Privacy Policy
The HeartMath Institute recognizes the importance of protecting the privacy of all information provided by users of our Web sites, subscribers to our mailing lists, registrants for our events, participants in our surveys and contests and all of our customers. We have created this policy out of a fundamental respect for our users' right to privacy and to guide our relationships with our customers. This Privacy Policy statement discloses the privacy practices for all products and services owned by the HeartMath Institute (HMI). Information Collection and Usage HMI collects information from our website users, subscribers and customers. In this section of our privacy policy, we will describe the type of information we collect and how we use it to provide better services to our customers. Registration and Ordering from Our Store During registration, users are required to give their contact information (such as name, e-mail address, mailing address and phone number). We also may collect demographic information (such as job title and purchasing responsibilities, company information and professional certification). For internal purposes, we use this information to communicate with users and provide requested services, and, for our website visitors, to provide a more personalized experience on our sites. We use aggregate demographic information about our visitors to improve our service, for marketing purposes and/or industry reporting purposes. For our services that require payment (such as certain events, products and subscriptions), we also collect credit card information (such as account name, number and expiration date), which is used for billing purposes only, and is not otherwise shared. Please see the "Security" section below. E-mail Newsletters If users wish to subscribe to our e-mail newsletters, we ask for contact information (such as name, e-mail address and, occasionally, demographic information which is optional). We use this information in the same manner as we use contact information in the registration and ordering process described above. Recipients of our newsletters and updates can unsubscribe using the instructions listed at the end of the e-mail newsletter or by sending an e-mail to info@heartmath.org with the e-mail address used to subscribe. Surveys and Contests From time to time we invite users to provide information via surveys or contests. Participation in these surveys or contests is completely voluntary and the user therefore has a choice as to whether or not to disclose requested contact information (such as name and mailing address) and demographic information (such as zip code or job title). In addition to other uses set forth in this policy, contact information collected in connection with surveys and contests is used to notify the winners and award prizes, to monitor or improve the use and satisfaction of the site, and may be shared with sponsors of such surveys or contests. Interactive Features At some of our sites, we offer interactive and community features such as discussion boards, webcasts and user profiles. Note that all personal information sent or posted via such features becomes public information for which the HMI is not responsible and cannot be held accountable. "Tell-A-Friend" If users elect to use our referral service for informing a friend about our sites and services, we may ask them for the friend's name, job title and e-mail address. HMI will store and use this information to send the friend an invitation. This information may also be used to provide information about our company and related products and services. The friend may contact us as specified in the tell-a-friend message to request t hat no further communications be sent. Communications with Us We have features where users can submit information to us (such as our feedback forms). Letters to the editor and similar submissions may be made public. Requests for service, support or information may be forwarded as needed to best respond to a specific request. We may retain e-mails and other information sent to us for our internal administrative purposes, and to help us to serve customers better. Communications from Us: Service Updates, Special Offers In order to best serve our customers, we may send updates that contain important information about our sites and services. For example, we send new members a welcoming message, and verify password and username for our password-protected sections. We may also communicate with a user to provide requested services and for account-related issues via e-mail, phone or regular mail. We offer our users the option to receive information about our company, related products, services and special deals. Users can choose not to receive these communications, as set forth in our Permission section below. Automatic Data Collection Our web sites have features that automatically collect information from users, to deliver content specific to users' interests and to honor their preferences. This information assists us in creating sites that will serve the needs of our users. One of the most common ones is the "cookie." A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user's hard drive containing information about the user. Usage of a cookie is in no way linked to any personally identifiable information while on our site. Once the user closes their browser, the cookie simply terminates. Our Web shopping cart utilizes cookies to facilitate the ordering process. We use "cookies," containing information about the user's online session in order to benefit the user by requiring login only once, thereby saving time while on our site. If users reject the cookies, they may be limited in the use of some areas of our site. For example, the user may not be able to place an order in our online store. We may additionally note some of the pages the user visits on our site through the use of pixel tags (also called clear gifs). The use of cookies and pixels enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance their experience while on our sites. Some of our business affiliates may use cookies on our sites in ads or promotions. However, HMI has no access to, no control over and accept no responsibility for these business affiliates' cookies, information gathering practices or usage of said information; we urge users to read their specific privacy policies in this regard. Our web sites contain links to other sites. HMI is not responsible and shall not be held accountable for the privacy practices or content of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each web site to which we may link that may collect personally identifiable information. For our internal purposes, we gather date, time, browser type, navigation history and the IP address of all visitors to our site. This information does not contain anything that can identify users personally. We use this information for our internal security audit log, trend analysis and system administration, and to gather broad demographic information about our user base for aggregate use. We may combine demographic information supplied by a subscriber at registration with site usage data to provide general profiles, in aggregate non-personally identifiable form, about our users and their preferences in the content of the site and advertising. We may share this composite information with our advertisers and business affiliates to help them better understand our services. With Whom Your Information is Shared When we have co-branded, customized, private label, "powered by" or sponsored products and services, or when we join with other parties to provide specific services, we may share (provide and receive) personal information with them. We do not share credit card information with such third parties. We may use an outside shipping company to ship orders, and a credit card processing company to bill users for goods and services. These companies do not retain, share, store or use personally identifiable information for any secondary purposes. Other than as set forth above, we do not share personally identifiable information with other companies, apart from those acting as our agents in providing our product(s) or service(s), and which agree to use it only for that purpose and to keep the information secure and confidential. Also, our parent, subsidiary and affiliate companies, entities into which our companies may be merged, or entities to which any of our assets, products, sites or operations may be transferred, will be able to use personal information. We will also disclose information we maintain when required to do so by law, for example, in response to a court order or a subpoena or other legal obligation, in response to a law enforcement agency's request, or in special cases when we have reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to or interference with (either intentionally or unintentionally) our rights or property. Users should also be aware that courts of equity, such as U.S. Bankruptcy Courts, might have the authority under certain circumstances to permit personal information to be shared or transferred to third parties without permission. Correction/Updating Personal Information If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as zip code), or if a user no longer desires our product(s)/service(s), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data. The user should contact Customer Support for the applicable product or service. Security We use reasonable precautions to protect our users' personal information and to store it securely. All credit transactions occur in a secure area of our site to protect you from any loss, misuse or alteration of information collected, so that you can buy with confidence. When you place an order online at https://store.heartmath.org, the information you send to us is protected by Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology. SSL encrypts your order using strong 128-bit encryption to prevent the decoding of that information by anyone other than store.heartmath.org as it travels over the Internet. SSL is the industry standard in transferring credit card information to process your orders. The SSL encryption translates your order information into a highly indecipherable code, which is processed immediately. When you've finished shopping and begin the checkout process, you will move into the secure area of our site. A warning window may pop up to notify you that you are entering this "safe" area. Once you've entered, the page address (URL) will change from http to https, to let you know you are in a secure area. A key or a closed lock will appear in the lower left hand corner of your screen and/or the right side of the address bar in Internet Explorer to notify you of this change. (In Netscape, it's in the lower left-hand corner, just above the Start button. On a Mac, the lock icon may be in the lower left-hand corner of both browsers.) You will remain in this secure area for the entire checkout process. Since secure connections are slower than unsecured connections, we only use them at check out, when you're sending us personal information. If your browser doesn't support SSL, you'll be unable to connect to our secure shopping cart server, which means you needn't worry about mistakenly placing an order through an unsecured connection. If you can't access the secure server, for whatever reason, we offer many other options for placing an order. You may place your order by sending it via e-mail to: info@heartmath.org. If you choose this option, please DO NOT include credit card information, as e-mail is absolutely not a secure method of sending private financial information over the Internet. Simply include your daytime phone number in the e-mail, and we will call you for the necessary information. You may also order by phone or fax during normal business hours toll free at 1-800-711-6221 or (831) 338-8500. We're open from Mon - Fri 9 to 5:30 Pacific Time. Of course, you may also print your completed order and mail it to us at HeartMath Institute, 14700 West Park Ave. Boulder Creek, California 95006 USA. If you have further questions, please call us toll-free at 1-800-986-8786 or e-mail us, including your name and mailing address, at info@heartmath.org . Notification and Changes If we change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on this page so our users are aware of what information we collect, how we use it and under which circumstances, if any, we disclose it. Users should check this policy frequently to keep abreast of any changes. For questions about this privacy statement, the practices of this site or any dealings with the HeartMath Institute, Contact: Brian Kabaker Privacy and Security Telephone (831) 338-8759 e-Mail:bkabaker
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