Photoville Website
Privacy Policy

Introduction

Photoville is committed to protecting the privacy of its online guests, customers, members, donors, and friends. We understand that maintaining privacy on Photoville’s websites (photoville.com, fence.photoville.com, photoville.nyc, photoville.la, tokyophotocompetition.com, and exhibition-specific websites, herein referred to as “the website” or “the site”) is very important, and that informing our visitors about the types of information we collect and how we use it is crucial to Photoville’s mission.

Types of Information Collected

Photoville does not collect any personal information about individuals, such as names, postal or email addresses, or other personally identifying data (the “Personal Data”) except when such information is knowingly provided. Personal information might be obtained from online transactions such as purchases, subscriptions, registrations, or membership pledges. Additionally, personal information may be transmitted as part of a form submission or in connection with other activities, services, or resources available on our website.

Information Provided by Visitors

Online Mailing Lists. When you subscribe to our Online mailing list(s), Photoville will request information necessary to process your subscription and send you the information you seek: your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, and areas of interest. Your Personal Data may be used as set forth below.

Online Store Purchases and Purchases of Memberships. When you purchase a Photoville membership, Photoville and its third-party merchants and agents will request information necessary to process your purchase or process your membership and acknowledge your contribution: your name, billing and shipping address, telephone number, e-mail address, and credit card information. Your credit card information will be used only for the purpose of processing and documenting the transaction. Your Personal Data may be used as set forth below.

Information Collected Automatically

Non-Personal Information. Photoville does automatically collect some anonymous “non-personally identifiable” aggregate information about visitors when pages are requested through a browser. This information is used for statistical purposes, to help us monitor how guests navigate our site, allowing us to tailor our services for specific groups of visitors. Non-personally identifiable information may refer to information about our visitors’ browsers (e.g., Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer), operating systems (e.g., Windows or Macintosh), Internet Service Providers (e.g., AOL, Earthlink, etc.), and other similar information.

Aggregate Information. Photoville collects IP addresses as a component of the non-personally identifiable aggregate information. An IP address is a number assigned to your computer by a web server when you’re on the Internet. This information is used only for non-user-specific purposes such as determining how many users visited a specific area of our site. Such information could, if necessary, also be used to identify a user in order to comply with safety and/or security issues or with legal requirements, but only in extraordinary circumstances.

Cookies. A cookie is a small text file that is sent to your browser from a website and stored on your computer’s hard drive. Cookies can’t read data from your hard drive or read cookie files that were created by other sites—the website that creates a cookie is the only one a browser will permit to access it. Examples of ways in which Photoville might use are to control access to certain user features, to customize content areas, and to analyze site activity and user behavior. Photoville also reserves the right to use cookies in the future in conjunction with new content or extended functionality.

If you are concerned about the use of cookies, Photoville suggests that you explore your browser’s options to notify you whenever a cookie is set, or to disallow cookies altogether. Users should be aware, however, that prohibiting the use of cookies may restrict the user’s access to certain types of content or features. Numerous online resources explain cookies and describe how to disable them (for example: http://www.ny.frb.org/cookies.html)

How Information is Used

Marketing and Promotion. If you give us permission, we may use any Personal Data you submit for Photoville marketing and promotional purposes. For example, on occasion, Photoville sends email to inform users of new exhibitions or other events we think might be of interest to them. If you provide us with your e-mail address, this will be deemed permission for us to e-mail you information about our exhibition, events and other programs and activities, as well as for any marketing or promotional purposes. However, you may withdraw this permission using our opt-out procedure. You will not receive such communications unless you have knowingly provided the personal information required. In some cases, you will be required to opt-in by joining a newsgroup or mailing list. If you do opt-in, you will always have the option to opt-out at any time by unsubscribing to that particular list or following the opt-out instructions included within the body of the email message.

Membership. If you sign up for a membership online, your Personal Data will be entered into Photoville’s membership database. Photoville does not share your Personal Data with other organizations or companies.

Opt Out. If for any reason you do not wish to receive further e-mail from Photoville, please follow the instructions for unsubscribing included within the body of the message that was sent to you.

With Whom Information is Shared

Photoville does not sell, rent or lease its customer lists to third parties.

Photoville has teamed up with reputable third-party vendors in order to provide certain services to its online users. Photoville has taken precautions to ensure that the privacy of its online visitors is protected by any online partners. In cases when users leave Photoville’s site to visit one of its partners’ sites, users are encouraged to become familiar with the privacy statements of each site they visit.

Photoville may, from time to time, contact you on behalf of external business partners about a particular offering that may be of interest to you. In those cases, your unique personally identifiable information (e-mail, name, address, telephone number) is not transferred to the third party. Photoville may share data with trusted partners to help perform statistical analysis, send you email or postal mail, provide customer support, or arrange for deliveries. All such third parties are prohibited from using your personal information except to provide these services to Photoville, and they are required to maintain the confidentiality of your information.

Photoville may disclose your personal information, without notice, if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: (a) conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process served on Photoville or the site; (b) protect and defend the rights or property of Photoville; and/or (c) act under exigent circumstances to protect the personal safety of users of Photoville, or the public.

Security

Photoville protects all personal and non-personally identifiable information that it receives via the Internet against unauthorized access. Photoville takes the following technical and organizational security measures to protect personal data:

1. Organizational management and dedicated staff responsible for the development, implementation, and maintenance of Photoville’s information security program.

2. Audit and risk assessment procedures for the purposes of periodic review and assessment of risks to Photoville, monitoring and reporting the condition of its information security and compliance to senior internal management.

3. Maintains information security policies and makes sure that policies and measures are regularly reviewed and where necessary, improves them.

4. Data security controls which include restricted (e.g. role-based) access and monitoring of data, and where applicable, utilization of commercially available and industry-standard encryption technologies.

5. Password controls designed to manage and control password strength, and usage including prohibiting users from sharing passwords.

6. Vulnerability assessment, patch management, and threat protection technologies and scheduled monitoring procedures designed to identify, assess, mitigate and protect against identified security threats, viruses and other malicious code.

In addition, Photoville’s website uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption to process purchases made through its online store. By using this technology, online customers can be confident that their personal information is protected from interception by any third party. Sensitive credit card information is not permanently stored on any Photoville web server and, though your order information is retained for our records, this information is never shared with other companies or persons.

What is a secure connection? When a secure connection is established between your browser and a website, any data that is transferred over the connection is encrypted to prevent it from being viewed by a third party. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption, the standard for most browsers and servers, makes it very difficult for anyone to intercept or decode messages exchanged over this type of secure connection.

Browsers such as Firefox and Internet Explorer display an image of a locked padlock in their status bar when connected to a secure site. Secure transactions are also indicated when the prefix in the location bar of your browser switches from http:// to https://. If you do not see the padlock at the bottom of your browser’s window, if the padlock is unlocked, or if the protocol in the location bar is not listed as https://, then any data exchanged with the website is potentially visible to others.

Depending on your browser, you may be able to view authentication information about a secure page by double-clicking on the locked padlock in the status bar. For more information on how your software establishes a secure connection, see the help files for your particular browser.

Links to Other Sites

Users may find content on Photoville’s site that links to the sites and services of our partners, sponsors, or other third parties. In many cases, these links represent cooperative projects or are established with persons or entities that have a significant connection to or relationship with our site. Although every effort is made to ensure that any referrals are to reputable and relevant sources, Photoville does not control the content or links that appear on these sites. In addition, these sites or services, including their content and links, may be constantly changing. These sites and services may have their own privacy policies and customer service policies, or no policy at all. Photoville maintains a policy against the nonconsensual collection or sharing of personal information and encourages visitors to review the privacy policies of any sites they visit to ensure their personal information is being protected.

Children

Photoville does not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 years of age. Children should always ask parents/ guardians for permission before providing personal information to any website or purchasing any products or services online. Photoville urges all parents/ guardians to participate in their children’s exploration of the Internet and to teach them about protecting their personal information while online.

Policy Changes

Occasional changes may be made to this document as new services and content are added to our site or to reflect changes in Photoville’s policies. Visitors to Photoville’s website are encouraged to check this document periodically to stay informed of current Photoville privacy guidelines.

Acceptance of Terms

By using any of the Photoville website(s), you signify your acceptance of our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to this policy, please do not use our sites. Your continued use of any Photoville site following the posting of changes to these terms will indicate your acceptance of those changes.