We recognize that privacy is an important issue for our users. Collarity, Inc. ("Collarity") is committed to protecting your privacy and is also committed to providing you a clear, concise explanation of how user information is used within the operation of www.collarity.com or www.collarity.net ("the Site").
This is an exciting new phase of searching and finding information on the web. Collarity's primary value comes from the application of personal information used as a type of "personal filter" to surface relevant results for you. Your information may also be applied anonymously to improve results for others.
The more you use Collarity, the better the service gets for you and other users - the more you give, the more you (and your community members) get.
We believe we have implemented our system in a safe and fair way for you, but it is important for you to decide for yourself. Please review the following information to better understand this policy and send any questions or concerns to:
Privacy, Collarity, Inc.
1841 Page Mill Road
Palo Alto, CA 94304 USA.
By visiting the Collarity website, you are accepting the practices outlined in this policy. If you do not agree with these policies, we would ask that you please do not use the Collarity web site.
Collarity adheres to the US safe harbor privacy principles of Notice, Choice, Onward Transfer, Security, Data Integrity, Access and Enforcement, and is registered with the U.S. Department of Commerce's safe harbor program.
This Privacy Policy covers Collarity's treatment of personal information when you use the Collarity website and when you use Collarity services. This policy does not cover the practices of third parties that Collarity does not own or control, or to individuals that Collarity does not employ or manage.
Collarity does not intentionally or knowingly collect personal information about children who are under 13 years of age. Children may not register for any Collarity service. Collarity cares about the privacy of children and fully complies with COPPA (The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998) in the United States.
Our primary goal in collecting personal information is to provide you with a better search experience. Collarity uses certain elements of your personal information to improve your search results, and the search results of others. The following summarizes this information.
You are not required to register for an account on the Collarity web site, however certain services (e.g., personalized search, see next section) will be unavailable without it. When you register with Collarity, your personal information, including login name, password, and email are stored with us and used to form a Collarity Account. We collect this data as a means to communicate with you regarding changes or updates related to the Collarity service, authenticate you when you access Collarity services and also as a means to providing you tailored customized search results.
Collarity, similar to leading search engines and most search sites, collects information regarding your interaction with our web site. This information is used to develop a basis for providing you our services.
If you register with Collarity, we automatically build an implicit relevance formula for you. What this means is that we log keywords you submit and the subsequent choices you make to build a search context profile. This information is then used to both guide future searches, and to rank search results. This information is also used to match you implicitly with other searchers, so that you can benefit from their search activity.
Collarity provides a way for searchers to turn off monitoring for areas that they do not wish to add to their personal context profile. Please refer your Collarity Settings page for instructions on how to turn this feature on and off.
Collarity automatically builds affiliate communities of users, organized by subject area. These are virtual implicit communities, meaning none of the members are known to one another. This policy may, at some time in the future, be modified.
For instance, we may have a community that revolves around the keyword phrases "biology" or "computer programming". Your search context profile data may be used as part of the aggregate (meaning combined with many other people) data associated with these communities. In no way is your personal data uniquely identifiable within this aggregate community data.
Collarity uses "cookies" as a way to prevent registered users from having to log on to the service every time they use it. Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that we transfer to your computer's hard drive through your web browser to enable our systems to recognize you as a registered user. Collarity may also use cookies with unregistered users as many web sites and services do.
We use cookies to improve the quality of our service. Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies, but you can reset your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, some Collarity features and services may not function if your cookies are disabled.
We receive and store certain types of information whenever you interact with us. Collarity automatically receives and records certain "traffic data" on our server logs from your browser including your Collarity cookie information, submitted keyword information, and the URL you requested. Collarity uses this data to help provide better services. Collarity does not retain your IP address in conjunction with other activity data that could be used to identify you personally.
When you send an email or other communication to Collarity, we may retain those communications in order to process your inquiries, respond to your requests and improve our services.
From time to time, our Site requests information from users via surveys or contests. Participation in these surveys or contests is completely voluntary and the user therefore has a choice whether or not to disclose this information. Information requested may include contact information (such as name and shipping address), and demographic information (such as zip code, age level). Contact information will be used to notify the winners and award prizes. Survey information will be used for purposes of monitoring or improving the use and satisfaction of this Site.
We offer some of our services in connection with other web sites. Personal information that you provide to those sites may be sent to Collarity in order to deliver the service. We process such information in accordance with this Policy. The affiliated sites may have different privacy practices and we encourage you to read their privacy policies.
The Site may present links in a format that enables us to keep track of whether these links have been followed. We use this information to improve the quality of our search and relevancy technology, and advertising
This Privacy Policy only addresses the use and disclosure of information we collect from you. You should be aware that when you are on the Site, you can be directed to other sites that are beyond our control and Collarity is not responsible for privacy practices of third parties or the content of linked sites. These other sites may place their own cookies or other files on your computer, collect data or solicit personal information from you. We encourage you to read the posted privacy policy whenever interacting with any website.
Collarity only shares personal information with other companies or individuals outside of Collarity in the following limited circumstances:
Collarity takes information security very seriously. We protect user information with a number of security and technology measures in order to prevent unauthorized access to or unauthorized alteration, disclosure or destruction of data. Furthermore, we strictly limit access to your personally identifying information only to those employees on a strict need-to-know basis in order to operate, develop or improve our services. All of our employees are kept up to date on our privacy and security practices.
However, you should keep in mind that this Site and our services are run on software, hardware and networks, any component of which may, from time to time, require maintenance or experience problems or breaches of security beyond our control. When users submit sensitive information via the Site, your information is protected both on-line and off-line.
Your Collarity account information is protected by a password for your privacy and security. You need to work to protect against unauthorized access to your password and to your computer by logging off once you have finished using a shared computer.
If you registered as a Collarity user, visit your Collarity Settings to edit your profile and other information. When you're signed in, Collarity will provide access to Settings. You can delete your Collarity account through your Settings. If you are unable to access your Collarity Settings page, contact us at the above address and we can manually delete it for you.
Collarity regularly reviews its compliance with this Privacy Policy. Please feel free to direct any questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy or Collarity's treatment of personal information by contacting through this web site or by writing to us at Privacy, Collarity, Inc., 1841 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto, California, 94304 USA. When we receive formal written complaints at this address, it is Collarity's policy to contact the complaining user regarding his or her concerns. We will cooperate with the appropriate regulatory authorities, including local data protection authorities, to resolve any complaints regarding the transfer of personal data that cannot be resolved between Collarity and an individual.
This Privacy Policy is likely to evolve throughout time. Any changes or updates to our Privacy Policy will be posted on this page so that you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances we disclose it. Each version of this Privacy Policy will be identified at the top of the page by its effective date. However, we will only use personally identifiable information in accordance with the Privacy Policy that was in effect at the time the information was collected. If at any point we should decide to use that information differently, we will notify users by way of email so that users can approve or disapprove of such use.