Privacy Policy

The purpose of the BlogMaestro Privacy Policy is to assure our members that the security of their personal information is of paramount importance and that every effort has been taken to safeguard the input of their personal data. For your information the following explains how BlogMaestro processes such input and what procedures are in place to protect this important personal data.

PRIVACY POLICY COVERAGE
An explanation of how BlogMaestro handles personal information that is collected. This includes all information requested during registration, email subscriptions, newsletter bulletins and XML / RSS feeds. Personal information includes your name, address, email address, or phone number and that available publicly.

The privacy policy is not applicable to companies that are not owned or operated on behalf of BlogMaestro. External referrals or resources that may be referenced by BlogMaestro may have their own pre-existing privacy policies and it is recommended that those policies be reviewed before using third party sites.

THE COLLECTION OF INFORMATION AND ITS USE
BlogMaestro collects personally identifiable information from users who complete our registration form. The information that we collect is used to for billing and account management purposes only.

During account registration certain information from the user is required for completion of our order form. A user is required to provide contact information (such as name, email, and shipping address) and financial information (such as credit card number and expiration date). This information is used for billing purposes and to complete a customer’s order. If there is a problem in processing an order then this information is used to contact the user.

BlogMaestro does not collect or share personal information from the member’s blog XML RSS Feed. BlogMaestro acts only as a relay on behalf of the members and transmits the members blog web url address and the most recent blog posts web url address. BlogMaestro does not transmit identifiable personal information in a broadcast session.

SPECIAL OFFERS AND UPDATES
From time to time our members will receive information on products, services, or special deals that we believe may be of interest. However, should this not be required then members have the option to defer from these types of communications. Please see the Choice and Opt-out sections.

SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS
Although infrequent it may be necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. An example would be if our service is temporarily suspended due to a maintenance requirement. In such an instance we may send users an email. As this is for the benefit of all members, users may not opt-out of these communications, which are not promotional in nature.

CUSTOMER SERVICE
It is standard procedure to maintain contact with our users in order to provide requested services. With regard to issues relating to their account we respond via email as indicated by the user.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER
Though we make every effort to preserve user privacy, it may be obligatory to disclose personal information if required by law. This can arise if we have a good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with a current judicial proceeding, a court order or legal process to which we may be a party.

AGGREGATE INFORMATION (non-personally identifiable)
Please be aware that we do share aggregated demographic information with our partners and advertisers. This information includes: page views, unique visitors, browsers, and additional broad demographical data. However, this is not linked to any personally identifiable information.

THIRD PARTY ADVERTISERS
BlogMaestro may share Web site usage information about users with reputable third party advertisers for the purpose of targeting our advertisements. Please be advised that though we make every effort to accept only reputable advertisers, we cannot be held responsible for the Privacy Policies of any advertiser, promotional link, sponsor, or other third party. Please make sure to check the individual Privacy Policy of any third party site that you visit.

THIRD PARTY INTERMEDIARIES
We use an outside credit card processing company to bill users for services. As far as we are aware these companies do not retain, share, store or use personally identifiable information for any secondary purposes.

BUSINESS TRANSITIONS
In the event BlogMaestro goes through a business transition, such as a merger, being acquired by another company, or selling a portion of its assets, users’ personal information will, in most instances, be part of the assets transferred. Users will be notified of such a change via prominent notice on our Web site for 30 days prior to such a change. If as a result of the business transition, the users’ personally identifiable information is to be used in a manner different from that stated at the time of collection; then they will be given a choice consistent with our ‘notification of changes’ section.

CHOICE/OPT-OUT
Users who no longer wish to receive promotional communications may opt-out of receiving these communications by replying to support@blogmaestro.org with "unsubscribe" stated in the subject line of the email.

SECURITY
This Web site takes every precaution to protect our users’ information. When users submit sensitive information via the Web site, their information is protected both online and off-line.

Please be advised that when our registration/order form asks users to enter sensitive information (such as credit card number), that information is encrypted and is protected by highly efficient encryption software - SSL. While on a secure page, such as our order form, the lock icon on the bottom of Web browsers such as Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer becomes locked, as opposed to un-locked, or open, when users are just ‘surfing’.

While we use SSL encryption to protect sensitive information online, we also employ a very efficient in-house system to protect user-information off-line. All of our users’ information, not just the sensitive information mentioned above, is secured in our offices. Only employees who need the information to perform a specific job (for example, our financial department or a customer service representative) are granted access to personally identifiable information. Our employees are encouraged to use password-protected screen-savers when they leave their desk. Furthermore, ALL employees are kept up-to-date on our security and privacy practices. Our employees are instructed on the importance we place on privacy and what is required to ensure that our users’ information is totally protected. Finally, the servers that store personally identifiable information are in a secure environment, located within a locked cage, in a totally secure locked facility.

NOTICE OF CHANGE
If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes to this privacy statement, the homepage, and other places we deem appropriate so our users are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it. We will use information in accordance with the privacy policy under which the information was collected.

If users’ personally identifiable information is to be used in a manner different from that stated at the time of collection, we will notify users via email. Users will have a choice as to whether or not we may use their information in this different manner. However, if users have opted out of all communication with the site, or deleted/deactivated their account, then they will not be contacted, nor will their personal information be used in this new manner. In addition, if we make any material changes in our privacy practices that do not affect user information already stored in our database, we will post a prominent notice on our Web site notifying users of the change. In some cases where we post a notice we will also email users, who have opted to receive communications from us, notifying them of the changes in our privacy practices.