Privacy Policy Highlights

• You are agreeing to our Privacy Policy when you use our web site, and these Highlights are not a substitute for reading the actual Privacy Policy.
• We collect personally identifiable information when you register on our web site or otherwise voluntarily provide such information ("Personal Information").
• We offer you choices when we ask for Personal Information, whenever reasonably possible.
• We use Personal Information to communicate with you.
• We use cookies and other technologies to enhance your online experience and to improve the quality of our services.
• We automatically record and store information when you visit our web site, including IP addresses, browser types, ISP, operating systems, and access dates/times.
• You may decline to provide any or some of your Personal Information to us and/or refuse cookies in your browser, although some of our features or services may not function properly as a result.
• We use and disclose to third parties aggregated demographic non-personally identifiable information for research purposes.
• We may also share information, including Personal Information, with third parties in limited circumstances, including when complying with legal process, preventing fraud or imminent harm, ensuring the security of our network and services, and enforcing our web site’s Terms and Conditions of Use located at www.chatthreads.com/terms_of_use/.
• We make good faith efforts to let you correct your Personal Information if it is inaccurate and delete it, when reasonably possible.
• We will not knowingly collect any Personal Information from or provide any services to children under the age of 13.
• For Canadian residents: our offices are located in Massachusetts, United States of America, and Personal Information you provide to us may be transferred to our offices in the U.S. You agree that by providing us with your Personal Information, your Personal Information may be subject to U.S. laws, regulations and/or court orders and may be disclosed to third parties or U.S. authorities in complying with U.S. laws, regulations and/or court orders.

Privacy Policy

ChatThreads Corporation (the "Company", "us," "we," or "our") is committed to protecting the privacy of users ("user", "you" or "your") of its web site ("Site"). This Privacy Policy is designed to assist you in understanding how we collect, use and safeguard the information you provide to us and to assist you in making informed decisions when using our Site. This Privacy Policy will be continuously assessed against new technologies and business practices. This Privacy Policy applies to this Site and governs data collection and usage at this Site. Please read it in its entirety. By accessing, browsing and/or using this Site, including all content, software, functions, services, materials and information made available on or accessed through the Site, whether you are a "Visitor" (which means that you simply browse the Site) or a "Registered User" (which means that you have registered with the Company), you acknowledge that you have read, understood and agree to be bound by this Privacy Policy. The term "you" or "user" as used in this Privacy Policy refers to a Visitor or a Registered User.

IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH OUR PRIVACY POLICY, THEN DO NOT USE THIS SITE.

Who is ChatThreads and what does ChatThreads do?

ChatThreads Corporation is an independent word-of-mouth research company. We use web-based surveys to collect information regarding conversations you have about companies, brands, products, services and ideas. The primary goal of the research is to understand how conversations spread and to learn from what you say or do not say about particular products and/or services. All the survey responses for conversations about particular products and/or services are grouped and analyzed together. We then share these aggregate results with third parties, including our clients, so that they can learn from what you and the people you talk to say or do not say about them, and any actions you may or may not take as a result of those conversations. People who participate in our research are also provided with summary statistics and/or other aggregate data concerning the research and may also have the option to receive summary results of conversations about particular products and/or services.

The survey results, summary statistics and other aggregate data that we send to our clients and/or provide to research participants do not include contact information such as e-mail addresses, or other personally identifying information ("Personal Information"). We may use a direct quote from your survey to illustrate the general patterns or trends, but we will make sure any Personal Information is made anonymous so that no one can be individually identified. We restrict access to and disclose Personal Information to Company employees and third parties acting as either our agents or service providers acting on our behalf who need to know that information in order to perform their functions for the Company and/or to provide, operate, develop and/or improve the Company's products or services. We retain service providers to help us coordinate e-mail communication, data analysis, and web hosting. These third parties are prohibited from using your personally identifiable information for any other purpose.

We reserve the right to disclose your personally identifiable information as required by law and when we believe that disclosure is necessary to: (a) comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process served on our Web site; (b) protect our rights or property; (c) enforce our Site's Terms and Conditions of Use, located at www.chatthreads.com/terms_of_use/ and incorporated herein by reference; (c) detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues; (d) operate or conduct maintenance and repair of our services or equipment, as authorized by law; or (e) protect against imminent harm to the rights, property or safety of the Site, its users or the public as required or permitted by law. For Canadian residents: our offices are located in Massachusetts, United States of America, and Personal Information you provide to us may be transferred to our offices in the U.S. You agree that by providing us with your Personal Information, your Personal Information may be subject to U.S. laws, regulations and/or court orders and may be disclosed to third parties or U.S. authorities in complying with U.S. laws, regulations and/or court orders.

We do not collect any Personal Information about you unless you voluntarily submit such information to us, by, for example, filling out a survey or registration form. In general, we will only use Personal Information for the purpose for which such information was provided to us. You may choose not to provide us with any Personal Information. In such an event, you can still access and use much of the Site; however, you will not be able to access and use those portions of the Site that require your Personal Information.

Do you rent, sell or release my name or e-mail information, or those of the people who I talk to?

Except as otherwise stated herein, we will not rent, sell, or otherwise release your Personal Information to third parties without your explicit permission. We only use Personal Information for our own research purposes.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, we may transfer, sell or assign information concerning your use of this Site, including without limitation, Personal Information, to third parties, as a result of the sale, merger, consolidation, change in control, transfer of substantial assets, reorganization or liquidation of the Company provided that said third parties agree to abide by our Privacy Policy as it applies to Personal Information.

Why do you ask me for my first name and e-mail address, and the first name and e-mail addresses of the people I may talk to? Who sees this information?

We use your first name and e-mail address to help us track conversations about organizations, brands, products, services, and ideas, and any subsequent conversations that may occur as a result of earlier conversations. Only the researchers retained by the Company and involved with collecting and analyzing the survey responses see this information. Here are more details:

• Reminder E-mails and Thank-You E-mail Messages. After you tell us about a brand-related conversation, you will receive an e-mail message thanking you for your participation in the research. If you choose to participate in our extended research study, the Company will send you reminder e-mail messages containing a web link to take the appropriate survey. If you choose to discontinue your participation in the extended study at any time, simply disregard the e-mail reminders. At the conclusion of the extended study, you will receive a final thank-you e-mail. Registered Users will receive occasional e-mail reminders reminding them to tell us about their brand-related conversations.
• E-mail Invitations. If, within the survey, you choose to invite others with whom you have had a conversation to participate in the research so that the Company can track the spread of information, we will ask for those individuals' first names and e-mail addresses. By providing such information, you represent and warrant that you have obtained the express consent of each of the individual(s) whose information you are providing to the Company to disclose his/her first name and e-mail address for purposes of having the Company send a one-time e-mail inviting him/her to participate in the research. The Company stores this information to send out e-mail invitations and to track the spread of conversations.
• Result Verification or Clarification E-mails. To maintain the integrity of our research, the company may contact you to confirm, clarify, or otherwise validate information you provide to us about your conversations.
• Summary Report of Results E-mails. Upon completion of a valid survey, you may select whether or not you would like to receive a summary report of results from certain aspects of the research. If you indicate a desire to receive a summary, we will e-mail you the results to the e-mail address provided or provide you with information where you can access the summary results online.
• Contest Winner Notification E-mails. Upon completion of a valid survey, you will have the opportunity to select whether or not to participate in a Sweepstakes or instruct the Company to donate money to one of the charities we support. Asking us to make a donation or participating in any of our Sweepstakes is completely voluntary. Were you to decide to participate in the Sweepstakes, you will be asked to provide an e-mail address to notify you should you be a winner. All winners are chosen at random and are notified by e-mail. For more information, please see our Sweepstakes Official Rules located at www.chatthreads.com/sweepstakes/

Can I remove my first name and e-mail address from your database?

You may contact us at remove-my-info@chatthreads.com to request that we remove this information from our database. We will use reasonable efforts to ensure that this information is removed from our records.

Do you use cookies or capture web traffic information?

We use session ID cookies to make it easier for you to complete the surveys on our Site. A session ID cookie expires as soon as you close your browser window and does not remain on your computer.

Through the use of cookie technology or otherwise, we also gather and store certain information automatically. This information includes Internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser types, Internet service providers (ISP), operating systems, and an access dates/times (collectively "Traffic Data"). Traffic Data is anonymous information that does not personally identify you but it is linked to Personal Information that you may provide when you participate in our research by completing surveys. We use this Traffic Data to design and arrange our web pages in the user-friendliest manner, to continually improve our Site, and to validate other information the user provides about the conversation.

We may use Traffic Data to analyze trends, administer the Site, track user’s movement, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. We may also provide Traffic Data and/or other aggregate non-personally identifying information to third parties.

This privacy statement covers the use of cookies by www.chatthreads.com only and does not cover the use of cookies by any advertisers.

Do you use web beacons or GIF files?

We may access and set cookies using web beacons (or similar technologies) also known as single-pixel GIFs which are invisible graphical images. Our web pages may contain web beacons that allow us to count users who have visited those pages and to deliver services. We may include web beacons in e-mail messages, newsletters or the like in order to determine whether they have been opened and/or acted upon.

Some of these web beacons may be placed by our service providers to help determine the effectiveness of our research or e-mail communications. These web beacons may be used by these service providers to place a persistent cookie on your computer. This allows the service provider to recognize your computer each time you visit certain pages or e-mails and compile anonymous information in relation to those page views, which in turn enables us and our service providers to learn which e-mail communications bring you to our Site and how you use our site.

Why do I have to register and what information will you ask me for?

Only users who are direct participants in marketing programs with our business partners are required to complete a registration form in order to complete our surveys. During this registration process we will ask these program participants for Personal Information, including their contact information (such as name, e-mail address, and mailing address) as well as demographic information (such as age, sex, income level, and educational and racial/ethnic background). We use the demographic non-personally identifying information to see if there are any interesting similarities, differences or trends among the different groups of people, and may share such information with third parties. Personal Information may be shared with our business partners but only after permission to do so has been obtained from the Registered User and only to those business partners to whom disclosure has been authorized by the Registered User.

When registering with the Company to create an account, you agree to provide accurate and complete registration information, including, without limitation, your legal name, age, address and telephone number. We expect all users to refrain from revealing their password to other users. You agree not to use the account, user name, or password of another Registered User at any time or to disclose your password to any third party. You agree to notify the Company immediately if you suspect any unauthorized use of your account or access to your password. You are solely responsible for any and all use of your account any and all activities that occur under your account and for the security of your user name, password and computer system.

If at any time you decide that you no longer wish to be a Registered User, you may delete your account sending us an e-mail at deletemyaccount@chatthreads.com. We will use reasonable efforts to ensure that your account is deleted from our records.

How do I update my information?

If you wish to correct or update information previously provided to us, you may do so by logging in to your account and selecting , or by sending us an e-mail at update@chatthreads.com. We will use reasonably efforts to ensure that your information is corrected or updated in our records.

What steps do you take to protect my privacy?

The Site has security measures in place intended to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control. We will take reasonable steps to safeguard Personal Information we collect from unauthorized access or disclosure and accidental loss, alteration or destruction. We will make reasonable efforts to ensure security on our systems.

When you enter Personal Information during the registration process or in connection with any of our surveys, we encrypt that information using secure socket layer technology (SSL). Except as otherwise provided herein, only researchers retained by the Company who need the information to perform a specific job are granted access to Personal Information.

Unfortunately, however, no data transmission over the Internet or electronic storage can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your Personal Information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us or from our online services, and you do so at your own risk.

What is your policy regarding children’s privacy?

We are concerned about the safety and privacy of children, and are committed to protecting their on-line privacy. In accordance with the Children’s On-line Privacy Protection Act, we will not knowingly collect any personally identifiable information from or provide any services to children under the age of 13. In addition, minors are not eligible to participate in any of our Sweepstakes.

What about links to other sites?

This Site may contain links to third-party web sites. The linked sites are not under our control, and we are not responsible for the contents or use of any linked site. We provide these links as a convenience only, and a link does not imply endorsement of, sponsorship of, association, or affiliation with the linked site, or endorsement of the contents on such sites, by us. If you decide to access linked third party web sites, you do so at your own risk. This Privacy Policy applies only to information collected by this Site.

Will you notify me if your Privacy Policy changes?

If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you here, by email, or by means of a notice on our home page.. Changes to our Privacy Policy will be effective when posted. Your continued use of this Site following the posting of any change shall constitute your acceptance thereof. If at any point we decide to use Personal Information in a manner different from that stated at the time it was collected, we would notify users by e-mail. Users will have a choice as to whether or not we use their Personal Information in this different manner. Unless otherwise agreed, we will use Personal Information in accordance with the Privacy Policy under which the information was collected. You may view earlier versions of our Privacy Policy.

How can I contact you for further information?

If you require any further information about our Privacy Policy, please contact us at privacy@chatthreads.com, or at:

ChatThreads Corporation
1318 Beacon Street, Suite 9
Brookline, MA 02446
USA

URL: https://www.chatthreads.com
E-mail: info@chatthreads.com
Phone: 617-418-4214
Fax: 617-249-0238

We will use reasonable efforts to respond to requests for information submitted to the Company within 30 days of receipt of the request.

Notice to California Residents: If you are a California resident, you have the right to request and receive information about the Personal Information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes in the preceding calendar year. If applicable, this information would include a list of the categories of personal information that was shared and the names and addresses of all third parties with which we shared information in the immediately preceding calendar year. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit your request to privacy@chatthreads.com

Effective Date: March 18, 2008

ChatThreads Corporation is a licensee of the TRUSTe Privacy Program. TRUSTe is an independent, non-profit organization whose mission is to build user's trust and confidence in the Internet by promoting the use of fair information practices. This privacy statement covers the Web site www.chatthreads.com. Because this Web site wants to demonstrate its commitment to your privacy, it has agreed to disclose its information practices and have its privacy practices reviewed for compliance by TRUSTe.

If you have questions or concerns regarding this statement, you should first contact Molly Simpson at privacy (at) chatthreads (dot) com or 617-209-4135. If you do not receive acknowledgement of your inquiry or your inquiry has not been satisfactorily addressed, you should contact TRUSTe at http://www.truste.org/consumers/watchdog_complaint.php TRUSTe will then serve as a liaison with us to resolve your concerns.

ChatThreads Corporation complies with the EU Safe Harbor framework as set forth by the Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of data from the European Union.