Privacy Statement
© ConnectionCafes, Inc. 2003-2005
This policy was revised as of
ConnectionCafes, Inc
("we", "us") is committed to your privacy and protecting the
personal information you provide to us in order to enjoy the benefits of being
a member of ConnectionCafes.
This policy only applies to
communications, postings, transactions and activities you engage in while
online at www.ConnectionCafes.com (“the Site”), and not to any offline contact
you may have with or at other members, participating cafes, or events held
offline by third-parties (cafes, affiliates).
The terms contained in are
applicable in their entirety whenever you visit or post to or engage in any
available activities online at ConnectionCafes.com ("the site") If
these policies change subsequent to your posting a profile on the Site, it will
indicate so upon your logging on the first time the new Privacy Statement is in
effect, and additionally you will be informed via the email you provided us
with of the change of terms of the Privacy Statement.
You will be given the option to
accept the new changes or cancel your membership and remove your profile from
our database.
Your Email Address and personal
information
ConnectionCafes.com does not
provide or make accessible our members email addresses, real names or
addresses, or financial information to anyone else, including third-parties or
participating cafes (except as detailed in Special Conditions where We Share
Information with Third Parties) and under no condition shares any of this
personal information (except the user name and profile information you provide ConnectionCafes.,com) with or to other members/ All
communications you receive as a result of your online transactions and
activities at ConnectionCafes.com come directly from ConnectionCafes.com and no
other entity.
How We Use Information Provided by
Our Members
In order to provide members with
information with which to interest other members, we collect personal
information, which we make public via online profiles on the Site and in the
printed Matchbooks.
This includes but is not limited
to their user name of your choice (as long as it is not already taken), city,
state, age, essay answers, physical, education, and occupation particulars and
other questionnaire information.
In addition, we collect
information which is considered "private" and will never be shared
with or sold to other members or third-parties (except as detailed in Special
Conditions where We Share Information with Third Parties) Private information
includes the member's real name, birth date, e-mail address, street address,
and any billing/payment information.
Note that though we discourage and
take measures to prevent users from placing private information in
"public" areas, which include The Forum and any/all essay questions,
it is possible for people to do so.
Please inform us if you come
across private information in essay answers or The Forum using the Report
Profile/Message feature.
Personal Information between members
When you accept/send mailbox or
instant messages, post information to public sections such as the Bulletin
Board of The Classifieds, or meet another member offline it is up to you to
decide when and if to share any information about yourself.
Use your own discretion and normal
precautions before sharing information, in any event ConnectionCafes is not
responsible for any information you share or view on site or
"offline" and is not responsible for your actions or those of any
other member as per terms of service agreement.
If you do post your private
information in public areas (The Forum or Essays) it becomes Public Information
and we are not responsible for any consequences of such postings.
Information/Content in Messages
between Members (Public and Private)
Text
By default, mailbox and/or chat
communication between users and posting to public forums (Bulletin Board,
Classifieds) prevents transmission of email and to a limited extend physical
addresses and phone #s, as well as language of an obscene, inflammatory or
sexual nature so as to prevent unwanted spam/solicitations and content from
other members. This Word Filter can be turned off
for any member you wish to receive unrestricted private text content from.
In either case as per the Terms of Service ConnectionCafes
is not responsible for any content you send or receive and by posting a profile
you assume all responsibility and liability for any content that is received by
your account or that you read while on site in either your or any other users
private mailbox/chat/instant messages or the Bulletin Boards or Classified
Sections. And you release and discharged ConnectionCafes and it’s officers and
owners of any and all liability which may arise from your use of the site.
Video/Audio
Members can record video/audio with both Mailbox and Instant
Messages they send other Members. This video/audio content is not reviewed or censored by ConnectionCafes.
However, members will be alerted when they are being sent audio/video content
and given the option to receive it or not.
As with all content you receive from other members you are bound by the
Terms of Service agreement and agree that ConnectionCafes is not responsible
for any content you receive, that you assume all responsibility and liability
for receiving and viewing such content, and you release and discharged
ConnectionCafes and it’s officers and owners of any and all liability which may
arise from your use of the site.
Reporting Abuse
If you receive mailbox or instant text/video/audio messages
or read a Bulletin Board post you feel violates the Terms of Service Agreement
Content Guidelines, you may report the message using the Report Message Button
included with each message/chat. Doing so will;
1.
Block the other member from further contact with you until/unless you
remove the Block from the > Blocked list on the Find Members Page while
logged into your account.
2.
File a Report Message/Chat with ConnectionCafes. As per the Terms of
Service Agreement frivolous or malicious use of the Report System may result in
the suspension or termination of a users profile/membership, please use it with
care and fairness in mind.
3.
In the general course of operations, all of
the private correspondence between members including mailbox messages and
instant messages, whether text, video or audio content remains private between
users and only mailbox messages (text/video/audio) are saved for the
sending/receiving users exclusive access. Instant
Message conversations are not saved once the conversation has been closed by
both users.
However, In the
event a Message is reported the content of that message/chat will be saved and available
for review by ConnectionCafes Administration to assess whether it in fact
violates the Content Guidelines (see Terms of Service).
4.
Following the review the reported member may
or may not have his/her profile suspended and/or terminated.
As per the Terms of Service Agreement frivolous or malicious
use of the Report System may result in the suspension or termination of a users
profile/membership, please use it with care and fairness in mind.
Special Cases in which we Share
Personal Information
In order to provide services to
you and operate our site, we may need to share some of your information with
various third-party vendors, including Financial Transactions, Identity
Verification, and Participating Cafes.
In all cases, we share only that
information deemed absolutely necessary by ConnectionCafes and the respective
third parties to provide those services.
When available, we will provide
links to the Privacy Statements of each third party which you may be subject to
through use of our site.
Participating Cafes and Restaurants:
1.
In order to provide our member and visitors
information about cafes which have elected host ConnectionCafe dates and/or
display our printed Matchbooks, we give the cafes/restaurants the option to
have their own dedicated "Café Page" where users can view more
detailed information, including descriptions, menus, and upcoming events, and
if they have their own dedicated web-site, a link to that URL.
If and once you click the provided link and visit the home page of any
participating café or affiliate, you are subject to their own privacy policies,
which may or may not be as protective or respective of your privacy of ours,
and we accept no responsibility for any information they may or may not collect
from you when you visit their site.
2.
When providing cafes with a schedule of your
upcoming date so they are able to introduce you to the other member you have a
date with, we will provide the café with the first name of both members and the
primary picture each member provides so that the staff at the cafe may
introduce dates to one another.
No additional information will be provided to the café, including phone #s,
emails, last name, etc.
Members may set/modify the name they are introduced with while logged into
their account on the site from the My Settings Page > ConnectionCafe Date
Intro Name.
Members may opt to not have their pictures included in the date information
sent to ConnectionCafes while logged into their account on the site from the My
Settings Page > Privacy: Hide Date Intro Pics.
Other Members
As previously described, email
date requests and negotiations between users is "blind", that is all
emails originate from ConnectionCafes.com and the recipient, with no record of
the other member's email address, other than, potentially, the other members
user name at ConnectionCafes.com.
Though a link is provided to take the recipient to the other user's profile
back at ConnectionCafes.com, the email is "dead" and may not be
responded to, and contains no additional information other than the customized
form content (notification of request/decline/reschedule/etc. with link
back to ConnectionCafes.com)
However, when a date is
successfully scheduled, the confirmation email to both members will include the
other member's first name as set by both users during both their Request a Date
Process and from their respective My Settings Page > ConnectionCafe Dates:
Date Intro Name.
This is to enable you to identify yourself to the staff at the
ConnectionCafes who will have a record of your date ("Hi, I'm Sally, I'm here to meet
Harry") so they may in turn introduce you to your date and so, in the
event the café personnel are unable or unwilling to introduce you, you may introduce
yourself.
This is the only email and situation under which your personal information is
shared with another member and is limited to the first name you provide/modify
in My Settings > ConnectionCafes Dates > First Name.
Financial Transactions
When you engage in a financial transaction
at ConnectionCafes.com, you consent to our sharing your provided financial
information deemed necessary by our third-party providers to complete, verify
and process your transaction.
All or some of our financial
transaction providers may process and store such transactions on their own
sites and servers (e.g.2Checkout.com) and you are subject to their own Privacy
Policies when providing information to them to complete a financial transaction
with ConnectionCafes.com.
ConnectionCafes stores only your
name and address information, not your credit-card information since we utilize
third parties to process your credit-card.
ConnectionCafes utilizes the
service of third-parties to process these authorizations, which includes the
credit-card issuer of your credit-card, your banking institution if you provide
checking account data or payment, and any third parties deemed necessary by
ConnectionCafes and our transaction fulfillment providers to process and
complete the authorization, not limited to 2Checkout.com and their own merchant
account financial institution.
All or some of our financial
transaction providers may process and store such authorizations on their own
sites and servers (e.g.PayPal) and you are subject to
their own Privacy Policies when providing information to them to complete a
financial transaction with ConnectionCafes.com.
Report Abuse
All of the private correspondence
between members including mailbox messages and instant messages, whether text, video
or audio content remains private. Only
Mailbox messages are saved to our server.
However in the event a Mailbox
Message or Instant Message is reported b the receiving member using the Report
Chat/Message button, the content of that message/chat will be saved and
reviewed by ConnectionCafes Administration to assess whether it in fact
violates the Content Guidelines (see Terms of Service). Following the review
the reported member may or may not have his/her profile suspended and/or
terminated.
Law Enforcement
In the event we receive credible information
from other member of illegal conduct, or conduct that threatens the safety of
other members, or attempts at credit-card fraud, or to comply with requests or
demands from legal authorities, we may disclose any and all personal financial
information deemed appropriate a that time.
Demographics (Aggregate Data)
We may compile demographic data of
our members, to attract other members, to improve our service and offerings to
you, or to form relationships with additional cafes or other affiliates who may
provide services of interest to you.
Any such data we share will be
aggregate data, which can be a composite of any data we collect (e.
g age/gender/education/salary)
from all or a subset of members, but will never include your personal information.
In other words, we may tell a
potential affiliate that our members average age is 32, and 20% of our members
earn over $50,000 annually, but we will never tell a potential affiliate your particular
information or which if any demographic groups you belong to.
Updating Your Information
You may modify the information you
provided to ConnectionCafes.com while logged on to the site from My Settings
> MyProfile > Edit.
It may take as long as 24 hours
for your information to be updated online for other viewers to see.
Changes to your picture may take
as long as 72 hours for approval and display.
Please note that if your profile
has already been printed in any Matchbooks at your request, if you wish to have
your updated information printed you will need to request to be printed at the
prevailing per print cost again.
Please note you may not change
your username, if you wish a new username/profile you may post a new free one.
Advanced Privacy Controls
ConnectionCafes includes Privacy
Controls accessible from the My Settings Page when logged onto your account at
the site to give you advanced controls over what type of information which
types of members and visitors to the site can see.
Blocking other Members from Contacting You
In addition to being able to block
any other member, you can set up a 'Global Block'. So if you don’t want to be
contacted by people above a certain age, outside of a certain zip code, or any
other search criteria won't be. You can also Unblock any member who is part of
a Block Setting on a case by case basis as well
Hiding your Profile
You can hide your profile from
everyone, you can also hide it just from visitors to the site who are not
ConnectionCafes Members, and/or from Members who do not meet any of your Saved
Match Criteria, and even from all members but those who you designated as part
of your “Favorites” list.
Hiding Your Pic
You can have your profile visible
to selected members and types of members as specified above, and still hide the
pictures associated with your account in the same manner as described above
(Members Only, Matches Only, Favorites Only).
Members who do not have permission to see your pics can make a request
to see them and you can decide on a case by case basis which members get
permission to see them.
Cookies
In order to provide a secure
experience, ConnectionCafes does not write to or access cookies from your PC.
ISPs
ConnectionCafes logs IP addresses,
tracks your visit patterns at our Site, and the web page you visited our site
from.
We do not share this data, it is
used to continually improve our service to you and trouble-shoot any problems
you may have with the site.
In addition, we take measures to
insure to prevent hackers from accessing your membership or membership data,
including;
1.
encrypting all passwords so they are unrecoverable.
If you lose your password, a new one will be sent to the email address
associated with your account upon your request (“Forgot Log in Information?” on
the Log In Panel).
2.
Not storing any information realted
to your profile as(or in) cookies.
Information from Minors:
We require that all users are over
18 years of age and will not accept profiles from users whose are not at least
18 years of age when posting their profile with ConnectionCafes.com.
Additionally, we require all
postings on The Forum to be made by people over 18 years of age, and user to
affirm they are over 18 with each and every posting email confirmation they
receive.
Controlling Email Communications
from ConnectionCafes.com ("Opting-out")
ConnectionCafes sends out several
categories of email communications to you and any or all of these may be
"turned off", i.e. you can
opt-out of receiving any or all categories of email communication (except for
billing error communications) Opting-out of any category of communication is
effective for any future communication of that category only; any emails
generated or in the process of being generated prior to your opting-out and any
future emails of any category you have not opted-out of as described below will
still be sent to you. Opt-out settings
can be found on you’re My Settings Page > Email Notifications while logged
into your account at the site. A partial
list of the various email notification categories are listed below;
Notifications of date requests and responses from other
members
These are customized form letters
with no additional content sent from ConnectionCafes and contain none of their
personal information or contact information (other than possibly their
ConnectionCafes user name). You may click the link in these emails to log onto
the Site and respond to the other user's request if you wish. Likewise, your
requests or responses to the other users are sent as customized form letters
from ConnectionCafes and contain no personal or contact information for or from
you and no way for the other user to respond. You may also opt-out of being
notified from My Settings > Email Notification > Date Requests at any
time. You can always check the status of new date requests you have sent/made
from My Dates Page while logged into your account at the site.
New Matchbooks
By default all members are notified
when new Matchbooks meeting their own gender-seeking-gender (e.g. Men Seeking
Women) category are delivered to a participating ConnectionCafe within 75 miles
of their own zip code. You may click the
link in these emails to visit the Café’s dedicated page with more information,
upcoming events, etc. You may also opt-out of being notified from My Settings
> Email Notification > New Matchbooks at any time.
New Cafes
By default all members are
notified when new Cafes sign up as
ConnectionCafe affiliates within 75 miles of their own zip code. You may click the link in these emails to
visit the Café’s dedicated page with more information, upcoming events, etc.
You may also opt-out of being notified from My Settings > Email Notification
> New Cafes at any time. You can always check the Find Cafes page and select
your city to see if there are new cafes as well.
Advanced Opt-Out Cateogries:
Some email notification categories
allow you to opt-out and/or control from which members or types of members you
will receive ConnectionCafes Email Notifications from, including but not
limited to the categories below;
Mailbox Messages
Members have private mailboxes
which can be read/accessed while logged into their account at the site. When one member sends a mailbox message to
another member he/she has no access to or indication of the other members
actual email address only the user name associated with their account. By default, an email will be sent from
ConnectionCafes to the email address associated with the receiving members
account. Members can opt-out of receiving messages from All Members, or just
members that are not added to their Favorites List, and/or do not match any of
their Search Preferences.
Event Invitations
Participating Cafes and
ConnectionCafes Members may elect to
post events on the Site, and may additionally elect to have local members
notified of this event via email. In all
cases an automatically generated email will be sent out from ConnectionCafes
with a link to the invitation/event back at the site. Your email address is not provided to or
shared with the participating café or member, it is sent directly from
ConnectionCafes.com to the email address you provided. You can opt-out of receiving invitation from
All Members, just members that are not added to your Favorites List, and/or do
not match any of you Search Preferences, and/or all ConnectionCafes.
Contacting ConnectionCafe.
If you have any questions about
this privacy statement or the practices of this site please use the Contact Us
form online at www.ConnectionCafes.com