The gURL.com website is owned and operated by iVillage Inc. ("iVillage"). Your privacy is important to iVillage. This Privacy Policy outlines the types of personally identifiable information we gather while you are visiting the gURL.com site, as well as ways in which we process and disseminate such information. You are, of course, free to use much of the gURL.com site without providing any personally identifiable information to us.
Please note that we review our privacy practices from time to time, and that those practices (and this Privacy Policy) are, therefore, subject to change. We ask that you bookmark and periodically review this page to ensure continuing familiarity with the most current version of our Privacy Policy. At the top of this page, we will indicate the "Effective Date" of the most recent version of the Privacy Policy; this will allow you to determine whether the Privacy Policy has been revised since your previous visit to the gURL.com site. To learn more about personally identifiable information previously gathered through the gURL.com site, please see the section of this Privacy Policy entitled "Personal Information Gathered Under Previous Versions of This Privacy Policy." Please note that this Privacy Policy is also incorporated into gURL.com's Terms of Service. To contact iVillage about privacy issues related to the gURL.com site, to report a violation of this Privacy Policy or to raise any other issue, please e-mail us at feedback@mail.iVillage.com.
Please note that other websites controlled, owned or operated by iVillage or its affiliates -- websites such as iVillage.com and astrology.com, among others -- may be governed by a different privacy policy; please see the privacy policy linked to from the home page of any such site for more information.
THE INFORMATION WE GATHER
We gather two types of information about users via the gURL.com site:
(1) Non-personally identifiable information: When visitors come to gURL.com, and at times after leaving the gURL.com site to visit a gURL.com co-branded site, we collect and aggregate information indicating, among other things, which pages of the website were visited, the order in which they were visited and which hyperlinks were "clicked." Collecting such information involves the logging of the IP addresses, operating system and browser software used by each gURL.com visitor. Although such information is not personally identifiable on its own, we can determine from an IP address information such as a visitor's Internet service provider and the geographic location of his or her point of connectivity, and, as noted below under "How We Use (and Do Not Use) the Information We Gather", we may match such non-personally identifiable information to your personally identifiable information to improve your experience on our site. Any such use will be subject to this Privacy Policy.
We also use "cookies" - that is, small text files placed on a user's computer hard drive - to help us determine, among other things, the type of content and sites to which a gURL.com visitor links, the length of time each visitor spends at any particular area of the gURL.com site and the services a gURL.com visitor chooses to use. Cookies also tell us what advertisements a visitor has seen on a site. Essentially, a cookie can serve as a visitor's "identification card" for the computer or server that placed such cookie on the visitor's hard drive. Cookies are only read by the computers or servers that placed them, and are unable to execute any code or virus. Cookies allow iVillage to serve you better and more efficiently, and to personalize your experience on the gURL.com site.
In addition to cookies, iVillage may use "pixel tags" (electronic images also known as "web beacons" or "single-pixel GIFS") or similar technological tools to monitor visitor or subscriber activity on the gURL.com site, on a gURL.com co-branded site, or in promotional e-mail messages or newsletters. These tools are typically used to collect non-personally identifiable information; any personally identifiable information that may be gathered by iVillage via the gURL.com site or a gURL.com co-branded site using such tools will be subject to this Privacy Policy.
If you use a standard web browser, you should be able to modify your browser preference to provide you with choices relating to cookies; for example, you should have the choice to accept all cookies, to be notified when a cookie is set or to reject all cookies. If you choose to reject cookies, you may be unable to use certain gURL.com services (e.g., those services that require you to log on to the gURL.com site in order to participate). (We note that "pixel tags" typically rely on cookies, so choosing to reject cookies (as discussed above) may also limit the tracking abilities of such technology.
For more information on modifying your browser preference, please refer to the documentation accompanying your browser. To learn more about some of the types of technological monitoring tools used by gURL.com, click here.
We note that our sponsors and advertisers may be using cookies and other technological tools to monitor visitor activity. Please see the section of this Privacy Policy entitled "Advertising Companies" to learn about the information gathering practices of third-party advertising companies.
(2) Personally identifiable information: In certain areas of the gURL.com site - for example, when you register to become a member or request a newsletter - we may require that you provide us with personally identifiable information (such as your name, e-mail address and birth date). Additionally, iVillage affiliates or third parties (such as our gURL.com advertisers and e-commerce partners) may provide iVillage with personally identifiable information about you, which was not collected on the gURL.com site, and we may add such data to your membership information. gURL.com may also combine information you submit in connection with certain features of the gURL.com site (such as newsletters, polls or contests) with membership information you provided.
Please note that iVillage does not control the acts of gURL.com members or visitors. You should be aware that when you disclose personally identifiable information in a "shout out" board or other online forum or social networking feature on the gURL.com site, the information may become public and accessible to all or a part of the gURL.com community, so it is important for you to exercise discretion and appropriate caution when deciding to reveal personal information in these areas. For example, your e-mail address may be available to other gURL.com members, who may send unsolicited e-mail to you. In the event that you encounter any gURL.com user who you believe is improperly collecting or using information about you or other users, please contact feedback@mail.iVillage.com.
Opt-In/Opt-Out Policy: When you become a gURL.com member or otherwise supply iVillage with personally identifiable information in connection with the gURL.com site, or from time-to-time in iVillage's discretion, you may be asked to indicate whether you are interested in receiving information from us about special offers in connection with the gURL.com site, iVillage and/or our advertisers and partners. You will also be provided with the opportunity to opt-in to receiving offers directly from our third-party advertisers or partners. If you do choose to opt-in, you will receive such communications in accordance with your "opt-in" consent. You may, of course, choose not to receive offers or other communications from us or our third-party advertisers or partners as follows:
Upon becoming a gURL.com member, you can choose to receive no communications from us. Please be aware, however, that, even under this option, you may still receive an initial member welcome message, as well as communications as appropriate to inform you of changes to the gURL.com site, this Privacy Policy or other matters described below under "Administrative Matters".
At any time, you can follow a link provided in every newsletter or email message (except for e-commerce confirmations and other administrative emails) to unsubscribe from that particular mailing list or email service.
At any time, you can contact us through feedback@mail.iVillage.com to have your contact preference changed to "Do Not Contact Me".
At any time, you can contact us through feedback@mail.iVillage.com to opt out of having your personally identifiable information shared with our Affiliates for their direct marketing purposes.
If you decide to contact us to change your contact preference to "Do Not Contact Me", iVillage will implement this change to your gURL.com profile within ten (10) business days of your request. Please be aware that your requested change will not be effective until iVillage implements such change and that such requests will be implemented only in connection with your gURL.com profile, and will not impact any preferences you may have made to any other site controlled, owned or operated by iVillage or its affiliates. In addition, please keep in mind that even if you opt-out from receiving communications from gURL.com, residual information about you will remain within iVillage databases, access logs and other records, which may or may not contain such personally identifiable information. The residual information will not be used for commercial purposes; however, iVillage reserves the right, from time to time, to recontact former customers or users of gURL.com for administrative purposes, as discussed below under "Administrative Matters", or in order to comply with applicable law, as discussed below under "Compliance With Applicable Law".
If you opt-in to the disclosure of your personally identifiable information to third parties, and you subsequently decide that you would like to discontinue receiving offers and other promotional materials from such third parties, you may need to contact those third parties directly in order to opt-out of further communications.
Please note that iVillage reserves the right to change its opt-in/opt-out practices by modifying or updating this Privacy Policy as set forth above.
Targeted Advertising: iVillage sometimes uses individual data collected via gURL.com to "target" advertising - to decide which advertisements and sponsor messages to show to which members. As an example, if Sponsor Co. wishes to display its advertising only to gURL.com members aged 16, iVillage uses member registration data to ensure that Sponsor Co.'s ads are displayed only to such members.
Transactions With E-Commerce Partners, Vendors and Advertisers: When you provide personally identifiable financial information and other personally identifiable information to one of our gURL.com e-commerce partners, vendors or advertisers, this transaction will occur in connection with the site of the e-commerce partner, vendor or advertiser, not on the gURL.com site, and, as such, the financial and other personally identifiable information you provide is collected pursuant to and controlled by the privacy policy of such e-commerce partner, vendor or advertiser. iVillage is not responsible for such parties' privacy policies and we encourage you to familiarize yourself with the applicable privacy policy of the e-commerce site with which you transact business or to contact the operator of such site for more information.
Please be aware that at times, at the request of or on behalf of our gURL.com e-commerce partners, vendors or advertisers, iVillage may "pre-populate" forms with your personally identifiable data for your review, and, if you so choose, for submission to such gURL.com e-commerce partners, vendors or advertisers; at other times, forms are pre-populated with your personally identifiable information in order to facilitate a transaction between you and iVillage with no such personally identifiable information being transmitted to iVillage partners, vendors or advertisers upon submission of such form. Accordingly, we encourage you to review each pre-populated form carefully before agreeing to submit your information to determine who is seeking to collect your information, and to familiarize yourself with the applicable privacy policy governing use of any personally identifiable information collected about you.
Credit Card Companies and Other Vendors: We may provide to credit card companies and other vendors all personally identifiable information necessary to process and complete your online purchases and other transactions.
iVillage Employees, Contractors and Agents: iVillage may employ other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf, such as processing of payments, operating features of the gURL.com site, or hosting or maintaining our servers. These other companies may have access to your personal information as necessary to carry out their functions, but they are not permitted to share that information with any third party absent your consent.
Contests, Promotions or Sweepstakes: If and when iVillage sponsors contests, promotions or sweepstakes, or third parties sponsor contests, promotions or sweepstakes in conjunction with the gURL.com site, either iVillage or the third party will post relevant privacy information in the official rules and/or registration area for the contest, promotion or sweepstakes. That privacy information, to the extent it conflicts with this Privacy Policy, will govern that particular contest, promotion or sweepstakes.
Surveys and Polls: Our surveys and polls ask for your opinions on various issues, and very often these surveys and polls are sponsored by or associated with iVillage advertisers and partners. Occasionally, we may request demographic information (like zip code, age or gender). Most information obtained through surveys and polls is aggregated and used internally or shared with advertisers and partners only in the aggregated form. In the event iVillage seeks your opinion in a survey or poll conducted by iVillage without any association with or sponsorship by a third party, and we request personally identifiable information about you as part of such survey or poll, the use of your personally identifiable information will be governed by this Privacy Policy. In the event a poll or survey is sponsored by or associated with an iVillage advertiser or partner, such advertiser or partner may seek to collect and use your information. Please review each poll and survey carefully before submitting your information to determine whether you are submitting your information to iVillage or to an iVillage partner or advertiser. In the event that you are submitting your information to an iVillage partner or advertiser, the use of your information will not be governed by this Privacy Policy. In any event, iVillage reserves the right to add your survey answers to your member portrait (so that we can provide you with content, ads and offers that we feel will be of greatest interest to you).
"Email This to a Friend": The gURL.com site allows you to forward certain items posted on gURL.com or links to other gURL.com features by email or Instant Messenger to other parties who you believe may be interested. While, due to technical restrictions, the recipient's email address or Instant Messenger screen names may be retained in our log files, we do not knowingly share it with third parties (unless the recipient has already consented to such use of her personally identifiable information).
Shout Out Boards, Public Forums and Other Interactive Features: Because iVillage reserves the right to use content created or provided by you in connection with our shout out boards, public forums and other interactive features, to the extent that you include personally identifiable information in such content, iVillage may republish such personally identifiable information, as part of the content, in connection with the gURL.com site and promotion thereof. If we republish your content, we may provide authorship credit by listing your member name as well.
Compliance With Applicable Law. iVillage may also access and disclose personally identifiable information in the event that we believe, in iVillage's discretion, that such action is reasonably necessary to comply with government requests; to enforce the Terms of Service or other published guidelines; to protect iVillage, its users or others; to respond to circumstances that we feel constitute an emergency; or as otherwise required or permitted by applicable law. Please be aware that, in connection with the foregoing, iVillage may provide information about you gathered through other sites controlled, owned or operated by iVillage or iVillage affiliates to the extent permitted under the applicable privacy policy governing collection and use of such information.
Business Transfers. We may sell or transfer assets or portions of our business as we continue to improve our product and service offerings. In such transactions, user or visitor information (whether non-personally identifiable or personally identifiable) may constitute one of the transferred business assets.
POLICY REGARDING HEALTH-RELATED PERSONAL INFORMATION
iVillage allows you to submit health-related information in certain areas of its gURL.com site. Such information (to the extent it includes personally identifiable information) will be treated like all other non-health-related personally identifiable information under this Privacy Policy, and is subject to the opt in/opt out provisions described in the section above titled "How We Use (and Do Not Use) the Information We Gather".
Please remember that security of the username and password you create when you register with the gURL.com site, is your responsibility; we recommend that you do not share them with anyone. If you share your username and password, you are providing access to your personal information. You will be responsible for all uses of your registration, whether or not authorized by you. You agree to immediately notify iVillage of any unauthorized use of your username or password.
SOLE AUTHORIZED STATEMENT
This Privacy Policy is the sole authorized statement of iVillage's practices with respect to the online collection of personally identifiable information via the gURL.com site and the usage of such collected information. Any summaries of this Privacy Policy generated by third-party software or otherwise (for example, in connection with the "Platform for Privacy Preferences" or "P3P") will have no legal effect, are in no way binding upon iVillage, will not be relied upon in substitute for this Privacy Policy, and neither supersede nor modify this Privacy Policy.
OFFLINE VS. ONLINE PRACTICES
Please note that this Privacy Policy applies solely to our online information gathering and dissemination practices in connection with the gURL.com site, and does not apply to any of our practices conducted offline, with the following exception: In the event iVillage merges information collected about you through offline means with data about you that is collected online and is stored in our databases, the use of the merged data will be subject to this Privacy Policy.
VISITORS FROM OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES
iVillage and its gURL.com-related servers are located in the United States. Any information you provide in registering with the gURL.com site will be transferred to the United States. By visiting gURL.com, you authorize this processing and use.
FORMER OWNER
We note that the gURL.com site was previously owned by Primedia, Inc. We are not responsible for compliance with privacy or other obligations that you believe Primedia or any other former owners may have to you.
