Your Privacy Matters to AuthorMe

OUR PRIVACY POLICY

- Safe Harbor for your Info -

- Safe Harbor for your Info -

When you register with AuthorMe or a related website, you are asked for a minimum of specific information: name, e-mail address, age, country, background, etc. Perhaps you wonder if AuthorMe is misusing your info. Please look over the following explanation and let us know if you have further concerns or would like your information removed or modified.

Your registration information is stored in a private file and is used for the following purposes:

• to document your permission for us to publish your work(s) on our website

• to verify your qualifications to participate on this site (for example, you must be 13 years old or older)

• to initiate/supplement editorial correspondence regarding your manuscript submissions or your writing career, etc.

• to identify your home country for use in creating our coverage map and for items in our countrypage (international authors)

• to contact you if we are contacted on your behalf (e.g., if someone wants to purchase rights to your work)

• if you register for our newsletter or other AuthorMe.com offers, we use your e-mail address to respond. However, as always, you can "opt out" any time. (See below.)

Your registration information is NOT used for "spamming" (sending ads or info to all registrants).

Note: When you submit a manuscript for publication, we automatically publish "comments links" to your e-mail address. Thus, it is a simple matter for any visitor to discover your e-mail address. To avoid this, write "Protect e-mail" on each submission. Then AuthorMe will establish a forwarding account on AuthorMe.com (e.g., Sammie@author-me.com). Your "comments links" will then point to the forwarding address. This enables readers to write you (e-mails are forwarded to you) but they cannot identify your address unless you write them back from your usual address. If you want to publish without any "comments links," please write "No Feedback" on each manuscript submission affected.

Should you want to revise the info we have on file for you, please write us (see below). We will then begin a process which permits such changes, including your review of the information we have on file today.

Note: Many e-mail addresses expire a few months after submission. (Especially webmail addresses which expire if not used.) If this occurs, please let us know the old and new address. We will be happy to revise all links to your old address, throughout the website.

Should you want to remove your registration information, please let us know (see below). (Note that any publications under your name will also be removed.) We will then begin a process which permits such changes, including your review of the information we have on file today.

Concerns about privacy? Write us!  Be certain to include your name (as registered) and a correct, working e-mail address. We will write you for further verification, etc.  Click here.

Your privacy is important, so we'd like to explain what information we collect when you visit AuthorMe - Support Group for Writers and Authors (http://www.author-me.com), why we collect it and how it is used. We'd also like to explain your options to access and control your information, our data security practices and other matters. This Policy is governed by our Terms of Service.

THE PRIVACYBOT TRUSTMARK

We have registered with PrivacyBot.com, an independent privacy seal program. We display the PrivacyBot Trustmark to show our commitment to good privacy practices. Click the Trustmark to see our standing with PrivacyBot.

SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT CHILDREN

This Site is not intended for children, especially kids under 13. Children may use this Site only with the direct supervision of their parent.

WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT FROM YOU? WHY?

We May Profile Users Pseudonymously

We may build a pseudonymous profile of your online habits, interests and activities when you use our Site. This profile will not reveal or be linked to your personal identity. We compile these profiles from information about user PCs (e.g., IP address or browser type), demographic information (e.g., gender, marital status, age, income, job), and we use these profiles for the purposes described below (please scroll down to each topic for details).

We May Collect Information Needed to Contact You Later:

If we collect personal contact information (as described below), you may later have us modify or remove it from our system, but you may not access the information yourself. You may choose simply not to provide personal contact information by opting-out at the point of collection.

We May Collect Your Name, Address and Phone Number. When you use our Site, we may request your name, street address, telephone number or other "real world" contact information.

This information does not inherently reveal and will not be linked to you personally. We use this information to complete and support the immediate activity requested, administer and run the Site, customize and personalize content to your request, improve the Site for everyone, comply with laws requiring preservation of social histories, and to comply with any requirements of law. This information may be disclosed only to our staff and to our immediate agents.

We May Collect Your Email Address. We may request your email address, or other information needed to contact you online. This information does not necessarily reveal who you are and we will not link it to your personal identity. We use it to complete and support the immediate activity requested, administer and run the Site, customize and personalize content to your request, improve the Site for everyone, comply with laws requiring preservation of social histories, and to comply with any requirements of law. This information may be disclosed only to our staff and to our immediate agents.

We May Collect Other Kinds of Information from You:

When you use our Site, we may collect personal information about you described below. You may later have us modify or remove the information, but you may not access the information yourself. You may choose simply not to provide actively gathered information by opting-out at the point of collection.

We May Collect Purchase Information. We may collect information actively generated by the purchase of a product or service, such as a payment method. This information will not inherently reveal your identity or be linked to you personally. We use this information to complete and support the immediate activity requested, administer and run the Site, customize and personalize content to your request, improve the Site for everyone, comply with laws requiring preservation of social histories, and to comply with any requirements of law. This information may be aggregated with similar data in a manner that does not reveal your personal identity and may be disclosed only to our staff and to our immediate agents.

We May Collect Information About Your Computer. When you visit our Site, we may automatically collect information about your computer configuration, such as your browser type, operating system, IP address or ISP domain name. This information will not reveal your identity or be linked to you personally. We use this information to complete and support the immediate activity requested, administer and run the Site, customize and personalize content to your request, improve the Site for everyone, build individual profiles for ongoing research, analysis and reporting, and to comply with any requirements of law. This information may be aggregated with similar data in a manner that does not reveal your personal identity and may be disclosed only to our staff and to our immediate agents.

We May Collect Navigation and Clickstream Data. As you browse our Site, we may gather navigational and clickstream data that shows what pages are visited and how long various features are used. This information will not reveal your identity or be linked to you personally. We use this information to complete and support the immediate activity requested, administer and run the Site, customize and personalize content to your request, improve the Site for everyone, and to comply with any requirements of law. This information may be aggregated with similar data in a manner that does not reveal your personal identity and may be disclosed only to our staff and to our immediate agents.

We May Collect Interactive Data. You may decide to input data while using certain interactive features at our Site, such as queries submitted to a search engine. This information will not reveal your identity or be linked to you personally. We use this information to complete and support the immediate activity requested, administer and run the Site, customize and personalize content to your request, improve the Site for everyone, and to comply with any requirements of law. This information may be aggregated with similar data in a manner that does not reveal your personal identity and may be disclosed only to our staff and to our immediate agents.

We May Collect Demographic Data About You. We may request information about your demographic or social characteristics, such as gender, age and income level. This information will not reveal your identity or be linked to you personally. We use this information to complete and support the immediate activity requested, administer and run the Site, customize and personalize content to your request, improve the Site for everyone, build individual profiles for ongoing research, analysis and reporting, comply with laws requiring preservation of social histories, and to comply with any requirements of law. This information may be aggregated with similar data in a manner that does not reveal your personal identity and may be disclosed only to our staff and to our immediate agents.

We May Keep Note of Your Personal Preferences. We may gather information concerning your personal likes and dislikes, such as your favorite color, taste in music, books or other Site content. This information will not reveal your identity or be linked to you personally. We use this information to complete and support the immediate activity requested, administer and run the Site, customize and personalize content to your request, improve the Site for everyone, and to comply with any requirements of law. This information may be aggregated with similar data in a manner that does not reveal your personal identity and may be disclosed only to our staff and to our immediate agents.

We May Collect Your Online Postings and Content. Certain features of our Site may allow you to contribute content, such as instant messages, chat room postings and the like. Although you may choose to identify yourself in your postings, contributing content does not inherently reveal your personal identity. We use this information to complete and support the immediate activity requested, administer and run the Site, customize and personalize content to your request, improve the Site for everyone, and to comply with any requirements of law. This information may be disclosed only to our staff and to our immediate agents.

CERTAIN EXCEPTIONAL DISCLOSURES

We may disclose your information if necessary to protect our legal rights or if the information relates to actual or threatened harmful conduct. Disclosure may be required by law or if we receive legal process.

WHAT ARE COOKIES? WHY DO WE USE THEM?

Cookies are small files stored by your browser in your computer when you visit our Site. We use cookies to improve our Site and make it easier to use. Cookies permit us to recognize users and avoid repetitive requests for the same information. We mostly use "session cookies" that are automatically deleted after each visit. Cookies from our Site can't be read by other sites. Most browsers will accept cookies until you change browser settings to refuse them.

HOW DO WE PROTECT INFORMATION WE COLLECT?

We follow technical and management practices we believe are reasonable under the circumstances to protect the confidentiality, security and integrity of information stored on our system, but we do not operate a completely secure Site. For example, we generally do not use secure pages to collect information and we generally do not store data in encrypted form.

HOW LONG DO WE KEEP USER INFORMATION?

We generally keep user data on our server or in our archives for as long as we reasonably need it. We may alter this practice according to changing requirements. For example, we may delete some data if needed to free up storage space. We may keep other data for longer periods if the law requires it. In addition, information posted in a public forum could stay in the public domain indefinitely.

Data management requests are administered in an orderly manner to the extent feasible and within our direct control. Note: we have greater control over recently collected data than for archived data. Once data is removed from the system and archived, it may not be feasible to accommodate specific requests. In those cases, our general data retention policy applies.

YOUR CONSENT TO THIS POLICY

By using our Site, you agree to this Policy. This is our entire and exclusive Privacy Policy and it supersedes any earlier version. Our Terms of Service take precedence over any conflicting Policy provision. We may change our Policy by posting a new version on our Site.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER

This Site operates AS-IS and AS-AVAILABLE, without liability of any kind. We are not responsible for events beyond our direct control. This Policy is governed by Illinois law, excluding conflicts of law principles. Any legal actions against us must be commenced in Illinois within one year after the claim arose, or be barred.

IF YOU HAVE A PRIVACY QUESTION

If you have a privacy question about our Site, please email: Bruce L. Cook at cookcomm@gte.net. Or write: Cook Communication, Attn: Bruce L. Cook, 1211 Carol Crest Drive, Sleepy Hollow, IL, 60118.