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Patio Pacific, Incorporated, (hereinafter
"Patio Pacific") values the privacy of our visitors/customers and takes
every known precaution to safe guard the information we collect from
unauthorized use. The following is a detailed explanation of the privacy
policy for Patio Pacific.
WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?
Patio Pacific believes it is important
for you to know what types of information we collect when you use our site.
We employ various methods for collecting information. To begin with, we use
“cookies” that are needed to compile and aggregate non-personally
identifiable information about the visitors to our web site. Personally
identifiable information consists of information that is unique to you, such
as credit card numbers, bank accounts, social security numbers, home
address, email address and the like. This is the type of information that
most people consider private and deem the most important to protect from
unauthorized access. Non-personally identifiable information most often
consists of things such as your search preferences, the types of products
you have bought, how many times you have visited a particular web site,
etc. This type of information is usually associated with a particular
computer or IP address but not with a particular person. “Cookies” are
pieces of information generated by a Web server and stored in the user's
computer, ready for future access. Each time you access our web site; our
server finds the relevant cookie on your computer. The information
contained within that cookie is then used to customize your experience with
our site.
WHY DO WE COLLECT THIS INFORMATION?
We use
this information in order to serve the needs of our customers. We need to
know who you are in order to verify the credit card information you have
sent us. We collect several pieces of personal information from you in
order to complete this verification process. The non-personal information
that we collect from you is used in order to offer you better service and to
make your experience with our site more enjoyable. Any information that we
may inadvertently collect from you, that does not serve one of these reasons
stated above, is immediately purged from our system.
HOW IS YOUR INFORMATION PROTECTED?
We
use the latest in encryption technology, including 128 bit SSL encryption to
ensure that any sensitive information that is sent by you to us via the
Internet is protected from unauthorized interception. We employ the latest
in firewall protection to prevent unauthorized access into our information
storage areas. We maintain a rigorous hiring process to screen out
potential employees with criminal backgrounds. We also have back up servers
and power supplies to guard against power outages and other natural
occurrences that could pose a threat to the integrity of your personal
information. Passwords are required in order for you to gain access to your
account. Once an account has been terminated, measures are taken to remove
those users from the system who no longer need access to our system. When an
employee is terminated or is no longer with the company, we change the
access codes that the employee used to access any customer accounts.
Passwords must contain at least six characters, one of which is
non-alphanumeric. Passwords are case sensitive and must be updated every 90
days.
WHO HAS ACCESS TO YOUR INFORMATION?
Only those employees that are
responsible for handling your account have access to your information.
Additionally, employees in our technical department may have access to your
information in order to conduct routine checks on the integrity of our
system and in order to perform necessary maintenance work. In order to
process your credit card we have to consult with an out side credit card
processing company. These processing companies are regulated by the banking
industry and must meet certain security requirements in order to be in
business. The processing companies will have access to your credit card
information, billing address, name, and possibly your telephone number. The
processing company will communicate with the issuing bank of your credit
card in order to get final approval to charge your credit card for the
product or services we are providing for you. Should you choose to receive
additional information regarding one of our services or products, we may
pass your email address to one of our partners who offers similar products
or services that you might be interested in. Additionally, judicial
requests by a duly authorized court will require us to divulge certain
information regarding your account should that situation arise. Finally,
should our company ever be bought or sold, your account information would
then become the property of the new owner/entity.
CAN YOU CORRECT OR REMOVE INFORMATION FROM THIS SITE?
You always have the option to view your
account to make sure the information we have collected from you is indeed
correct. You also have the option of removing any information from your
account that you wish to keep private. However, please note that removing
certain information such as your email address, contact information, and the
like may greatly hinder our ability to effectively provide the service or
products you have requested. We recommend, that you contact us first to
discuss which information you may remove without interrupting the quality of
service we intend to provide for you.
CAN YOU OPT OUT OF HAVING CERTAIN INFORMATION COLLECTED?
You have the option of disabling your
computer’s ability to accept or transmit cookies. This will prevent us from
gathering certain non-personally identifiable information from you. You
also have the option of removing yourself from any email distribution list
that you may have signed up for.
NOTICE OF CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY
We reserve the right to change this
privacy policy at any time. However, if any changes do occur, we will
publish the changes to our web site and post a notice on the home page that
a new privacy policy has been implemented. We will also take reasonable
steps to contact you personally to let you know of the new changes. Should
the company be bought or sold to someone else, we will take reasonable steps
to notify you personally. You will then be given the option to keep your
account open or to terminate. |