Privacy Statement (January, 2009)
At the Economic Independence Group, LLC, we place the highest importance on respecting and protecting the privacy of our customers. Our most important asset is our relationship with you. We want you to feel comfortable and confident when using our Web site. We are also extremely sensitive to family concerns about their children's personal information and safety. We want you to know about and understand the measures we have taken to keep Economic Independence Group a safe and secure environment for everyone. This privacy statement tells you how and why we collect information from you, and how we use that information.
We encourage our visitors to read through and understand our privacy statement. We may update it from time to time to address new issues or reflect changes on our site. Please refer to this privacy statement regularly. Economic Independence Group reserves the right to revise this privacy statement at any time and such revisions shall be effective immediately upon notice thereof. Notice may be given by any means including, but not limited to, posting the revised privacy statement on this site. Any use of our site by you subsequent to such notice shall be deemed to constitute acceptance by you of such revision.
We would like to share with you the following principles that govern our information practices and other privacy aspects of our Web site. Throughout this policy, we refer to information that personally identifies you as "personal information".
Information You Provide to Us
Economic Independence Group collects information in several ways via different parts of our site. Providing personal information and becoming an Economic Independence Group member is voluntary. Nonmembers can still use the majority of our site. However, nonmembers will not have the opportunity to access certain enhanced content and application areas, win our seasonal promotions, experience future personalization, and voice their questions and concerns as quickly. When you register with the Economic Independence Group, you provide personal information. Economic Independence Group uses this information to better create and organize our content to meet your needs.
The personal information we may request from you, and with which we identify you as a member, includes the following: first name, last name, email address, gender, date of birth, ZIP code, username, and password. When you wish to purchase something, we will also ask you for the following: street address, city, state, phone number, and credit card number.
Please note: Children under the age of 13 and non-US residents currently can not become Economic Independence Group members.
How We Use the Information You Provide
Economic Independence Group may use your personal information to tailor the content programming, information services, and software applications that we provide to meet your needs and interests. When you conduct a transaction through this site, you are providing transaction information to Economic Independence Group third party suppliers (such as transaction processors and financial institutions) who will use the information solely for the purpose of the transaction. Finally, there may also be other third party vendors who supply software applications, web hosting and other technologies for this site that may have access to your personal information but they will never use such information for any other purpose except to provide services in connection with this site. Economic Independence Group will not share any personal information about you with any third party except as otherwise stated herein and in the following circumstances: (a) in response to subpoenas, court orders or legal process, to the extent permitted and as restricted by law; (b) when disclosure is required to maintain the security and integrity of this site, or to protect any user's security or the security of other persons, consistent with applicable laws; (c) when disclosure is directed or consented to by the registered member who has inputted the personal information; (d) in the event that Economic Independence Group itself goes through a business transition, such as a the sale of all or a portion of its assets, your personal information will, in most instances, be part of the assets transferred; or (e) in limited circumstances, Economic Independence Group may disclose your email address in order to comply with laws and regulations, including the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM of 2003). Economic Independence Group may occasionally involve a paying or nonpaying partner in our registration areas because they share our educational mission and they provide a highly valued service to our members.
Economic Independence Group also collects non-personally identifiable information. Here, no audience members are identified by their personal information -- we are only interested in how Economic Independence Group looks demographically and statistically. This basic market research allows us to identify the trends, developments, and needs of our audience. Such information may be shared with third parties.
We Protect Kids' Privacy
Economic Independence Group encourages parents to spend time online with their children. We urge parents to instruct their children to never give out their real names, addresses, or phone numbers without permission when using the Internet. We recognize a special obligation to protect personal information obtained from children.
As a parent, you've probably done a lot of thinking about protecting your family's privacy on the Internet. We have been thinking and working hard to provide you with the best information and the highest quality interaction on the Internet in an environment that is safe. In compliance with COPPA (the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act), we have adopted the following policies to keep kids safe (there are a few exceptions to these policies as noted below under the heading "Exceptions to Verifiable Parental Consent"):
- We will NOT knowingly collect, use, or distribute personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13 without prior verifiable consent from a parent or guardian.
- Personally identifiable information we collect from children under the age of 13 will be used solely by Economic Independence Group or its agents for internal purposes only and will NOT be sold or otherwise distributed to third parties.
- We will NOT knowingly allow children under the age of 13 access to chat rooms, message boards, email accounts, or other services within Economic Independence Group that would allow them to publicly post or otherwise distribute personally identifiable information without prior verifiable consent from a parent or guardian.
- We will NOT knowingly ask a child under the age of 13 to divulge more information than is needed to participate in any activity, game, or service.
- We will NOT knowingly keep any personally identifiable information that is inadvertently included in a child's email submission, help inquiry, or other one-time request, if we know that the child is under the age of 13. Information will be automatically purged or purged immediately after the issue has been resolved.
- We will NOT knowingly post any personally identifiable information that is inadvertently included in a child's submission to a general audience contribution area if we know that the child is under the age of 13. These submissions will be deleted and handled anonymously thereafter.
- We will NOT knowingly provide any direct link to websites that are unsuitable for children or teens.
- We will advise children under the age of 13 that they MUST obtain permission from their parent or guardian before sharing ANY personal information.
- Upon request, Economic Independence Group will provide a parent or guardian with a description of the information that may have been provided about their child during a registration process for a program or service of this site. Economic Independence Group only asks for a child's personal information if it is necessary to participate in the program or service.
If you have any questions about our Kids' Privacy Policy, please call Economic Independence Group at (888) 567-3436.
Notification and Verifiable Parental Consent
Before any personally information is collected, we will do our best to notify the parent or guardian that their child is participating. Notification will include the exact nature and intended use of the information we are collecting, as well as the opportunity for the parent or guardian to prevent the use of the information and the child's participation in the activity. For every child (anyone under 13 years of age) we require the parent or guardian to provide verifiable parental consent such as an email, mail-in letter, fax, or toll-free phone call to Economic Independence Group.
What Are Cookies?
The use of "cookies" is common in the Internet industry; you’ll find them used in the Economic Independence Group website, as you will at other major websites. "Cookies" are small text files written to your computer. They make our website easier for you to use because they save your preferences while you are visiting our sites (although we do not save passwords in cookies). Cookies also help us know which areas are your favorites, which areas need improvement, and what technologies and Internet services our visitors are using. Knowing this information helps us continually improve the online experience for our visitors and members.
The non-personal information we track with cookies is anonymous and is not used to identify, or lead us back to, any particular visitor. Visitors to the Economic Independence Group website may have the option of disabling cookies via their browser preferences (most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies). WhWhile browsing through the Economic Independence Group website, you may get cookies from our advertisers or sponsors. Economic Independence Group and its affiliated sites do not control these cookies.
What Are IP Addresses?
An IP address is a number that is assigned automatically to your computer whenever you use the World Wide Web. Web servers -- the big computers that "serve up" Web pages -- automatically identify your computer by its IP address. Economic Independence Group collects IP addresses for system administration; to report aggregate information to our advertisers, sponsors, and partners; and to audit the use of our site. When visitors request pages from Economic Independence Group sites, our servers log the guests' IP addresses. We typically do not link IP addresses to anything personally identifiable. This means that a visitor's session will be logged, but the visitor remains anonymous to us. We can and will use IP addresses to identify a visitor if the following occurs: (a) in response to subpoenas, court orders or legal process, to the extent permitted and as restricted by law; (b) when disclosure is required to maintain the security and integrity of this site, or to protect any user's security or the security of other persons, consistent with applicable laws.
A Notice About External Links
From our site, you might be able to access the web sites of third parties whose information and privacy practices are different from ours. You should consult the privacy policies of these sites before using them.
We specifically recommend that children check with their parents before connecting to any new sites.
Security and Credit Card Use
Economic Independence Group has security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under our control. Essentially, we encrypt all transmission of sensitive data and secure all of our repositories of data. When you use your credit card to shop at Economic Independence Group, your transaction is secure. Our servers use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), an advanced encryption technology that works with Netscape Navigator (versions 2.0 and above) and Microsoft Internet Explorer (version 3.0 and above). This technology safeguards your personal information and privacy. However, you should understand that "perfect security" is never guaranteed.
Contacting Economic Independence Group
If you have any questions about this privacy statement or the practices of Economic Independence Group please:
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