SUNSET SHORES CO-OP, LLC – COMMITMENT TO YOUR PRIVACY
This website is owned and operated by Sunset Shores Co-Op, LLC. Our user’s privacy on the Internet is of the utmost importance to us. At Sunset Shores Co-Op, LLC, we want to make the user’s experience online satisfying and safe. The term ‘Sunset Shores’ or ‘us’ or ‘we’ refers to the owner of the website. The term ‘user’ refers to the viewer or user of our website.
Because we gather certain types of information about our users, we believe you should fully understand our policy and the terms and conditions surrounding the capture and use of that information. This privacy statement discloses what information we gather and how we use it.
INFORMATION GATHERED AND TRACKED
Sunset Shores gathers two types of information about users:
Information that users provide through optional, voluntary submissions. These are voluntary submissions to receive our electronic newsletters, to participate in our message boards and forums, to email a friend, and from participation in any polls and surveys.
Information Sunset Shores gathers through aggregated tracking information is derived mainly by tallying page views throughout our websites. This information allows us to better tailor our content to readers’ needs and to help our advertisers and sponsors better understand the demographics of our audience. Under no circumstances does Sunset Shores intentionally divulge any information about an individual user to a third party.
Sunset Shores also gathers user information in the following free, optional services which require some type of voluntary submission of personal information by users:
1. Electronic newsletters policy (Dispatches)
We may offer a free electronic newsletter to users. Sunset Shores gathers the email addresses of users who voluntarily subscribe. Users may remove themselves from this mailing list by following the link provided in every newsletter that points users to the subscription management page.
2. Message boards/Forums policy
Users of the website’s Message Boards or Forums must register separately for these free services in order to post messages. During registration the user is required to supply a username, password, and email address.
3. “E-mail this to a friend” policy
Our website users can choose to electronically forward a link, page, or documents to someone else by clicking “e-mail this to a friend”. The user must provide their email address, as well as that of the recipient. This information is used only in the case of transmission errors and, of course, to let the recipient know who sent the email. The information is not used for any other purpose.
4. Polling
We may offer interactive polls to users so they can easily share their opinions with other users and see what our audience thinks about important issues. Opinions or other responses to polls are aggregated and are not identifiable to any particular user. Sunset Shores may use a system to “tag” users after they have voted to ensure that they have voted only once on a particular question. This tag is not correlated with information about individual users.
5. Surveys
Sunset Shores may occasionally conduct user surveys to better target our content to our audience. We sometimes share the aggregated demographic information in these surveys with our sponsors, advertisers and partners. We never share any of this information about specific individuals with any third party.
CHILDREN
Consistent with the Federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), we will never knowingly request personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13 without requesting parental consent.
USAGE TRACKING
Sunset Shores tracks user traffic patterns throughout all of our websites. However, we do not correlate this information with data about individual users. Sunset Shores does break down overall usage statistics according to a user’s domain name, browser type, and MIME type by reading this information from the browser string (information contained in every user’s browser).
Sunset Shores sometimes tracks and catalogs the search terms that users enter into our Search function, but this tracking is never associated with individual users. We use tracking information to determine which areas of our websites users like and do not like based upon traffic to those areas. We do not track what individual users read, but rather how well each page performs overall. This helps us continue to build a better service for the users.
COOKIES
We may place a text file called a “cookie” in the browser files of the user’s computer. The cookie itself does not contain Personal Information although it will enable us to relate the user’s use of this website to information that the user has specifically and knowingly provided. The only personal information a cookie can contain is information the user supplies themself. A cookie can’t read data off the user’s hard disk or read cookie files created by other websites. Sunset Shores uses cookies to track user traffic patterns (as described above). Our advertising system delivers a one-time cookie to better track ad impressions and click rates.
The user can refuse cookies by turning them off in their browser. If the user has set their browser to warn the user before accepting cookies, the user will receive the warning message with each cookie. The user does not need to have cookies turned on to use this website. However, the user does need cookies to participate actively in message boards, forums, polls and surveys.
USE OF INFORMATION
Sunset Shores uses any information voluntarily given by our users to enhance their experience in our network of websites, whether to provide interactive or personalized elements on the websites or to better prepare future content based on the interests of our users.
As stated above, we use information that users voluntarily provide in order to send out electronic newsletters and to enable users to participate in message boards, forums, polls and surveys. We may send out newsletters to subscribers on a regular schedule (depending on the newsletter), and occasionally send out special editions when we think subscribers might be particularly interested in something we are doing. Sunset Shores never shares newsletter mailing lists with any third parties, including advertisers, sponsors or partners.
We use tracking information to determine which areas of our websites users like and do not like based upon traffic to those areas. We do not track what individual users read, but rather how well each page performs overall. This helps us continue to build a better service for you. We track search terms entered in the Search function as one of many measures of what interests our users, but we do not track which terms a particular user enters.
Sunset Shores creates aggregate reports on user demographics and traffic patterns for advertisers, sponsors and partners. This allows our advertisers to advertise more effectively and allows our users to receive advertisements that are pertinent to their needs. Because we do not track the usage patterns of individual users, an advertiser or sponsor will never know that a specific user clicked their ad. We will not disclose any information about any individual user except to comply with applicable law or valid legal process or to protect the personal safety of our users or the public.
SHARING OF THE INFORMATION
Sunset Shores uses the above-described information to tailor our content to suit your needs and help our advertisers better understand our audience’s demographics. We will not share information about individual users with any third party, except to comply with applicable law or valid legal process or to protect the personal safety of our users or the public.
SECURITY
Sunset Shores operates within a hosted network with secure data protected by industry standard firewall and password protection systems. Our security and privacy policies are periodically reviewed and enhanced as necessary and only authorized individuals have access to the information provided by our customers.
OPT-OUT POLICY
We give users options wherever necessary and practical for the following:
Opting not to register to receive our electronic newsletters.
Opting not to participate in certain interactive areas. This will completely alleviate the need to gather any personally identifiable information from our users in that area.
DISCLAIMER
This website contains links to other websites. Sunset Shores is not responsible for the content or privacy practices of these websites.
CONTACT US
If you have any additional questions or concerns about our Privacy Policy, please contact us.
CONSENT
By using this website, the user consents to the collection and use of this information by Sunset Shores. If we decide to change our Privacy Policy, we will post those changes on this page so that users are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances we disclose it.