StateVentures, Inc.
Privacy Policy
for Maryland.com network of sites, including
OceanCity.com and Annapolis.com
Privacy Philosophy
The information provided in this Privacy Policy covers your interactions on the different areas of the StateVentures Web sites referenced above (excludes the co-branded pages of our partners and affiliates). As a company, StateVentures believes strongly in protecting consumer privacy, and it is StateVentures's goal to allow our visitors to provide as much or as little information as they feel comfortable.
Information Collection
Occasionally we ask you to provide us certain personal information such as your name, email address, or a list of your interests and hobbies. You never have to answer these questions, although not answering them may limit the services that we can offer you. On certain pages, credit card numbers are collected in order to conduct a transaction. We utilize a third party to process your credit card transaction.
Registration
Users may register as members of the web site. Certain features and services, such as free email, are only available to registered members. In order to register, the user is required to give certain information, such as email address, name, address, birth date, gender, country of residence and zip code. Other information such as occupation and education is also asked, but provision of this information is optional.
During the registration process users may be asked whether they wish to participate in programs offered by companies that have partnered with StateVentures. In order to participate in these programs, additional information may be required, such as interest categories. If a user chooses to participate in a partner program StateVentures may share the user's personal information with the partner. The partner's use of the user's personal information would then be governed by the partner's privacy policy.
Any visitor to the site eighteen years or older can join in our chat rooms as a guest without having to register or provide any personally identifiable information. However, we encourage our visitors to register in order that they may become members of our community and take advantage of our features offered to members, and so we can provide a more personalized experience to our users.
Use of Member Information
StateVentures uses the information collected from members to help target advertisers, sponsors and email offers from StateVentures and its business partners based on members' demographic information and preferences, and to customize its services. StateVentures also tracks the number of visitors to our site in aggregate form to help us administer and improve the site, and make it more responsive to our users.
We make available the user information we collect in aggregate form to describe and identify our users for the creation of co-branded sites, and to advertisers and potential business partners, as well as to the general public. We may share detailed personal information with other parties when a member opts to join a service offered by another party.
Cookies
StateVentures's site features banner advertisements from outside companies, which we believe will be of interest to many of our users. Some of these advertisements may contain "Cookies", which consist of data which is stored on the user's hard drive and contains information about the user. StateVentures does not have access to this information or control over the data collected.
StateVentures also may use cookies in order to facilitate the ease and efficiency of use of our site by a registered user - for example, to recognize a User and to remember the User's preferences.
Policies for Users Under 18
Individuals under 18 years of age must receive approval from a parent or legal guardian in order to become a member of this website, receive free email, or participate in any of the sweepstakes or contests, or the community activities. In keeping with the requirements of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act restricting collection of data from children under 13, membership is not available for any child under thirteen years of age. StateVentures will not knowingly accept any Users under the age of thirteen.
NOTICE TO PARENTS OF USERS UNDER THE AGE OF 18:
When a user registers to become a member of this website, we ask the following information:
We also ask other information, such as occupation, which is optional. The information we ask your child is no more extensive than that we request of our other registrants.
The above information is gathered for the purposes described above under " Use of Member Information". Any questions or requests for additional information can be directed to Maryland.com, Privacy Guidelines, COPPA Contact Point, Mailing Address: P.O. Box 73153, Washington, DC 20056. Email Address: support@maryland.com
Parents and Legal Guardians should also carefully review the sections labeled Online Ordering, Cookies, Public Forums Access, Sweepstakes and Contests and Security.
Sharing of Information with Outside Sources
When a User opts to join a program offered by another party, we may share personally identifiable information with that party. StateVentures will attempt to limit disclosure of personal information to those parties whose programs the User has specifically requested to join and whose privacy policies prohibit the release of personal information to third parties.
Services and content from other parties are incorporated into StateVentures's web sites. In addition, partners create co-branded or private label sites with the look and feel of StateVentures's web sites, although these sites are not hosted by StateVentures. A user may move from a page hosted by StateVentures to a page hosted by a partner site without it being evident from the look of the page that the user has moved to a page hosted by a partner. StateVentures may not control the content or the information gathered by a partner on the sites, even though the partner has created a page with the look and feel of one of StateVentures's web sites. A user may be asked to provide personal user information while on a page hosted by one of StateVentures's partner. Any information a user provides in these cases may be used at the discretion of the partner.
There are instances where personal information that is entered is used by one of our content providers. In these cases, the content provider receives any information that you provide, and that information is subject to the privacy policy of that provider. In addition, some of our partners have similar relationships with their partners, and the privacy policy of a company that is not a direct partner of Maryland.com may govern the information you provide. An example of this process is signing up for the Real Time Quotes service offered through our partership with InfoSpace.com. Although the sign-up process is done while on a page with Maryland.com's look and feel, the information that is gathered goes to freerealtime.com, and is subject to the Privacy Policy of that organization.
Please be aware that once the information is provided to a third party, it becomes then subject to that party's privacy policy.
There are many links on Maryland.com to web pages hosted by our partners that maintain the look and feel of Maryland.com. These pages are governed by the partner's privacy policy. It may not always be evident when a user is on a page hosted by a partner. Therefore users of Maryland.com should familiarize themselves with the privacy policies of our partners. You should check the privacy policy of every Web site you visit to ensure that you are comfortable with the practices of that particular Web site. We frequently add or change companies with which we partner, so the list below may not be complete. A list of some of our partners with links to their privacy policies follows:
If at any time you are uncertain about whether or not your personal information will be provided to StateVentures or the content provider, please feel free to contact our Customer Service Department.
Disclosure of Personal Information
StateVentures may disclose personal information if required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to (a) conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process served on StateVentures; (b) protect and defend the rights or property of StateVentures, the site or the users of StateVentures, and (c) act under exigent circumstances to protect the personal safety of users of StateVentures, the site or the public.
StateVentures may also disclose personal information with the user's consent, whether by opt-in, opt-out or other form of consent. Various StateVentures services allow for information provided by users to be immediately posted in a public forum. Examples include chat rooms and message boards (see below), classifieds, Business Locator and other services. Users providing information to such services should be familiar with the service and its public nature, and realize that the privacy of such information cannot be protected.
Chat and Message Board Disclaimer
Information that you disclose about yourself in a public chat room, message board or other public forum will immediately become available to anyone who has access to those public areas. We cannot protect the privacy of information disclosed in these forums. While utilizing these areas, please restrict your disclosure of personal information to any information that you are willing to have available to the public.
Email Contact Form Disclaimer
The StateVentures web sites make extensive use of email forms to facilitate communication for users of the site with other users and with our staff. Email forms are used to enable email to be sent to businesses in the business directory, in the hotel guides and in the dining guides; to allow users to send messages to each other as part of the postcard service; to communicate with advertisers in the Classifieds section; to communicate with agents and agencies in the Homes for Sale section; and to contact authors, editors, sales and support staff of StateVentures. There may be additional uses of email forms not described above. The messages sent through email forms are stored in databases. These messages may be viewed by staff of StateVentures as they maintain, monitor, troubleshoot, or analyze use of the StateVentures websites. No message sent using email forms should be considered private. Only use email contact forms if you agree that your message may be viewed by StateVentures' staff.
Online Ordering
There are certain areas of this site in which it is possible to place online orders for the purchase of various products or services. To the extent we use outside companies for shipping, order fulfillment or billing, the information is made available to these companies.
Public Forums Access
StateVentures makes available on this site chat rooms, bulletin boards and other public forums for the exchange of information. It is important that the user be aware that any information disclosed by a user in a public forum becomes public information.
PARENTS OF CHILDREN UNDER 18 SHOULD BE AWARE that if your child is registered as a User of this site, he/she may participate in any of our public forums, and may have a personal email account. We encourage parents to carefully review the options available to your child on this site and to determine what is appropriate for your child.
Sweepstakes and Contests
Our site requests certain information for participation in sweepstakes and contests offered on our site. Much of this information is the same information as already required for registration as a user of this site. As participation in these activities is at the option of the user, it is therefore totally in the discretion of the User whether to provide any additional information in order to enter the sweepstakes or contest. Contact information such as name and address will be used to notify winners, and may be provided to the sponsors of the sweepstakes or contest, to the extent the sponsor is a company other than StateVentures.
Choice/Opt Out Option
In each situation in which information is requested for purposes not directly related to StateVentures's site, you will have the opportunity to "opt in" or "opt out" for purposes of having your information shared with others. If you do not want to receive a product or service from one of our sponsors, advertisers or branding partners, you will have the opportunity to keep your personal contact information off our lists. You will also have the ability to "unsubscribe" to any offering you previously requested, but which is no longer meeting your needs.
If you have any questions about your rights under this section, you can direct your inquiries to the contact person listed below under "Questions About this Privacy Statement".
Security
StateVentures takes the security of information very seriously. Information collected by StateVentures is stored in secure operating environments. This site has security measures in place such as user names, passwords, and backup systems, to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control.
Questions About Privacy Statement
If you should have any questions about StateVentures's Privacy Policy, or privacy concerns about your use of this website, please contact our Customer Service Department.
Notification of Changes
StateVentures reserves the right to change this Visitor Privacy Policy from time to time. If StateVentures changes this Visitor Privacy Policy with respect to the disclosure of your personally identifiable information, we will post an update of the Privacy Policy on this Web site. We welcome any questions or comments you have; please send them to our Customer Service Department.
Last Update: 8/12/02