Privacy Policy

 

We do not sell or share personal user information with anyone.  Period.

COMMITMENT TO YOUR PRIVACY

Your privacy is of the utmost importance to us.  We want to make your online experience both satisfying and safe.  Above all, we believe that your information belongs to you, and you should have knowledge of, and control over, how and when it is used.

In order to provide optimum services, we gather minimum information about our users.  We want you to understand the conditions surrounding the capture and use of that information. This privacy statement discloses what information we gather and how we use it.  It is easy to read, easy to understand, and a useful reference document with which to compare other so-called "privacy statements" which are often just a smoke screen to make you think your information is private.

INFORMATION WE GATHER AND TRACK

TheDogPlace and TheDogPress gather two types of user information:

    1.) Information that you provide through optional, voluntary submissions in order to receive our electronic newsletters, notification of new services, participate as a member, or in polls and surveys:
     
    2.) Information gathered through aggregated tracking derived by tallying page views.  This allows us to better tailor content to readers' needs.  It allows us to help sponsors understand the needs and demographics of our audience.  Under no circumstances do we divulge any information about an individual user to a third party.

We gather Voluntary User Information to facilitate the following free services and Processes:

1.  HEADlines, a free or paid Insider subscription newsletter to Users who subscribe and provide their email addresses. Users may use the UNsubscribe link provided in every newsletter.

2.  CenCom, free Bulletin Boards or Forums for which Users must register and maintain current contact information in order to protect other users from abuse.

3.  Dog-e-Book, a free phone book / yellow pages service.  Obviously we don't sell or share your information but we go a step further.  We hide your email address so harvesting software can't steal it.  Most sites don't bother.  One major dog related site even makes your non-listed phone number and other very private information visible to all who seek it.  We give you the option to display or hide your phone number.

4. ThePollingPlace - interactive polls or surveys designed to allow users to share their opinions on important issues and/or participate in various Awards systems initiated on this site.  Example: Judging Legends. Responses are aggregated and no voter is individually identifiable unless you choose to email Operations comment.  ThePollingPlace software "tags" users after they have voted so that they can vote only once on a particular question. 

Children - Consistent with the Federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA, we will never knowingly request personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13 without requesting parental consent.

Usage tracking - we track user traffic patterns throughout all of our sites and collect overall usage statistics according to the user's domain name, browser type, and MIME type by reading this information from the browser string (information contained in every user's browser).  We do not correlate this information with any individual user. 

We sometimes track and catalog the search terms that users enter in our Search function, but it is never associated with individual users. We use tracking information to determine which areas of our sites users like and don't like based on traffic to those areas. We do not track what individuals read, but rather how well each page performs overall. This helps us build a better service for you.

Cookies - Like all sites, we may place a text file called a "cookie" in your browser files. The cookie itself does not contain Personal Information but will enable us to relate your use of this site to information that you have specifically and knowingly provided. A cookie can not read data off your hard disk or read cookie files created by other sites. We only use cookies to track user traffic patterns (as described above) and to keep your login open in CenCom or Dog-e-Store.

You can refuse cookies by turning them off in your browser. If you've set your browser to warn you before accepting cookies, you will receive the warning message with each cookie. You do not need to have cookies turned on to use this site. However, you do need cookies to actively participate in CenCom, forums, polling and surveys.

USE OF INFORMATION

As stated above, we utilize voluntarily provided information in order to send electronic newsletters to subscribers and to enable users to shop the Dog-e-Store, participate in polls, and forums.  We do NOT share user or mailing lists with any third parties, including advertisers or affiliates.

We willingly forego advertising or marketing income to protect our users' privacy.  We will not disclose any information about any individual except to comply with applicable law or legal process.

SECURITY

We operate secure data networks protected by industry standard firewall and password protection systems. Our security and privacy policies are periodically reviewed and enhanced as necessary and only authorized employees have access to the information provided by our customers.

OPT-OUT POLICY

We give users options wherever necessary and practical. Such choices include:

    * Opting not to register to receive electronic newsletters or notices.
     
    * Opting not to participate in certain interactive areas, which completely alleviates the need to gather any personally identifiable information from our users

YOUR CONSENT

By using this site, you consent to the collection and use of this information by TheDogPlace and/or TheDogPress. If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on this page so that you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances we disclose it.

Thank you for your interest in our site. We work hard to provide a safe place for your use and enjoyment. If you ever have any questions regarding this policy, please contact contact@thedogplace.org or contact@thedogpress.com