Company may
change or broaden its use at any time. As noted below, the Company may
update this policy from time to time. The Company may use Individual
Information to provide promotional offers to individuals by means of
email advertising, telephone marketing, direct mail marketing, online
banner advertising, and package stuffers, among other possible uses.
2.2 Email. The Company uses Individual Information to provide
promotional offers by email to individuals. The Company may maintain
separate email lists for different purposes. If email recipients wish
to end their email subscription from a particular list, they need to
follow the instructions at the end of each email message to unsubscribe
from the particular list. To unsubscribe from all Company email lists,
a person must email
and write in the subject line: "REMOVE FROM ALL LISTS".
2.2(a) Content of Email Messages. In certain commercial email messages
sent by Company, an advertiser's name will appear in the "From:" line
but hitting the "Reply" button will cause a reply email to be sent to
Company. The "Subject:" line of Company email messages will usually
contain a line provided from the advertiser to Company. The subject
line will not usually contain phrases such as "ADV:" or
"ADVERTISEMENT". Company's commercial email messages will contain
information how an individual may unsubscribe from that particular
list.
2.2(b) Solicited Email. Company only sends email to individuals who
have agreed on the Websites to receive email from Company or to
individuals who have agreed on third party websites to receive email
from third parties such as Company. Company does not send unsolicited
email messages. As a result, statutes requiring certain formatting for
unsolicited email are not applicable to Company's email messages.
2.3 Targeted Advertising. The Company uses Individual Information to
target advertising to an individual. When an individual is using the
Internet, the Company uses Technology Information (see also Section 2.5
below) to associate an individual with that person's Individual
Information, and the Company attempts to show advertising for products
and services in which the person has expressed an interest in the
Surveys, indicated an interest by means of Technology Information, and
otherwise. The Company may, at its discretion, target advertising by
using email, direct mail, telephones, cell phones, and other means of
communication to provide promotional offers.
2.4 Direct Mail and Telemarketing. The Company uses Individual
Information to advertise, directly or indirectly, to individuals using
direct mail marketing or telemarketing using telephones and cell
phones. Monitoring and Recording. You hereby give permission and
consent to Operation Dropship or its affiliates to contact you via
phone or email and agree to allow Operation Dropship or its
affiliates to monitor or record your phone conversations. Verbal notice
may not be provided of monitoring or recording.
2.5 Use of Technology Information. The Company uses Technology
Information (1) to match a person's Survey Information and Third Party
List Information to other categories of Individual Information to make
and improve profiles of individuals, (2) to track a person's online
browsing habits on the Internet, (3) to determine which areas of
Company's web sites are most frequently visited. This information helps
the Company to better understand the online habits of individuals so
that the Company can target advertising and promotions to them.
2.6 Profiles of Individuals. The Company uses Individual Information to
make a profile of an individual. A profile can be created by combining
Survey Information and Third Party List Information with other sources
of Individual Information such as information obtained from public
databases.
2.7 Storage of Individual Information. The Company stores the
Individual Information in a database on Company computers. Our
computers have security measures (such as a firewall) in place to
protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information
under Company's control. Notwithstanding such measures, the Company
cannot guarantee that its security measures will prevent the Company
computers from being illegally accessed, and the Individual Information
on them stolen or altered.
2.8 Email Notification of Privacy Policy Changes. Individuals who have
their information stored in a Company database are eligible to receive
notification emails from Company when there are material changes in the
terms of this Privacy Policy. Click here for details or to sign-up to
receive such notices.
3. Dissemination of Individual Information.
3.1 Sale or Transfer to Third Parties. THE COMPANY MAY SELL OR TRANSFER
INDIVIDUAL INFORMATION TO THIRD PARTIES FOR ANY PURPOSE IN COMPANY'S
SOLE DISCRETION.
3.2 Order Fulfillment. The Company will transfer Individual Information
to third parties when necessary to provide a product or service that a
person orders from such third party while using Company web sites or
when responding to offers provided by Company.
3.3 Legal Process. The Company may disclose Individual Information to
respond to subpoenas, court orders, and other legal process.
3.4 Summary Data. The Company may sell or transfer non-individualized
information, such as summary or aggregated anonymous information about
all persons or sub-groups of persons.
4. Privacy Practices of Third Parties.
4.1 Advertiser cookies and web bugs. Advertising agencies, advertising
networks, and other companies (together, "Advertisers") who place
advertisements on the Websites and on the Internet generally may use
their own cookies, web bugs, and other technology to collect
information about individuals. The Company does not control
Advertisers' use of such technology and the Company has no
responsibility for the use of such technology to gather information
about individuals.
4.2 Links. The Websites and email messages sometimes contain hypertext
links to the web sites of third parties. The Company is not responsible
for the privacy practices or the content of such other web sites.
4.3 Affiliated Companies. The Company may disclose, transfer, and sell
Individual Information to entities affiliated with Company in Company's
discretion.
5. Unsubscribe Procedure. If you wish to discontinue receiving email
messages from Company, you have several options:
(a) Unsubscribe from one email list. To unsubscribe from a particular
list follow the instructions in each promotional email message sent by
the Company.
(b) Unsubscribe from all Company email lists. We reserve the right to
add Individual Information to multiple lists maintained by Company. To
globally unsubscribe from all of Company's lists email
and write in the subject line: "REMOVE FROM ALL LISTS".
6. More Information. If you have questions about this policy, please contact
us at
THE COMPANY RESERVES THE RIGHT TO UPDATE THIS POLICY FROM TIME TO
TIME, SO YOU SHOULD REVIEW THIS POLICY FREQUENTLY.