Privacy Policy
This policy covers information
collected by the Consumer Information Organization including all
the associated Autoedge.net group of web sites and services.
Products and services are purchased by consumer through the
Amerishop.com site operated by Autoedge.net.
Customer Information:
Information is collected at the time of a sale in order to
complete the sale and deliver the products. Customer lists are
not not sold or distributed to third parties. Autoedge.net does
not use customer lists to send solicitations (except for renewal
notices for continuing services such as domain registrations,
e-mail, or web page services).
Special Notice for Domain Name
Registrants: Internet domain name registration requires the
registrant to provide information to be listed in a publicly
available database (the WHOIS database). Customers may log onto
their domain name records account and update their records.
Credit Card Transactions:
Credit card transactions are processed by Authorize.net. A
professional payment authorization service was chosen for added
security and reliability. Only the purchase price and the credit
card information provided by the customer is supplied to
Authorize.net. Information collected during transactions is
maintained in their database for accounting and billing
purposes. Information from these transactions is not released to
third parties.
Information About Children: Autoedge.net
does not attempt to collect personal information from children.
If children do send personal information to Autoedge.net, such
as writing to Santa, submissions to Santas-List.com, etc., the
information is deleted. Note that Autoedge.net cannot always
determine that a user is a child. Autoedge.net does not maintain
databases about children.
Web Site Log Files: Like most
web sites log files are generated that show the IP Address of
the visitor, date, time, and pages visited. Aggregate reports
for web site visitors are generated that do not contain
personally identifiable information. Advertising reports are
generated that show the IP addresses of visitors who clicked on
ads. This information may be sent to the advertiser to confirm
the advertising fee charged. The advertiser already has this
information as a result of the user clicking on the ad. No
additional information about the visitor is supplied to the
advertiser. The log files are eventually deleted.
A full explanation of the IP
address and examples of the log file that captured when visiting
a web site is found here.
The IP Address: Your Internet Identity
To see your IP address and see the results of a trace click
here.
Cookies: Internet 'cookies' are not used except for
demonstration purposes at Privacy.net and for the Autoedge.net
web store at Amerishop.com.
Persistent cookies are placed
on the user's system for the demonstration pages at Privacy.net.
These cookies remain on the user's system and are automatically
retrieved when a user visits at a later time. For the privacy
analysis page the demonstration shows the date the user visited
previously.
The web store uses 'session'
cookies that expire in about 20 minutes. They are used so a user
can shop and maintain a list of items ordered in their
"shopping cart" and have a total due calculated. A
user does not have to supply any personal information unless
they decide to complete an order and pay via credit card. Orders
can also be printed and paid by mail or fax without entering any
information.
No Third Party Downloads: No
Images, files, or cookies are downloaded from third party
servers. This means no banner networks, hidden "web
bugs" (images of size 1x1 pixel used to track users). More
than 80% of affiliate and advertising requests are rejected by Autoedge.net
because of this requirement.
External Linking: The logging
of clicks for external links using "redirects" is only
done for advertisements. This is indicated by link to a URL such
as '/redirect.asp?url= ...' The external URL is clearly marked
in the "url=" portion. This is done to create the
advertising reports described above in order to bill the
advertiser.
Mailing Lists: Autoedge.net may
maintain subscription mailing lists. All users must confirm
their subscriptions via return e-mail. Users are never added
based on requesting information, making a purchase, or
forgetting to uncheck some box during ordering.
User Registration: Autoedge.net
sites do not require user registration.
Favicon.ico requests: Some
browsers initiate a favicon.ico request to a web site when a
user adds a site to their "Favorites" list. (.ico
stands for "icon") It is a small 16x16 pixel icon that
replaces the standard icon used for a web page. Favicon.ico
requests are not tracked.
The restrictions on the
dissemination of personal information are not subject to change.
The policy is updated occasionally but the changes will not
reduce the privacy protection of visitors. If there are changes
made in the future the changes will not affect information
already collected.
For more information see the
Privacy.net site operated by the Autoedge.net or contact
privacy@Autoedge.net.
Tips for when reviewing privacy
policies on other web sites
Is there a privacy policy at
all? Is it easy to find? Do they have a contact e-mail address
and are questions actually answered?
Does the site have a link to its privacy policy where it
collects personal information?
Can you change your mind and opt-out later?
Is the information clear or is it confusing and full of legal
mumbo jumbo?
Do sites use 'opt-in' or 'opt-out' methods for the release of
personal information? Opt-in means the user makes a choice when
the information is released. Opt-out means the information is
automatically released unless the user does something to stop
it. Are information release choices automatically default to
releasing the information?
Does the site have complicated methods to opt-out and/or do they
have several places that opt-out is required in an effort to
'wear you down'?
Does the site say if they use Internet cookies? If so, do they
explain how they are used?
Does the site explain what is done with their log files and IP
Addresses it collects? [see The IP Address: Your Internet
Identity for more information.]
Does the site allow downloads and/or Internet cookies from third
party web sites? (This is often done with banner ad networks).
Does the site attempt to collect personal information from
children or adults? Does the site claim rights to this
information once it is submitted?
Does the site say if they release information to others?
Do sites ask for personal information (such as Mother's maiden
name or a portion of the social security number) claiming they
need this to set a password?
If information is released can you stop them from disseminating
the information at a later date? Do they provide specific
instructions on how to do this?
Note that a TRUSTe seal (see below) only covers a singular web
site and not an entire company. For instance, America Online
only has a seal for www.aol.com but the member's site, and the
AOL company itself, is not covered. In addition, a seal only
means a site has a policy and nothing more. It does not assure
that privacy is protected.
Warning about sites displaying
TRUSTe and BBBonline seals
Autoedge.net
does not participate, and does not support, activities such as
TRUSTe, Privacy Partnership, or the Online Privacy Alliance.
While many of their members do offer adequate privacy
protection, these organizations have failed to offer protection
for consumers. Both organizations have received complaints that
some of their members have misleading privacy policies, fail to
follow their own policies, and/or violate privacy laws. Both
TRUSTe and BBBonline not only failed to act on these complaints,
they make it as difficult as possible to file complaints in the
first place.
Autoedge.net
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