Privacy Policy for PrivacyBot.com

This Privacy Policy explains what information is collected from visitors to the PrivacyBot Site located at http://www.privacybot.com, why the information is collected and how it is used. It also explains user options for accessing and managing information, our data security practices and other matters. PrivacyBot is operated by Invisible Hand Software, LLC. This Policy became effective in 1999 and is subject to our Terms of Service.

Special Note About Children

This Site is not intended for children. Children may use this Site only with the direct supervision of their parent or legal guardian.

What Information Do We Collect? Why?

When you use PrivacyBot to create a Privacy Policy and register for the Trustmark, our system will keep track of your answers to various questions. If you place an order, we use this data to generate a near-custom Privacy Policy. We also use the information to register your web site to display the Trustmark.

If you send us a revised or custom-drafted Privacy Policy for our review, we will use your contact information to prepare and transmit comments or document revisions to help you comply with our Eligibility Standards.

If you use a feature that requires payment of a fee, we collect your name, credit card data, email address and a password you select. We do this to process and deliver the order. We retain this information so you can administer your account through the Account Manager feature. If you experience problems or have a question, we may refer to the ordering information to help resolve it.

When you access the Account Manager, we ask for your email address and password. We do this to establish your personal identity and respond with relevant account information. If there is a problem with your order, we may use your name and email address to contact you.

When a privacy complaint is filed in the PrivacyBot Mediation Service, we use the parties' email addresses and other information to prepare and transmit the Notice of Mediation and Complaint to both parties. We also use it to administer the mediation proceeding according to the Mediation Rules. During the mediation period, we may email both parties reminders and other communications.

We may alert you by email if we update PrivacyBot in a way that we believe you should know about. Email alerts are usually prompted by changes in law or recent cases that make it advisable for you to update previously generated documents. We may also alert you if we add new features to PrivacyBot or our other affiliated sites.

We may automatically collect information about your computer configuration. This may include your browser type, operating system, IP address or ISP domain name. Technically, your IP address could reveal or be associated with your personal identity. We review this information in the aggregate to improve Site performance.

With Whom Do We Share Information?

If you order a Policy or use another feature requiring payment of a fee, we transmit your credit card data to our bank for processing. If we encounter a problem with payment, we may review the order information with you and our bank to resolve it. We do not otherwise disclose your credit card information. We do not share your email address with third party marketers.

If you join the PrivacyBot Registry, certain information about your site will be displayed publicly in the PrivacyBot Registry Statement. This Statement is displayed to anyone clicking on the Trustmark appearing on your Site. This information includes a summary of your Site's history of handling any privacy complaints filed with the PrivacyBot Mediation Service.

When a privacy complaint is filed against a registered site, information about the grievance is structured into a Notice of Mediation and Complaint. These documents are transmitted to each party. This information includes the user's name and email address and an invitation for the web site to contact the user directly to resolve the dispute. The pendency of a dispute and certain unfavorable outcomes, such as unresolved disputes or refusals to mediate, are noted in the site's public Registry Statement (details of disputes are not disclosed in the Registry Statement).

If your Site develops a history of unfavorable outcomes in the PrivacyBot Mediation Service, we may contact you and discuss additional reassurances needed for your site's continued membership in the Trustmark Registry. For example, we may ask you to execute an Affidavit of Compliance. We may refer some sites to an independent auditor for manual assessment of the site's privacy practices. In extreme cases, we may refer a matter to the FTC. You may terminate your membership at any time.

We may aggregate overall Site statistics measuring user activity, such as the number of monthly page impressions, and discuss these aggregate numbers with potential sponsors. We may publish aggregate reports showing the state of privacy on the web, such as the number of complaints filed in a given time period, the nature of those complaints and how many complaints were resolved. These reports will not reveal or be associated with your personal identity or with a specific web site.

Certain Legal Disclosures

We may need to disclose user information in certain exceptional circumstances. This may be needed to protect against illegal hackers, to protect our legal rights or to address actual or threatened illegal or harmful conduct. Disclosure may also be required by legal process, such as a search warrant, subpoena or court order.

What Data Security is Used?

We may offer secure pages to collect certain information on our order form. We also use administrative, physical and technical precautions to help protect the confidentiality, security and integrity of personal information stored on our system. We host the Site at a commercial-grade data center that employs extensive security practices. While no computer system is completely secure, we believe the measures implemented by our Site reduce the likelihood of security problems to a level appropriate to the type of data involved.

How Long Do We Retain User Data?

Currently, we plan to retain user data while an account is active and for at least three years afterward. We may alter this practice according to legal and business requirements. For example, we may lengthen the retention period for some data if needed to comply with law or voluntary codes of conduct. Unless otherwise prohibited, we may shorten the retention period for some types of data if needed to free up storage space.

Management of User Information:

You can access and manage your account information using the Account Manager feature at the Main Menu. Certain information, such as name or address, can be updated or corrected. Some information contained in public Registry Statements is presented in read-only format that cannot be modified by users.

We will make a good faith effort to implement your data management requests according to our rules. Note: we have greater control over data currently stored on the system than for archived data. Once data is archived and removed from the system, it may not be feasible to modify or remove data for specific individuals. In those cases, our general data retention policy applies.

Your Consent to This Policy

By using PrivacyBot, you agree to this Privacy Policy. This document supersedes any prior communication on this topic and reflects the entire and exclusive Privacy Policy for this Site. This Policy is subject to our Terms of Service, which take precedence over any conflicting Policy provision. We may change our Policy by posting a new version of it on our Site.

If You Have a Question:

We are posting this Policy in an effort to be a good web citizen. If you have a question, please bring it to our attention at legal@aol.com. Or write to: PrivacyBot, c/o Invisible Hand Software, LLC, 3847 Whitman Road, Annandale, VA 22003.

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