document: title: privacy policy
text: This privacy statement ("Privacy Policy") covers all the websites and services owned, affiliated or operated by Sugar Publishing, Inc. (collectively "Sugar Publishing", "we", "us", "our"). Sugar Publishing knows that you care about how your personal information is used and shared, and we take your privacy seriously. Please read the following to learn more about our privacy policy. By visiting the Sugar Publishing websites, submitting information or using any of our products or services, you acknowledge that you accept the practices and policies outlined in this Privacy Policy, and consent to having your data transferred to and processed in the United States.

What Does This Privacy Policy Cover? This Privacy Policy covers Sugar Publishing’s treatment of personal information that Sugar Publishing gathers when you are on the Sugar Publishing websites and when you use Sugar Publishing services. Also, this Privacy Policy covers Sugar Publishing’s treatment of any personal information that Sugar Publishing’s business partners share with Sugar Publishing. This policy does not apply to the practices of third parties that Sugar Publishing does not own or control, or to individuals that Sugar Publishing does not employ or manage.

What Personal Information About Users Does Sugar Publishing Collect? Our primary goal in collecting personal information is to personalize and improve our service. We collect the following types of information from our users:

  * Information You Provide to Us:

    * We may receive and store any information you enter on our websites or provide to us in any other way, such as your name, email address, and other information you provide. You can choose not to provide us with certain information, but then you may not be able to take advantage of many of our special features, such as posting comments to our websites, creating a user profile or receiving email alerts. The personal information you provide is used for such purposes as responding to your requests for certain products and services customizing the advertising content you see and communicating with you.

    * Registration: In order for you to use certain parts of our websites or take advantage of certain Sugar Publishing’s services, you may be required to complete a registration form and provide the requested information about you.

    * When you use our websites, you may, among other things, set up your profile, form relationships, send messages, perform searches and queries, create StyleBooks, comment and transmit information through various channels. In most cases, we retain your information so that you can return to view saved lists or sent messages. When you update your information, we usually keep a back-up copy of the prior version. We collect this information in order to provide you our services and offer you a more personalized and relevant experience on our websites.

    * You post information at your own risk. Although we allow you to set privacy options that limit access to your pages, please be aware that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable. We cannot control the actions of other users with whom you may choose to share your pages and information. Therefore, we cannot and do not guarantee that information you post on the website will not be viewed by unauthorized persons. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the website. You understand and acknowledge that, even after removal, copies of your information may remain viewable in cached and archived pages or if other users have copied or stored your information.

    * Email Alerts: In order to receive an email alert every time a new story is posted on one of our websites, you are required to submit your email address.

  * Automatic Information:

    * We may receive and store certain types of information whenever you interact with us. Sugar Publishing may automatically receive and record certain "traffic data" on our server logs from your browser including your IP address, Sugar Publishing cookie information, the page you requested, and your communications and interaction with our other website registrants. Sugar Publishing uses this traffic data to, among other things, help diagnose problems with its server, analyze trends and administer our websites.

    * Generally, our service may automatically collect usage information, such as the numbers and frequency of visitors to our websites and its components. This data is only used in the aggregate, that is, as a statistical measure, and not in a manner that would identify you personally. This type of collective data enables us to figure out how often users use parts of our websites, so we can make our websites appealing to as many users as possible. In addition, we may provide statistical information to our partners about how our users, collectively, use our websites. We share this type of statistical data so that our partners also understand how often people use their areas and our websites, so that they, too, may provide you with an optimal Web experience. We also collect and use information for internal purposes. For example, if you are a registered user of the Sugar Publishing email and/or subscription based services, we may keep records in your account history of your complaints about other registered users online behavior, and any reported violation of our Terms of Use that you or someone on your account may have committed.

    * Many companies offer programs that help you to visit websites anonymously. While Sugar Publishing will not be able to provide you with a personalized experience if we cannot recognize you, we want you to be aware that these programs are available.

  * Email Communications:

    * We may receive a confirmation when you open an email from Sugar Publishing if your computer supports this type of program, in order to help us make emails more interesting and helpful. We may also send out emails with news or promotions. If you do not want to receive email or other mail from us, please notify us by email at help@onsugar.com and include sufficient information for us to identify your account.

  * Information from Other Sources:

For purposes such as improving personalization of our service, we may receive information about you from other sources and add it to our account information. For our ShopStyle brand services, this may include details of the purchases (and any associated returns) you make at retailers where you were referred by us (excluding any credit card information).




What about Cookies?

  * Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that we may transfer to your computer’s hard drive through your Web browser to enable our systems to recognize your browser and tell us how and when pages in our website are visited and by how many people. Sugar Publishing cookies do not collect personal information, and we do not combine information collected through cookies with other personal information to tell us who you are or what your screen name or email address is.

  * The "help" portion of the toolbar on the majority of browsers will direct you on how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to command the browser to tell you when you receive a new cookie, or how to fully disable cookies. We strongly recommend that you leave the cookies activated, however, because cookies enable you to take advantage of some of Sugar Publishing’s most attractive features.

  * Some of our business partners may use cookies on our websites (for example, advertisers). These cookies allow the server to recognize your computer, for example, each time they send you an online advertisement to compile information about you or others who use your computer. This information allows advertising networks to, among other things, deliver targeted advertisements. However, we have no access to or control over these cookies and this Privacy Policy does not cover the use of cookies by our business partners or advertisers.

  * Third Party cookies: We use third-party advertising companies such as TACODA to serve ads when you visit our Web site. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.




Will Sugar Publishing Share Any of the Information it Receives?

We neither rent nor sell your personal information to anyone. We share your personal information only as provided herein or with your consent, to the entities that are controlled by Sugar Publishing or to the entities described below:

  * Affiliated Business We Do Not Control: We are affiliated with a variety of businesses and work closely with them. In connection with our ShopStyle brand, under certain circumstances these businesses operate within our websites or sell items to you within our services; in other situations, we provide services or sell products jointly with affiliated businesses and other business partners. You can easily recognize when an affiliated business is associated with your transaction. We will only share personal information that is related to such transactions or is necessary for the affiliate or business partner to complete the transaction.

  * Agents: We employ other companies and people to perform tasks on our behalf and need to share your information with them to provide products or services to you. Examples include sending postal mail and e-mail, removing repetitive information from customer lists, analyzing data, providing marketing assistance, and providing customer service. We may also provide your personal information to agents who will use it to verify aggregate usage data that we provide to our partners. You hereby consent to our sharing of your personal information for all the above purposes.

  * Promotional Offers: We may send offers to certain users on behalf of other businesses. However, when we do so, we do not give the other business your name and address. If you do not wish to receive these offers, please notify us by e-mail at help@onsugar.com

  * Business Transfers: In some cases, we may choose to buy or sell assets or business. In these types of transactions, customer information is typically one of the business assets that is transferred. Moreover, if Sugar Publishing, or substantially all of its assets, were acquired, customer information would be one of the assets that is transferred or acquired by a third party.

  * Protection of Sugar Publishing and Others: We may release personal information when we believe in good faith that release is necessary to comply with that law; enforce or apply our Terms of Use and other agreements; or protect the rights, property, or safety of Sugar Publishing, our employees, our users, or others. This includes, without limitation, exchanging information with other companies and organizations for fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

  * Blogs: The information you provide us in connection with your user profile or any content you post to the Website, may be used to facilitate and provide your requested services within the Website and/or your request for our services through other websites. Any personal information or content that you voluntarily disclose online (on discussion boards, in blogs, comments, messages and chat areas, within your public profile page, etc.) becomes publicly available and can be collected and used by others. Your display name may be displayed to other users when you upload text, images or videos, leave comments or send messages through the Website and other users can contact you through messages and comments. Any images, captions, physical descriptions, personal interests or other content that you submit to the Websites may be redistributed through the Internet and other media channels, and may be viewed by the general public.

  * Communication About the Website or in Response to Your Requests: As part of the Website and our services, you will receive email and other communication relating to your use of the Website or your user account. You acknowledge and agree that by posting information on the Website or otherwise using the Website, we and our agents may send you email, contact you or engage in other communication that they determine in their sole discretion relate to your profile or use of the Website. We may use a user’s email address (or telephone number for text and multimedia messaging) to send updates, a newsletter or other news regarding the Website or our services.

  * With Your Consent: Except as set forth above, you will be notified when your personal information may be shared with third parties.




Is Information About Me Secure?

  * If you choose to create one, your Sugar Publishing account information is protected by a password for your privacy and security. You need to work to protect against unauthorized access to your password and to your computer by logging off once you have finished using a shared computer.

  * We use industry-standard Secure Socket Layer (SSL) software to protect the security of your personal information during transmission, which encrypts all of the information you input.

  * We endeavor to protect user information to ensure that the user account information is kept private, however, we cannot guarantee the security of user account information. Unauthorized entry or use, hardware or software failures, and other factors may compromise the security of user information at any time. For more information about the security measures Sugar Publishing uses in connection with the website, please contact us at support@sugarinc.com.

  * Sugar Publishing employees who do not need personal information to perform a specific job will not be granted access to such information. All of our employees are kept up to date on our privacy and security practices.




What Information Can I Access? You can access your personal information on our websites and correct, amend, or delete information that is inaccurate. To do this, login to your account and click "edit account" to view and edit your profile. Please note that some information may remain in our records after editing or deleting your account information.

What Choices Do I Have?

  * As stated previously, you can always opt not to disclose information, but then you may be unable to use certain features on our websites.

  * You are able to add or update certain information on pages, such as those listed in the "What Personal Information About Users Does Sugar Publishing Collect?" section above. When you update information, however, we often maintain a copy of the unrevised information in our records.

  * You may request deletion of your Sugar Publishing account by sending a message to help@onsugar.com. Please note that some information may remain in our records after deletion of your account.

  * If you do not wish to receive e-mail or other mail from us, please notify us by e-mail at help@onsugar.com. Please note that if you do not want to receive legal notices from us, such as this Privacy Policy, those legal notices will still govern your use of the Sugar Publishing websites, and you are responsible for reviewing such legal notices for changes.

  * As explained earlier, the "help" portion of the toolbar on the majority of browsers will direct you on how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to command the browser to tell you when you receive a new cookie, or how to fully disable cookies. Please note, however, that if your browser does not accept cookies, you will not be able to take advantage of some of our attractive features and services.




Does Sugar Publishing Collect Personal Information from Children? Our websites and the services available by us are not intended for children under the age of 13. Sugar Publishing does not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from anyone under the age of 13 or knowingly allow such persons to register. If you are under 13, please do not attempt to register for our websites or send any information about yourself to us, including your name, address, telephone number, or email address. No one under age 13 may provide any personal information to Sugar Publishing or on our websites. In the event that we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under age 13 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information as quickly as possible. If you believe that we might have any information from or about a child under 13, please contact us at support@sugarinc.com. We recommend that minors over the age of 13 ask their parents for permission before sending any information about themselves to anyone over the Internet.

Conditions of Use If you decide to visit the Sugar Publishing websites, your visit and any possible dispute over privacy is subject to this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use, including limitations on damages, arbitration of disputes, and application of California state law.

Third Party Websites Sugar Publishing services may permit you to link to other websites on the Internet, and other websites may contain links to the Sugar Publishing websites. These other websites are not under Sugar Publishing control, and such links do not constitute an endorsement by Sugar Publishing of those other websites or the services offered through them. The privacy and security practices of websites linked to or from the Sugar Publishing websites are not covered by this Privacy Policy, and Sugar Publishing is not responsible for the privacy or security practices or the content of such websites.

Changes to this Privacy Policy Sugar Publishing may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time, at its sole discretion. Use of information we collect now is subject to the Privacy Policy in effect at the time such information is used. If we make changes to the Privacy Policy, we will notify you by posting an announcement on the Sugar Publishing websites or sending you an email so you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances if any, it is disclosed.

Questions or Concerns If you have any questions or concerns regarding privacy at the Sugar Publishing websites, please send a detailed message to support@sugarinc.com. Your privacy is important to us and we will make every effort to resolve your concerns.

Effective Date of This Privacy Policy This Privacy Policy is effective as of July 4, 2008.