We recognize the importance of protecting
the privacy of personal information collected about you when you
use WritingForResults.net or register for Writing for Results workshops. Personal information
includes your e-mail address, employment status and data on how
you use the Web site.
We do not sell, rent or otherwise provide your personal information
to third parties for marketing purposes.
We have adopted a privacy policy that guides how we collect, store
and use personal information about our members and prospective
members. Our intent is to balance our legitimate business interests
in collecting and using this personal information against your
reasonable expectations of privacy. The following is our policy
on how we use and protect your personal information.
1. Definitions
In this policy:
a) “URL” means uniform resource locator;
b) “Web site” refers to the Web site found at the URLs
http://www.WritingForResults.net and http://WritingForResults.net;
c) “we”, “us” and “our” refer
to WritingForResults.net, the company that owns and operates the
Web site;
d) “you” and “your” refer to an individual
or corporate entity that:
(i) is visiting the Web site without payment;
or
(ii) has paid us to gain access to the Web
site; or
(iii) is registering for a workshop;
e) “cookie” means information, such as an e-mail address
or a password, that is stored on your hard drive and that enables
your computer to use the Web site;
f) “Members’ Forum” means an area of the Web
site where you and other users may post messages and receive messages
from other users.
2. Collection of Personal Information
Our primary purpose in collecting information from you is to provide
you with a high level of customer service. We only collect personal
information about you that we consider necessary for achieving
this purpose and due diligence in operating the Web site or delivering workshops.
In general, when you visit the Web site and access information
you remain anonymous. Once you give us your personal information,
however, you are no longer anonymous to us. If you choose to visit
the Web site, we may require you to provide contact and identity
information, billing information, shipping information and other
personal information as indicated on the forms located on the Web
site. You always have the option of not providing information by
choosing not to use a particular service or feature. We will not
provide any of your personal information to other companies or
individuals without your permission.
We use cookies to provide you with a better experience on the
Web site. The Web site offers certain features that are only available
through the use of a cookie. Cookies are also an integral part
of the log-in process. If your computer does not accept cookies,
you will not be able to access the Web site. It is your responsibility
to determine whether your computer is able to accept cookies before
you decide whether to become a member of the Web site.
Cookies can also help us to provide information that is targeted
to your interests. Most cookies are session cookies, meaning that
they are automatically deleted at the end of a session. Cookies
from the Web site can only be read by the Web site.
In addition, you may encounter cookies or other similar devices
on certain pages of the Web site that are placed by third parties.
For example, if you view a web page created by another party, there
may be a cookie placed within that Web page. We do not control
the use of cookies by third parties.
If you establish an account with us to pay the fees associated
with the use of the Web site or registering for a workshop, we will collect additional information,
such as: a billing address and tracking information from cheques,
money orders or credit cards.
If you choose to post messages in the Web site’s Members’ Forum
or leave feedback there for other users of the Web site, we will
collect that information which you provide to us. We retain this
information as necessary to resolve disputes, provide customer
service and troubleshoot problems as permitted by law.
If you send us personal correspondence, such as e-mails or letters,
or if other users or third parties send us correspondence about
your activities or postings on the Members’ Forum, we may
collect such information into a file specific about you.
3. Use of Your Personal Information
We use your personal information to facilitate the services that
you request. We use personal information in the file we maintain
about you, and other information we obtain from your current and
past activities on the Web site to:
a) resolve disputes;
b) troubleshoot problems;
c) bill your account;
d) measure consumer interest in our products and services;
e) inform you about online and offline offers, products, services
and updates;
f) customize your experience;
g) detect and protect us against error, fraud and other criminal
activity; and
h) enforce the WritingForResults.net User Agreement.
We may also use that information as otherwise described to you
at the time of collection, use or disclosure.
At times, we may examine your personal information to identify
users using multiple user IDs or aliases. We may compare
and review your personal information for errors and omissions and
for accuracy.
If you choose to provide us with your financial information, we
may use your address and financial information to bill you and
to provide associated support.
We may use personal information about you to improve our marketing
and promotional efforts, to analyse Web site or workshop usage, to improve
our content and product offerings, and to customize the Web site’s
or the workshops' content, layout and services. These uses are to enable us to improve
the Web site and workshops and better tailor them to meet your needs,
so as to provide you with a smooth, efficient, safe and customized
experience while using the Web site.
4. Disclosure of Personal Information
As a matter of policy, we do not sell or rent any of your personal
information to third parties for their marketing purposes without
your explicit consent. However, there are a variety of circumstances
where we may need to disclose some of your personal information,
including the following:
a) We may disclose your personal information to an individual
who, in our reasonable judgement, is seeking the information as
your agent. For example, we may provide your personal information
to your legal representative if we are satisfied that the individual
is requesting the information on your behalf.
b) We may aggregate personal information and disclose such information
in a non-personally identifiable manner to advertisers and other
third parties for their marketing and promotional purposes. However,
in these situations, we do not disclose to these entities any information
that could be used to identify you personally. Certain information – such
as your name, e-mail address, password and financial information – are
not disclosed to these third parties in a personally identifiable
manner without your explicit consent.
c) We cooperate with law enforcement inquiries, as well as other
third parties, to enforce laws such as intellectual property rights,
fraud and other rights. We do this to help protect you and ourselves
from improper actions of others. Therefore, in response to a verified
request by law enforcement or other government officials relating
to a criminal investigation or alleged criminal activity, we can
(and you have authorized us to do so) disclose your name, city,
province, telephone number, e-mail address and user ID history
without a subpoena. However, in effort to balance your right to
privacy and the ability to keep the Web site free from improper
actions of others, we will not disclose additional personal information
to law enforcement or other government officials without a subpoena,
court order or substantially similar legal procedure, except where
the additional disclosure of information is necessary to prevent
imminent physical harm or financial loss.
Due to the existing regulatory environment, we cannot ensure that
all of your private communications and other personal information
will never be disclosed in ways not otherwise described in this
Privacy Policy. For example (without limiting the foregoing):
a) we may be forced to disclose personal information to the government
or third parties under certain circumstances;
b) third parties may unlawfully intercept or access transmissions
or private communications; or
c) users may abuse or misuse your personal information that they
collect from the Web site.
Therefore, although it is industry standard practice to protect
your privacy, we do not promise, and you should not expect, that
your personal information or private communications will always
remain private.
5. Control of Your Password
You are responsible for all actions taken with your user ID and
password, including fees charged to your account. Therefore, we
recommend that you not disclose your password to any third parties.
If you choose to share your user ID, your password or your personal
information with a third party, you are responsible for all actions
taken with your account. Therefore you should review that third
party’s privacy policy before doing so. If you lose control
of your password, you may lose substantial control over your personal
information and may be subject to legally binding actions taken
on your behalf. Therefore, if your password has been compromised
for any reason, you should immediately change your password.
6. Accessing, Reviewing and Changing Your Personal
Information
We offer you the ability to automatically review and change the
personal information you submit to us by logging into the Web site
and entering the new information yourself. Generally, we will not
modify your personal information based on your request because
it is very difficult to authenticate your account manually. You
must promptly update your information if it changes or is inaccurate.
Upon your request, we will deactivate your account, contact information,
billing information and financial information from our active databases.
Such information will be deactivated as soon as reasonably possible
based upon your account activity and in accordance with our deactivation
policy and applicable law.
We will retain in our files some personal information you have
asked us to remove to prevent fraud, collect any fees owed, resolve
disputes, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations,
enforce the User Agreement and comply with legal requirements as
is permitted by law. Therefore, you should not expect that all
of your personal information will be completely removed from our
databases in response to your requests.
7. Other Information Collectors
Except as otherwise expressly included in this Privacy Policy,
this document only addresses the use and disclosure of information
we collect from you. To the extent that you disclose your information
to other parties, different rules may apply to their use or disclosure
of the personal information you disclose to them. Since we do not
control the privacy policies of third parties, you are subject
to the privacy policies of that third party.
8. Protecting your Privacy
We will use reasonable procedural and technical safeguards to
protect your personal information against loss, theft and unauthorized
access or disclosure, to protect your privacy. These measures include
firewalls and encryption. We employ many different security techniques
to protect such data from unauthorized access by users inside and
outside the company. However, perfect security does not exist on
the Internet.
9. Amendments to This Policy
We may amend this Privacy Policy at any time by posting the amended
terms on the Web site. All amended terms shall automatically be
effective thirty (30) days after they are initially posted on the
website.
10. Registration and Acceptance
By accepting the Privacy Policy and User Agreement in registration,
you expressly consent to our use and disclosure of your personal
information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. The Privacy
Policy is incorporated into and subject to the terms of the User
Agreement.
11. Questions or Concerns
If you have any questions or concerns about our privacy practices,
please contact us at Privacy@WritingForResults.net.
Otherwise, we will assume that we have your consent to continue
to collect, use and disclose your personal information for the
purposes identified above.
June 29, 2009
