document: title: privacy policy
text: ground(ctrl)

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Please read these terms of use carefully as they contain important information regarding your legal rights, remedies and obligations. these include various limitations and exclusions, and a dispute resolution clause that governs how disputes will be resolved.

This Privacy Policy, effective October 1st, 2007, is designed to help you, the user, understand how Ground(ctrl)™ (“us”, “we”, or “our”) collects and then uses the personal information you provide us when signing up as a new “member.” We do this so you can make informed decisions both when deciding whether to become a member and when using this service. 

By accessing and/or using this web site, you are (1) becoming a member of the Ground(ctrl)™ social networking community (the “network”) and (2) accepting the practices described in this Privacy Policy.

We would like to thank you for becoming a member of the network—a network that takes each member’s privacy rights seriously. If you have any questions concerning the network’s Privacy Policy, please contact us at support@groundctrl.com. 

## About Ground(ctrl)™

Ground(ctrl)™, as a third-party administrator, maintains and administers the network and this web site. The intent of this web site, and other similar sites maintained and administered by us, is to create a social networking community wherein members can communicate with each other as well as interact with and promote their favorite musicians’ careers. 

To enhance each member’s social networking experience, we request and display personal information to other members and visitors. This information is necessary to allow members to identify each other, expand their network of friends, promote each member’s favorite musicians through contests and other incentives, and to repay members for their interaction with the network through contests and prizes.

## The Information We Collect

When you visit this web site, you provide us with three types of information: 

  1. web site information collected by us through your interaction with this web site;
  2. personal information you knowingly and voluntarily disclose to us when signing up as a member and through the continued use of this service; and 
  3. personal information you knowingly and voluntarily disclose to use when using this service.



First, when you or any member signs on to this service, we collect your IP address, your browser type, and certain information from your browser using “cookies”. A cookie is a piece of data stored on a computer that is tied to information about the user. You can easily remove or block this cookie using the settings in your browser if you wish to disable this feature. To confirm that you are logged into the service, we use session ID cookies that immediately terminate once you close your browser.

Second, when signing up as a member to this web site, and during membership, we collect several pieces of personal information to enhance the network including your first name, last name, email address, password, location, birthday, AIM, Yahoo screen name, Jabber, ICQ, street address, city, state, postal code, country, Flicker Feed, third-party links, and avatar image. 

Third, when using this service, you may change your member profile, send messages to other members, receive messages from other members, form relationships, view photos, share photos, post blog comments, post links to other web sites (including web sites not controlled by Ground(ctrl)™), transmit information through various channels, participate in musician campaigns, earn points toward promotional items, and redeem those points for promotional items (collectively the “User Content”).

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998

This privacy policy is provided in conformity with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (“COPPA”). COPPA requires that we notify parents and legal guardians and obtain consent from parents and legal guardians before we collect, use and/or disclose personal information from children under thirteen (13) years of age. 

If parents or legal guardians have any questions regarding their child’s use of this web site, they may contact us at the address, phone number or email address provided at the end of this Privacy Policy. 

The personal information we collect from children under thirteen (13) years of age, and the manner in which we use such information, is identical to the collection and use of any other member’s information. Please refer to sections entitled “The Information We Collect” and “How We Use the Information” for a detailed discussion of how we collect and use personal information from all members, including children under thirteen (13).

As a means of verifying parental consent, we may require that verification be given to us in one of two ways. First, we may require permission by email from what we are told is the parent’s email address. Thereafter, we will respond to that email address to verify that we have received such permission. Second, we may require that the parent consent by providing us with their full name, a valid credit card number and an expiration date. We will not charge your credit card. We will merely use the information to confirm your consent and once verification is or is not made, we will immediately destroy such information. 

We do not require any additional information from children under thirteen (13) other than the minimum amount of information we need in order for the child to participate. Parents may review the personal information we collect on that parent’s child by mailing a request to us at the address listed at the end of this Privacy Policy. The parent, after reviewing such information from us, may have it deleted and/or refuse to allow further collection by sending us an email using the password sent with the physical file that we mail to you.

## Correcting, Updating or Removing Your Information

At any time, members can correct, update, or remove any of their personal information by logging into their account and accessing the “Edit Profile” feature. 

## How We Use the Information

We collect the personal information listed above so that we can provide you with personalized features and an enhanced and efficient web site experience. We usually retain this information so you can, for example, view messages you have already read or check campaign dates you are already aware of. You understand and acknowledge that copies of your User Content may remain viewable in cached and/or archived pages or if other members have copied and/or stored your User Content, even after your information has been removed.

When you sign up as a member to the network, you create your own profile. Your profile information, including your name and your photo are displayed to other members in the network so that you may interact and communicate with them. On occasion, we may use your name and email address to send you notifications about the network’s new services, promotional items, merchandise, band news, and transactions involving your accumulated points. Generally, you may opt out of such emails by clicking on the “unsubscribe” link in the email. However, the network expressly reserves the right to send you notices about your account even if you opt out of all voluntary email notifications. 

Without identifying you as an individual, the network may provide third parties with information contained in your profile for data gathering purposes (ex: gathering data on how many members like both band A and band B so that personalized advertisements, promotions, etc. can be sent to those particular members). We believe that this information gathering allows each member to get the most out of the network’s benefits—i.e. the distribution of band information that, based on your profile, matters to you.

## Sharing Your Information with Third Parties

This web site is about sharing information with others of your choosing, and a limited number of third parties, to enhance each member’s promotional and informational-sharing experience. Except as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy, the network does not disclose personal information to any third party unless the network believes that disclosure is necessary to:

  1. enforce the network’s Terms and Conditions of Use Agreement;
  2. protect the network’s rights;
  3. coincide with legal requirements (ex: responding to a subpoena, search warrant, or any other legal process served upon Ground(ctrl)™). We will not reveal information until we have a good faith belief that the law enforcement information and/or private litigant request meets the applicable legal standards; 
  4. protect the safety of it’s member; or
  5. enhance each member’s promotional and informational-sharing experience. 



The network may provide services jointly with other companies and we may share customer information with that company in connection with your use of that service. 

Your name, network names, and profile picture thumbnail will be available in search results across the network and those limited pieces of information may be made available to third party search engines. This is primarily so your friends can find you and send a friend request. People who see your name in searches, however, will not be able to access your profile information unless they have a relationship to you that allows access based on the privacy settings.

Ground(ctrl)™ expressly reserves the right to transfer personal information to a successor in interest that acquires the rights to that information as a result of the sale of Ground(ctrl)™, or the sale of a substantial portion of its assets to that successor in interest. 

## Third-Party Advertising

Advertising may appear on this web site and may be delivered to members by one of our web advertising partners. Those web advertising partners may download cookies to your computer that allow the ad server to recognize your computer each time they send you an online advertisement. The web advertising partners may also use other technologies such as JavaScript and “web beacons” (also known as “1x1 gifs”) to measure the effectiveness of their ads and to personalize advertising content. As a consequence, ad servers may compile information about where you, or others using your computer, saw their advertisements and determine which ads you, or others using your computer, clicked on. The purpose of this information is to allow an ad network to deliver targeted advertisements that they believe will interest you. This privacy policy covers the use of cookies by our network only and does not cover the use of cookies by any third-party advertiser.

Comments, Blogs, Messages, and Links

Please be aware that whenever you voluntarily post any information as a comment, blog, message, link, photo, video, and/or other information, that information can be accessed by the public and can then be used by those people to send you unsolicited communications. Additionally, if you post a link to your network web site on any third party site, your public profile will be viewable by any third party that clicks on your link. If you do not wish to have your public profile viewable to any third party, you should not post links to your network web site on third party sites. 

This web site may contain links to other sites, including links posted by you or other members. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of other web sites. As such, we encourage our members to read the privacy statements of each and every web site they visit after clicking on these third-party links. This Privacy Policy applies solely to the information collected in the use of our network and this web site. 

## Security

Each member’s account is secured by a member-created password. The network employs reasonable measures to protect member information that is stored within our database, and we restrict the access to member information only to those employees who need access to perform their job functions, such as our customer service personnel and technical staff. 

Note: We cannot guarantee the security of each member’s account information as unauthorized entry or use, software or hardware failure, and other uncontrollable factors may compromise the security of each member’s personal information at any time. The network does, however, consider security of each member’s personal information a priority and we take reasonable security steps to protect that information. 

Disclaimer of Liability for Unauthorized Viewing of Personal Information

You post User Content, as described above, on this web site at your own risk. Despite our reasonable efforts to keep your User Content inaccessible to those not authorized to view it, be aware that no perfect security measure(s) exist to insure impenetrability. Additionally, we cannot control the actions of other members that you may choose to share your page and User Content with. We are not responsible for the circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained in this web site. Consequently, we cannot and do not guarantee that the User Content you provide and/or post on this web site will not be viewed by unauthorized individuals.

Changes in the Privacy Policy’s Terms of Use, Notices and Revisions

We may change this privacy policy from time to time. We reserve the right to change our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use Agreement at any time. Non-material changes and clarifications will take effect immediately, and material changes will take effect within 30 days of their posting on this site. If we do make changes, we will post those changes and indicate at the top of this page the Privacy Policy’s new effective date.

Through this process, members will always be aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and who we may disclose it to. Each member is bound by any change to this Privacy Policy if he or she uses the site after said changes have been posted. If, however, we change this Privacy Policy so that we are using personal information in a manner materially different from the manner as stated at the time of collection, we will notify the members here, by email, or through notice on our home page.

Your use of this web site and our network, and any disputes arising from it, is subject to this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use Agreement and all of its dispute resolution provisions including arbitration, limitation on damages and choice of law. We strongly encourage you to refer to this Policy on an ongoing basis so that you understand the most current Privacy Policy terms. Unless stated otherwise, our current Privacy Policy applies to all information that we have about you and your account. 

## Contacting this Web Site

If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Policy, the practices of this web site, or your dealings with this web site, please contact us at support@groundctrl.com.