This Privacy Statement was last updated on December 18, 2007.

Introduction

Howdini (“Howdini,” “we,” or “us”) is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Statement describes the information that we, collect from you through the www.Howdini.com website (the “Site”), the purposes for which we use such information, with whom we may share such information, your choices regarding our use and sharing of such information, and the steps we take to protect your personal information. By accessing the Site, you are consenting to the information collection and use practices described in this Privacy Statement.  If you do not agree to the terms of this Privacy Statement, please do not use the Site.  Except as provided in the “Your California privacy rights” section below, this Privacy Statement only applies to information collected on the Site and does not apply to information which we may collect on other websites owned or operated by Howdini or by means other than on the Site.

Your California privacy rights

The following only applies to California residents who have an established business relationship with Howdini.

If we collect your name or other personal information from you (whether online or offline), and you have given us permission to share your personal information by clicking on the appropriate box or button on the Site or by any other means we may provide, we may occasionally make that personal information available to our parent or other affiliated companies, or to other third parties (including, but not limited to, our clients)who have products or services that we believe will be of interest to you, for their direct marketing purposes.  If you later decide that you do not want us to share your personal information with these companies for their direct marketing purposes, please click here. Your opt out request will be processed within thirty (30) days of the date on which we receive it.  For more information on how your personal information is collected, used and shared, please read the remainder of this Privacy Statement.

Our collection of information

Information collected directly from you  

You can visit the Site and access the information available on the Site without entering any personal information.  However, in order to access certain information, services or features that may be contained on the Site, we may require you to provide personal information such as your name, e-mail address, and phone number. For example, we will collect certain personal information if you choose to register on the Site, join our e-mail list, subscribe to our newsletter, participate in special offers, sweepstakes, contests or other promotions, sign up for our chat rooms, message boards or other public venues or send questions or comments to us via e-mail.

We may also collect certain demographic information (such as gender or age) and information about your interests and preferences (“preferences information”).  In many cases, such demographic and preferences information (besides age) is optional.  If we ever use any demographic or preferences information together with any Personal Information, then such demographic and preferences information will be treated as Personal Information under this Privacy Statement. 

Information collected automatically

We may collect information about your visit to the Site, including what pages you view, the number of bytes transferred, the links you click, the materials you access, and other actions taken within the Site. We may also collect certain standard information that your browser sends to every website you visit, such as your Internet Protocol address, your browser type and capabilities and language, your operating system, the date and time you access the Site, and the website from which you linked to our Site. We do not link this information to your personal information. 

Our use of information

If you provide us with personal information, we may retain and use that information for several purposes.  For example, we may use your personal information in order to provide information and services that you request such as responding to questions and sending e-mails to our e-mail list subscribers.  In addition, we may use your personal information to ensure compliance with Howdini’s policies and applicable law.  In order to offer you a more consistent experience in your interactions with Howdini, information collected via the Site may be combined with information we collect by other means.  We may also use your personal information to improve the Site, or to make the Site easier to use by eliminating the need for you to repeatedly enter the same information or by customizing the Site to your particular preference or interests.  If you have chosen to receive communications by e-mail from us but later wish to opt out of receiving such communications from us at any time, simply follow the instructions for doing so included in the e-mails.  We reserve the right to send you certain communications relating to the Site, such as service announcements or similar administrative or transactional messages, without offering you the opportunity to opt-out of receiving them.

Aggregate information

From time to time, we may collect general, non-personal, statistical information about the use of the Site, such as how many visitors visit a specific page on the Site, how long they stay on that page, and which hyperlinks, if any, they “click” on.  We collect this information through the use of technologies such as “cookies”, which are discussed in greater detail below, and those described in the “Information collected automatically” section above.  We collect this information in order to determine which areas of the Site are most popular and to enhance the Site for visitors.  We may also group this information into aggregate visitor data in order to describe the use of the Site to our existing or potential business partners, clients or other third parties, or in response to a government request.  However, please be assured that this aggregate data will in no way personally identify you or any other visitors to the Site.

Our use of cookies; Third party cookies; Web beacons

Cookies are small files that websites save to your hard disk or to your browser's memory. We may use them to track the number of times you have visited the Site, to track the number of visitors to the Site, to determine and analyze visitors use of the Site (including the effectiveness of online advertising), to store information that you provide such as your preferences, and to store technical information useful for your interactions with the Site. We may use session cookies (cookies that are deleted when your browser session ends) to facilitate your movement around the Site (particularly in connection with information searches) and to store other information useful in administering the session. You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most Internet browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser settings to decline cookies or to notify you when a cookie is being placed on your computer. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the features of the Site. You may occasionally get cookies from our advertisers or other third parties with links on the Site. We do not control these cookies. The use of advertising cookies sent by third-party servers is standard in the Internet industry. We do not link the information we store in cookies to any personal information you submit while on the Site. Our Site may also contain electronic images known as web beacons - sometimes called single-pixel gifs - that allow us to count the number of users who have visited those pages. We may include web beacons in promotional e-mail messages or newsletters in order to determine whether messages have been opened and acted upon.

Disclosure of your personal information

Except as described below, personal information you provide to Howdini through the Site will not be shared outside of Howdini and its service providers without your permission.

Disclosure regarding service providers. Howdini contracts with other companies to provide services on our behalf, such as hosting websites, sending out information, and analyzing the Site. We provide these companies with only those elements of your personal information they need to deliver those services. These companies and their employees are prohibited from using that personal information for any other purpose. 

Disclosure regarding other third parties.  In some cases, if you have given us permission to share your personal information by clicking on the appropriate box or button on the Site, we may make your personal information available to our parent or other affiliated companies, or to other third parties (including, but not limited to, our clients) who have products or services that we believe will be of interest to you.  If you later decide that you do not want us to share your personal information with these companies please click here. 

Disclosures in connection with acquisitions or divestitures. Circumstances may arise where for strategic or other business reasons Howdini decides to sell, buy, merge or otherwise reorganize its own or other businesses. Such a transaction may involve the disclosure of personal and other information to prospective or actual purchasers, or receiving it from sellers. It is Howdini's practice to seek appropriate protection for information in these types of transactions.  In the event that Howdini or all of its assets are acquired in such a transaction, customer information would be one of the transferred assets.

Disclosure for other reasons. We may disclose personal information if required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with legal requirements or with legal process served on us, to protect and defend our rights or property, or in urgent circumstances to protect the personal safety of any individual.

Security

Howdini is committed to protecting the security of your personal information. We use a variety of security technologies and procedures to help protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. For example, we store the personal information you provide on computer systems with limited access that are located in facilities to which access is limited. We cannot, however, guarantee the security of your personal information.

If you register for an account on the Site, you will be asked to choose a password for your account, in which case, your online account information shall be protected by your password.  We recommend that you do not disclose your password to any other person.  You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and account, and are fully responsible for all activities that occur under your password or account.

Updating Your Information

If you have registered for an account on the Site, you may view and update your account information or cancel your membership at any time by logging into your account.

Children's information

This Site is not intended for use by children under 13.  Howdini does not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13 years of age, except for the limited circumstances described below.  In the event a child under the age of 13 submits a question to us on the Site and identifies his or her age, we may use the child’s e-mail address for the sole purpose of responding to the child’s question on a one-time-only basis.  However, we will not use the child’s e-mail address to recontact the child and we will delete it from our records once we have responded.  If we become aware that we have unknowingly collected personal information from a child under the age of 13, we will make commercially reasonable efforts to delete such information from our database.

Links to other websites

The Site may contain links to other websites such as Howdini’s affiliates and advertisers. While we try to link only to websites that share our high standards and respect for privacy, we are not responsible for the content, security, or privacy practices employed by other websites.

Enforcement of this Privacy Statement

If you have questions regarding this Privacy Statement or our handling of your personal information, please Contact Us.

Changes to this privacy statement

Howdini may occasionally update this Privacy Statement. When we do, we will post a notice on the homepage of the Site for a reasonable period of time after such changes are made that this Privacy Statement has been updated, and we will revise the "last updated" date at the top of this Privacy Statement.  We encourage you to check this page periodically for any updates.  Your continued use of the Site following the posting of updates to this Privacy Statement will mean you accept those updates.   

© Copyright 2007 Howdini LLC. All Rights Reserved.