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HeartStories, Inc. (“HeartStories”, “we”, “us”, “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to reasonable measures to safeguard personally identifying information you may share with us in connection with our website (the “Website”), applications, and related services (collectively, the “Services”). The purpose of this Privacy Policy (the “Policy”) is to explain how we collect and use the information you decide to share, and help you make informed decisions when providing personally identifying information to HeartStories as a visitor or registered user. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the Policy, please send us an e-mail.

Information We Collect:

Personal Information

We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us via e-mail or when you register for an account, such as your first and last name, contact information, and e-mail address. We also collect any additional personal information you may voluntarily provide in connection with your public profile information, such as a short biography, your location, your interests or a picture. Any visitor may choose to browse our Website without creating an account. However, you will need to create an account to remit any required payments for our Services. We may ask you to confirm your personal information when you contact us in order to protect your confidentiality by verifying your identity.

Aggregate information

We automatically receive and collect certain types of information whenever you visit our Website. For example, like many websites, we use “cookies” and similar files to help us monitor the usage and performance of our Website in order to enhance your experience and to collect aggregate information about our user base and usage patterns. A cookie is a small data file that is transferred to and stored on your computer’s hard drive. Use of a cookie is not linked to any personally identifiable information on our Website. The majority of Web browsers accept cookies and similar files, but you can generally change the browser settings to prevent acceptance of a cookie.

Hyper-Links

We may keep track of how you interact with links across our Services, including our e-mail notifications, third-party services, and client applications, by redirecting clicks or through other means. We do this to help improve our Services, to provide more relevant advertising, and to be able to share aggregate click statistics such as how many times a particular link was clicked on.

Log Data

We automatically gather and record certain information (“Log Data”) created by your use of the Services. Log Data may include information such as your IP address, browser type, operating system, the referring web page, pages visited, location, your mobile carrier, device and application IDs, search terms, and cookie information. We receive Log Data when you interact with our Services, for example, when you visit our Website, sign into our Services, or interact with our e-mail notifications. We use the Log Data to provide our Services and to measure, customize, and improve them.

Use of Your Information:

We may use information we collect to improve our Services, to enhance users’ experiences when visiting, accessing or using our Services, and to process transactions requested by our registered users. We do not use personal identifying information for any reason that is not disclosed either in this Privacy Policy or at the time the information is requested.

We may use your contact information and some personal information (e.g., your name and user name and information supplied on your profile page) to identify you in our Services and to help others find your account.

We may use your contact information to send you information and e-mail notifications regarding your account or the Services, or to market to you. You can subscribe and unsubscribe from some of our notifications through your account settings. However, we may need to provide you with certain communications, such as service announcements and administrative messages that are considered part of the Services, which you may not be able to opt-out of receiving.

Sharing and Disclosure of Your Personal Information:

We will not rent, sell, or share personal information about you with other people or nonaffiliated companies except when we have your permission, or under the following circumstances:

Data processing and storage

We may share personal information within HeartStories and its affiliates for purposes of data processing, transaction processing or storage.

Authorized third-party agents

We may share your personal information with authorized third-party agents or contractors in order to provide a requested service or facilitate a transaction (e.g., billing and shipping information). We only provide third-party agents with the minimum amount of personal information necessary to complete the requested service or transaction.

Legal requirements and illegal activities

We may disclose your personally identifiable information as required by law and when we believe that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights and/or to comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process. We may also collect and share personal information in order to investigate or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud or violations of our rights.

Web site administration

Personal information may be used to administer our business, the site, and our services. This may include disclosure of such information to employees, representatives, officers, agents, affiliates, third parties, and service providers.

Electronic Authentication

Collection and use of information for authentication purposes is part of the log on process for clients registered to use the site. A combination of authentication criteria such as your user information, transactional data, session surveillance, device fingerprint, IP information, and pattern recognition may be collected and used by us.

Discussion Forum

If you participate in a discussion forum on the Website or otherwise post or transmit any personal information on the Website, such information can be read, collected, shared or used by other users of the forum or Website. We are not responsible for any personally identifiable information you choose to submit in these forums.

Business Transitions

In the event that HeartStories is involved in a bankruptcy, merger, acquisition, reorganization or sale of assets, your information may be sold or transferred as part of that transaction. The promises in this Privacy Policy will apply to your information as transferred to the new entity.

Non-Private or Non-Personal Information 

We may share or disclose your non-private, aggregated or otherwise non-personal information, such as your public user profile information or the number of users who clicked on a particular link.

Notice and choice for onward transfer

We will ask you for your opt-in consent to share your personal information with a third party for any other reason.

Updating Your Personal Information:

If you are a registered user of our Services, we provide you with tools and account settings to access or modify the personal information you provided to us and associated with your account. You may review your data at any time and correct, update, or delete information and your account by accessing your account page. We will take all reasonable steps to promptly make the requested changes. However, you should be aware that it is not technologically possible to change or delete from our systems each and every instance of the information we obtain from you, and data may remain in non-erasable forms. We may retain data for a period in our backup systems. We may also retain some information for longer periods as required by law, contract, or auditing requirements.

Children:

Our Services are not directed towards and not intended to attract persons under the age of 13. If you become aware that your child has provided us with personal information without your consent, please send us an e-mail. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we become aware that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, we take steps to remove such information and terminate the child’s account.

Security:

We store your personal data in an encrypted form on a secure server that is password protected and shielded from the outside world by a firewall. In addition, we maintain security policies that are intended to ensure, as far as possible, the security and integrity of all our information, including your personal information. However, no system or information can ever be fully protected against every possible hazard. Therefore, while we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security and privacy of any information you provide to us and, accordingly, you do so at your own risk.

Third-party Links:

Our Website may provide links to other third-party websites that are outside our control and not covered by this Policy. We encourage you to review the privacy policies posted on such (and all) third-party sites.

Changes to this Privacy Policy:

We may update this Policy at any time. We therefore ask you to occasionally review this Privacy Policy to ensure you are aware of the most recent version. The Policy was last updated April 25, 2013.

Your Consent:

By using our Website you consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of information in accordance with the terms of this Policy.

How to Contact Us:

We welcome feedback and questions on this Policy. If for any reason you wish to contact us, please send an e-mail.