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July 19, 2008
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Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy covers what information we collect from you when you visit the SmithandKraus.com site, how we use it, and under what circumstances we disclose it. By using the SmithandKraus.com site, you agree with the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
1. The information we collect
When you use the SmithandKraus.com site, we receive and collect certain information. The information that we receive and collect depends on what you do when you visit SmithandKraus.com.
2. How we use and share Personal Customer Information
Occasionally, SmithandKraus.com uses Personal Customer Information to market products and services. You can opt-out from us using your information for this purpose at any time by logging onto your Account and following the instructions under Name, Password, and Communication Preferences.
SmithandKraus.com shares Personal Customer Information that we collect as follows:Subcontractors. We send Personal Customer Information to third-party subcontractors and agents that work on our behalf to provide certain services. These third parties do not have the right to use the Personal Customer Information beyond what is necessary to assist us. They are contractually obligated to maintain the confidentiality and security of the Personal Customer Information and are restricted from using such information in any way not expressly authorized by SmithandKraus.com .
Service Providers. We send Personal Customer Information to third-party providers of goods and services that you may purchase from time to time on our site (e.g., prints and posters). Like subcontractors, these third parties do not have the right to use the Personal Customer Information beyond what is necessary to assist us. They are contractually obligated to maintain the confidentiality and security of the Personal Customer Information and are restricted from using such information in any way not expressly authorized by SmithandKraus.com .
Credit card companies. Credit card transactions are handled by a third-party financial institution and their vendors, which receive the credit card number and other personal identifying information only to verify the credit card numbers and process transactions.
Law Enforcement Investigations. SmithandKraus.com may release Personal Customer Information when we believe, in our good judgment, that such release is reasonably necessary to comply with law, enforce or apply the terms of any of our policies or user agreements, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of SmithandKraus.com, our users, or others.
3. Communications from SmithandKraus.com
As a SmithandKraus.com account holder, you may receive the following communications from SmithandKraus.com:
4. Underage customers
Our products and services are marketed for purchase by adults or with the consent of adults. This is why SmithandKraus.com requires a credit card that has been authorized for use to complete purchases on our site.
From time to time, parents and guardians allow their children under the age of 18 to browse our site and to post reviews. SmithandKraus.com highly values these views on the books and other products and services we offer. As such, users of our site have the opportunity in many instances to submit their reviews. Each user also has the option to post his or her email address and other contact information so that other users of our site may contact them directly. However, to protect the privacy of any user of our site who is under the age of 13, we do not permit them to post any contact information. Please see Review Rules for further information.
5. Linking to third-party web sites
When you click on links and banners on our site that take you to third-party web sites, you will be subject to the third parties' privacy policies. While we support the protection of privacy on the Internet, SmithandKraus.com cannot be responsible for the actions of any third-party web sites. We encourage you to read the posted privacy statement of any and every site you visit, whether you are linking from our site or browsing on your own.
6. Changes to Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy was last changed on February 6, 2006. SmithandKraus.com reserves the right to modify or amend this policy at any time by posting the revised Privacy Policy on our site. The changes will only affect the information we collect after the effective date of the change to our Privacy Policy unless we clearly express otherwise. The changes made in this February 6, 2006 version affects all information we have collected prior to such date.
7. Questions or comments
If you have any questions regarding our Privacy Policy, or any other inquiry, please email us at editor@SmithandKraus.com.
8. Membership Privacy Policy
If you are also a participant in the Smith and Kraus Membership program you should review the Privacy Policy for the Membership program at Membership Privacy Policy.
Security Policy
1. Protecting your information
The Personal Customer Information you provide -- including your credit card information -- to create and access an account with us and to make purchases from us is secured using industry standard e-commerce security technology such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption technology. We use this SSL technology to prevent such information from being intercepted and read as it is transmitted over the Internet. The encrypted data goes to a secure site where your information is stored on restricted-access computers located at restricted-access sites.
2. Unique Email, Password & Security Answer
To further secure your Personal Customer Information:
If you forget your password, to gain access to your account you will need to know your security answer and have access to your email account. On the Account Sign In Page click on the Forgot your password? link and then type in the email address of the account you would like to open. A message will be sent to your email address with instructions on how to access your account and change your password. (If you have not yet selected a security question and submitted a security answer, you will be prompted to contact Customer Service for further assistance.)
If you want to change your password, security answer or other account information, simply log onto your account and follow the instructions on the page headed "Account Management Options."
3. Remember to sign out
To further prevent unauthorized access to your account, remember that, after you sign in, you should sign out once you have (i) completed your transaction, (i) completed managing your account, or (iii) decided to step away from your computer. Anyone who accesses your computer after you have signed in but before you have either signed out or your session has timed-out can access your account.
4. Safe Shopping Guarantee
Under federal law, a credit card issuer cannot make you liable for charges in excess of $50.00 that result from the unauthorized use of your credit card. There are similar federal laws that relate to debit cards. Exceptions do apply, and you will have to comply with the rules of your credit card or debit card issuer, so please contact your card issuer for further details.
If a credit card or debit card issuer assesses you a fee because of the unauthorized use of your credit card or debit card on our site, SmithandKraus.com will reimburse you for such amount up to $50.00. Please contact our Customer Service for details.
Please be advised, as we state in greater detail in our Terms of Use, we do not guarantee the continuous, uninterrupted or secure access to the SmithandKraus.com site because the operation of the SmithandKraus.com website may be interfered with by numerous factors outside of our control.
5. Alternative customer purchasing options
If you do not feel comfortable sending your credit card information to us over the Internet, you still can shop with us. We welcome you to call us to complete your purchase by phone. Please contact our ordering department at 1-888-282-2881. You may also contact our customer service department at (603) 669-7032 or facsimile at (603) 669-7945.
6. Changes to security policy
This security policy was last changed on February 6, 2006. SmithandKraus.com reserves the right to modify or amend this policy at any time by posting the revised Security Policy on our site. The changes will only affect the information we collect after the effective date of the change to our Security Policy unless we clearly express otherwise. The changes made in this February 6, 2006 version affects all information we have collected prior to such date.
This Privacy Policy covers what information we collect from you when you visit the SmithandKraus.com site, how we use it, and under what circumstances we disclose it. By using the SmithandKraus.com site, you agree with the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
1. The information we collect
When you use the SmithandKraus.com site, we receive and collect certain information. The information that we receive and collect depends on what you do when you visit SmithandKraus.com.
- Automatically Collected Information. Some information is automatically received and sometimes collected from you when you visit the SmithandKraus.com site. We receive and collect the name of the domain and host from which you access the Internet; the Internet protocol (IP) address of the computer you are using; the browser software you use and your operating system; the date and time you access our site; and the Internet address of the web site from which you linked directly to our site. We use this information to monitor the usage of our site. Also, when we send emails to you, we may be able to identify information about your email address, such as whether you can read graphic-rich HTML emails. All of the information we automatically capture provides us with the ability to enhance our customers' search and shopping experiences and to determine aggregate information about our user base and usage patterns.
- Information Collected via Cookies. We use cookies to enhance the browsing and shopping experience on the SmithandKraus.com site. "Cookies" are small files or records that we place on your computer's hard drive to collect information about your activities on the SmithandKraus.com site. The cookies transmit this information back to the computers at SmithandKraus.com or our third-party distributors of banners and newsletters; these computers are, generally speaking, the only computers which are authorized to read such information. The information captured makes it possible for us (i) to speed navigation, keep track of items in your shopping cart, and provide you with custom tailored content; (ii) to remember information you gave to us so you don't have to reenter it each time you visit the SmithandKraus.com site; (iii) to monitor the effectiveness of certain of our marketing email campaigns; and (iv) to monitor total number of visitors, pages viewed, and the total number of banners served.
Most people do not know that cookies are being placed on their computers when they visit the SmithandKraus.com site or most web sites because browsers are typically set to accept cookies. You can choose to have your browser warn you every time a cookie is being sent to you or you can turn off cookie placement. If you refuse cookies, you will not be able to open a SmithandKraus.com Shopping Cart and therefore will not be able to complete an order with us online. Also, by not using cookies, your overall Internet browsing experience will be affected.
If you would like to obtain more information about the third-party distributor of banners on the SmithandKraus.com site and to know your choices about having such distributor's cookies turned off, please visit www.privacychoices.org. If you turn off the third-party distributor's cookies, you will still see banners on our site; however, the banners will not be tailored to your shopping experience.
- Information Collected Using Pixel Tags or Clear GIFs. To help us understand the effectiveness of certain of our email marketing efforts, SmithandKraus.com may use "message format" and "message open" sensing technologies. Both technologies require the use of pixel tags or clear GIFs (also called web beacons). The "message format" sensing technology allows us to recognize whether you have enabled your email program to receive HTML emails; if so, this information is then associated with your email address so that subsequent messages can be sent to you in HTML format. The "message open" sensing technology allows us to recognize whether you have opened our email message. We can only detect this if your have enabled your email program to receive HTML emails.
- Information You Actively Submit to SmithandKraus.com. For most of the browsing services we provide, we neither require nor collect "Personal Customer Information" -- your name, email address, billing address, shipping address(es), phone number and credit card information. You can browse the SmithandKraus.com site and take as much time as you want to review our books and other products, services and reviews without having to submit such Personal Customer Information. Even when you use our shopping cart as you browse, there is no need to submit Personal Customer Information.
In the following instances, however, we do need you to actively submit Personal Customer Information: when you want to (i) create an account; (ii) complete an order; (iii) subscribe to our Keep Me Posted! Newsletters or Alerts, (iv) submit customer reviews or (v) participate in courses in our Smith and Kraus University. - Creating a SmithandKraus.com Account. You can create a new pasword-protected SmithandKraus.com account to complete an order or to set up a Wish List. To create an account, we require that you provide us with the following Personal Customer Information: your email address (which may not be associated with another active SmithandKraus.com account), and your first and last names. You will also have to create a password, select a security question and input a security answer.
- Completing an Order. To complete an order, we require you to access your password protected SmithandKraus.com account. You will access stored Personal Customer Information or be asked to submit additional Personal Customer Information such as your credit card number and billing address.
- Keep Me Posted! Newsletter and Alerts. You may sign up for free email Keep Me Posted! Newsletters and Alerts filled with recommendations and reviews for books, music, movies, and more. To do so, you will need to supply your email address in the Keep Me Posted! Preference Center. Please note that this Keep Me Posted! Preference Center registry is different from the SmithandKraus.com Account and password which you set up to make purchases. You can sign up for our Keep Me Posted! Notices whether or not you have a SmithandKraus.com account. Furthermore, the contact information collected in the Keep Me Posted! Preference Center is only used to forward the Newsletters and Alerts you select. [See "Keep Me Posted! Communications" below].
- Customer Reviews. When you submit a customer review, we ask you to disclose your email address in addition to your review and other optional information. You can choose not to have your email address displayed with your review. We only use the information you provide to us to chronicle your review; we do not use such information for marketing purposes. Because your email address at your election can be displayed with your reviews, we can make no assurance that others will not use the information you have provided.
2. How we use and share Personal Customer Information
Occasionally, SmithandKraus.com uses Personal Customer Information to market products and services. You can opt-out from us using your information for this purpose at any time by logging onto your Account and following the instructions under Name, Password, and Communication Preferences.
SmithandKraus.com shares Personal Customer Information that we collect as follows:
3. Communications from SmithandKraus.com
As a SmithandKraus.com account holder, you may receive the following communications from SmithandKraus.com:
- Communications related to transaction and account maintenance activities. By creating a SmithandKraus.com account, you may receive communications from us relating to: order confirmations; order updates; order problems; and material changes to site policies and account management procedures.
- Communications from SmithandKraus.com and its affiliated companies (e.g., Smith and Kraus Booksellers). As an account holder, we use and share your contact information to communicate special offers, events, new products and services from SmithandKraus.com and our affiliated companies. We communicate via email, postal mail and outbound telephone calls depending upon your settings in you Communications Preferences. Any SmithandKraus.com account holder can opt-out from the receipt of any such communications or opt-out of certain communication methods by logging onto his or her Account and following the instructions under "Change Your Communication Preferences.
- Keep Me Posted! Communications. You may sign up for free email Newsletters and Alerts filled with recommendations and reviews for books, music, movies, and more. To do so, you will need to supply your email address in the Keep Me Posted! Preference Center. Please note that this Keep Me Posted! Preference Center registry is different from the SmithandKraus.com Account and password which you set up to make purchases. Furthermore, the contact information collected in the Keep Me Posted! Preference Center is only used to forward the Newsletters and Alerts you select. To unsubscribe from any Keep Me Posted! Newsletter or Alert, you can either (i) select the link at the bottom of any Keep Me Posted! Newsletter or Alert and follow the instructions or (ii) go to the Help section of our site: Under "Your Account" select Reviewing or Changing Your Subscription Choices and Keep Me Posted! Newsletters and Alerts and follow the instructions.
4. Underage customers
Our products and services are marketed for purchase by adults or with the consent of adults. This is why SmithandKraus.com requires a credit card that has been authorized for use to complete purchases on our site.
From time to time, parents and guardians allow their children under the age of 18 to browse our site and to post reviews. SmithandKraus.com highly values these views on the books and other products and services we offer. As such, users of our site have the opportunity in many instances to submit their reviews. Each user also has the option to post his or her email address and other contact information so that other users of our site may contact them directly. However, to protect the privacy of any user of our site who is under the age of 13, we do not permit them to post any contact information. Please see Review Rules for further information.
5. Linking to third-party web sites
When you click on links and banners on our site that take you to third-party web sites, you will be subject to the third parties' privacy policies. While we support the protection of privacy on the Internet, SmithandKraus.com cannot be responsible for the actions of any third-party web sites. We encourage you to read the posted privacy statement of any and every site you visit, whether you are linking from our site or browsing on your own.
6. Changes to Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy was last changed on February 6, 2006. SmithandKraus.com reserves the right to modify or amend this policy at any time by posting the revised Privacy Policy on our site. The changes will only affect the information we collect after the effective date of the change to our Privacy Policy unless we clearly express otherwise. The changes made in this February 6, 2006 version affects all information we have collected prior to such date.
7. Questions or comments
If you have any questions regarding our Privacy Policy, or any other inquiry, please email us at editor@SmithandKraus.com.
8. Membership Privacy Policy
If you are also a participant in the Smith and Kraus Membership program you should review the Privacy Policy for the Membership program at Membership Privacy Policy.
Security Policy
1. Protecting your information
The Personal Customer Information you provide -- including your credit card information -- to create and access an account with us and to make purchases from us is secured using industry standard e-commerce security technology such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption technology. We use this SSL technology to prevent such information from being intercepted and read as it is transmitted over the Internet. The encrypted data goes to a secure site where your information is stored on restricted-access computers located at restricted-access sites.
2. Unique Email, Password & Security Answer
To further secure your Personal Customer Information:
We cross check an email address with the submitted password to validate access to any SmithandKraus.com customer account.We encourage you to use a password and a security answer that is not easily determinable (e.g., don't use your name or street name). Keep your password and security answer secure; do not share it with anyone. Password and security answer are the "keys" to your account; anyone who gets these "keys" can, along with your email address, gain access to your account.
We do not allow any email address to access more than one SmithandKraus.com account. When a new SmithandKraus.com account is created, we require you to submit an email address that is not associated with an existing SmithandKraus.com account.
As of February 3, 2006, we require you to select a security question and input a security answer which you can use to access your account in the event you forget your password. (Customers who created a SmithandKraus.com account without selecting a security question and respective answer, are urged to do so by logging into your account and on the page headed "Account Management Options", select "Change Your Security Question/Answer" under "Account Settings" and follow the instructions.)
If you forget your password, to gain access to your account you will need to know your security answer and have access to your email account. On the Account Sign In Page click on the Forgot your password? link and then type in the email address of the account you would like to open. A message will be sent to your email address with instructions on how to access your account and change your password. (If you have not yet selected a security question and submitted a security answer, you will be prompted to contact Customer Service for further assistance.)
If you want to change your password, security answer or other account information, simply log onto your account and follow the instructions on the page headed "Account Management Options."
3. Remember to sign out
To further prevent unauthorized access to your account, remember that, after you sign in, you should sign out once you have (i) completed your transaction, (i) completed managing your account, or (iii) decided to step away from your computer. Anyone who accesses your computer after you have signed in but before you have either signed out or your session has timed-out can access your account.
4. Safe Shopping Guarantee
Under federal law, a credit card issuer cannot make you liable for charges in excess of $50.00 that result from the unauthorized use of your credit card. There are similar federal laws that relate to debit cards. Exceptions do apply, and you will have to comply with the rules of your credit card or debit card issuer, so please contact your card issuer for further details.
If a credit card or debit card issuer assesses you a fee because of the unauthorized use of your credit card or debit card on our site, SmithandKraus.com will reimburse you for such amount up to $50.00. Please contact our Customer Service for details.
Please be advised, as we state in greater detail in our Terms of Use, we do not guarantee the continuous, uninterrupted or secure access to the SmithandKraus.com site because the operation of the SmithandKraus.com website may be interfered with by numerous factors outside of our control.
5. Alternative customer purchasing options
If you do not feel comfortable sending your credit card information to us over the Internet, you still can shop with us. We welcome you to call us to complete your purchase by phone. Please contact our ordering department at 1-888-282-2881. You may also contact our customer service department at (603) 669-7032 or facsimile at (603) 669-7945.
6. Changes to security policy
This security policy was last changed on February 6, 2006. SmithandKraus.com reserves the right to modify or amend this policy at any time by posting the revised Security Policy on our site. The changes will only affect the information we collect after the effective date of the change to our Security Policy unless we clearly express otherwise. The changes made in this February 6, 2006 version affects all information we have collected prior to such date.